Chapter 8
Lena
The next morning, I try to explain the situation as clearly as possible to Mia without scaring her. Luckily, she seems to take the news of our new living situation well and cheers up when I tell her Pop-Pop is okay.
“Pop-Pop?” she says, and I know she’s asking if we can see him. She sounds so hopeful it breaks my heart.
“Not yet, sweetie. Pop-Pop needs to rest to get better. Soon, I promise.” I hope it’s a promise I can keep. “Now, how about we go downstairs and make some breakfast?”
She agrees enthusiastically, and I feel hopeful that perhaps she will somehow process what happened yesterday as a sort of bad dream. That it won’t haunt her in the way I know it will haunt me.
I open the wardrobe in search of something to wear.
My clothes from last night are stained with blood, as are Mia’s, I discover, to my horror.
Luckily, it seems Judge’s mom was about the same size as me.
Based on the fashion of the items, she must have passed away in the nineties when Judge was still young.
I pick out a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
Dressing Mia is trickier, and we have to resort to her wearing a t-shirt as a dress.
She seems happy about it since the t-shirt is yellow, her favorite color.
We’ll have to find clothes for her soon, but it’s probably not safe for me to go home.
Zeke is no doubt watching, and I’ve no money to buy new clothes.
I feel like I’ve traveled back in time to three years ago, when I fled Zeke and then Rex with nothing but the clothes on my back. To have come full circle and ended up here with nothing to my name, caught up with Zeke and Rex again, feels like a cruel trick the universe is playing on me.
It’s still early, so I’m surprised to see Cole and a dark-haired man sitting at the kitchen table. “Good morning, Lena, this is Doc,” Cole says, gesturing to the man sitting opposite him.
Doc stands up, and I get a proper look at him. He’s a little shorter than the others, maybe a little under six feet. Unlike the others, a smattering of stubble covers his cleft chin. He has a nice smile and kind, warm brown eyes with long eyelashes.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lena,” he says, reaching out to shake my hand, his voice rich and deep. “And you must be Mia,” he says.
Mia hides behind me, holding onto the edge of my shirt and peeking out from behind me. “Mia, say hello.”
“Hello,” she says shyly.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. Cole tells me you’re the one who tended to Big Joe’s bullet wound. Thank you. Is he going to be okay?” I ask, desperate for news.
“It’s still early days, he lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion. If we hadn’t found him when we did…” he doesn’t finish his sentence, but his meaning is clear. Big Joe wouldn’t be alive. “But the doctors are confident he’ll make it.”
“Thank you,” I say gratefully, squeezing his hand.
He smiles in acceptance. “I was just about to make pancakes for breakfast. Would you like some?”
This perks Mia up, who loves pancakes. “Pancakes!” she cries, coming out from behind me, shyness forgotten as she bounces with glee.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he says, smiling indulgently at Mia.
“Please, take a seat. The coffee is still warm and there’s juice,” Cole says, gesturing to the table. We make small talk while Doc cooks.
“So you two must be the early risers out of the four of you,” I comment.
“Actually, no, Judge is usually up first. He’s a terrible insomniac, so don’t worry if you hear him moving around at strange hours. He and Rex left early on official club business,” Cole explains.
I let out a sigh of relief that I won’t have to see Rex.
I can’t help but wonder if part of his day will include spending time with his family.
Perhaps he isn’t working at all, and Cole is just saving my feelings by not rubbing Rex’s domestic bliss in my face.
Mind you, it’s been three years, for all I know, Rex could have cheated again and gotten caught.
He could now be single for real. I don’t know how to handle that notion, so I push the thought away, telling myself I don’t want him, even if I could have him.
If I’m going to pine after a Soaring Eagle, I should do it over one of the other sexy men in the house, for they are undoubtedly attractive in their own ways.
Most women would be envious of my current living situation.
Though, of course, this is just fantasy, I’m sure they also have wives or girlfriends.
“What do your old ladies think of your current living situation? I can’t imagine many women being thrilled at the prospect of you shacking up with some woman they don’t know.”
“What makes you think we have old ladies?” Doc asks.
I shrug. “I guess I just assumed, given your approximate ages and the fact that you all seem like nice, attractive men, that you wouldn’t be single.”
“You hear that, Prez? She thinks we’re attractive,” Doc says to Cole with a schoolboy grin, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
Before I can think of some sort of witty retort so I don’t come across as a total idiot, Cole answers my question seriously. “We’re single. All of us.”
Cole says this so pointedly, I can only assume he means Rex is, too. So he must have gotten divorced after all. I hope it wasn’t because of me. Maybe that’s why he seems to be so mad at me. Does he blame me for his marriage failing? It’s utterly ridiculous if he does.
“Do you mind if I ask why?”
“Are you wondering what terrible failings we have before applying for the position yourself?” Doc teases, making me blush.
“Cole here is a terrible control freak, Judge has PTSD, Rex is a grump—though you already know all about that, and there’s nothing wrong with me.
Perhaps the problem is that I’m too perfect.
I think maybe I’m too good in bed, the ladies can’t handle it,” he jokes with a wink.
“Or perhaps it’s that you never take anything seriously,” Cole quips dryly.
“Well, we need some comic relief from all you serious and somber bores,” Doc retorts, flashing his perfectly straight white teeth.
Cole grabs a grape from the fruit bowl on the table and chucks it at Doc’s head. Doc catches it in his mouth and chews it triumphantly. Mia is thrilled by this amazing trick and laughs in delight. “Again!”
The men oblige her, throwing several grapes into Doc’s mouth in ever-challenging ways until he’s halfway across the room. “No more, I’m gonna become a grape if I eat any more,” Doc declares dramatically, making Mia giggle.
“You’re good with her,” I tell him.
“I like kids. It’s the main downfall of having never met the right woman. I worry that it’s getting too late for me and I won’t be able to have children of my own someday,” Doc admits.
“Never say never. Children seem to have a knack for coming into your life when you least expect them. Mia certainly did for me,” I reply.
“Perhaps,” he replies with a soft, thoughtful smile.
With our plates empty, I begin clearing the table. “I’ll wash up. Would you mind keeping an eye on Mia for a bit?” I ask him, already feeling comfortable around Doc more so than the others.
Cole has been kind, but he’s such a big, intimidating presence that it’s hard to relax around him. Judge’s silent stealth makes me nervous, and I feel uncomfortable around Rex—for obvious reasons.
“Sure, can I take her outside? There’s a swing in the big tree in the yard.”
“She’d love that. She’ll need help putting her shoes on.”
Mia happily trots off with her new friend, and I’m relieved to see that she seems to be unperturbed by the strangeness of our situation and bouncing back from last night in the way only a child can.
With Doc gone, I feel suddenly acutely aware of Cole’s presence. I feel flustered, and I busy myself with the washing up so I don’t have to talk to him or look into his intense gaze.
As I’m washing up, I hear him get up from his chair and come to stand closer to me.
The hair on the back of my arms stand up.
He’s not touching me, but it almost feels as if he were.
My whole body is on high alert as I try to pretend his presence isn’t making me react strangely.
I don’t allow myself to think about the fact that the last person whose presence made me react this strongly was Rex.
That’s a whole can of worms I don’t need to open.
“Do you want to know the real reason the four of us are still single?” he purrs. I swear I feel his breath on the back of my neck, though he can’t be close enough for that to be true.
“Sure,” I reply, trying to keep my voice casual.
“Because we like to share, and we’ve never found a woman who can handle all four of us.”
Dear god.
I almost drop the plate I’m washing. His words have an immediate effect on me as I find myself asking myself what that would be like—being with all four of them?
How would that even work? Do they also hook up? Surely not, none of them seems that way inclined. And surely, it’s just a sex thing, would they really want a relationship with just one woman and four men? How would that work? Is that even a thing?
My pussy twitches at the thought. I’m excited more than I thought I would be. The idea is so taboo, so wrong.
Yet why am I intrigued?
Almost as if he knows the effect he’s had on me, Cole doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t move.
He just lets me process the information before he turns and walks away.
Leaving me flustered and confused. Did he tell me that because he’s interested in me sexually?
Does he want them to share me? Surely not.
More importantly, why am I hoping that he does?