Chapter 50 - Hayden
HAYDEN
“And that’s how it’s going to work?” asked Carter. “It’s just that simple?”
I leaned back into Sawyer, who in turn leaned back into the couch. We’d both gotten home early, and were several hours deep into some serious binge-watching. Turns out we both loved true crime shows. Especially the ones involving real camera footage.
“Why shouldn’t it be simple?” I countered. “I mean, do you want to make it complicated?”
Carter’s fist made a hissing sound as he twisted open a beer. He handed it to me, then did another one.
“No,” he shrugged. “Simple’s great.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
He chuckled. “The problem is Bodie. You know how he is. Everything is laid out, preplanned, regimented. He’s gonna want some sort of a schedule.”
I nearly spit out my first sip of beer. “Schedule? Really?”
“I mean sure,” Carter shrugged. “You’re going to be a girlfriend to all three of us, right?”
My God, just hearing those words from his mouth! My stomach went queasy just thinking about it.
“Yes,” I answered. “That’s the plan.”
“Well, what if one of us wants to take you out somewhere? But the others already have you?”
“Then you can come with,” I shrugged.
“Or make plans in advance,” Sawyer offered.
“I know,” Carter replied. “And I’m fine with that. I’m just playing devil’s advocate, for Bodie. He’s going to need to know the rules of engagement, per say. Especially when it comes to sleeping arrangements.”
“Sleeping?” I challenged. “Or fucking?”
“Both,” Carter replied, casually handing the second beer to Sawyer. “The sex part is easy, I think. Everyone’s welcome at all times. No locked doors. No exclusions.”
“So… come one, come all?” joked Sawyer.
“Pretty much,” said Carter, cracking his own bottle. He took a long, gratifying sip, then looked at me. “Any objections to that?”
“None whatsoever,” I practically choked. “I mean, the three of you have needs, right? It’s the fairest way to handle it.”
“And that road goes both ways,” Sawyer pointed out. “When you get the itch, you go ahead and scratch it. On whichever scratching post happens to be around at the time.”
“Or posts,” I winked.
“Or posts,” he grinned, tilting his beer to toast me.
I still couldn’t believe the conversation we were having. When Sawyer casually informed me that he and Bodie had already discussed ‘dating’ me, I’d nearly formed a puddle where I was standing. All that was left was for Carter to come home, so we could iron out the details.
Three exclusive boyfriends… and me. Together, under the same roof, doing the same things we’d already been doing. Only now, as unconventional as our arrangement was, it actually had a label. One that sort of normalized our relationship, and solidified the unspoken commitment between us.
Shit, the more we discussed it, the more it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
“As for sleeping…” Sawyer went on, “Well, that’s trickier.”
“In what way?”
“I mean, we’re not all going to fit in one bed. So do we take turns in your bed, or do you come sleep in ours?”
I thought about it for a moment. “I do love sneaking into your rooms at night,” I grinned. “But I also kinda like having a home bed.”
“Well then great,” he smiled. “Are we each taking a day of the week, or—”
Our conversation was interrupted by Bodie stomping in through the front door. His expression was serious. Then again, his expression was usually serious, even when I was kissing him.
“Glad you’re here,” said Sawyer. “The three of us were discussing—”
“I just saw Cole.”
Something cold settled in my chest. I stood up quickly.
“You ran into him?”
“Actually, I went to see him,” Bodie replied. “I showed up at the gym you told me about. I needed to make sure things are settled.”
I noticed he wasn’t wearing his glasses, and that’s because they were in his hands. Both hands. They were in two pieces.
“You fought with him?” Carter asked incredulously, pointing at the same thing I’d already noticed. “And he broke your—”
“No, no,” Bodie jumped in. “I broke these myself. Slipped on the ice, on the way out.” He shook his head bitterly. “That place has a shitty walkway. It’s slick and steep and—”
“Bodie!” we all shouted together.
He looked up, nonplussed.
“Cole?”
“Oh. Yeah. That.”
Shedding his jacket, he laid his glasses on his way into the kitchen. He returned with a beer, his heavy footfalls echoing loudly in the silence of our dismay.
“So I found him at the gym, just like you said,” Bodie began. “He was in the corner, working a heavy bag. Punching like there was no tomorrow.”
We were hanging on his every word. In the meantime, I began studying his face, looking for bumps or bruises, then inspected his hands, looking for cuts and scrapes. Somehow, everything was normal.
“So I go up to him, and the asshole doesn’t even stop punching. He doesn’t even look at me, he just keeps on hitting the bag.”
Carter scratched his chin. “He recognized you, right?”
“How could he not?”
“Alright, so then what happened?”
“I started talking, and immediately he pulls off his shirt. That’s when I figured he wanted to fight. I took a step back to get ready for him, and that’s when he hit me… in the face. With the sweaty shirt he’d just taken off.”
“Eww,” said Sawyer.
“Yeah,” Bodie agreed. “After that, he walks right past me, toward the locker room. So I follow him, and he whips around and demands to know if I want the shirt autographed. Because if I don’t, I need to ‘fuck off.’”
Carter and Sawyer looked at each other, then back at him.
“Are you sure he recognized you?” I asked.
“Yes,” Bodie continued. “Because as soon as I mentioned your name, he pulled me off to the side. We ended up alone, in this little circuit training room no one was using. Cole was breathing heavy and fast, and not from hitting the bag either.” His gaze shifted to me.
“He was totally enraged. Like the mere mention of you set him off.”
“And then the two of you fought?” Sawyer pressed.
“No,” Bodie growled. “We didn’t fight. I told him he needed to leave Hayden the fuck alone, permanently. I also told him if he came anywhere near her again — or The Refuge — that things would end very, very badly for him.”
I looked again, but there still wasn’t a single mark on Bodie. I just couldn’t believe it. I knew Cole too well.
“Well?” Sawyer pressed. “What did Colonel Crunchtime say?”
“He didn’t say anything at first,” Bodie admitted. “Then he laughed, and told me it wouldn’t be a problem.”
All three of us were in shock. The ensuing silence was so absolute, you could hear a spider’s footsteps.
“Wait, what?”
“He said that he’s done with your drama, and your games,” Bodie went on.
“My drama!?” I huffed. “My games!?”
Bodie shifted, uncomfortably. All of a sudden he was unable to look me in the eye.
“He also said… well…”
My eyes narrowed, but he seemed to have stopped speaking.
“Go on,” I urged. “I can take it.”
“He said you’re a lot more trouble than you’re actually worth.”
Carter gasped. Sawyer leapt off the couch so fast, he actually choked.
“If he would’ve said anything else, I would’ve hit him,” promised Bodie. “I would’ve buried him right there, in his home gym.”
“Yeah, and all the other fighters in that gym would’ve buried you in the same hole,” I promised. “Cole’s their hero. It’s lucky you didn’t scrap with him.”
“Either way,” said Bodie, tilting his bottle back, “he seems to be finished with you. Which I guess is good news.”
“It is good news,” affirmed Carter. “Right?”
They were all looking at me now, but my mind was too busy processing what happened. Cole, giving up? Just moving right along, after all the trouble he’d caused?
“I— I guess so, yeah.”
I uttered the words, but I was just going through the motions, really. The whole thing didn’t make sense. Not after what he’d put us through. Not after the things he’d said and promised.
Not after his history of handling breakups.
“You probably surprised him,” offered Sawyer. “Caught him off guard, in the last place he expected you.”
“Or he was afraid to confront you,” I reasoned. “Physically, anyway, in front of his peers. He’s still atoning for what happened in his last professional fight.”
Carter frowned. He stepped between the three of us, like a referee.
“Hey, this is what we wanted, right?” he pointed out. “For him to leave you alone?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Sure.”
“I’m not saying anyone should let their guard down,” he added quickly. “But maybe let’s just take it for what it is?”
What it is…
It could be anything, I knew. Or it could be nothing. Or it could be the calm before the rage storm. The eye of the Cole ‘The Hammer’ Hurricane, that would eventually blow our way.
I stopped to look around for a moment. I had a warm fire on a frigid night. A soft couch. A cold beer, still in my hand, and the whole evening ahead of me.
And of course I had three super sexy boyfriends, all vying to sleep with me. To the point where they were about to make up some sort of schedule; to share my bed.
“You’re right,” I smiled at Carter. “This is exactly what we wanted.” Turning, I batted my eyes at Bodie. “And thank you for confronting him. I would’ve tried to stop you, if I’d known you were going… but I guess it worked out for the best.”
Was I convinced Cole had turned over a new leaf? Not fully, no. But as they closed in on me, to take turns kissing me one by one, there was one thing I was definitely sure of:
None of these men would ever let anything happen to me, for as long as they drew breath.