27. Unhinged
Chapter 27
Unhinged
CALLIE
“ W e need to talk.”
I got my brain to function long enough to peer over my shoulder at Cole. “Last time you said something similar, it was to tell me I was moving in with one of you.”
He covered Freddy’s hand that was on my breast and tweaked my nipple. He kept it there, holding parts of both of us. “And look how well that’s turned out.”
The man has a point.
“We’ll do it later,” I mumbled, burrowing my face in Marco’s chest and my ass against Cole’s crotch. “Sleep first.”
“We need to feed her,” Freddy added.
And that man also has a point. A very good one.
Dinner had been in the works before we got sidetracked by a plastic murder and the subsequent changing of our lives, their friendships, and our relationships. After expending all that effort, my hunger was more demanding than my need for sleep.
“Food, then sleep,” I agreed.
The culinary-minded chef sat up. “You get our girl cleaned up, and I’ll see if I can salvage dinner.”
“I can clean myself,” I said.
I was ignored as he leaned over to kiss me. Hesitating for a moment, he also dropped a quick kiss to Cole’s bare shoulder before hightailing it from the room.
Naked.
Cole watched him go, then stood to pull on the track pants he’d been wearing earlier. “You got any more of those cute pajamas, baby?”
“The duffel in the closet,” I said.
Marco shook his head as he also got up.
How can they even move right now?
“The top few drawers are hers,” he said, referring to the fancy armoire built into his insane closet.
I’d thought my old apartment was nice, with the laundry in the basement.
Marco’s was right in his closet.
No hauling baskets anywhere.
It took my ears and brain a moment to communicate and process what he’d said. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m only here temporarily.”
The matching angry stares that cut my way made me press my lips together.
Putting a palm to the mattress, Marco leaned over to get in my face. “You’re here till your Daddies and Freddy say you can leave.”
Then, like that wasn’t the most unhinged sentence ever uttered, he stood and tilted his head toward the bathroom. “I’ll get her pajamas. You get a damp cloth.”
“I can do both those things,” I tried again, but they didn’t pay attention.
Not only wasn’t I allowed to get the cloth, I wasn’t even allowed to clean myself. Cole did it for me, using the warm fabric to wipe the mess between my thighs—and remind me how careless we’d been. I tried to stare at the ceiling and disassociate through the considerate yet awkward act, but my thoughts were too chaotic.
They bounced between what had happened. What that meant. And what had lit the fuse that’d set off the explosion that’d been building for a while—and not just in my imagination.
The picture of the mannequin popped into my head, and a tremor went down my spine.
Cole paused his gentle care. “Too cold, goddess?”
Goddess .
I bolted upright to sit. “The dead mannequin.” I bobbed my head from side to side. “Not dead since technically not alive, but you know what I mean. I need to see the picture.”
“Why?”
“I just do.” I thought we’d have to go back to his makeshift office, but he pulled his phone from his pocket, touched the screen a few times, and handed it to me. Fake or not, I didn’t look too closely as I used my thumbs to zoom in. “This bracelet.”
His gaze went from the image to me. Then down to my still very naked body.
Oh, for heaven’s…
I took the pajamas from Marco—who didn’t seem thrilled to hand them over—and got dressed.
“What about the bracelet?” Cole asked.
“It’s an ES thing.” I paused before clarifying. “Eternal Sun. As you progress through the program, you earn new wooden beads to signify which teachings you’ve mastered. It’s supposed to be a constant reminder of how you’ve brightened your life and encourage you to keep going.”
Marco slipped the phone from my hold so he could look. “Do you have one?”
“I didn’t bring it with me when I left.”
“Any chance this is yours?” He tried to hand the phone back so I could check, but it wouldn’t have made a difference.
“I have no clue. I don’t know what beads were on mine.”
“I thought they were about the teachings or whatever bullshit?” Cole asked.
“For most people. I kept progressing without doing anything.” At the suspicious glance they shared, a jolt of fear went through me.
Not for myself.
For them.
I didn’t want them to go sniffing around that place, so I shared my assumption.
The initial one, before I’d learned the truth.
“I wasn’t a good student in school.” My face heated, but it was worth the humiliation to keep them safe. “I wouldn’t have graduated if not for Tess keeping me on track. She tried to help with the ES learning, too, but I didn’t care about that enough to apply myself. I never bought into their whole system, but I figured they passed me through because they didn’t want to risk upsetting my parents and losing them. Or, more specifically, losing their money.”
Cole’s eyes widened. “Your parents have money?”
“A lot.”
“Then why did you…” His words might’ve trailed off, but I could guess his question.
Why did I work as a server, live in a porn-partment, drive a car older than I was, and generally struggle in life?
“Because they have money. Not me.” I rolled the tie from my pajama pants as I spoke. “Both of my parents came from filthy rich families. My paternal great-grandfather was some media tycoon. Not Hearst big, but still successful. My maternal side was in real estate in Texas. Both sides were smart enough to set up trusts with monthly allowances for my parents. That money always went toward whatever community they were in since they’re not big into material possessions. Unless it’s weed or shrooms.”
“You don’t have an allowance?” Marco asked, looking lost. I wasn’t surprised. From the bit he’d shared, he came from a nice family.
A normal one.
I wonder what they’d think if they found out about us.
Not that there’s an us . Maybe this was just sex.
Even as I thought it, I didn’t think it was true. Regardless, I pushed the looming unease aside.
Future-me was going to have her hands full.
“My parents were always adamant they weren’t having kids. They didn’t want responsibilities harshing their mellow. My grandparents had already passed by the time I threw a wrench in things.”
That didn’t clarify much for him. “Why don’t your parents just give you the money then?”
“It might not be the seventies, but they very much have a commune-hippie mindset. They think that wealth and love are meant to be shared. That life is an adventure, and everyone should follow their own path. They barely blinked when I told them I was leaving ES, even knowing they wouldn’t be allowed to have contact with me. They thought it was good that I was striking out on my own with nothing but the clothes on my back.”
A pang of hurt hit my chest when I remembered how they’d rejected my pleas to come with me. I’d known they would say no. ES was the longest they’d stayed in one place for a reason. It fed into their delusion that the donations made a difference to all of humanity while the program unburdened their souls. But I hadn’t expected their refusal to be so immediate. I’d hoped they would hesitate for at least a few minutes before basically turning their backs on me forever.
Both men kissed me—which I accepted because I wasn’t stupid—but I waved away their pity. “It’s really not a big deal. In this case, they were right. Being on my own was what I needed. Except right now, when I also need dinner.” I stood and winced. “And pain meds.”
Marco insisted on carrying me downstairs while Cole went into the bathroom for my medicine.
It wasn’t uncommon for us to eat in the living room, but rather than me taking my usual spot in the corner of the sectional, Marco situated me on his lap. “You need some time before we talk more?”
It was unsurprising that the often silent man was the one to offer me a reprieve from the impending conversation. But it would be better to get it over with before my thoughts could run wild.
“I’m good,” I told him honestly.
“Perfect timing.” Freddy entered the living room, balancing four plates loaded with lemon garlic chicken over angel hair. In a move that made the server in me envious, he skillfully slithered them off his arms onto the coffee table before going back to the kitchen for drinks.
When he returned without the distraction of his impressive balancing act, I belatedly realized he must’ve stopped into his room for sweatpants.
Good for preventing tragic cooking-related mishaps, bad for my ogling.
Who was I kidding? They could’ve been wearing full-body hazmat suits, and I still would’ve drooled at their handsome faces in the little plastic window.
As it was, he and Marco remaining shirtless still gave me amazing eye candy.
I added Cole to my viewing pleasure as he entered in just his track pants. He handed me the pain pills, then sat close before grabbing my legs to stretch them across his lap.
Everyone took a plate, and I thought someone would launch in. Instead, Cole turned the TV on to the medical show I’d been watching.
He must’ve assumed I needed some time like Marco had. That’s fine.
We can talk tomorrow.
Or in a couple of days.
Weeks.
Centuries.
I tried to scoot off Marco, but he dropped a heavy arm across my lap, nearly knocking over my plate in the process. My attempt to move my legs was about as successful. I rolled my eyes, but it wasn’t like it was a hardship, so I started eating.
Once everyone was done, Cole turned the TV off.
“Hey, the episode wasn’t over,” I pointed out.
“It’s streaming. Just finish it tomorrow. I told you, we need to talk.”
I crossed my arms. “But then you put on my show, so I thought we were waiting.”
“No, I put it on so you would zone in and eat more than two bites of dinner. It worked. Now we’re talking.”
I looked at the other two, hoping they’d take pity on me.
Cole held up a finger. “Uh-uh, goddess. None of that shit. No playing us against each other. Let’s consider that rule number one.”
“There are rules?”
“Every relationship has rules. We’re just going to spell them out.”
That…
Actually, that sounds really helpful.
I felt like I should be taking notes for the conversation, but I just nodded instead.
“If you have a problem with what one of us is saying,” he continued, “you talk it out with that one. Communication is key, even if you don’t like the answer.”
Marco gripped my chin and turned my attention his way. “I’ve always been a bossy bastard—or a mean mountain—but I’ve never done this Daddy thing before. If I’m just taking care of you in a way that pisses you off but is for the best, that’s not gonna change. But I need to know if I’m really fucking up.”
My brows shot up. “You’ve never been a Daddy?”
He was a natural at it. Maybe not as comfortable speaking about it as Cole was, but his actions spoke louder than words anyway.
And I told him that. “Well, great job so far.”
I’d meant it as a joke—a true one, but still—but the curve of his mouth showed how much the reassurance meant to him.
“And I have experience, but not in something like this.” I thought Cole was talking about the fact ours involved double the amount of people as a typical relationship, but then he kept talking. “I’ve never done more than casual, so this is a different ball game for me, too.”
I thought about his words outside earlier. “But you said it’s not a switch you turn off.”
“Correct. Which is why casual was what worked best. Until now.” Like he said he’d do, he laid it all out. “Because, baby, this is far from fucking casual. Not for any of us.”
The other two men nodded.
I still followed their bluntness lead and asked for clarification—hypocritical as it was. “As far as, uh, other people outside of the four of us?”
It was the wrong thing to say.
“Why, is there someone else?”
“Is it that connasse Alex?”
“What soon-to-be-dead motherfucker are you referring to?”
At the rapid questions spoken over each other, I couldn’t help it.
I started laughing. “I meant you. It doesn’t seem fair that we… But if you… with other women…”
“What’s not fair? We get you.” There was a heavy pause as Cole shared the briefest look with Freddy. “We get this . What else would we need?”
There’s something between the two of them.
It wasn’t the first time I’d thought it, but seeing how they’d hesitantly touched each other earlier and their reactions to said touches confirmed it.
It made me happy.
Not because watching Cole grab Freddy was hot. I mean, it was. But it wasn’t that they were objects for me to ogle and fetishize.
It was that I cared about them. They also clearly cared about each other. It made me happy all around.
So long as no one outside of that room tried to touch them.
Hypocritical or not, the amount of jealousy that filled me at the thought proved I wasn’t okay to share them with anyone else.
I fidgeted with Marco’s fingers. “If that changes, please tell me.”
“It won’t,” Cole assured.
“But—”
Marco cut in. “He’s not gonna give you some bullshit response because that’s all it would be, Calliope. Bullshit. It ain’t gonna change. We don’t wanna fuck any other women.”
I didn’t bother to argue my point since the firm looks on their faces said it wouldn’t do any good.
“That goes with the next rule,” Cole said. “No fucking unless we’re all there.”
Even though he’d waited for his turn when we were together earlier, it still must’ve worked for him because Marco lifted his chin in agreement.
It was Freddy who opposed. “Whoa, hey, let’s not be hasty.”
Cole looked torn between rolling his eyes and narrowing them. “You would say that.” He gestured back and forth between him and Marco. “Our schedules are a fuckuva lot less flexible than yours. That leaves you more time at home with her.”
He feigned shock. “Wow. What a coincidence. I did not even think of that benefit.”
“No.” Cole’s gesture widened to include the four of us. “This is between all of us. That means fucking is, too.” He paused before clarifying. “Coming of any kind. I don’t want to get home, looking forward to finally sinking in, and you both are too exhausted from an all-day fuck fest.”
It didn’t seem to be lost on Freddy or me that he hadn’t specified who he’d be sinking into.
I squeezed my thighs together, and Marco spanned one to stop me. “That also means no touching this pretty pussy by yourself. You need something, you let us take care of you.”
That didn’t help the need building, but I worked to stay focused. “What else?”
“Absolutely no lying,” Marco said firmly.
“That goes both ways. All ways,” I amended.
A few seconds of silence passed before Cole broke it. “There will be more rules as things happen. We won’t expect you to read our minds and know them. We’ll lay it all out, just like we’re doing now.”
“What if I don’t like one?”
“Tough shit.”