Chapter 35
Haven
The drive home in the morning feels longer than it really is.
Carter keeps one hand on the wheel, the other resting lazily on my thigh. Tate’s in the passenger seat behind me, his fingers tapping absent rhythms against the window. No one talks for a while.
I shift in my seat, adjusting my legs, and Carter’s hand tightens automatically like he doesn’t even think about it. “You good?” he asks, glancing over.
“I’m great,”
Tate snorts. “Yeah, you look real composed.”
I turn my head slowly. “Excuse you? I am composed.”
“You’ve been staring out the window for ten minutes.”
I glare back at him. “And you’ve been tapping your fingers nonstop for the past twenty.”
Carter huffs a laugh under his breath. “He’s just mad he’s not the only one in your head right now.”
Tate turns slightly. “I’m always the one in her head.”
A few miles pass before Carter signals and pulls off the highway.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Gas,” he says. “And snacks. You’ve been quiet too long, which means you’re about to crash.”
“I’m not—”
“You are,” Tate cuts in. “You get like this. You go all soft and floaty and then suddenly you’re starving and mean.”
I blink at him. “I am not mean.”
Carter laughs as he pulls into the gas station. “Both of you out. We’re restocking before she turns on us.”
Tate puts the last of the drinks into a bag, muttering something about my “picky snack choices,” as Carter waits by the driver’s side, hand on the door.
“After you,” he says with that quiet smile, and I let him open it, sliding in and letting the seatbelt snap across my chest. Tate climbs in behind me, balancing the bags and shifting so he can set them down.
We settle into the car, and I can’t stop myself from laughing, low and sharp, the sound bouncing between the seats.
“What’s so funny now brat?” Tate asks immediately, turning his head slightly from the backseat.
“I finally figured it out,” I say, grinning, leaning back against the seat.
Carter glances at me from the wheel. “Figured what?”
I lean back just a little, letting my fingers brush lazily against the edge of the seat. “Your brother has a jealousy kink Carter.”
Tate snorts, leaning closer. “Excuse me?”
“You know exactly what I mean,” I say, voice softer now, teasing. “You get off on watching him touch me. Watching how careful he are, how… different it is with him.”
Carter clears his throat quietly, but doesn’t look away from the road. “Wait—”
“Don’t start, Carter,” Tate growls, eyes dark and sharp, but there’s a flicker there, something almost feral.
I let my fingers inch along his thigh under the seat. “I’m right, aren’t I? You like it—watching, waiting, knowing it drives you crazy and you can’t do a thing about it.”
Tate swallows, jaw tight. “You’re… twisted. And maybe right. But it’s not just that.”
“Oh, it is,” I press, tilting my head so he can’t break eye contact with me.
“You love the tension, the opposite of control you don’t have, the way it makes you feel when I moan for him and then turn to you.
After that night on your couch, I couldn’t find the words to describe it, but that’s exactly it. ”
Eventually, we pull into my parking spot in front of my apartment building. I’m the first to get out, my steps slow as I take in the sight like it’s both familiar and foreign all at once. It’s only been a few days, but after everything that happened, it feels like years.
Carter grabs the bags. Tate grabs my ass. I swat him, rolling my eyes, and he just smirks.
They help me carry everything inside—snacks, leftover gear, my gaming bag. We make it halfway through unloading before Carter sets the last bag down by the door and glances toward Tate.
“We should probably head out soon,” he says. “Get back before it’s too late.”
“Already?” I ask before I can stop myself.
Tate looks at me. “We’ve got stuff at the house that needs to get done,” he says. “And you probably want your space back.”
My space, right. I nod once, but it doesn’t feel right.
I cross my arms loosely. “Or… you could stay. I just—” I exhale, trying to sound less like I’m asking for something I need.
“One more night. Then you can leave in the morning. It’s not like you’re on a schedule, right?
” I give Carter my best puppy dog impression.
Carter studies me for half a second. “You sure?”
“Yeah, I just… I don’t want to be alone yet.”
Tate’s the one who answers first. “Then we’re not leaving angel.” Carter nods right after.
The tension in my shoulders drops so fast it almost makes me laugh.
Cassie’s perched on the couch when we walk in. She lifts a brow, completely unbothered. “Before you ask—yes, I used the emergency key.”
Carter shuts the door after we all manage to get inside with everything.
“You mean the key I gave you for actual emergencies?” I roll my eyes.
“This is an emergency,” she says. “You disappeared for days and came back looking like that.”
I drop my bag by the couch. “Looking like what? And I just saw you two days ago.”
She gestures vaguely at me. “Two days too long, and you look different.”
I narrow my eyes. “So you let yourself in, made coffee, and waited to judge me?”
“Yes, that’s what best friends are for.”
I drop my bags, sigh, and flop onto the couch next to her. “I just won a national tournament. Of course I look different.”
“No, not that,” she says, narrowing her eyes. “You look… ruined.”
I snort. “That’s a bold word.”
“You look like someone who’s been thoroughly, repeatedly, and aggressively—”
“Cassie, don’t you dare say what I think you’re about to say.”
“—fucked.”
Carter clears his throat. “Alright,” he says, grabbing his keys off the counter a little too quickly. “We’re gonna—uh—go get groceries.”
I blink. “We literally just—”
“We forgot stuff,” he cuts in. Tate heads for the door shaking his head. “Important stuff.”
Cassie raises a brow. “Like what?”
“Food,” Tate says flatly.
“I have food,” I point out.
“Better food,” he shoots back.
I cross my arms, trying not to smile. “You’re leaving because of her.”
“Correct,” Carter says immediately.
Cassie grins. “Cowards.”
Tate opens the door, glancing back at me. “You’ve got, like, an hour before we come back and interrupt whatever this turns into.”
“Get out,” I laugh.
Carter leans in quick, pressing a kiss to my temple. “Call if you need anything.”
“I won’t.”
“I know.”
The door shuts behind them, and the second it does, Cassie turns to me with a look that says I’m not getting out of this. “Now, start talking.”
I groan, dragging a pillow over my face. “Uhg, really Cass. I’m exhausted, and being stuck in a car for hours with two guys really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
She doesn’t stop. “I bet, but you’ll have a chance later to sleep. Spill. Everything. I want the smut, the drama, the breakdowns. All of it.”
I peek over the edge of the pillow. “I love them.”
Cassie stills.
I didn’t expect that to be the first thing out of my mouth but now that it is, it feels right.
“You love them,” she repeats.
“I do. Both of them. Carter’s like… he’s golden hour. Every word, every touch, it’s like he was born just to make me feel safe. And Tate …” I trail off for a moment. “He’s the storm I thought I needed to run from. But he sees me and he never once asked me to shrink.”
Cassie hums. “And you’re not scared?”
“I was, but not anymore. I know it’s messy.
I know it’s going to be complicated forever.
But I also know what it feels like to be worshiped by two people who’ve never once made me feel like I had to pick.
They love me in such different ways and I’m finally learning how to let myself have both unconditionally Cass. It’s so… freeing”
She leans back, processing for a moment and then shrugs. “Well, shit. Sounds like a better setup than 90% of monogamous relationships I know.”
I blink at her. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. As long as everyone’s happy, consenting, and getting their brains fucked out—”
“Cass!”
“—then who the hell am I to judge?”
I laugh. Of course she’s the one who’s never made me feel weird or wrong or like I have to explain every part of myself just to be understood. “Okay,” I say, sitting up straighter, heart beating a little lighter now. “Then I guess it’s time to tell the rest of the internet world.”
Her eyes go wide. “Wait, what? You’re announcing it?”
I smile, reaching for my phone. “Yeah. I think it’s time.”
I stare at the post for a full minute before I hit send, my finger hovers over the screen.
Cassie watches me from across the couch, cradling a cup of lukewarm coffee. “You don’t have to post it today,” she says gently. “Don’t feel pressured Haven.”
“I know,” I whisper.
But I want to, it’s time. I mean fuck, people already talk. So why not take the narrative back?
I inhale deep, count to three in my head, and press my thumb to the screen.
The post is a picture Carter took a few days ago.
It’s my back, sitting at my desk,with both Carter and Tate behind me. One on each side. Carter’s nose is buried in my shoulder, smiling like I’m the best part of his day. Tate ’s got his signature mask on, hand fisted in my hair.
The likes start rolling in, and so do the comments. My notifications go so hard my phone vibrates itself off the table. Cassie scrambles to catch it mid-air. “Oh my god, Haven.”
She scrolls through the comments, her eyes going wide before she hands me my phone. “You’re trending on Twitter. Again.”
The comments are exactly what I expected—split down the middle like a badly baked cake.
@br4tpack69: so like… she’s seriously with both? SAME TIME???
@ghostedx: the way Tate is gripping her hair while Carter’s cuddling her??? ICONIC ENERGY.
@softkillshot: idk. seems messy. y’all acting like she’s not just some streamer who got lucky with two guys giving her attention.
@choke-me-ch3rry: no one: me: jealous and horny
@h4vencl1pzz: LET HER LIVE! you act like she hasn’t been carrying the tourney, breaking the internet, AND breaking both their brains.