Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN_
IT’S BASIC MATH
Lucky had reached the limit of what he could take when it came to Winston ignoring him.
So far, his plan to get Winston out of his head was working.
They were out together, enjoying a no-expenses-spared kind of date.
Lucky might not be good for much, but he did have money of his own.
Thanks to a trust fund from his grandparents.
Winston wasn’t a hard guy to figure out.
At least, Lucky didn’t think so. Winston wanted what everyone wanted—love and acceptance.
He wanted to know that he wasn’t messing things up.
Winston had always been so careful to let Lucky know exactly where they stood.
They might have the most compatible hearts on the planet, but Winston wasn’t willing to let Lucky settle for anything, or anyone, who couldn’t give him everything he needed.
Lucky sometimes hated that he needed to be topped. In a perfect world, he and Winston would have been two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. But their world wasn’t perfect.
Not yet.
After dinner, Lucky took Winston for ice cream. They strolled through the park, Winston eating his bowl of pistachio, which was a horrendously unappealing shade of green. Lucky had chocolate, no syrup, no sprinkles. It didn’t take much to make him happy.
“If we were back in my hometown, we’d be walking along the pier instead of through the park,” Lucky said. The pier was the place to take a date back home. It was lined with restaurants ranging between fast food and flip-flops to fine dining, jacket required, tiny stacked foods.
“Do you miss the ocean?”
Lucky shrugged. “I thought I’d miss it more, but now I think I’d miss being wherever you are.”
Winston stopped in his tracks. “Lucky—”
“It’s true, Winnie.” Lucky glanced down at Winston’s ice cream. “Eat up, the more that melts the less appetizing it looks.”
Winston rolled his eyes but started walking again. “You act like you’re the one eating it.”
“When we’re kissing later, I can only hope that chocolate goes well with pistachio.”
“Oh, when we’re kissing. Someone’s confident.”
Unless it was his imagination playing tricks on him, Winston moved a little closer to Lucky as they walked.
“Do I have a reason not to be?” Lucky hated how uncertain he sounded, but he’d been on tenterhooks ever since the night of the party.
He hadn’t intended to end up in bed with Winston…
and Calvin, but it turned out to be one of the best nights of his life.
The problem was that he and Winston struggled to get on the same page about their relationship.
Winston gave Lucky the side eye. “You said we weren’t going to talk about this until we got home.”
That had been the original plan, but the longer the date went, the more Lucky needed to know how it was going to end.
Sometimes it felt like he was going to die if he didn’t get to be with Winston.
He hadn’t planned their hookup the night of the party, but the moment he saw Winston, he had to have him.
He’d had just enough to drink to make him brave.
The addition of Calvin to the equation could very well be the solution Lucky had been looking for. Now he only had to convince Winston.
“Maybe we should talk about it now.” Lucky scraped the last of his ice cream out of the paper bowl and licked it off the wooden spoon. “I mean, while we’re on neutral territory and everything.”
“Neutral territory? You make it sound like our house is some kind of battlefield.” Winston laughed and collected Lucky’s empty container from him, tossing both in a trashcan they passed.
Then Winston linked his hand with Lucky’s.
Holding Winston’s hand felt like one of the most natural things in the world for Lucky.
Maybe it was best to have this conversation away from Calvin.
Though he was just a robot, his programming had him constantly striving to improve.
If he thought there was some kind of fault in anything he did, he’d try to fix it.
To make it better. But Lucky had liked him exactly as he was.
There was an almost human-like curiosity about him.
Calvin had endless information available to him, but he sought understanding.
Knowing that people wore clothing, for example, wasn’t enough. He’d wanted to know why Lucky had worn the things he’d worn. Calvin’s quest for knowledge was admirable.
“The other night, when we involved Calvin, what did you think of that?” Lucky asked.
He glanced at Winston and watched his cheeks flush. The tips of his ears too.
“I liked it.”
“So did I. So why have you been avoiding me? And Calvin. And everyone.”
Winston clutched Lucky’s hand tighter. “I liked it too much. When he—you—”
Lucky waited for Winston to gather his thoughts and get the words out. He’d waited this long for an explanation, he could wait a few more minutes.
“It’s all I’ve thought about. The things he did to you, Lucky.
The way he made you look. The expression.
I can never give that to you. Those things.
Those feelings. At least, I thought I couldn’t.
But then Calvin came along, and suddenly it seemed like we might be bridging that gap.
But… I want it too. Calvin, I mean. And I didn’t—I don’t know what to do with those feelings, Lucky. ”
“If you want him too, why didn’t you just take him? You can tell him what you want him to do.”
Winston pulled Lucky to a stop. He stepped in front of Lucky and looked him in the eyes. “I thought about it. All the time. I can’t think of anything else, and then I feel guilty. I felt like I needed your blessing first, but I didn’t know how to ask for it.”
“Winnie,” Lucky slid his free hand into Winston’s hair.
Cradling the back of his head, he held Winston in place while he stepped closer.
“It’s basic math. One bottom plus one vers bottom equals sadness.
But one bottom, plus one vers bottom, plus one hunky robot who will take whatever role we need him to equals happiness.
” Lucky brushed a kiss against Winston’s lips.
“What does that mean?” Winston laughed. Leaning forward, he rested his head on Lucky’s shoulder. Lucky dropped Winston’s hand so he could wrap his arms around him.
“It means that I’ll do anything to have you. I’ll do anything to make you happy. I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work. I swear on my life. And if us working means that our relationship includes a very sexy robot, whom you can bend to your every whim, then I’m down.”
Winston took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. “Are we deluding ourselves into thinking that this is the answer?”
“It’s the one thing that stops you from making a go of us, isn’t it?
” Lucky’s insecurities came rushing back at full speed.
Doubt slammed into his chest like a freight train, turning his insides into nothing but sharp edges.
Lucky was struggling to make it through his courses.
Were it not for his trust fund and his family name, Lucky wouldn’t even be allowed on the same campus as Winston. But money could buy a lot of things.
“I don’t want you to settle for someone who can’t give you everything you deserve.”
Lucky took Winston’s face in his hands, and he stared into his eyes.
“Listen to me, Winston. Even if I never bottomed again, being with you wouldn’t mean I settled for less than I deserve.
I deserve to have a loving relationship, and if that can be with the one person on this planet that I’d commit murder for, then yes, I deserve to have that.
I know you have it in your head that I could never be happy with you, but you’ve got it all wrong.
” Lucky paused and brushed a strand of hair off Winston’s forehead.
“I could never be happy without you. So if what you need is to make sure I’m taken care of, then let’s give this a shot. You and me and a robot makes three.”
Winston snorted, but his expression softened. “You’re ridiculous.”
Lucky didn’t want to push his luck by admitting he was ridiculously in love with Winston. Winston could only handle so many declarations at once, and it was important for Lucky to make him understand that the three of them could make it work.
“If you’re sure…” Winston said, biting his lower lip.
“I’m positive that I want to do this. I want us to have everything, Winnie.”
Winston’s blush returned. “I keep telling you not to call me that,” he admonished without any real annoyance behind it.
“You like it.” Lucky tugged Winston close and slanted his mouth over Winston’s.
Winston wound his arms around Lucky’s neck and gave himself over to the kiss.
Lucky knew then that Winston was going to say yes, he could feel it in the way Winston tried not to smile into the kiss, and the way he failed.
Winston’s happiness poured out of him. It was one of the things Lucky loved about him.
When Winston was happy, he was effervescent.
Lucky ended the kiss when his dick took a sudden interest in Winston’s proximity and the feeling of their bodies pressed together. They still had to walk back to Lucky’s car, and he didn’t want to do that with an erection raging for all to see.
“Is that a yes?” Lucky asked. He wanted Winston to say it. He needed to hear the words come from Winston’s mouth.
“Yes, Lucky. That’s a yes.” Winston started laughing when Lucky grabbed his hand and started walking, half dragging Winston. “What are you doing?”
“Well, now that you’ve agreed to give us a shot, I’m taking you home and we’re going to go upstairs with Calvin, and I’m going to show you all the reasons you made the exact right decision.”
Winston laughed some more but didn’t argue with Lucky.
“I’m glad you tracked me down,” Winston admitted when they reached Lucky’s car. “I was spinning in circles this past week.”
“You can always come to me, even when you think I might not like the conversation. I always want to know where you stand. I always want to help you with your struggles.” Lucky worried that he was laying it on a bit thick, but Winston squeezed his hand.
“I know. And for the record, Lucky, you can talk to me too. I know you think you hide it well, but you don’t.
I know sometimes you’re not okay.” Winston held Lucky’s hand with a firmer grip, like he feared Lucky might bolt at the first sign that maybe, just maybe, Lucky wasn’t as put together as he wanted everyone to believe, and that Winston saw it. Saw him.
“Well, right now I’m as close to perfectly happy as I can get. Now, I really think we need to get home. You have a robot to take for a test drive.”
“We don’t have to—”
Lucky shot Winston a look that shut him up. “Yes, Winnie. We do.”
Winston blushed.