It had been three days since I confessed to Chelsea. It was an accident when my stupid mouth blurted out I loved her during the rough fucking. But I couldn’t help it. I was heady with lust and it slipped out.
I didn’t know whether she heard me, but she had dropped a little hard, and I cared more about her than my feelings. I had to make sure she was okay.
But that night, she had said it, sealing the magical words with a kiss on my cheek.
“And did you check the area—if you zone out one more time, I’m changing the passcode of my house.”
I snapped out of my head to see Cillian’s grumpy scowl on my laptop screen. I sighed and ran a hand over my face. “I’m sorry, there’s a lot in my head.”
“Spectacular,” he deadpanned. “I doubted its working.”
I sighed, not in the mood to banter with him.
He must have noticed how much of a huge thing it was for me to not annoy him. “Ah, I see.”
I looked around the files and picked one paper about Chelsea’s father, David Rose. Cillian was helping me catch the loan sharks, get them arrested and thrown into the jail. These type of loan sharks worked as payday loan providers, and everything about them was shady.
I hadn’t told Chelsea about it, and she was in the living room playing with her younger brother, Noah. Her mom was off to give an interview, and the usual babysitter was not available, so she had asked Chelsea to look after Noah.
It was an off day, and I didn’t mind spending time with the kid, so I had invited them over, letting them use the PS5 and Nintendo Switch I had bought for Caleb, Cillian’s son, whenever he was over.
“You told her.”
My eyes snapped at the laptop screen. “What?”
“I knew it.” He nodded to himself, proud of his guess. “You told her how you felt. Maybe fucked it up and now you’re sighing like an old man.”
“Shut up,” I scowled and tried to focus. “Did you get any leads on David?”
Cillian smirked. “That you are closer to his age than your girlfrie?—”
“SEANNN!”
We both jumped when the door to my study opened and hurried footsteps came running towards the desk. I quickly covered the paper and important details as Noah stood beside my chair, his blue eyes wide and angry.
“Chelsea is cheating and keeps winning the race!” He said, stomping his feet.
Said cheater appeared in the doorway. “Noah, come on. I told you not to disturb him.” She glanced at me and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine?—”
“Whoa, who’s that?” Noah asked, leaning over to see Cillian frowning at the kid.
I pulled him back and said, “That is a scary friend?—”
“Oh, hi, Sean!” I paused and saw Emma appear over Cillian’s shoulder, his features softening as he saw his wife.Asshole. He was telling me I was closer to Chelsea’s father in age when he could relate to me. Emma was twenty years younger than him as well.
“Come on, Noah. We can play…” Chelsea hovered over my desk, holding Cole’s hand and frowning at the screen. She leaned in and said, “Emma Moore?”
My brows raised when they both stared at each other. “No way! Chelsea? Your cookies were the best in the school. How have you been?” Emma asked, grinning at my girlfriend.
It seemed like they knew each other from high-school. They shared a few small talks before asking us, me and Cillian, what we were doing and how I knew Chelsea.
“I’m dating her,” I said, pulling her closer by wrapping my arm around her waist. “Chelsea, meet Cillian, my childhood friend, and Emma. Asshole, meet my sweet girlfriend, Chelsea.”
Cillian flipped me off, making my grin wider. Thankfully, Noah was busy scanning the books on my shelves. We talked a few more minutes before Noah said he was getting hungry and wanted to eat a burger.
* * *
