Chapter Thirty-One
Monty
Monty was only half paying attention to Ethan as he stamped across the carpet complaining about… he wasn’t sure what. His focus was Rue, who was tapping at his laptop, nodding occasionally to what Ethan was saying.
The weekend had been… this was why he couldn’t concentrate.
After last Thursday, where Rue had lost it and revealed what haunted him, he’d been different.
Yes, they’d lived together for a couple of weeks, could essentially call themselves a couple—throuple—but it hadn’t felt truly real until the weekend.
Was it declaring his love for Rue? Releasing himself from the fear of letting it slip out unintentionally.
Kendrick orchestrating him topping Rue where he’d epically lost control?
He still couldn’t quite believe Rue had passed out.
Monty didn’t know, not for sure, which, if any of these things made the difference.
Kendrick had been different, too. There’d been a tension about him that hadn’t been there before Thursday.
Monty had given this a lot of thought, and he had to wonder if it was because of his declaration of love for Rue.
Had Kendrick felt excluded? Monty sure would, he didn’t need an in-depth soul searching for that.
The guilt left him conflicted because he did have deep feelings for Kendrick, he just wasn’t ready to declare it as love because wasn’t it too soon?
It had taken months of knowing Rue before that realization happened.
Could he trust himself when the sexual chemistry clouded everything?
When Kendrick was near, everything seemed brighter inside Monty, his skin hummed with it. Was that love or sex? Could it be both?
“—what do you think, Monty?”
He blinked Ethan into focus and chewed his thumbnail, searching for anything to give him a clue about what he was talking about.
“Can you repeat that,” he asked, feeling his skin warm when Ethan chuckled and Rue made a snorting noise like he was swallowing back laughter even though he was still tapping at his laptop. The man could clearly multitask where it would appear Monty couldn’t.
“The omegas getting jobs outside of the ranch. Good or bad idea, what do you think?”
“Do they want to? What does Oakland say about this?” Monty had spent time with them every day after the visit to Cassidy the first week.
Rue had encouraged this because they seemed more relaxed with him.
As far as he could recall, there was no mention of them saying anything about a job off the ranch.
He believed Oakland would never approve, and possibly Ethan, the way he hung around a certain omega. Then there was Brier…
“This isn’t Oakland’s choice, it’s theirs.” Ethan’s teeth gnashed on ‘theirs’, wearing a mutinous scowl.
Okay, touchy subject.
Monty scratched his jaw, weighing his words.
“If the omegas want to do something beyond here, then I’d say they’ve considered it seriously, so we need to do the same.
They had their freedom taken from them,”—he swept his arm around the room to make his point—“aren’t we showing them they have gotten it back? ”
“Yeah… you’re right,” Ethan muttered more to himself than them. Monty was positive of it with how he looked to be staring off into space.
“If Oakland can assess risk like he did here, I think it could be good for them,” Monty added. “But I can sound them out this afternoon, if you like. We are helping Cassidy.”
Monty got a buzz of excitement recalling what was happening later.
The afternoon's visit was the grand reveal of Eric’s chicken outfits.
It might not be fashion week in Milan, something he was missing out on, but it was to the omegas, judging by how they’d been bubbling with enthusiasm at the coming reveal.
Monty needed to check his phone had enough charge so he could video it and share it with the others.
“That would be helpful,” Ethan finally answered. “They like Cassidy.”
He didn’t sound impressed, but Monty couldn’t say why. Everyone loved Cassidy. “They do, but it’s the chicks they love.”
“Really?” Ethan sounded genuinely surprised, which meant none of the omegas had spoken about what they were up to. Why was that?
Monty shook off the feeling of sorrow that wanted to blanket his earlier excitement at all the reasons they hadn’t shared, with an alpha they appeared to trust, what they were up to.
“Yep. If you maybe slip by the coops this afternoon, you’ll see.” He didn’t think it was a bad thing to encourage Ethan. He hoped the omegas saw it that way when he nodded in agreement.
“Can we now get back to business?” Rue asked, brows raised, the laptop no longer his focus.
Monty gave him a cheeky grin, one he’d never have considered giving back in Hazardville. “Of course, Mr. Starling.”
Ethan chuckled and gave them a small salute, heading out of Silas’s office.
“You wouldn’t be giving me cheek, would you, Mr. Gibson?” Rue aimed for stern and managed it for a whole two seconds before he allowed a smile to slip free.
Monty glided over the carpet and shimmed in between the desk and Rue, the rolling office chair moving back with Rue’s help. Seeing the invite, Monty straddled Rue’s lap and waggled his eyebrows.
“Now how to answer?” He slipped his arms around Rue’s neck, inching closer until their lips were close enough that he could smell the coffee Rue had recently drunk. “If I said yes, you might consider punishing me for insubordination.”
The gray of Rue’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “I could.” A smile that could melt ice formed. “Or I could just let Kendrick know how naughty you’re being and let him decide on how to punish you.”
Monty grew light-headed at the threat, but not because he was worried. The blood from his head had descended south in a sure-fire hurry. He ground down and kissed Rue with a hunger very much not appropriate for the office.
Through the pounding blood in his ears, a distant sound came from behind him.
Releasing Rue to drag in a breath, he heard a smothered cough-laugh and his eyes widened.
Just as Rue’s cheeks suddenly filled with color, Monty got a sinking feeling, squirming as he twisted his head to look over his shoulder.
Why now?
Why did it have to be them?
Derick and Lane stood in the open doorway. It took two seconds to figure out who had made the noise, when Derick’s expression didn’t give Monty any clue as to what he thought about their current predicament. Lane looked highly amused, so that was something.
Only Rue wasn’t the only one blushing with embarrassment. The dose of reality that they were supposed to be working and the two men—though retired—were still probably paying Monty’s wages hit him hard. That was enough to cool his ardour and get him sliding off Rue’s lap.
“Mr. Starling—”
Lane raised a hand, chuckling as he came into the room. “When have I ever been Mr. Starling? And I do believe we are way past that when you were sitting on my son's lap, about to—”
“Popi,” Rue said in warning.
Derick sniggered and looked almost relaxed as he strolled in.
Monty then noticed how casually dressed he was.
He wore clothes more suited to a cowboy.
Monty had seen him in slacks and a polo shirt in his home the one time he’d gotten invited to talk about Emmy, but this was something else.
Although Monty wasn’t into men so much older than him, he totally got why guys would be.
Derick exuded power wearing a suit. Dressed as he was, he most certainly continued to exude that, but there was also a sexiness Monty hadn’t noticed before.
Thigh hugging jeans, cowboy boots and a rugged shirt… they really worked for him.
When it struck that he was enjoying the view a little more than was decent when he was dating Derick’s son, Monty shoved his hands in his pocket and shifted his attention to Rue who hadn’t moved from behind the desk, like he didn’t know how to act.
Monty gave him a ‘get up and help me’ look.
Rue rose gracefully, going to Lane. “Dad, Popi, this is a surprise. I thought you weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow?”
Monty blinked in confusion. Rue hadn’t mentioned that, had he? Had he booked the restaurant for the official introduction?
Like you need that after you were lap dancing on Rue when they arrived.
Go away.
Seriously? Like I can. His otter was cracking up in his head, rolling around laughing. Monty forced himself to remain still while Rue hugged Lane, then Derick.
“We thought we’d come a day early and spend some time on the ranch with you.”
Lane’s words brought a lump to Monty’s throat he couldn’t swallow passed when he didn’t need to look at Rue to know he’d frozen in place.
Hadn’t he told them he was staying in town?
Monty was back to blinking in confusion as he looked between the three men, working to sort through what he might be missing.
“Popi… I…” Rue shifted his attention to Derick. “Dad…” Rue shook his head, clearly mystified—maybe—by the whole situation.
How often did one get caught mounting their boss and kissing them?
“Stop teasing Rue, my love. He’s already had one shock today.”
Monty couldn’t decide if the shock was their arrival or them catching Monty sitting on his lap in a very unprofessional manner during work hours and joking about it.
Praying for some sort of miracle that allowed Monty to disappear so Rue could have whatever conversation that needed to be had, a tap at the open door had Monty groan in relief before he could stop himself.
Ivo didn’t take his eyes off Derick as he hovered on the threshold of the room.
“Hey Ivo, this is Derick,”—Monty pointed at the man in question—“and Lane Starling. They’re Rue’s parents,” he explained, when Ivo didn’t so much as blink.
Monty, hating the fear Ivo wasn’t able to hide, walked over and slipped an arm around Ivo’s waist without thinking about it.
Ivo leaned into him, saying shyly, “Hi.”