Chapter 26
26
A s hot and bothered as I was right before we left for lunch, by the time we get to the restaurant, I’m sweating from nerves instead of arousal. Wesley gives me a hand to help me out of his absurdly fancy sports car that sits so low to the ground that I have to be careful not to flash people as I step out. He squeezes my hand reassuringly, and when he tries to let go, I cling to him. I know I’m being ridiculous, but the only thing keeping me from running away from the disastrous conversation heading our way is this tether to him.
“You alright, baby girl?” Wesley asks, cocking an eyebrow at me in concern. “If you’re not ready to tell Doug, I can figure out how to deal with waiting longer. Or I can go in and tell him alone. ”
He’s already offered that option, but I can’t let him shoulder the responsibility and I certainly can’t stomach keeping a secret from Doug after everything he’s gone through lately.
“No. I’m okay. Maybe…” I look down at our joined hands, then back at his face. “Maybe we hold hands as we go in? Show him right away what’s going on. Or is that stupid?”
He considers my proposal for a second, then nods. “We hold hands. I want everyone to see what you are to me. Not just Doug.”
The thought sends a pleased thrill through me, followed by a reflexive gut clench of anxiety. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said his human glamor intimidates me with how handsome it is. Having everyone at the restaurant see that we’re together, that someone like me was able to bag such a hot guy, is a little terrifying.
Will they judge me? Will they judge him? Ugh, why the fuck do I even care?
Wesley doesn’t give me any more time to spiral, bending down to kiss me on the cheek, then leading me by the hand toward the entrance. The door swings open and I immediately see Doug by the host stand. I almost yank away from Wes in the moment before my brother turns back toward us, but I shove the instinct down. Wes needs to know that I claim him as much as he claims me, and that means facing this head on.
My stomach lurches, but Doug smiles as he sees us. Fatigue is written across his features, but there’s no sign of the distress he felt last night. “Hey! I put in my name. It should only be a minute or two.” If he notices our joined hands, he doesn’t react at all.
“Perfect. Uh, how you holding up, man?” Wesley sounds trepidatious as he asks the question, no doubt wondering why the hell Doug isn’t commenting on us holding hands.
“Eh.” Doug shrugs and lets out a heavy sigh. “Not great, but sure as fuck better than last night. I was so drained that I fell asleep as soon as I got bac k to my place. Means a lot to me that you both wanted to check in though even though you were up so late last night.”
“It wasn’t that late,” I sputter, this time unable to stop myself from letting go of Wesley’s hand. Shit, I need to get myself together.
Doug gives me a confused look, but the host saves me from explaining my weird protest. Wesley slides a hand onto my lower back as we walk and my skin burns, knowing that if Doug turned around, he could see the possessive way his best friend is touching me.
My brother slides into one side of the booth and I have a moment of panic trying to decide where to sit. Wes makes the decision for me, subtly guiding me with the hand still resting on my back to go to the side across from Doug. He scoots in next to me and grabs my thigh under the table, giving it a soft, reassuring squeeze. It doesn’t make me feel any better, because it’s all I can do not to blush thinking about that hand touching me other nearby places.
“Did Wes give you a ride?” Doug asks casually.
Is that suspicion in his voice or some kind of euphemism? Because technically I didn’t ride Wesley’s dick last night, but that was only because I was too weak and overcome with pleasure to do much more than take him. God, stop thinking about his dick!
Wesley’s fingers dig into my thigh, attempting to get me to chill out. “Yeah. Got her car towed to the shop this morning, but I’m not sure when it’ll be fixed, so I’ll probably be giving her a ride for a while.”
Now I know I’m turning red. I kick Wesley’s leg under the table to get him to stop it with the innuendos, but smiles innocently at me.
“I can also drive you around if you need,” Doug offers, and I’m infinitely grateful for his different choice of words. Was that intentional? Does he know that we were up all night fucking? Oh god.
I suck in a shallow breath and attempt a calm smile. “You both are sweet. I’ll be okay. I’m usually holed up at my place, anyway. The only place I go regularly is the post office and I can have them do a mail pickup instead.”
“Ooo, that’d give you an excuse to flirt with the cute mail guy.” Doug waggles his eyebrows at me.
Wesley frowns at Doug, then turns to look at me. “What cute mail guy? You have a cute mail guy?”
“She’s never told you about hot mail guy? Dude totally has a crush on her, but she doesn’t believe me. I mean, the guy brings her mail directly to her doorstep rather than leaving it in the mailbox, and he gives her homemade cookies at least once a month. No one does that shit unless they’re flirting.”
“He doesn’t like me! He’s just nice.” I protest, squirming as Wes pins me with his gaze and Doug chuckles at my denial.
Is Doug right? I thought my mailman Raf was bringing me the cookies because he had extra from his home baking experiments. Sure, he smiles at me and takes a moment to chat when he drops off the mail, but that’s just because he can tell how much of a hermit I am. Right? Oh god, he does have a crush on me and I’m just oblivious. No wonder it took me so long to find out Wesley was interested in me.
“You have a hot mail guy who brings you cookies?” Wesley’s frown deepens. “Not surprised he’d be interested, but he should ask you out if he’s into you.”
“You’re one to talk!” I blurt. Horror sinks in a second later.
Doug’s brow furrows in confusion. “What do you mean? Wesley asks people out all the time.”
Wesley stiffens beside me and now he’s the one that’s panicking, judging by his rough tone when he replies. “Asking someone out and wanting a deeper conne ction isn’t the same thing.”
He’s looking at Doug, but I can tell he’s trying to reassure me. I’d be lying if I said the insecure part of me isn’t cringing at the reminder of how many people Wesley’s dated. It’ll take time for me to not have that knee-jerk fear that he’ll drop me for someone better, but I trust him when he says he’s serious about us. Everything he’s done over the past week has proven that again and again.
I’m a little surprised when Wesley turns his focus back on me instead of moving the conversation away from our dating lives. “Do you like him?”
I blink back at him, flustered. “Do I like who?”
“ Hot mail guy .” Wesley sounds like he’ll fight my mailman to eliminate any competition.
It’s kind of hot in a caveman possessive way, but it’s also so absurd that I have to hold back a laugh. “What? No!”
Doug holds his hands up appeasingly and shakes his head at us with a chuckle. “Relax! We don’t have to talk about the hot mail guy. But that means you’ll have to entertain us pathetic and lonely people with your exploits, Wes. Are you seeing anyone?”
The minotaur beside me and I freeze. Fuck. This is it.
“Yeah.” Wes gives me a soft smile and holds my thigh in a tight grip.
“Dude, I need more details than that! What’re they like? Are they a…” Doug looks around to make sure no one is listening. “Are they a monster? Oh! Is it that changeling who was flirting with you at the gym? Or maybe the barista that’s always giving you drinks for free. What’s their name?”
Not wanting to hear more about Wesley’s list of romantic possibilities, I break. “It’s me! He’s seeing me!”
Doug blinks once. Twice. Then shakes his head with a low chuckle. “Man, you almost had me there. You two would never?— ”
“It’s not a joke. Ariana and I are together.” Wesley releases his grip on my thigh to bring his arm up and drapes it over my shoulders, pulling me in closer to his side.
Doug shakes his head in disbelief again. “There’s no way.” His eyes widen when Wesley leans down and kisses my cheek. My heart races and my face flames as I wait for Doug to say something. But he doesn’t. Instead, he rests his elbows on the table and buries his face in his hands. His chest starts to shake.
Fuck, he’s upset. A stream of words spill from my mouth in an attempt to placate my brother and calm him down. “It’s only been for a week! That night at the escape room when you didn’t show up…we realized some things.” I keep my tone as even and soothing as possible, but Doug shakes even harder. “We wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a fling before we told you. I know this is terrible timing with what happened with Margaret yesterday, but we didn’t want to keep it from you any longer. Please don’t be upset. I care about you both so much… I love you both so much.”
“Upset?” Doug finally looks up at us, and I’m shocked to see that his face is twisted in amusement, not anger. He’s laughing!
I scowl at my brother, my anxiety shifting to hurt. “We told you it’s not a joke! Is it really that unbelievable that Wesley would want to be with me? God, I thought you of all people would be able to set fatphobic bullshit aside and see that I’m good enough for your best friend, but I guess not.”
Wesley’s brow furrows in concern. “Baby girl, you’re a total catch. You’re more than I ever dreamed of finding.”
Doug’s grin falters, his eyes wide with shock at how upset I am. “Whoa, whoa! That’s not why I was laughing. Jesus, Ari, if anything, you’re way out of this meathead’s league.”
My minotaur snorts at that comment and nods. “Got that right.”
Doug’s mouth twists as he takes in the adoring way Wesle y’s looking at me. “I was laughing because I’ve waited for the past six months for you two idiots to get your heads out of your asses and tell each other how you feel! I was worried it would never happen. You’re both so stubborn and self-sacrificing.” He lets out an amused sigh. “When Kelly had the idea to flake on the escape room and set you up on Valentine’s Day, I went along with it even though I didn’t think it’d work. Damn, I owe her fifty bucks.”
I look back at my brother, mouth agape. We were so worried about telling him and he knew we were into each other? “What the hell, Doug? If you knew how much I liked Wesley and that he wanted me too, why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t know for sure. It seemed obvious, but I didn’t want to make things weird on the off-chance that I was wrong. You guys are way too important to me to risk making things awkward.” Doug pauses, narrowing his eyes at Wesley. “This isn’t going to make things awkward, is it? If this is just a hookup for you, and you hurt my baby sister, you’re dead to me. Ariana said she loves you, but you didn’t?—”
My stomach lurches. Oh god, I did tell him I love Wesley. I wasn’t going to say anything because it felt crazy to confess after only being together a week, but I needed Doug to know how serious we are about our relationship.
Wesley cuts off Doug and my panicked thoughts. “Of course I fucking love her! I’ve loved her since that very first monster meeting you came to. She’s everything to me.” He turns and looks at me. “I love you, Ari.”
Everything melts away at his proclamation and the fevered devotion shining in his eyes. My heart swells with so much love and appreciation for the glorious minotaur sitting next to me. “I love you too, Wes.”
Uncaring about our surroundings or Doug wa tching us, Wesley claims my lips in a passionate kiss. I’m about to open my mouth to let his tongue inside, clinging to him and pressing closer, when Doug clears his throat.
“It’s great that you love each other, but if this is going to work, I’m going to need you to put a limit on your makeout sessions in front of me. I’m happy for you, but I don’t need to see my sister all breathless and ready to climb into your lap.” Doug’s face crinkles in disgust.
“Sorry!” I squeak, pulling away from Wesley as my cheeks burn from the call out. “We’ll keep it to a minimum around you. But you… you mean it? You’re okay with us being together?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? You’re perfect for each other. Wesley will force you to rest and have fun, and you’ll keep his ego from getting too damn big.”
“Too late for that,” I say, giggling at the indignant huff Wesley lets out. It almost turns into a gasp when he pinches my thigh and gives me a look that says I’ll pay for that comment later.
Wesley’s expression sobers, and he focuses on Doug. “We really are perfect together. I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to make Ari happy. I’ll cherish her and keep her safe.”
Doug nods. “Good. You both deserve to be happy and loved.” His face falls, and I reach out across the table to put my hand over his.
“You deserve that too, Doug. You’ll find it.”
He gives me a weak smile. “Yeah. You’re right. I just hope it doesn’t take me a whole damn year after meeting them to figure it out.”
My chest squeezes at his forlorn tone that he tries to mask with humor. I hope it doesn’t take a year for him either, but if it does, Wes and I are proof that amazing things are worth the wait.