Parker doesn’t answer verbally, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, they’re moving, adjusting until their head is on my chest. I let my fingers sink into it, feeling the silky strands. They lean into my touch, pushing further into my hand.
“You’re acting like a cat.” Parker lets out a low chuckle. “How are you feeling?”
They hum. “Better. So much better. Must have been a twenty-four-hour bug or something.”
“I’m glad.” I nearly jump out of my skin at the sound of Ben’s voice.
“I didn’t know you were awake.”
He drums his fingers against my stomach, then dips them lower, letting the tips of them brush along my waistband. “I haven’t been for long. Just long enough to hear that Cotton Candy isn’t black or gray anymore.”
“Or green,” Parker adds, a smile in their voice.
“Or green,” Ben amends. “How much of last night do you remember?”
Parker stills. It’s like their entire body just stops, breath and all.
“Uh, all of it?”
Ben sits up, then looks down at us. Fuck, he’s hot first thing in the morning, his black hair sleep-mussed and wild, eyes hooded and sleepy. “Yeah? Does that mean you’re tired of running from us?”
Parker sighs. “I’m not running. I’m just…”
“Afraid?” I whisper, carding my fingers through their hair.
They nod, turning their head to bury their face in my chest. “Yes.”
I understand that, and I can’t even fault them for it. How could I? It would make me so hypocritical.
Ben’s hand joins mine in Parker’s hair. Our fingers brush, sending sparks through my body.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” Ben says softly. “We won’t hurt you.”
Words don’t matter. Not to someone like Parker. Not when they’ve been hurt before. I know that, and I know Ben does too. Action. That’s what’s gonna prove it to them. And I think it needs to start with a kiss.
I’m still not sure why Parker was so upset before, but I know it has something to do with Ben and the failed hookup between the two of them.
I take a breath. “Can you come out of your hiding spot?”
Parker raises up after a brief hesitation, pinning me with those pretty blue eyes. Sliding my hand from their hair to cup their face, I brush my thumb along their jawline. “Let Ben kiss you the way you want.”
It’s almost funny how Parker instigated the first kiss between Ben and me, and now I’m doing the same for the two of them. Or, their second first kiss, I guess. But God, it feels so right, and I want to see it so badly.
Parker’s eyes blow wide, so I add, “If you want to.”
“Can I at least brush my teeth first?” they ask, throat bobbing with their nervous swallow. The attempt at humor falls flat, leaving their voice raw and vulnerable.
Ben’s out of the bed before I can even process it. “We all should, actually.”
My stomach flips, nerves lighting me up from head to toe.
Parker stares into my eyes, the same fear reflected in their gaze that I know is in mine. “You want to?” I ask quietly.
They nod slowly.
Instead of getting off the bed from the empty side, they climb over me, body brushing mine as they go. I fight back a gasp, waiting until they’re standing beside me before I get up to join them.
In the bathroom, I can’t keep my eyes off the two of them. Ben is being goofy, making funny faces at us in the mirror, and Parker is doing their best to pretend it’s not making them smile.
