Chapter Seventeen
Rue
Rue blinked the sleep out of his eyes and the room came into focus.
It was still early, the sun barely up. The blinds were open, and he could see pinks creating patterns in the white wispy clouds.
Then the nose pressing into his armpit got all his attention.
The man plastered against him breathed out and worked to get closer.
The sense of strangeness came and stayed when there was no large body crammed in behind him. It made him a little uneasy to realize how much he missed it. How was it that someone could get addicted to something so fast?
They had been doing this—whatever this was—since they’d got back, and Rue admitted it sort of worked. If he didn’t think too hard on what was missing, Kendrick’s presence with them, in person.
Two weeks in, and last night was the first time Rue had stayed over after the call with Kendrick. It wasn’t like they talked about it, it just kind of happened.
Just happened! his rhino snorted. You curled around Monty and didn’t let go!
Both of us were in a post-orgasmic haze.
Are you saying that’s the only reason we stayed?
I don’t want to send out the wrong message.
Rue didn’t want that. Getting his kinky needs met was one thing, but having a relationship while Kendrick was absent from the bed felt wrong.
His uneasiness grew when the problem was his needs was growing so fast that it made it harder to leave after the calls.
They’d settled into a routine where he would go to Monty’s when Kendrick planned to call. There were no dinner plans. No dating. No misunderstandings about what they were doing. Had last night shifted a boundary?
It sure as hell felt like it.
“Whatsup?” Monty murmured, his hot breath tickling Rue’s underarm.
Rue chuckled, shifting back to hear a complaint. “Where ya going?”
“You’re tickling me,” he grumbled playfully at the sleepy man.
Monty’s hair was a mess, one side stuck up. He had sheet creases on one cheek, yet he was too cute for words with the sulky pout. “I wasn’t.”
Monty rolled off the bed, scratching his tiny ass. One that bounced when he walked into the bathroom, distracting Rue.
His morning wood took notice, and Rue found himself in a predicament.
Should he go after Monty? They hadn’t had sex without Kendrick’s presence in one form or another since the first time he’d come here in the middle of the night.
It was like an unwritten rule that sat between all three of them. That’s what it felt like to Rue.
“I was just breathin’,” Monty called from the bathroom before the sound of the shower starting.
It struck Rue that he was laughing when Monty’s head popped out of the bathroom and he gave him a mock glare before disappearing once more.
Rue blushed self-consciously as he eyed the open door. It was all so normal. Relationship normal.
His unease turned to panic, and he shot out of the bed like his ass was on fire, hunting up his clothes to dress and head home.
What the ever-loving fuck was he doing? “I’ll catch you at work,” he called into the bathroom, keys in hand. He was heading out the door before Monty even replied.
All the way home, he kicked himself for acting like a dick.
Like that asshole who was a commitment phobic and didn’t have the decency to hang around.
Seeing it was early, he thought he’d be able to slip into the house undetected and shower before anyone noticed he’d not been home.
Only the universe had other ideas as he came through the front door, face to face with Jupiter.
His nose wrinkled, and he laughed so hard his body shook. “And another bites the dust!”
The panic he’d felt at Monty’s reared right back up.
“What are you talkin’ ‘bout!” he asked stupidly. Clearly, he had lost all sensibility, engaging in this conversation with Jupiter when he’d not even had a coffee to get his brain firing.
“First Taylin, then Booker, followed by Silas. Now, the mighty Rue has joined the PA shagfest.” A light shone in Jupiter’s eyes that made Rue wary, and with good cause when Jupiter continued, “Only little brother likes to crowd his bed with extra meat. How’s that workin’ for you with Kendrick back in Bayfield? ”
Rue was at a loss on how to answer. Fright quickly drove him to glance around, making sure no one else was within earshot. “None of your damn business,” he spluttered indignantly.
Jupiter’s slim shoulders shrugged as he came forward and patted Rue’s arm. “If you ever want any pointers, then you know where I am. But I suggest you pack a bag to avoid the creeping in and acting shady.”
“Pointers from you, how would that work when you’re all about fucking and pissing off before anyone gets attached cause you’re too fucking scared of relationships?
” It was temper that had him saying what was in his head.
Jupiter blanched and Rue regretted it immediately, knowing he was just deflecting from his own lack.
“Touché, little brother. But I’m not the only one scared of relationships. You, at least, have a chance of getting what you want. Don’t squander it.”
The distress coming from Jupiter made it hard to know how to answer. Sadness dripped from the words, like someone had turned on the tap and drenched them both, leaving an icy chill in its wake. Then he was gone, out the door, closing it quietly behind him.
“Fuck it all!” Rue ground out, feeling like shit.
“He’s more sensitive than all of you.” Popi’s quiet voice made Rue jerk around to the stairs and groan under his breath, wondering how much of the conversation he’d overheard.
His expression wasn’t one of disgust, but that didn’t mean Popi hadn’t heard what they were talking about.
“He’s…” Words failed Rue because, like all the adopted brothers, they all had secrets. Secrets they didn’t share. Jupiter never spoke about his past.
Popi came towards him, wrapping his arms around his waist, hugging hard.
The effortless affection, Rue had learned, could still make him tremble.
Popi was so small next to Rue, so he was careful when he hugged him back, needing it like oxygen to soothe the pain in his chest. This man was his savior, and Rue never forgot that.
It took several seconds for two things to sink in past the morning chaos: he smelled of Monty, and sex.
Why me!
He dropped his arms, hinting that it was time to let go, so he could escape.
Only, Popi didn’t let go. Instead, he looked up at him and smiled in a way that said the questions were coming. “So, what time do you call this getting home?”
“Popi!” he groaned, unable to look away from the inquisitive stare. It had always been this way. The man was the best inquisitor Rue had ever met, and professionals had trained him not to spill secrets. It was all in those love-filled eyes, they slayed Rue’s heart.
“What? Shouldn’t you take some clothes to Monty’s, so you don’t have to sneak back in the house in the morning to shower for work?”
The comment revealed Popi had heard the entire conversation, and it took effort not to hunch. Popi knows what I like… dear Gods!
“My love, stop teasing Rue.” Dad’s appearance from the direction of the kitchen was a welcome relief.
Except Popi didn’t let go, and Rue could hear voices upstairs. He didn’t want to have to face his other brothers, too. Not when he’d already proven his brain wasn’t in working order.
He gave Dad a begging look, and the traitor’s lips twitched. Eventually, he came and kissed Popi on the forehead. “Let Rue go, love. He needs a shower, it smells like he visited a brothel.”
Rue sent Dad a horror-filled look at being so blatantly called out, except it worked and Popi let go to swing to face Dad, hands going to his slim hips, his chin jutting forward. “And how would you know what a brothel smells like?”
“Brothel, who's been to a brothel?” Laken’s voice carried to them from above, and Rue rolled his eyes at his misfortune.
“Ask your dad,” Popi said, so sickly sweet.
Rue sent Dad an apologetic look, grateful despite how he’d achieved the deflection. He took that as his cue to leave and made his escape, dashing for the stairs. Laken eyed his suit with raised brows as Rue skipped past.
“It was just an analogy, my love,” he heard Dad say.
“Is that so?”
Shutting his bedroom door a minute later, Rue breathed out a sigh of relief that Laken hadn’t followed.
He stripped off his suit jacket, wondering how a man of twenty-seven years old could act like a teenage boy caught coming home after the first time they’d had sex?
He’d got caught out that time too, Popi really was like a ninja!
Ten hours later, Rue had given the question from the morning way more attention than he should. It infuriated him when the answer was doing what Jupiter and Popi suggested and packing a bag. Yet, wasn’t that sending the wrong message?
Monty hadn’t been off with him when he’d arrived at work, except there was something about his eyes that Rue hadn’t been able to pinpoint. Monty had acted the same way he always did… just those damn eyes gave Rue the guilts. Was he casting his own feelings onto Monty? That, he couldn’t say.
“Do you know why we’ve been summoned?” Laken sidled up, matching Rue’s pace as he headed to the boardroom down the empty corridor, bringing his thoughts back to where he was headed.
It was late, and Rue’s plans for the evening had gotten scuppered by the call from Silas asking him to stay for an urgent meeting with his brothers. “Not rightly sure, but I saw the press dude in the corridor earlier. Last time he was here it was to do with Drinkwater.”
When Rue glanced sideways, he tripped over his shoes, frowning. “What the fuck happened to you?” he asked, flabbergasted, his lips twitching before he burst out laughing.
Laken’s hair resembled a bird's nest, and his shirt buttons were mismatched. Rue blinked several times, sweeping his gaze over his normally impeccable brother.