“I’m going tofuckingkill you.”
And with that, one of my best friends launches at the other while Lucy screams.
Chapter 27
Lucy
Ihave younger brothers, so it’s not like I’ve never seen one person lunge after another. Mary had a penchant for chasing me around the house—anytime I abused my little-sister privileges and borrowed a Hollister tank top, a tube of lipstick, or her favorite body wash without asking.
Butthisis nothing like the little spats between my siblings that my parents have had to referee over the years.
This is a fully grown, muscular man—Dane—lunging after another fully-grown, and slightly less muscular man. Cole drops his controller on the couch, and it selects a new game behind us, so the TV chimes happily and starts the soundtrack for Coconut Mall. It’s absurd.
“Youfucker,” Dane hisses when Cole ducks out of his way and turns around, his hand held up carefully. Cole is agile, on the balls of his feet, but Dane has more power. Dane is going for Cole, and Nico is going for Dane, yelling, “Down, boy!”
It’s complete chaos, and it looks like Cole might manage to keep away from Dane. Then, he hits his hip against the corner of the couch, lets out a curse, and Dane hooks an arm around the other man’s neck, dragging him to the ground like a pro-wrestler.
“Ohmygod, ohmygod,” I scream, jumping from foot to foot like the floor is on fire. The men are on the hardwoods now, Dane looking like he’s going to choke Cole, Cole striking back at him, and Nico groaning, holding his jaw where he must have taken a hit.
It’s at this moment, mere seconds into the fight, that I stop screaming, panic finally igniting into action.
I have to do something. I have to keep Dane from killing Cole, keep Nico from getting chewed up in the middle of it.
Cole manages to squirm free from Dane for a split second, and I take the opportunity, falling forward and crawling over his body. Dane is already in the process of trying to do the same—to get a few punches in on Cole’s face, maybe?—so I end up draped over Cole, back covered by Dane.
“Lucy,” Dane growls, and without thinking, I bring my elbow up and back.
It connects with his face.
“Ah,fuck.” It’s a low, deep hiss, then the heat of him behind me is gone. I’m instantly spinning around, not really cognizant of the fact that I’m now sitting in Cole’s lap, reaching my hands out to Dane.
He’s just behind me, his hand on his face.
“Dane,ohmygod, sorry… I wasn’t trying to…” Mortifyingly, a sob catches in my throat, and I dart a glance to Nico. “I just didn’t want you to kill Cole?—”
Nico, who’s been knocked on his ass just to the left of us, has one leg thrown over Cole’s lap, like he was trying to use the same separation tactic as me, but I got there first. He’s breathing hard, and there’s a trickle of blood running down his chin from a split lip.
“He wasn’t going to kill him,” Nico quickly responds.
At the same time, Dane grunts, muffled through the hand over his nose, “I would never really hurt him, Lucy.”
“Fucking liar,” Cole grunts, too, and I feel the vibration of it from under my ass, which reminds me that I’m sitting in his lap. His hands rise to my hips, and I don’t miss the way Dane’s eyes dart down to the contact, burning with… what? Possession? Anger? Hunger? “Remember when you threw my cards away?”
“It was anaccident,” Nico and Dane chorus, but Cole shakes his head like he doesn’t believe them.
Somehow, in a way that reminds me a lot of a fight between siblings, they’ve gone from actual blows to reminders of a shared past. Huffed laughs. A reluctant, casual truce.
Well, maybetruceisn’t the right word. I’m sitting backward in Cole’s lap, with Nico’s leg practically on top of me, with Dane close enough that I would only need to lean forward a fraction to kiss him.
“So,” Nico says, finally, breaking the silence in a way I imagine he often does. “We should probably sort this thing out.”
The guys glance at one another, Cole’s hands flex on my hips again, and I realize they’re having some sort of silent conversation through eye contact. Then, I realize the conversation is aboutme.
And, finally, it becomes clear that each of themknows. They’re aware of the fact that I’ve been with each of them—though, of course, my time with Cole didn’t end with sex.
My face flames hot, and I feel that shame following me all the way from Lancaster, Missouri. It burns through me like I’m sitting in front of our pastor, listening to a pointed sermon about chastity and purity. Protecting innocence.
“Dane would never go along with it,” Nico says, out loud, pulling their conversation from the weird telekinesis and into the air around us. Looking right at me, he says, “The man doesn’t know how to share.”
