Chapter 27
“Linc, I’m sorry, but right hand on yellow.”
“Son of a—I can do it.”
Dom cackled. “Famous last words.”
Marcus shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “This is fine. This is perfectly fine.”
Dom hummed appreciatively. “I agree. You are fine, perfectly fine, Little Red.”
We’d moved the coffee table out of the way and set up the game in the middle of the living room, on the carpet. Dom had won one round already, but Marcus wasn’t half bad at this. Linc was still trying to reach yellow.
“I can do it,” he said once more, even as his thighs started to tremble.
Dom looked at Marcus, meeting his eyes through the A-frame of Marcus’s legs. “It’s just going to be you and me again. Think you can beat me this time?”
Marcus was bent forward, basically just standing there on all fours. “I think you’re too competitive for Twister.”
With a huff, Linc landed on his butt. “Fuck.”
“Aww. You tried though. Nice try.” Dom showed him teeth. “Maybe next time.”
Linc rolled his eyes and scrambled off the mat. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re cheating.” He plopped down on the couch next to me. “Marcus, come on, you can beat his smug ass.”
Marcus turned, his tentative smile upside down. “I can try.”
Dom laughed like a hyena. “Oh, you can climb all over me. Ell, come on. Twist it.”
Linc and I exchanged a look before I did. “Marcus, right foot to yellow.”
He sighed. “You really like yellow, huh? Okay.”
Dom arched his spine. He was close to a bridge position. “You can lean on me. I know you can do it. Those guys can’t beat me, but you have it in you, Little Red.”
Marcus lifted his leg. “When you said party, I didn’t think you meant this.”
Linc sagged against me. We’d all changed into sweatpants for this. Normally, when Dom got us to play, we didn’t bother with clothes, but this was for Marcus’s benefit.
“Is it just me, or is watching them more fun than playing?” Linc asked.
I stretched out my legs and crossed them at the ankles. “No, this is pretty entertaining.”
“Can you—no. I’m going under you.” Marcus pulled his leg back. “Move. I’m going under you.”
Dom looked around. His ass was facing the mat, so it wasn’t like he had that great a view. “Hmm. I don’t know if that’s the best idea.”
“Well, it’s what I’m doing.”
Linc reached for my hand and wound his fingers around mine. He was smiling at the two of them, figuring out who’d have to lose. Dom wouldn’t just let our mate win—that would be both patronizing and belittling—but he was trying to be as helpful as he could be.
“Careful, Little Red,” Dom said, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Marcus lost his footing.
He sucked in air as he turned on his back. “Huh. Guess I should’ve gone over you.”
Dom walked toward him, still in a bridge. “See? I know what’s best. Give me a kiss?”
I coiled my fingers around Linc’s. We were both watching.
Marcus didn’t hesitate for long. He licked his lips and nodded.
Dom bent over and kissing Marcus like that was one of the hottest things I’d ever seen. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the game, which perhaps I should’ve found when we’d been playing naked. Yet this was somehow a lot sexier than just us grinding against each other.
It ended too soon. Dom pushed straight up into standing, then turned and offered his hand to Marcus, who was still breathless. It made me think of a good dozen other things that might render him breathless.
“Want up? Or want to stay on the floor?”
Marcus blinked a few times, then took Dom’s hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. “I want food. You said we had to do the game before food. Can we do food now? And a movie, right?”
Linc sighed. “Another warning. Where I come from, people watch the movie and don’t yap during. That, unfortunately, is not the case in this household.”
I kissed his knuckles. “When I came on a trip to New Harbor with this guy, we went to this theater where they will pull you out of your seat if your phone is on or if you talk. They don’t even sell you food other than popcorn.”
Linc crossed his legs. “Ah, yes. Those were the days. They have no-snacks nights too. Should’ve taken you then. No crunching in the theater.”
Marcus sucked on his bottom lip, then asked, “Do you guys happen to like animated stuff?”
Dom took him by the shoulders. “Marcus. Are you serious? Tell me we can finally do the K-Pop Demon Hunters Sing-Along. I’ve been outvoted three times in a row on that now.”
Marcus blushed. Dom seemed to have found his deciding vote, at least for today.
“I mean, I didn’t necessarily mean the sing-along, but if you think we should…”
Dom hugged him close. “We should. We definitely should. I’ve been waiting for this for too long.”
Linc put a leg on my lap. “This is going to be as far from watching a movie quietly as it could possibly be, isn’t it?”
Marcus patted Dom’s cheek while Dom took the opportunity to rub his chin against Marcus’s head; an affectionate gesture I hoped Marcus would read that way.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Does everyone know the movie though? If Linc doesn’t know the movie, then pushing him right into a sing-along seems like overwhelm.”
Linc smiled. “Thanks for thinking of me, but we’ve seen the movie. Dom is just being dramatic because we don’t want to hear him sing.”
“Hey! I have a singing voice. I think. I mean, I’ve sung ‘Happy Birthday’ for people. You included!”
I chuckled. “We’re family. We’re kind of obligated to like that.”
Dom narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you lie to your patients like that too? What are you, a doctor or a con artist?”
Marcus, his hand still on Dom’s cheek, looked at me as well. “He also tried bribing me with candy.”
I held his gaze. “How about I bribe you with dinner?”
Marcus nodded. “Yup, that works. But we’re still doing the sing-along, right?”
Linc pulled his leg off me and stood. “Of course. Want to help me set up the screen while these two do the cooking?”
Dom crossed his arms. “Ell’s going to do the cooking. I’m making Phia’s coffee cake. She said something along the lines of ‘even I should be able to make it’ and I don’t like being underestimated like that.”
Marcus put his hands on his hips. What a change it was to see him that way, not just compared to when he’d been unconscious at first, but also…there was a glow about him, as if a burden had been lifted off him. It made me more than a little hopeful about him staying.
“I can help with the food too, you know. You can stop doing everything for me. It’s nice and all, but I don’t mind helping.”
Linc put a hand on his shoulder. “Help me with the setup first, and then we’ll see. We have a routine, but we’ll fit you in there. It might just take us a while. Be patient with us, okay?”
Marcus, heat rising to his cheeks, looked at Linc with big eyes and nodded. That was yet another sight I wouldn’t have minded watching for hours.
Dom rolled his right shoulder. “Twister was a good start though. We’re definitely going to do that again.”
I got to my feet as well. I had this feeling deep inside of me—elation and pure joy to be able to live this moment. I never wanted it to end, would give anything for more of the same. All of us were happy, and at least for tonight, there was no immediate worry, not even work tomorrow.
Perhaps all the evenings the three of us had shared before today, even the best ones, had been incomplete without us even noticing. But now we had our mate, and colors were brighter, scents more pronounced.
“Can I hug you?” I asked Marcus.
He looked at me funny, but then he nodded. I wrapped my arms around him and held him, allowing his scent to fill my nose.
I had no idea how this was possible, I just knew that I was lucky. Just as carefully as Dom had, I rubbed my chin over the top of Marcus’s head before deciding to do something potentially disastrous.
“Marcus, don’t freak out, but I love you. You don’t have to say anything back, and I don’t expect you to reciprocate. Just had to tell you. Don’t freak out.”
The others did. I heard them, felt their eyes on us, but they didn’t say anything, they just stood and listened instead.
Marcus didn’t say anything back, but how he acted told me something. At first, his shoulders tensed, but after a second, he relaxed into the hug again, even tightened his hold on me. He didn’t pull away.
He stayed and let me hold him, and it was such a small thing, yet so incredibly big. I was sure I’d be grinning all through the sing-along.