16. Liv
16
LIV
U nless it’s a surprise stripper-gram or some kind of complimentary dessert, I’m going to murder whoever keeps knocking at my door.
It’s not likely to be anyone from the press. There are two hockey teams loose in Vegas tonight, one of which is celebrating. So I’m sure there are much more interesting things happening out on the strip than inside my hotel room.
The two likeliest options are Max checking in on me or Travis pretending to do the same.
At least those are the only two people I can think of that would be persistent enough not to go away after two minutes of knocking with no answer.
Regardless, I don’t have the patience for either of them tonight.
I cast one last longing look at the tub. The fancy soaps are lined up along the edge along with my mud mask, pumice stone, and flamingo pink nail polish. I can almost hear them begging me to ignore the knocking and to turn the water on.
I desperately want to listen to them and blow off whoever’s at the door but unfortunately, taking the advice of inanimate objects is not going to win out.
Besides, if it’s who I think it is, they’re not going to go away, and incessant knocking isn’t the soothing sound I had in mind for my bath.
The sooner you send him away the sooner you can start running that bath. So stop being wishy-washy and take some action.
At least I didn’t take my clothes off yet. Facing down an unwanted guest in a bathrobe would be a serious disadvantage.
When I look through the peephole, I see three people outside my door, none of whom were my original guesses.
Dimitri, Aiden, and Connor have planted themselves outside my room. From the looks on their faces, they plan to be there until I open the door.
This has to be some kind of joke. Why else would they be here risking media attention if not to mess with me? Taunting me with what I can’t have would be a foolproof way to do that.
I haven’t been able to get that night out of my head. There’s something about the four of us being together that makes me feel invincible.
I’d felt something similar when we had that fling as teenagers but I’d just chalked it up to raging hormones.
I’m not so sure that’s what it is now.
The times that Aiden and I have been together were nice, great even, but it wasn’t enough to chase Connor and Dimitri from my mind. It makes me feel selfish, like Aiden isn’t enough on his own.
That’s when it hits me. He must have told them, or accidentally let something slip and they caught on. It’s not like it was a secret or anything. Not from Dimitri and Connor, anyway.
So why does it feel like I betrayed them?
I take another look through the peephole.
They look annoyed but it has more of a “Liv, open the damn door” feel rather than a “Liv, you’ve crushed our hearts and we hate you forever” vibe.
Hold on.
Hearts?
This has only ever been a casual hookup situation. Hearts have no place in it. We’re not getting attached, remember? Especially not to a hockey player. Haven’t you learned anything at all over this past week?
That little voice of reason is always right. I need to stop trying to plan for situations that probably won’t even happen. More likely than not, Max found some Vegas puck bunny to occupy himself with and sent these three to check up on me.
The faster I get this over with, the sooner I can get my ass in that giant tub.
I pull the door open and lean against the doorframe. They were much less intimidating through the bubble-like lens of the peephole.
A jolt of electricity pulses through my lower body, and all I can think of is the last time they all showed up at my door. That was something we all agreed wouldn’t happen again, and going off their body language, it doesn’t look like they’ve changed their minds.
Save your fantasizing for the tub and lose the body guards.
I force myself to stay casual.
“Let me guess, Max sent you up here to check on me. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine, whole, and healthy,” I say, spreading my arms wide. “So you can go back to whatever party you left, and if you see Max, tell him he could have just as easily texted me.”
“We’ve got some things to take care of first,” Connor says, pushing past me, Dimitri and Aiden following.
“Okay, then. Clearly Max didn’t send you so what do you want? And make it quick. I was just about to run myself a bath.”
“They know about us.” Aiden sighs.
“Hold on, you didn’t say anything about you being an us,” Dimitri says. “How serious is this?”
“You said we were serious? When were you going to tell me that?” I demand.
“That’s not what I meant. I…”
Our voices all start overlapping in a discordant harmony as we argue. I can’t make out what anyone is saying, not even my own words.
My leg starts to shake and my ears begin to ring.
The scene causes me to flash back to mobs of reporters invading my personal space.
Am I breathing?
I think so, but I’m not entirely sure.
Is it hot in here?
It’s definitely hot in here.
Oh great. I’m sweating.
Connor lets out a shrill whistle to calm the chaos. My surprised yelp fills the resulting silence. All three of them stare at me.
I take a shaky breath. “I’m okay. Just a little overwhelmed by the noise, that’s all. All this shit that’s been going on with the press has me on edge.”
“Clearly things just got out of hand here,” Connor says. “Now, why don’t we start at the beginning?”
“That would be nice.”
Dimitri and Aiden nod in agreement.
“Yesterday at breakfast, the conversation lead to Dimitri and me finding out that you and Aiden had been intimate on a few occasions after we all spent the night together in New York. Max told us that you had stayed with Aiden for a few nights but that it was strictly platonic, and you slept in separate rooms. You could say things got a little heated when we found out that wasn’t necessarily the case. None of us were exactly our best selves.”
“Stop mincing words, Connor. We were jealous.”
My eyes lock on Dimitri. “Jealous?”
“Of course we were jealous. Look at you. In what world would one night be enough? If all this shit with the media hadn’t happened, I was going to take you out myself,” Dimitri says with a grin.
“Like a date? Aiden and I weren’t… it wasn’t like that, it was just something that happened.”
“That’s not how he made it sound earlier.”
Aiden sighs, exasperated. “Excuse me for not picking the perfect words.”
“No, that’s on me. I’m still running on adrenaline.”
“Well, I was the one who…”
“Ok fine. You’ve kissed and made up.” Connor smirks. “Can we please get back to the point?”
“And what point might that be?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest.
“Obviously, the ‘get things out of our system’ hookup in New York opened a door instead of shutting one. The three of us clearly have some strong feelings where you’re concerned, and from the little bit Aiden said, so do you. We figured it was best to deal with it right away before it impacts our performance on the ice again.”
“You were distracted during the game? Are you out of your fucking minds? Do you have any idea how precarious your position is in the rankings right now? You can’t afford to start having drama over me. You can’t let emotions get involved. It’s bad enough that I have to work with a moron who lets his dick make all the decisions. The three of you are going to end up running the team’s rankings straight into the fucking ground if you can’t think logically.”
I have a hornet’s nest’s worth of rage inside me and they’re all just looking at me with a bemused expression.
“What?” I snap.
“Your response was a lot tamer than I expected.” Connor shrugs. “I thought you’d end up hanging us from the balcony by our toes or something.”
“I’m glad you find it so funny.”
“It wasn’t during the game, it was during a scrimmage, one practice, and we got our shit together. Which you would have known had you let me finish my thought. So, can I continue?”
“Go ahead.”
“After we had dinner with the governor last night, we talked things through again, and we all agreed to lay everything out on the table for you.
“The bond the four of us share runs deep. We are too serious about our careers to let something like this get in the way. We figured tonight would be a good time to talk since everyone else would be out celebrating.”
“What exactly do you want from me?”
“Well, to be as straightforward as possible, we want to know what you want, or rather who.”
You and me both.
The weight of their expectations settles in on top of the stress of everything else along with the press conference, and it’s just too much for me to carry in one day.
I drop down onto the edge of the bed like a stone and bury my head in my hands.
“Shit,” Dimitri mutters.
“I told you this was too much,” Aiden hisses.
“What is it, angel?” Connor asks gently.
“You saw the press conference. Do I really have to say anything more?”
“Actually, we didn’t. We weren’t able to catch it and talking to you directly seemed more important at the time.”
Everything that’s happened since I’ve moved back comes pouring out of my mouth. The more rational part of me scrambles to grab the pieces but the emotional dam has already broken.
There’s no saving face at this point.
“I know you mean well. And I want to talk about this. I’m just so confused about my feelings for the three of you and too overwhelmed by everything else. I don’t know which way is up right now. So the only honest answer I can give is that I just want one night where I don’t have to worry about any of it.”
“We can do that.”
I pick my head up off my hands. “Excuse me?”
“I said we can do that for you, angel.”
“So you’re just going to let all this go for tonight?”
They nod. They are so in sync at times it’s unnerving.
“And do what exactly?”
The three of them have an entire conversation in a single look. I swear, one of these days if I listen hard enough, I might be able to hear what they’re saying.
When Connor meets my eyes again his smile is dangerous. “Anything and everything you want.”
I can feel myself flushing for an entirely different reason as I think about all the possibilities the night could hold.
Although it feels like a single word will break the spell and turn everything back into pumpkins, I press my luck anyway. I need to make sure this is real.
“And if I want all of you?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
“Then say it. Tell us exactly what dirty little fantasy is spinning around your brain right now.”
“I’m not sure I could choose just one.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing we have all night.”