Chapter 18 #2
“Besides, you took her on a god-damned magical sleigh ride in the forest. I’d almost be embarrassed for you if you hadn’t.”
He lets out a long breath, and we’re all silent for a minute before he asks, “What are we going to do?”
“About what?” Leo asks. “The ex, or us?”
“Both.”
“This ass has broken the law. We need to convince her to press charges, Leo. Does Callum still have that detective buddy?” I ask.
“I think so, I could ask him to come talk to her.”
“Let’s ask her first. I don’t think we should steamroll her completely, that’s what he did,” Grant adds, and we both nod in agreement.
“We don’t let her go anywhere on her own until this is taken care of,” I tell them, my hands clenching into fists at the memory of his hands on her.
“I’m not even going to let her out of my sight,” Grant mumbles in anger.
“About the other thing,” Leo says slowly. “Right now, I think she needs all three of us.”
“What are you saying?” I ask, turning to look at him.
“I think we need to back off a bit until everything with the ex is sorted out, and she’s not in danger anymore.”
I frown and slowly shake my head. “I don’t think I can do that.”
He studies my face as if trying to figure out what I’m really thinking.
“Leo, I don’t want to back down. Besides, if we do that now, she’ll think it’s because of what she told us.”
“Fuck, you’re right.” He scrubs his hand through his hair in frustration.
“What if we don’t back away, but, for now, we tell her not to choose?” Grant says carefully.
“What do you mean?” Leo asks. “Like, date all three of us at once?”
“I mean, she’s sort of doing it now, anyway. This way we can keep her safe, and we don‘t have to push her away.”
“Are you going to be okay if you see me or Leo kiss her in front of you?”
“You just kissed her in front of us a minute ago,” Grant reminds me.
“And?” I ask, swiveling my head to look at both of them. “Did it make you jealous?”
They scrunch their brows in thought before Leo speaks. “Actually, it turned me on a little.”
“Seriously?” I ask in doubt.
He turns to look at me and smirks. “Yeah. Maybe cause you’re like my brother, and I know you’d treat her well? But also because I’m not out of the picture yet. I think if I knew she only wanted you, it’d be a different story.”
“Yeah,” Grant adds. “She seems to like all three of us equally, so I felt that if I had pulled her into my lap, she’d kiss me, too.”
I take a moment to think about what it’d be like to watch her kiss them.
I’d only given her a peck, and I’m pretty sure they both kissed her much more thoroughly than that, but I had fallen asleep cuddling her, neither of them had, so it doesn’t feel like I’m behind in my relationship compared to them.
Besides, we’d had all of those bike rides to and from work.
Even though we couldn’t talk, it connected us on a physical level that felt intimate.
I kissed her forehead goodbye every time, even though I longed to kiss her lips instead.
“Okay, so we go all in with her. We tell her that for now she doesn’t choose, and we can discuss it again when the situation with her ex is over.” I lay out the plan, and they both nod in agreement.
Just then, Rosalie comes walking down the stairs in only her old ratty t-shirt she arrived here in. “Oh, hell no.” I push to my feet and storm towards her. Her wide eyes watch me as I grab her hand and lead her back upstairs and into my bedroom.
“Uh, Asher? What are we doing in here?” She asks as she takes in my bedroom.
“Did you get that from the secondhand store?” I ask, keeping my eyes on the dresser drawer I’m rummaging through.
“What? Oh, my shirt? Yeah.”
“Take it off,” I tell her as I open another drawer.
“W-what?”
I frown as I turn to look at her. Why does she look so shocked? I run my words back through my head and curse.
“Shit, baby. Sorry, I didn’t mean—” I sigh, and grab the t-shirt I was looking for, a soft plain green one. I open the next drawer and pull out a pair of sweats and turn to her, offering them to her. “I just meant I don’t want you wearing someone else’s shirt.”
“I bought it, so it’s mine.”
“But it belonged to another man. If you are going to wear someone else’s clothes, they belong to one of the three men living in this house. Understand?” I ask, thrusting the clothes into her hands.
“Not really,” she says, eyeing me nervously.
“Change into these, then we’ll explain.” I leave the room and turn to pull the door closed. “I’ll be in the hall. Bring me the shirt you’re wearing once you’ve changed.”
She frowns but nods in agreement, and I close the door gently. I lean back against the side wall and let my head fall back with a small bang as I groan at my caveman behavior.
I don’t know what it is about her, but she brings it out of me.
I just want to wrap her up in my arms and keep her safe.
I’m so fucking happy we decided not to hold back with her, but I’m also dreading what happens in the future.
If I get close to her, and I continue to feel the way I do, will I even be able to pull away?
Would I be willing to put my friendship with Grant and Leo at risk to keep her?
My door opens, and I push off the wall as Rosalie steps out, dressed in my clothes. The caveman in me smiles as I take the old shirt from her.
“Much better.” I nod in approval and grab her hand, leading her downstairs.
Leo smiles up at her and pats the empty space between him and Grant, I move my hand to her lower back and gesture for her to sit there as I move to the recliner.
Grant grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and throws it across all three of their laps, and she gets comfortable.
My chair swivels, so I turn it to face her.
“Rosalie, we think you should report what happened. Callum has a friend who’s a police detective, so we can reach out to him for help first.”
“He’s going to be angry.”
“You should be angry, sweetheart,” Grant tells her, grabbing her hand. “He took complete advantage of you. It wasn’t just unethical; it was illegal.”
“Do you always want to be looking over your shoulder? Using a fake name?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
She shakes her head looking sheepish. “No. I’m just… scared.”
Grant wraps his arm around her shoulder and pulls her to his side as he rubs her arm. “You don’t have to run anymore, Rosalie. Not while we’re here.”
“You’ll help me?” she asks hopefully. “Can’t things like this take a long time? Like months or even years?”
“I don’t care if it takes a week, a month, or all year, you’re not facing this alone,” I tell her with determination.
“Really?”
“Looks like you’re stuck with us for Christmas,” Leo says with a grin.
“Thank you. I’m not sure what I would do without your help.”
“We’re happy to help you, shortcake.”
“Seriously though, the job and living here… it’s more than I had even imagined. If I weren’t in hiding, it would be a life I could imagine keeping.” She glances up at us, and a small blush tinges her cheeks, making me wonder what she’s thinking about.
That reminds me we have more to discuss.
“There’s something else.” She looks at me, unease returning to her gaze. “As long as we are figuring out this stuff with your ex, we want you with us.”
“I thought you already said that?” she asks in confusion. I press my lips together, realizing I don’t know how to word this properly. I look at Grant for help, he’s better with things like this.
“Sweetheart," he says, getting her attention. “All three of us care for you, and we want to keep you safe. We’re asking you to consider being with all three of us until everything with Scott is settled.”
She frowns up at him in confusion, so Leo takes the reins. “We all want to date you, shortcake.”
“You—” she cuts herself off as her eyes widen, bouncing between all three of us. “What does that even mean? Isn’t that sort of weird?”
“We think as long as you keep your attention evenly divided among us, that it’s the best option. None of us are prepared to back away, especially while you’re in danger,” Grant tells her.
“So we’re… dating? Does that mean you might date other girls or I could date some other guy?”
“No!” All three of us say sternly at once.
“Do you want to date other guys?” I ask, wondering if she’s had her eyes on someone else.
“What? No! I just thought you guys were getting the short end of the stick. I get all three of you, but you have to share me.”
My mind flashes to an image of her in bed between us. Her sitting on Grant cock’s riding him, while I pound into her ass and Leo kisses her from the side. My dick springs to life and I adjust myself so she won’t notice. Fucking hell. Why was that image so hot?
Maybe sharing her wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“It'd be a pleasure to share you with them,” I tell her, letting a bit of the lust seep into my voice as I watch her squirm between the other two.
“Oh.”