8. Oliver
Chapter 8
Iroll over the next morning and snuggle deeper between Toby and Jace. Jace groans in his sleep, hooks an arm around my waist, and pulls me so close that my face is buried in his neck. Not that I’m complaining. I haven’t slept this good in two months. It’s like all the guilt fell away after Payton said she never dated Aiden for real, which is still mind-blowing to me. I’ve wanted nothing more than to be back in their arms, and I’m finally here.
My talk with Aiden yesterday also cleared up a lot of hesitation. I wouldn’t say we were close growing up, but we were friends. He was always around because of Payton, so I got to know him, or I thought I did. There’s much more to Aiden than meets the eye, and I’m excited to find out.
“Morning, Angel,” Jace says, his deep voice gruff with sleep.
“Morning,” I reply, kissing his neck. He sighs and pulls me even closer. “How did you sleep?”
“The best I have in months.” Jace pulls back to see my face and rubs his hand down my cheek. “This is how I always want to wake up.”
“Me too.”
We lie there, and I just stare into his dark eyes. No matter how hard he pushed me yesterday, I felt amazing after. I felt like Jace finally gave me the final piece of himself when he knew he wouldn’t run me off. After Toby made love to me and made sure that I came, Jace took me to take a bath. He cleaned me gently, applied soothing lotion on the marks he left, and made me eat. He and Toby both told me how upset they were that I had lost weight, and they wouldn’t stop feeding me. I don’t even have words to describe how they make me feel, and although it’s still scary, I want everything they can give me.
“I’m going to fix breakfast,” Jace says. “Anything specific you want?”
“Pancakes,” I say with a smile. “Oh! And bacon.”
He chuckles and pecks my lips. “You got it, Angel.” He kisses me slowly, making me want to climb him like a tree. He chuckles again and slides out of the bed. “You need a break. We worked you hard yesterday.” He leans his fists on the bed so his lips hover over mine. “Multiple times.” Just thinking about it makes my breath quicken. Jace gives me that sexy grin and goes to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
I reach over to the bedside table and grab my phone from the charger. I see several messages from Leland and Payton, but the last one makes my heart leap in my chest. Aiden. We exchanged numbers before he left last night, and he promised to message me. I open the chat screen, and the most ridiculous smile breaks out on my face.
Aiden:
Seeing you last night made me the happiest I’ve been in a long time. You said you wanted to take this slow, so I was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date with me.
I’d love that.
The bubbles indicating he’s typing appear immediately, like he’s been waiting for me to message him back.
Tonight?
Do I need to ask for permission? Dating is new to me, so dating two different guys already makes it even more confusing.
“Quit overthinking, and say yes.” My head whips to Toby, and he’s awake, staring at my phone. “I’m nosey. Get over it, Baby.”
“Are you sure this is okay?”
“With Jace, Aiden, and me? Yes. Anyone else will lose their fingers.”
Taking a deep breath, I type out my answer.
Tonight sounds good.
I’ll pick you up at seven. Will you be at Jace’s?
I don’t think they’ll let me leave any time soon, lol.
I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want you out of my sight either, Darling.
I suck in a breath, and Toby chuckles. “Shut up,” I laugh.
“What’s the matter, Baby?” His hand slides down to my boxers and massages me through them. “You want what Aiden gave you that night?”
Now that I know it was Aiden, my mind is blown. I never thought those words could ever leave his mouth. Aiden’s words and actions make me ready to find out if it’s just as good the second time around, but I need to wait for him and myself. We have a history that I didn’t have with Jace and Toby and a little more to work through. “Toby,” I moan when his hand slides inside my boxers.
“Give him a break,” Jace demands, stepping into the bedroom with water dripping from his hair and running down his chest.
“Damn,” Toby and I say at the same time while checking Jace out, and we start laughing.
Jace shakes his head with a smile. “I need to look at his chest and back, and then he needs breakfast.” Toby grumbles under his breath but pulls his hand out of my boxers. “What was that?” Jace asks, taking a menacing step toward the bed.
Toby rolls over onto his back and tucks his hand behind his head. “I said you’re an overbearing dick.” Jace lunges onto the bed and wraps his hand around Toby’s throat before he has a chance to move. The breath whooshes past Toby’s lips, and Jace tightens his hand.
“I’ve warned you about that smartass mouth, Dirty boy. Do I need to remind you what your place is?”
“Maybe,” Toby wheezes, his hands latching onto Jace’s forearm.
Jace leans down until his lips rub against Toby’s when he talks. “Keep fucking with me, and I’ll keep you on your knees no matter where we go. I’ll make sure that mouth is always available to worship my cock.”
Jace lets go and slides off the end of the bed. Toby rolls from the bed and onto his feet. I can see the calculating look in his eye and know he’s about to say something he’s going to regret. My eyes rapidly flash between them, just waiting to see what happens. “You won’t,” Toby challenges.
Jace stands to his full height, and the look in his eyes would be scary if it weren’t so hot. “On your knees,” he orders, and Toby crosses his arms. “On your goddamn knees.” That whips through the room with authority, and I watch Toby start to struggle. Toby looks at me and sinks gracefully to his knees, staring at the floor. “Stay there until I say otherwise.” Jace grabs the soothing lotion and climbs back onto the bed. He squirts some onto his hands and starts working it into my skin.
“I’m fine,” I assure him when his brows furrow.
“I never want to push you too far. You should have used your safeword.”
“I didn’t need to. I can handle it. I trust you, Jace.” Jace is still holding a piece of himself back from me, afraid he’ll scare me away. I tilt my head to the side, studying his face. “If it was Toby, would you have stopped?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“I know what he can handle.”
“How do you know what I can handle if you won’t push me?”
Jace concentrates on rubbing the lotion on my skin, but I can see the thoughts running across his face. He sits back and motions for me to roll over. When I do, he starts doing the same thing to my back. “Because I’m afraid you won’t use your safeword when you need to for fear you’ll disappoint me.”
I let that sink in, and when he finishes with the lotion, I climb from the bed and turn to face him. “I would never put you in a position to deal with truly hurting me. You said I had to be all in and give you all of me.” I lean in and peck his lips. “That means you have to give me the same in return.”
I go to the bathroom to give him time to process what I said. I’m not hurt that he thinks I’m not strong enough to handle him. He has valid reasons to believe that.
But I’ll make sure he knows that I truly do trust him.
Seven o’clock on the dot, I hear Toby let Aiden in. After breakfast, they took me to my apartment to pick up some clothes. I went into full panic mode when I started getting ready, which is why Leland is currently lying on the bed with his head hanging off the side, watching me get dressed. He has his own way of calming me down, and Toby insisted that I let him call Leland.
“You look happy,” he comments. “Like, disgustingly happy.”
“I am,” I laugh, pulling on a dark green button-up that Toby bought me before everything went to shit. “I feel different this time.”
“That’s because you finally got it through your thick fucking head that you’re worthy of being loved.”
I turn to face him, and he gives me that goofy Leland grin. “What about you?”
“What about me?” he asks, rolling to his stomach.
“When are you going to realize the same thing?”
“We aren’t talking about me.” I still worry about Leland after he told me he thought about jumping that day. I always knew Leland covered up a lot with humor, but I didn’t realize how much. “Anyway, you ready for your date?”
“We aren’t done talking about this.”
He jumps from the bed and heads for the door. “Yes. We are. You have your childhood crush waiting for you downstairs.”
“Leland—”
“I’m not saying never, Oli. I’m just saying not right now. Don’t worry about me.” He gives me that grin again and leaves the room. With a sigh, I slide my shoes on and follow him down the stairs.
Aiden is standing just inside the living room in black dress pants and a soft blue long-sleeved shirt that makes his blue eyes stand out. His eyes latch onto me, and I almost forget how to breathe. He has his thick blond hair fixed, so it looks like he just rolled out of bed. He’s mouth-wateringly gorgeous. Do not get naked with him on the first date, Oliver.
“You look amazing,” he says gruffly, making my cheeks heat.
“You do, too,” I answer, walking further into the room until I’m by his side.
“No funny business,” Toby says. “And have him home by nine.”
“Shut up,” Jace sighs. “Don’t you have somewhere you’re supposed to be?”
Toby opens his mouth but snaps it closed when Jace narrows his eyes. Toby walks to the center of the room and drops to his knees. This has been going on all day, and I know if it was something that Toby wasn’t into, Jace would never make him do it. They both enjoy that power struggle, even though Jace will always come out on top.
“Are you ready to go?” Aiden asks, sliding his hand onto the base of my spine. Even that small touch reminds me of how he made me feel that first night. Don’t get naked. Don’t get naked.
“Have fun,” Jace says, leaning in to kiss me. He kisses me roughly and pulls back, trying to hide a smile when I chase his lips.
With a wave, Aiden leads me outside to a blacked-out SUV and opens the passenger door for me. He waits until I climb in, shuts the door behind me, and then jogs to his side to get in. When he slides behind the wheel and shuts his door, I’m overwhelmed with his cologne and memories.
“Are you okay?” he asks, shifting the SUV into drive.
“Uh, yeah,” I chuckle. “It’s your cologne.”
“Do you not like it? I’ll go change if it’s bothering you.”
“No! That’s not it at all.” I turn in the seat to face him. “Your cologne was familiar that night. That’s why I felt comfortable with you.”
“I’m sorry I almost took that from you.”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing, Aiden. We’re here and working on it.” Feeling bold—thanks to Jace and Toby—I lean over and peck his cheek. “I like the cologne, by the way.”
We drive to the restaurant in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. He pulls up to the valet and gives him a warning look when he tries to open my door. Aiden opens it for me and sticks his hand in for me. I slide mine into his, and we walk hand in hand into the restaurant. I can’t keep the ridiculous smile from my face that I’m walking like this with my biggest crush.
The hostess leads us to a secluded table, where Aiden pulls out my chair before sitting across from me. She leaves menus, gets our drink order, and disappears.
“This place is nice,” I comment.
“You’ve never been here?”
“It’s a little out of my price range,” I laugh.
“I figured Jace and Toby would be spoiling you all over the city.”
“We haven’t, uh, really had time.” I can feel my face heating, and Aiden laughs.
“Are they keeping you locked up in Jace’s mansion, Oli?” He crosses his arms on the table and leans forward. “Something tells me you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. It’s only missing one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You.” Since being back with Jace and Toby, I’ve decided I needed to start being honest with myself. I can’t keep going through life being afraid of everything. I want Aiden, and I’m not going to hide that fact. We still need to go slow, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hang out with his best friends just because I’m there. Plus, I’m curious to see the full dynamic. I’ve seen Jace and Toby. I want to see how it changes or if it does when Aiden is around.
“We can change that.”
The waitress comes over for our order before I can answer. I try to order just a salad, but the warning look Aiden gives has me quickly changing my mind.
“I have a question,” Aiden says when the waitress walks away. “What’s the deal with you and Leland?”
“The deal? We’re best friends.”
“That’s it?”
I laugh because he’s not the first person to ask that question. “Yes. Leland’s straight.”
Aiden gives me a look that says he doesn’t believe me and then shakes his head. “It’s just that I watched you two grow up together, and I thought you’d eventually start dating. It made me really fucking jealous.”
“Jealous?” I ask, surprised.
“Yeah. He got to have you all the time, and I only got moments of your time. I wanted to keep you all to myself.”
“Does it sound bad that I’m glad you didn’t tell me? I wouldn’t have met Toby and Jace if you would have. As much as I wanted to hate you for what you did, I was more mad at myself.”
“Why in the hell would you be mad at yourself?”
“Because all this time, I thought I had a crush on my sister’s boyfriend. That’s bad enough. Don’t get me wrong, I was still mad at you, but it was more of the fact that I finally got one thing I always wanted, and I didn’t know it was you. Those two months were filled with guilt because now that I could put a face on you from that night, it’s all I thought about.” I clear my throat and take a sip of water. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for all that to come out.”
“Don’t ever apologize for what you want, Darling. Your needs will always be at the top of my priorities. The secrets from that night aside, that’s all I wanted to do when I chose us for that fantasy. The thought of someone else touching you made me violent. In my mind, we were the only ones who could make sure you had the night you truly wanted.”
“I did,” I say quietly. “I was always ashamed of what turned me on until that night. It showed me that I’m not alone.”
“You never will be. Whatever you want, Oli, say the word, and we’ll burn down the world to give it to you.”
I can feel the truth in his words no matter how hard my mind tries to fight against it. Old habits truly do die hard, but they aren’t going to mess this up for me. I finally found what I’d been unconsciously searching for this whole time, and it came in the form of these three men.
Aiden and I finish our meal, talking about life and reminiscing about our childhood. Aiden went completely against his dad wanting him to get a law degree and went after his dream of being a real estate agent for the rich. It was always a joke growing up, but I’m so fucking proud of him for breaking out of his dad’s grip.
The conversation doesn’t stop on the way home; it feels like we haven’t been apart. Aiden and I used to talk about everything, which shows that we can still have that.
“Do you want to come in?” I ask when we get to Jace’s. “We can all watch a movie or something.”
“I’d like that. But I need to do something first.”
He’s out of the car and on his way to my side before I can ask what it is. Aiden opens my door and helps me out, and then he has me pressed against the side of the SUV. He grabs the side of my face and rubs his thumbs across my cheeks. He presses his body against mine, and I wrap my arms around his waist. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve been thinking about kissing you all night,” Aiden says, his raspy voice dropping lower. “Please tell me I can kiss you, Darling.”
“Yes.”
I barely get the word out before Aiden’s lips land on mine. Just like that night, his kiss is rough and all-consuming. It overwhelms my senses, and I find myself pulling him closer. There’s no fear or reservations when it comes to Aiden anymore.
We kiss for so long that I desperately need to come up for air, but I can’t pull my lips away until a wolf whistle has us splitting apart. With my breathing out of control, I look over Aiden’s shoulder to see Toby standing on the porch with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Did you kids have fun?” Toby asks.
“Toby!” Jace’s voice booms from inside the house. A shirtless Jace appears on the porch, and Toby freezes. “I told you to leave them alone.”
Toby takes off from the porch with a laugh and heads toward me. He slides behind me and locks his arms around my waist. “You can’t hurt me without hurting Oli,” Toby tells Jace, still laughing.
Jace comes after Toby, and he turns me around, using me as a human shield. “Get your ass back in the house, Dirty boy.”
“It’s okay,” I say, laughing. I love seeing this dynamic between them, especially since Aiden is still guarding me from the front.
“No. I told him to leave you alone to do what you needed. I turned my back for two seconds, and he disappeared. He’s worse than a fucking toddler.”
Aiden starts dying laughing. “A feral fucking toddler.”
“Let’s go in the house,” Jace says, his eyes still on Toby.
Toby makes the mistake of letting me go to walk away, and Jace lunges for him. They hit the grass, rolling around, each trying to get the upper hand. “Should we stop this?”
Aiden shakes his head. “No. This happens a lot. It’s their weird form of foreplay.”
“It’s kind of hot.” Watching them wrestling around allows me to watch their muscles shift and flex. “Okay. Really hot.”
Aiden throws his arm over my shoulders with a laugh. “You got that shit right.”
I snuggle into his side, feeling everything start slotting into place.
This is where I was always meant to be.