Chapter 38 Theo
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Theo
My feet drag as Finn and I trudge into the house from the garage. The call last night took longer than either of us had anticipated.
The sun is already peeking up over the mountains to the east, and we haven’t gotten any sleep. For once, I think I’m going to fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
The sight of the couch brings me to an abrupt stop. Finn starts to walk past me, but I grab his arm to stop him.
“What the…” he starts, but I cut him off by pointing to the couch. His eyes widen.
Cole and Riley are snuggled close together. There’s a blanket draped over them, but it’s obvious they’re naked.
And here I was worried they were going to kill each other with no one else around to defuse the tension boiling between them. I guess the tension hit a different kind of climax.
I want to say that I’m not jealous, but I am. I’m happy that they obviously worked through some of their issues, but now everything between her and me seems far more unstable than it did yesterday.
There’s no way in hell she would ever choose to keep things going with me if Cole forgave her. They have history. There’s too much there for me to fight against.
“No shit,” Finn says, far too loudly.
Cole and Riley jerk awake. Cole pulls Riley protectively against him until he realizes what woke them. Even then, he keeps her tucked in close.
Riley slowly turns, her back to Cole. She hesitantly looks between Finn and me.
“Morning,” she says. Her voice is still heavy with sleep. Based on their appearance, I’m guessing they didn’t get much more sleep than Finn and me.
“Good morning, it is,” Finn says, emphasizing the word “good.” “Looks like you guys had fun last night.”
I stare at Finn in confusion. How is he being so cavalier about all of this? He almost seems… happy. I don’t get it.
A blush creeps over Riley’s neck and cheeks. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“So… are you two done hating each other now?” Finn asks.
Riley peeks at Cole over her shoulder. “Bickering was kind of our thing, even before we hated each other,” he says and kisses her cheek. “There isn’t any hate here anymore, though.”
A pound of lead settles in my gut. I hate this. I want to be happy for my brother, but I’m having a tough time separating myself from the situation to do so.
Riley’s cell phone starts ringing. She looks around, trying to locate it. She and Cole awkwardly stand from the couch.
Riley gives him an appreciative look when he grabs his discarded T-shirt and slides it over her head. He pulls on his jeans while she finds her phone buried under her pile of clothes.
“Hello,” she says a little breathlessly.
She walks between Finn and me on her way down the hall to have a little privacy. As she steps by, she gives my hand a little squeeze, shooting me a gentle look. Then her hand is gone, and she’s walking away.
Was that a reassuring squeeze or a goodbye squeeze?
I run my hands over my tired eyes. All of this confusion now clouds the exhaustion I felt earlier. My brothers and I look at one another, but none of us says anything.
Riley’s only gone for a couple of minutes before she walks back in.
“Everything okay?” Cole asks her.
She nods. “The rental house is ready.”
“No,” all three of us guys say at the same time. We might not all be on the same page with everything right now, but we can all apparently agree on this. We don’t want her to go anywhere.
“No?” she asks, confused.
“No,” Finn reiterates. He places his hands on her shoulders. “Obviously, none of us wants you to go.”
“But…” she starts, but he silences her when he presses his finger to her lips.
“You’re only going to be here for a couple more weeks.” Finn swallows. “Please, just stay here. I want all the time I can have with you.”
She lets out a heavy exhale, shoulders relaxing. Her eyes dart to Cole and then to me.
“We need to talk about…” She waves her hand between all of us. “All of this.”
Finn nods. “Let’s talk about it.” He grabs her hand, pulling her over to the couch. Cole and I sit opposite, where Finn guides her to.
“I don’t know what to say,” Riley says, nervously fiddling with the hem of Cole’s shirt.
All of us have seen her naked, but she obviously doesn’t want to reveal everything to us during this conversation. I reach for one of the blankets in the large basket beside the couch and toss it to her.
Her eyes soften again as her hands tighten around the soft material.
Why does she keep doing that? We’d better get this conversation underway, or my mind is going to whirl out of control.
“Thank you,” she whispers, draping the blanket over her lap. I can see her moving to sit cross-legged under it.
“You’re welcome.”
Everyone is silent for far too long. I can’t take it anymore. “What do you want?” I ask.
I don’t know if I want to hear the answer, but I know I need to. I can’t keep living in this limbo state I’ve been in since seeing the two of them wrapped around each other.
Her eyes snap to mine. “What do you mean?”
“What do you want? One of us? All of us? None of us?” I ask. My voice peters off by the end.
“It isn’t that simple,” she says. Her shoulders fall in defeat.
“But it is,” Finn says.
Her eyes nervously roam between Finn and me, then settle on Cole. “It really isn’t.”
This is it.
I know this is going to hurt Finn, but he’s Finn. He’ll get over it far quicker than I will.
“I get it,” I say, drawing her attention to me. “Now that things are smoothed out between you two,” I gesture between her and Cole, “you have who you really wanted all along. I know you’re done with Finn and me… or at least just me.”
“What?” she blurts with a horrified expression.
I try to keep my face neutral. I’ll deal with the pain of it all later. “I get it. I really do. What we had was fun, but Cole is the one you will always choose.”
She’s throwing the blanket off her lap and stomping toward me before I even know what’s happening. She climbs on my lap until she’s straddling me. My hands instinctively settle on her hips.
“How can you say that?” Her words come out pained.
“Because they’re true.”
“No, they aren’t.” She cups the sides of my face. “I have a complicated history with Cole, but that doesn’t mean the way I feel for him holds more importance to me than how I feel for you.”
“You aren’t going to choose him?”
She shakes her head, her sex- and sleep-tousled hair moving from side to side. “I couldn’t choose just one of you, even if I wanted to.”
I still can’t believe her words. She leans in, pressing her lips to mine. The kiss is gentle, but it helps ease a little of the worry inside of me.
“So, what does this mean?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “All I know is I want all of you.” What she doesn’t add is “for now.” She wants all of us for now.
I turn to look at Cole. “Are you okay with this?”
Eight years ago, he showed no signs of wanting to share Riley. I can’t imagine things would be different now. Sharing women is something Finn and I have done in the past, but Cole was never a part of it.
Cole drags in a deep breath. “I would be a pretty selfish asshole if I wasn’t.”
“That isn’t a yes,” Finn says with a solemn look on his face.
Cole runs his fingers through his hair. “I can’t say I’m totally on board, but I’m willing to try.” He looks right at Riley. “If it’s what you want, sweetheart. I was pretty blind to the feelings that started to grow between all of you back then.”
“We never—”
Cole cuts Riley off by holding his hand up. “I know nothing happened. I mean feelings grew, even if none of you acted on anything… because of me.”
He swallows again. “It would be selfish of me to try to keep you to myself now that my eyes have been pried open. It wouldn’t be fair to any of you, so yeah, I’ll try.”
“Is that what you want?” I ask her.
She’s quiet for a minute. I appreciate that she isn’t rushing into an answer. “Yeah, it is,” she says with a nod.
“Okay,” I say, pulling her in to kiss her forehead. I have no idea how any of this will work out, but at least she didn’t push me away. I still get to hold her in my arms.
“So… we’re doing this?” Finn asks. His voice is far more upbeat now.
“I guess so,” Riley says, resting her head on my shoulder so that she can look at my brothers.
“And you’re going to stay?” Cole asks.
She nods against me. “If that’s okay.”
“It’s always okay for you to be here, baby,” I say quietly.