“You love that cottage, though, don’t you?”
“Yes, but nowhere near as much as I love my—”
I cut myself off, suddenly realising I’d need to explain what mates were. I’d do it soon, but not right now. That kind of news could derail the conversation and I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page here before we moved on. I wanted our foundation to be strong.
So I carried on. “Nowhere near as much as I love the two of you.”
For my mates, I’d live in the city, even though I hated cities because I found the noises and the smells overwhelming, and there was nowhere safe and quiet and secluded for me to shift and slide into the water.
Sonny gasped and his hand grabbed for the tentacle that was wound around him, as though he could press it closer.
“You love me?” he asked.
Love was such a strange word. It encompassed so much, and it had all sorts of connotations. And people would say that I couldn’t love Sonny after only five days. But I’d been learning about him for weeks before I ever met him.
And, most of all, I couldn’t deny what my octopus knew. Declan and Sonny were my mates.
That meant I loved them. Loved them both.
I wanted to mark them both equally, both as urgently and as permanently. These two men were mine.
“Yes, I love you. I know it’s new, but that doesn’t make it less real.” I looked to Declan, too, and slid another tentacle over his shoulder. I loved seeing it there, winding round my mate’s body. “I love you both.”
Sonny stroked a hand down the tentacle that was wound round his waist. “I love you, too. Weird, isn’t it? I thought I’d hate you.”
Declan asked, “Why?” and Sonny and I shared a look, just meeting each other’s eyes for the briefest moment. We understood each other on that. We’d both assumed we’d have to compete for Declan’s love. I was so glad we hadn’t. Declan had more than enough love and attention for the two of us, and I’d give Sonny all the love and attention he could want on top of that.
“Are you sure you want both of us to move in with you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Where will we put all our stuff? You don’t have room.”
I shrugged, winding another tentacle around Sonny’s thigh where I knew he loved it and where I got a lot of satisfaction from holding him.
“I don’t know but we’ll work something out. I guess we could start with a shed and I’ll store my junk there until I can sort through it properly, and you can put your stuff in the cupboard.”
“That works.”
I got the impression that Sonny was so happy he would agree to almost anything. Declan, however, was frowning again. I felt a flash of sharp love for him, my mate who took things so seriously and wanted to plan things through.
“I don’t want you to leave the city, Sonny. You like it there. We can find a way.”
Sonny shrugged. “I don’t like it that much. I mostly liked it because you were there. It’s sucked the past few months. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it when we were together. It was fun and there was lots to do. But I’d rather be with you and Erik anywhere, and here is best of all. We can see your mum and dad every week and Erik has his lake and we can go to the market for mince pies—”
“You know they stop serving them after Christmas, right?” asked Declan.
“Yeah, but until then. And in the new year, they serve other things. The point is, I only live in the city because my job is there. I can get a new job. I’m not that ambitious. Not when it comes to my career.”
I glanced at Declan to see how he reacted to that, wanting to use his expression to gauge how truthful that statement was. He looked rueful, so I supposed Sonny was being honest. He really would be happy to change jobs.
“I can’t get you both a job as receptionist,” I joked.
Sonny stuck out his tongue at Declan, reminding me that he wasn’t exactly sober.
“I’d be an amazing receptionist, actually. I like peopling. People like me or maybe I just ask them too many nosy questions but anyway, the point is I’d be serious competition. Declan’s not going to be a receptionist forever, anyway. That’s only temporary, until he gets back on his feet. So to speak. Sorry, Declan.”
Declan gave him a smile and Sonny’s eyes took on a slightly misty quality. He was so in love it would be sickening to watch if I didn’t think Declan was exactly as amazing as Sonny did.
