‘Have you talked to insurance?’
‘Yeah, I made the call. They’re going to follow up once they have the official report. Thankfully, we have a good plan, but it’s gonna put us out of commission for a while. And honestly,the guy on the phone was a dick. Said if I was the arsonist, they wouldn’t pay out.’
I fume at that, my hands spitting out a slew of curses while Dex looks on.
‘My thoughts exactly,’ he says when I finally calm down. ‘I told him neither me nor Thom did this. Someone else did.’
‘Of course you didn’t do that. Fuck that guy.’
He leans against me as the effects of the gummy hits us both. It’s not a full dose, but it’s enough to have us relaxing slightly. Dennis hops onto the coffee table and begins licking his paw, staring at us for a long moment.
‘I just want this day to be over. It was awful.’
‘It didn’t start that way.’
‘No. It didn’t. It started so fucking good. Held so much promise.’ His words trail off, and I hold him tightly.
‘You’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.’
He glances up at me, and I give him a soft, chaste kiss.
I’ll make sure of it, I tell myself. I’ll make sure everything is okay.
Robbie stares at me with a suspicious look in his eye as Dex and Thom go over the incident report and the other forms the insurance is requiring for the claim. They both look stressed, and Robbie doesn’t look like he’s slept much.
There’s little he or I can do about this. The brothers own PUMPT, and they know what it needs. I just want to be here, but it only takes me a moment to remember that Dex and I haven’t told anyone else about being in a relationship except Quinn.
Frankly, I’m surprised the next call he made wasn’t to Robbie.
‘Outside?’ Robbie asks me across the table.
Dex and Thom have been trying to use ASL to keep us included, but this is one time I will not fault either of them for defaulting to speaking.
I nod and stand up as Robbie taps Thom on the shoulder and lets him know we’re going out back.
Thom frowns, looking worried. ‘Sorry. I don’t mean to forget?—’
‘No.’ Robbie takes Thom by the chin and kisses him. ‘It’s okay. Don’t worry about us right now.’
My chest aches with envy because that’s what I want to do for Dex, but I don’t know if he wants that in front of everyone. I don’t want us to distract from all of this.
But as I step away, Dex pouts at me, and I take a breath. What better way to let Thom and Robbie know that this is a thing. Walking around the table, I set a tender hand to his cheek. His eyes flutter closed, and I feel the faint rumble of a hum as he urges me close.
I can feel both sets of eyes on me, but fuck it. I lean in and kiss him long and slow until he releases all the air in his lungs and knocks his forehead against my jaw.
Very faintly, I hear Robbie make a noise of outrage, and I glance over at him, raised brows, challenging him.
‘Seriously!’ his hands demand.
I shrug.
‘Did you know about this?’ he asks Thom.
Thom looks guilty and shrugs. ‘I’ve seen some things at the gym.’
I guess we weren’t as subtle as we planned to be. But whatever.
Dex pushes me slightly to the side. ‘He’s my boyfriend. Get over it.’
