Bigfoot saw me, nobody believed him.
“Clearly, you’re joking. You look like you want to mount my head in the den, Grayson would sooner pluck out his nose hair, and Felix can’t even look at me.”
Grayson reaches up and pinches his nostrils, obviously bothered I brought up his nose hair.
“We don’t have a den,” Remy deadpans, and Felix continues to avoid my gaze.
I lean my head back and let out a growl of my own, and when I return my attention to the group in front of me, I swear I see the ghost of a smile on Remy’s lips before he squashes it. If I didn’t know the three of them as well as I know myself, even after all this time, they might be intimidating, but no matter how long it’s been since I’ve seen them, I do know them. They are inside me no matter how hard I tried to dig them out.
“Okay, whatever you have to say or do to feel better, let me have it.” I square my shoulders and tip up my chin.
“Going to let you have it,” Gray mumbles under his breath, but I still hear him. I roll my wrist to urge them on, but none of them do anything but look at me.
“It’s late, I put your things in your room,” Felix murmurs, breaking his silence.
“My room?” I look between the three of them.
“Unless you want to go old-school,” Remy offers with a leer. I scoff, knowing exactly what he means. I used to frequently sleep between them, and sleeping wasn’t even close to the best part, but it was pretty damn epic. I haven’t slept that well in ages, but I haven’t had three eager males to tire me out either.
“I have some place I need to be in the morning. Pop needs my help.” I’m slightly defeated, but I know when to call the game and lick my wounds.
“I spoke with your father. We will make sure you’re available to him,” Grayson announces formally.
“Will you now? How very magnanimous of you.” I wrinkle up my face as I make fun of him. Grayson’s family is one of the original descendants of Hill Crest. He’s old money, but you would never know by just looking at him. I never could anyway, but how the hell someone can tell the difference between a ten-dollar white T-shirt and a two hundred dollar one, I still don’t know.
Felix rolls his lips in to keep from smiling, and I feel like the sun just peeked out from the clouds. I don’t even realize I’m taking a step closer to him until he backs up so fast, his hip hits the counter and he curses.
“I’ll take her up.” Grayson huffs and stalks out of the room. I assume I’m supposed to follow him, but I stand my ground and stare at his back as he walks out of the kitchen. “Frances!” he shouts, and my spine snaps straight and my feet carry me after him. I poke my tongue out at Remy as I pass him. My God, now it’s as if I’m twelve.
I follow Grayson up a flight of stairs, but I don’t look around too much because his ass is much more interesting than my surroundings. I already know I’m stuck here, so I might as well enjoy the view. I miss the third step and end up tripping up the stairs. Thankfully, I catch myself on my hands before I eat carpet. I hear a chuckle from behind me and look over my shoulder to see Remy and Felix standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Eyes up, buttercup.” Remy jabs his elbow into Felix’s side when he uses his personal endearment again. Damnit. They know I fell because I was checking out Gray’s butt. I face forward and rise so I’m not crawling up after Grayson with my nose lifted in the air.
Gray’s brooding near the top step, waiting impatiently. “Is there anyone else here?” I try to sound casual, but I’m not sure I pull it off.
“Why? You think you’ll be able to convince them to let you out so you can run off again?” I stop mid stride and turn to look at Grayson. He was always a little jaded, it came from growing up with his family, but he never treated me like I was one of the people he had to protect himself from.
“No, Gray. It’s just a big house for the three of you.” My words are spoken softly, ruefully.
“Yeah, well, it was supposed to be four.” He stops next to an open door and lifts his arm in an invitation. I poke my head in and spy a well-appointed room. It shouldn’t surprise me how nice it is, considering everything in this place is nice, but it does. There’s a four-poster bed made from dark wood, with sheer cream curtains pulled back to reveal matching bedding and way too many pillows.I bet all four of us could fit on that mattress.
I avert my gaze from the bed and ignore all the thoughts that want to take root, and bounce my eyes around the room, taking in the furniture and French doors to the left. “We’re not going to lock you in,” Gray grumbles when I don’t breach the doorway.
I finally spot my bags near a closed door on the other side of the room. I’m hesitant to enter, but I can’t really say why. “We have other rooms,” Felix offers.
“There’s nothing wrong with this one,” Grayson counters.
“Where are your rooms?” I ask and immediately want to take it back, especially when Grayson’s face darkens.
“Fucking us isn’t going to make it easier for you to leave.”
“That’s not—”
“That’s enough,” Remy snaps, looking at Gray. It’s not like he didn’t just tease me about the same thing downstairs, but the delivery of Grayson’s jab was meant to hurt, whereas Remy’s wasn’t. I take two steps into the room just to get away from him. He’s not the same man I knew. Grayson wouldn’t speak to anyone like that, least of all me.
He must be able to read the thoughts on my face, because he leans forward and shouts, “Goddammit, Frankie, you left us! What did you think would happen when you finally showed up?”
“Don’t pretend I didn’t leave for you, for all of you!” I scream back, finally reaching a breaking point. My heart feels like it’s being ripped out of my chest. I never wanted to relive that moment of rejection. “I felt what you did. I tasted disappointment in your magic, knew that you all wished things were different.” My hand fists in my shirt over my heart.
