CHAPTER 31
Price
“Why do I have to stay here and talk shit out? It’s not my ex who keeps showing up and hurting Sonnie. I should be free to go and comfort her.” Cole rubbed his face, feeling as stressed as we each were. He unwrapped one of the cupcakes Sonnie had dropped off and shoved half of it into his mouth. “This cupcake is fine. What’s she talking about?”
I kept my scowl on Drake. “I told you not to marry her.”
He threw his hands up. “Are you serious? That was forever ago! You also told me not to change the cream cheese frosting. Now look at it. Not all of my ideas are as shitty as marrying Samantha.”
Cole moaned suddenly and held up the other cupcake. “Oh, shit. I tried the other one. We’re going to be out of business if she ever starts selling these on a larger scale. Holy fuck. What does she do?”
I took a break from wanting to punch Drake to take a bite of the cupcake I hadn’t made. My mouth watered and I instantly slumped in my chair, wondering if I’d messed up the recipe for our chocolate cupcakes. “What the fuck?”
Drake growled and followed us in tasting the two cupcakes. His eyes widened and he finished the one she’d baked in two bites before tossing the one I’d baked in the trash. “I told you. She’s got talent.”
“Talent? That makes it sound like she’s a beginner on a TV show. This is amazing. It’s literally better than ours.” Cole finished the last of his and licked his fingers. “If one of us ends up being the cause of Sonnie leaving us, I say we get rid of Drake. We’ll keep Sonnie instead.”
I looked at the man in question. “Well?”
Drake crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Fuck you both. I’ll make it right. She’s upset and she has every right to be. I wasn’t even thinking this morning when Samantha touched me. I was too pissed about what she’d been saying. I understand Sonnie being angry and I’ll explain everything to her. She got excited about that asshole Kyle Ross and his charity last night and I nearly fucked her in front of him. That’s how much I didn’t like him looking at her. If she feels even a small percentage of what I felt last night, I’m surprised she didn’t smack me in the face with the cupcakes.”
“You should’ve gone after her earlier.” Cole was in a mood about everything and I didn’t see anything making it better until he got Sonnie back in his arms.
“I would’ve loved to. I didn’t think Samantha chasing me into the house was a good idea, though. Not when she was ranting and raving about the press we’re getting.” Drake growled and stood up. “The last thing Sonnie needs to hear is the public is crushing on us again while throwing her under the bus. I’m so over this bullshit. We’ve never lived our lives for others and here we are, jumping through hoops to make sure a bunch of faceless people on the internet like us.”
“It seems they like us just fine.” I tapped my fingers on my desk and tried to reconcile my desires and my conscience. I didn’t want to give Sonnie up but I didn’t know what the full cost of keeping her would be for her. It wasn’t fair. What we were doing, taking a chance with her life, made us assholes. I just couldn’t give her up.
“I’m going to go make this right.” Drake walked to the office door and looked back at us. “The part that I can, anyway.”
After Drake left, Cole sighed and rubbed his beard. “I’m taking Sonnie out tonight. If she still wants to go. How can I be over the moon fucking excited and full of dread at the same time? This is going to end poorly, Price. We’re going to hurt her.”
I ground my teeth together and sat up. “No. We’ll make it work. We’ll figure it out so she doesn’t get hurt. Maybe she’ll stay with us.”
He smiled. “Maybe it’s weird, but I fucking hope so. For the first time ever, I don’t feel inadequate in a relationship. Not that I’ve had much experience in relationships. It was always shitty, though, feeling like I couldn’t be everything that person needed me to be. Seeing the looks of disappointment when I somehow wasn’t enough, again… It feels different with Sonnie. She seems happy with me as I am, but also, if I’m busy at work, you two assholes can make sure she’s taken care of until I come home. I like knowing she’s always being taken care of.”
“Except she’s not right now.” I ran my hands through my hair and rested my elbows on my desk. “I understand what you’re saying, though. I never could’ve imagined the three of us dating the same woman, would go well. It works, though. It works so well. It’s only been a few days, but I can just feel it. If we fuck up, none of that will matter. She’ll hate us.”
“The public opinion has to sway, right? They’ll see how much we care about her.” Cole stood up and groaned. “I’m going to double check this date plan for tonight. I don’t know why Paul’s insisting on being the one to plan them out.”
“According to Samantha, it’s so he can make sure the optics are just right. Romance instead of affair. That’s the look he’s trying to capture.” I rolled my eyes. “He did a great job last night with that picture of Drake’s dick.”
“To be fair, that wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t have known Drake was going to devour Sonnie in the car ride over.” He grinned. “Though, he should’ve. Our girl’s a tasty fucking snack. How was Drake supposed to stop himself?”
“Get out of my office. Tasty fucking snack? You sound like a teenager.” I shuddered and listened to the sound of him laughing as he left. I stared down at my phone and tried to focus on work. I still had things I needed to do. Even if all I wanted to do was chase Sonnie down and try to convince her she should stay.
“How would you fuck up?”
I flinched and felt my heart lurch as Rosie seemed to just materialize in front of my desk. Dressed in all black with her eyes rimmed in even more black, she was a bit scary looking when she scowled. “Where the hell did you come from? You scared the shit out of me.”
She stepped closer and Monster jumped out of her arms and onto my desk. She turned her scowl onto the cat when he rubbed against my hand. “Traitor.”
“What’s up, Rosie? I have a feeling you want to threaten or maim me, so let’s hear it.” I sat back in my chair and Monster crawled right into my lap. The cat wasn’t helping me win any points with his owner.
“How would you guys fuck up? I heard you say you might fuck up and ruin everything. So, how would you fuck up?” She stared at me so hard I felt like combusting wouldn’t be that shocking.
“Should you be cursing so much? Does Sonnie know you swear like that?” I frowned up at her. “Seriously. You’re a kid. I think I’m supposed to tell you to watch your mouth or something.”
“Try it and see what happens.” She sat in the chair across from me and sent me a look that dared me to admonish her.
“I’m having a hard time believing kids bully you. You’re terrifying.” I thought I saw a hint of a smile but I didn’t want to get carried away. “Anyway, you shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
“You shouldn’t talk so loud.”
“You should try being a little nicer.”
“You should try learning to bake a cupcake. My sister’s cupcakes make yours taste like cat food.”
I winced. “Eat a lot of cat food in your short little life?”
“No, but I offered Monster some of your cupcake and he tried to eat his own shit instead.” She was out for blood.
“My cupcakes built this house, you know? They can’t be that bad.” I was definitely arguing with a child.
“As dry as they are, I bet they could’ve built this house. I’ve seen softer bricks.”
“Alright!” I scowled back at her. “What’s your deal?”
“If you hurt my sister, I’ll destroy you. I don’t know how, but I will. It may take me years to do it, but I won’t forget. I’ll take my time and when you least expect it, I’ll be there, ready to ruin your life.” She sat forward. “Figure out how you might fuck up and then don’t do it. My sister cares about you three for some idiotic reason and she believes in you. You’re the worst kind of asshole if you break that.”
I took a deep breath and counted to ten. I’d never been threatened so thoroughly by a child and she was pushing my buttons, but some only hurt so much because she was right. Hurting Sonnie would make us lower than shit. I met her dark gaze and nodded. “I hear you.”
She smiled suddenly and nodded. “Great. I think I’m going to go watch TV. Nice talking to you.”
I shuddered after she walked out of my office and looked down at Monster. “No fucking wonder you don’t try to scratch that one. She’d eat your heart and insult you while she did it.”
He licked my hand and then yawned. Seemed like even the cat was bored of my shit.