Pawliday Love

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

MACIE

T he lack of warmth and hard bodies on either side of me slowly dragged me out of my sleep. The room was warm now from the heater, and the steady thrum of the unit beneath the window filled the quiet of the room. I rubbed at my eyes and rolled onto my back, searching the darkness for the two men who’d rescued me from the side of the road and offered me a place in their room.

But they were missing.

Frowning, I sat up, holding the blanket up to my shoulders. Had they left me here alone? They didn’t seem like the type to do that, but what did I know? But then again, where would they go in this weather? Not far, that was for sure. Not on those bikes.

The sound of a shower turning on reached my ears, and I relaxed. I hadn’t been left here alone. I hadn’t been all that keen on being alone in a motel during a potential blizzard to begin with, but my options had been limited. Now that I had their company, I didn’t want to be by myself. The mere idea left me with a pit of dread in my stomach.

A man’s low moan sounded from the bathroom, and my cheeks flushed. Something hard hit a wall, and then, someone groaned. My skin was on fire now as it became clear exactly where the two men were. I curled my fingers into the blanket, clutching it tighter to me as I tried to ignore what was clearly happening in the bathroom. But it was impossible when those sounds were all I could hear in the quiet of the motel room. And I had no idea where the TV remote was so I could turn on the television.

I had no idea how long I sat there trying not to picture the two of them together and how beautiful I knew they’d look. Eventually, their noises stopped, and a little after that, the shower turned off. When the bathroom door opened, I heard one of them chuckle. “Well, Mason, looks like we woke her up.”

“I told you to be quiet, Joke,” Mason muttered as he stepped out as well.

I roughly cleared my throat, wincing at how sore it was. That was definitely going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow. “I wasn’t trying to listen,” I promised, hating how raspy my voice sounded. I was going to be so sick tomorrow. Ugh .

Fuck you, Dalton .

“We didn’t mean to wake you,” Mason said as he rubbed his towel over his long, dirty-blonde hair. His muscles flexed, along with his abs, making the tattoos on his skin ripple. My mouth went dry, and it took every bit of effort I had to rip my eyes away and stop ogling him. Not only was it disrespectful, but he was clearly already in a committed relationship with Joke.

Joke pushed his hand under his shirt to scratch his flat stomach, revealing a sliver of inked skin. My heart did a weird skip and flip in my chest, and I stared down at my lap, willing my nipples to unharden and for my mind to get out the damn gutter.

These men were helping me. They weren’t looking for a woman to warm their bed in the way my body desperately wanted to.

A sudden sneeze took me by surprise, and my nose clogged all while the burn in my throat from it made tears spring to my eyes. Before I could say, “Excuse me,” another sneeze was assaulting me, and then another one right after that.

Joke pushed tissues into my hands, and I embarrassingly blew my nose, avoiding their gazes. My face was red and no doubt splotchy, and I knew my eyes were watery. Unattractive as hell.

I jerked in surprise when Joke pressed his fingers to my forehead, a frown pulling at his lips. His brows furrowed with concern. “She needs medicine,” Joke announced, looking at Mason. “Which one of us is braving this weather—me or you?”

“Neither of you—” I started, shaking my head. The wind was howling outside, and I knew the snow was coming down harder and faster. No one needed to be out in that mess. I would be fine. This wasn’t some death sentence or something, and medicine could wait until the storm passed.

“I’ll go,” Mason said as both men completely ignored me. I scowled at his massive, broad back as he snatched a pair of socks out of his duffel. Sitting on the edge of the bed, making it dip, he began tugging them on. “We need food anyway. I’m fucking starving.”

Joke snorted. “I bet you are.”

My cheeks burned . If there’d been any doubts as to what the two of them had been doing in the bathroom, there definitely wasn’t now.

Mason shoved his boots on and grabbed his bike keys from where he’d apparently put them on the nightstand. Leaning over me, he gripped Joke’s mouth and pressed a hot, quick kiss to his lips. My breath hitched in my throat, and warmth pooled in my belly. They were just as perfect together as I’d envisioned them to be.

“Be careful,” Joke told him, all the teasing gone from his voice.

“Always,” Mason responded.

When he opened the door, I winced at the frigid air that immediately swept into the room. He muttered a curse before he stepped outside, quickly shutting the door behind him. I looked at Joke, chewing on my bottom lip as I tugged the blankets tighter around me, trying to combat the cold that had swept into the room. “Will he be alright?”

Joke looked away from the door and nodded at me, his dark eyes meeting mine. “He’ll be fine, princess. A snow storm won’t take that man out. I promise.” Reaching up, he tucked my hair behind my ear, and my cheeks flamed once again. “Why don’t you lay back down for now? I’ll turn on a TV show, and we can chill until he gets back with medicine and food.”

Nodding, I laid back down on the bed. Getting up, Joke grabbed the remote from beside the TV, then slid into bed behind me again, casually wrapping an arm around me as if it was normal .

My breath shuddered out of my lungs. Dalton had been soft everywhere, though not overweight. It was just clear he never worked out. But Joke was all hard, lean muscles and man . It was intoxicating.

“How long have you and Mason been together?” I asked Joke as he scrolled through the television channels.

“Three years,” he told me. “We got together while we were prospecting for the Savage Crows, and once we were patched in, we went nomad.”

I swallowed thickly, wondering if I should even voice my next question. But my curiosity always won out over my sense of right and wrong.

“Do you two share women?”

He hummed, and my breath hitched in my throat when he nuzzled the back of my neck for a moment. When he inhaled the scent of my hair, my belly swooped.

“Sometimes,” he rumbled.

My mouth went dry.

He settled on Martin , which was playing on BET, and the sound of Gina scolding Martin filled the room. I settled, relaxing into the mattress and back against Joke as I lost myself in the show and Joke’s warm embrace.

I must have dozed off at some point because suddenly, I was waking up to cold air washing over my face. My eyes snapped open, only to find Mason quickly hurrying into the room, his arms weighed down with bags. Once he kicked the door shut, he deposited the plain black plastic bags on the small table in the corner of the room.

“What’d you get?” Joke asked, leaning up on his elbow to watch as Mason pulled medicine out of the bag, along with ramen noodle cups, hot dogs, napkins, plasticware, sodas, water, SPAM, and Vienna’s. My stomach rumbled at the sight of all the food, and Joke looked down at me with a smirk. “Hungry, princess?”

“A bit,” I croaked as I reached up to rub the sleep from my eyes.

“Also found this little thing,” Mason said, reaching into his hoodie to pull?—

Oh, my God, a kitten !

I screeched and then fell into a coughing fit as I abruptly sat up, reaching for the adorable, gray furball nestled in his arms. Chuckling, Mason stepped forward and handed it to me. It gave a little meow before snuggling into my chest, purring louder than I thought was possible for its small body. I giggled, then sniffled as I ran my hand delicately over his soft fur.

“It was out in the parking lot crying for help,” Mason said to Joke, exasperation lacing his tone. Joke just stared him down in annoyance. “I couldn’t just leave the damn thing.”

“And what do you suggest we do with it when we leave here?” Joke asked as he took a bottle of water and began to pour some into one of the ramen noodle cups.

“I’ll keep it,” I blurted. The kitten nudged its head beneath my chin, and I laughed a little. “Yes, I’m going to keep you,” I murmured. Lifting it up, I smiled. “Oh, you’re a girl kitty. Look how precious you are.”

Mason shook his head at me, but a soft smile was tilting his lips that made a blush spread from my cheeks all the way down to my chest.

“Don’t know where the little thing is going to piss or shit at, but I guess she can stay,” Joke sighed as he started the microwave to cook the noodles.

I beamed at him. “Really?”

He nodded, a small smile tilting his lips as he sighed through his nose. “Yeah, princess, really.”