“I don’t know. I just—can’t the two of you just take the lead? You’re the ones with all the experience. Why do you want me to decide everything?”
Asher’s words had a sharp edge to them, and I realized that maybe this whole day had been overwhelming for him. That maybe my lack of filter had spun the situation into something he couldn’t handle. Asher wasn’t looking for control; he was looking for comfort.
“Okay. Blue and I will make the decisions, and we’ll go over those before the scene. But I think for now we should watch a movie. Blue happens to have every streaming service known to man and I, for one, plan to take full advantage of that today.”
“What do you want to watch?” Blue asked Asher, who tried—and failed—to hide his grimace.
“I think Asher will watch paint dry if you keep petting him like that. How about Blue chooses because it’s his house?”
“How about Jax chooses because he clearly has something he wants to watch and doesn’t have the subscription it’s being streamed on?”
“Am I that transparent?”
“You’re practically see-through.”
“Well, in that case, I’ve been dying to watch this limited series. It’s six episodes.”
Blue let out a groan but didn’t otherwise object. “Should we move things around and set up the pull-out couch? It makes for better movie watching because everyone can stretch out.”
“You just want to snuggle Ashy all night.” The nickname was maybe a touch too much, but I liked the way it sounded and the way it felt to say it.
“And?” Blue held my gaze. “Jealous?”
“Hell yeah, I’m jealous. He’s going to lay in the middle so we can share him.”
“That’s up to him.” Blue tucked his face closer to Ash. “What do you want?”
“I want popcorn and a blanket, but first, I want a bathroom.”
Blue released his hold. “It’s down the hall. You can’t miss it.”
When Asher was gone and the bathroom door clicked shut, I looked at Blue and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Stop trying to tell him he can back out. Every time you tell him that, he looks like his dog died.”
Blue narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. “He’s vulnerable and he needs to know he has options.”
“He knows he has options. He needs to feel like he’s not being rejected every ten seconds. If he wants to call it off later, let him, but stop trying to tell him he can quit.”
“Fine.”
“Good.”
The toilet flushed and Blue stood up. “I’ll clear up the food if you want to move the coffee table and then get the pull-out set up.”
“Calling it a pull-out sounds dirty, you know.” I smirked at Blue, who merely rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile there too.
Blue cleared the food away while I got the couch set up. Asher returned from the bathroom and stood off to the side with his hands shoved in his pockets.
“Can I help?”
“We’ve got it under control,” Blue said, brushing past him, stopping to plant a kiss on his cheek. “But give me one second.”
Blue darted into his room and came out again not long after wearing a pair of light purple pajama pants. He handed a similar pair in a baby blue color to Asher. “You can’t watch a movie in those awful jeans.”
“Where’s mine?” I asked.
Blue looked at me and shrugged. “I don’t have any that will fit you. Besides, you have shorts on. You’ll be comfortable.”
“Are these women’s?” Asher asked holding the pajama bottoms up.
