14. Colt
14
colt
Hearing Nova going on a date had me feeling things I felt like I shouldn’t be feeling. For fuck’s sake, I was in a relationship with men who I did not deserve, and I was happy. Why did my brain make me feel jealousy over a woman I had no right to be jealous over?
Theo and I moved the herd a little west, looking out for stragglers or calves that had lost their way. We filled the troughs and left some hay for our pregnant heifers. Theo and I were unusually quiet, but shame was keeping my mouth shut. I know nothing happened between the both of us, and technically I hadn’t cheated, but I still felt guilty for getting jealous, thinking I had any right to her.
The late July sun bore down on us as we took a quick break under some shade. I pulled out a PB it would solve all of our problems. It could be great, but I didn’t think she would want me in that equation.
MOOOOO!
The cows got spooked running wildly.
Theo and I climbed onto our horses to manage the herd, finding stragglers and guiding them back. I secretly wished we could keep doing this all day, but once we got back home, we were going to have another uncomfortable discussion, although I had my suspicions that Atlas had feelings for Nova too.
Theo and I were quiet on our way home. We didn’t know what had spooked the herd, but it took a while before we were able to get all of the cows in order. When we got to the barn, we noticed Sol playing with her pig, Hula Hoop.
I immediately smiled, seeing her run around with the pig in a skirt chasing her, and Sable went running after them. Sol’s laughter filled the air, and I looked for Nova wondering if she had cancelled her date. The thought eased the tension I had been holding onto since Theo and I had talked.
“Sorry, Ms. Nova said it would be fine if I brought her.” A young girl was sitting in the barn reading a book. “I’m Stellar, I’m her babysitter and I thought I would give her some time to get ready in peace.”
“Hello, Stellar.” I jumped off the horse, nodding at her.
Theo nodded at Stellar going straight to Sol.
“Teddy!” Sol yelled, launching herself at Theo.
“Hello, Sunflower,” he said, catching her.
“I’ve missed you guys,” she murmured, holding out her hand for me.
I reached for her, and she pushed herself off of Theo. She laughed as I caught her.
“We’ve missed you too, Sundae,” I said, giving her a nickname that felt right.
“I’m not ice cream.” She giggled as I put her down.
“So, what’s with the skirt on the pig?” I chuckled.
“Isn’t she gorgeous?!” Sol yelled.
I laughed, watching her run around with Hula Hoop.
“Come on, Sol, we have to get back for dinner.” Stellar held out her hand to Sol.
Sol pursed her lips like she was going to argue.
“I’ll give you an ice cream sandwich,” Stellar said quickly, as Atlas pulled up to the house.
“Ok!” Sol squealed, kissing Hula Hoop’s nose, running to Theo and I, giving us a hug.
“Bye, Sundae.” I hugged her tightly as Atlas exited his car.
“My momma and I are going to the strawberry festival in Monroe this weekend, you should come,” Sol said. “Oh, and my momma has a date tonight, she’s going to Amore with some guy!”
“The strawberry festival? That sounds like fun,” I said, thinking we might need to run into her there.
“Oh, and why did you give my mom a pack of dead batteries?” Sol scowled.
I was momentarily stunned as Theo looked at me with a cocked eyebrow.
“Uh, I bought them like that,” I muttered.
“That’s weird. Ok, bye!” she yelled.
She ran to Atlas, giving him a hug then running towards Stellar who had given her a high five before they walked away.
“Nova has a date?” Atlas growled.
“That seemed rehearsed,” Theo said, standing next to me.
“You think the babysitter told her to say it?” I rubbed my jaw. “That sounded like an invitation to crash her date.”
“You want to crash her date?” Atlas looked at me in disbelief.
“We need to talk,” I said, realizing we still needed to tell him.
Atlas looked between Theo and I, he cocked an eyebrow, impatiently.
“I kissed Nova.”
“I got jealous when I heard she had a date.”
Theo and I spoke at the same time.
“Excuse me?” Atlas' eyes were wide. “You kissed her? And you like her?”
“I’m… I’m sorry, it just happened and?—”
Theo looked up as I felt his guilt all over again.
“I’m not mad,” Atlas said, stepping up to Theo. “I’m just surprised,” he chuckled.
“Surprised?” Theo asked, confused.
“Yeah, I think we all saw how you look at her and I can say I’m no better.” Atlas said, hugging Theo. “I didn’t expect you to have feelings for her.”
Atlas cocked an eyebrow at me. I looked away, not wanting to rehash my insecurities again.
“My anger was not aimed at her specifically, it was more my insecurities getting the best of me,” I said, looking away.
“Did you think we would leave?” Atlas asked.
“Why would you keep me if you had her?” I mumbled, the truth tasted like ash.
I might act like a confident grumpy asshole, but a life full of fighting for my mother’s love left me feeling like I never deserved love.
“Colt.” Atlas pulled me towards them. “That's not how we work.”
“We love you, we would never throw you aside,” Theo said, wrapping an arm around me.
“I have a bad past and why would?—”
“Nope, we are not doing that.” Atlas cut me off. “You are the product of your circumstances and we've already said you are not the same person you once were. Look at everything you've done since and continue to do. You are an incredible man.”
Atlas broke our group hug, cupping my face.
“You aren’t some toy we throw away because something new and shiny comes along." He kissed me softly. “We are forever.”
“You're stuck with us,” Theo said, hugging me from behind. “Our love isn’t conditional, and it doesn’t have a time limit. We will keep loving you until we leave this world. If it’s you or her, I will pick you, Colt.”
My stomach soured.
“So, what does that mean?” I asked hesitantly. “Do we ignore these feelings?”
“It means that while we have feelings for her, we aren’t going to pursue her,” Atlas answered. “It’s all of us or none of us.”
“So, it’s up to me?” I pulled away, not liking that.
“Well, do you have feelings for her? Now that you know it’s not you or her, are you going to admit you like her?” Atlas asked all the hard questions.
I turned away from them, knowing the answer, but once I said I did have feelings for her, things were going to change.
“What if this doesn’t work out with her? What if it changes our dynamic? What if she doesn’t want all of us, but one or two of us?” That last question was a big possibility because I had been an asshole and I had said shitty things out of anger. “What if she doesn’t want me?”
“That's a lot of what-ifs,” Theo said.
I scowled. “How are you so calm? You hate change.”
Theo shrugged. “I've had time to come to terms with my feelings for her and?—”
He looked at Atlas, who nodded his head in understanding.
Did I miss something?
“You didn’t feel the rightness of Nova and Sol being here?” Atlas asked.
I shook my head. “I think I was too angry to feel it, but I will say when they left, I did feel like we had lost something.”
We stayed silent as we all ruminated over our thoughts.
“So, are we going to crash a date?” I asked with a smirk I couldn’t keep off my face.
“If we do, that means we are all in,” Atlas said.
“We don’t want to give her mixed signals,” Theo added.
“I think if we don’t do this, we might regret it and I don’t want that to happen,” I said. “Let me get my keys while one of you finds directions to the restaurant.
“On it!” Atlas said, pulling out his phone.
“I think we also need to hear about those dead batteries,” Theo said, as I walked away.
Dammit, I hoped he would have forgotten she had said anything about those damn batteries.
It took us an hour to get to the restaurant; it was quiet the entire drive. I kept thinking about all the ways this could go wrong while Theo finally looked at ease for once over the past week. Atlas had a smile on his face while he sang along with the radio.
I parked, seeing Nova’s car and parking close to her. No one got out right away and I turned to the side to look at my men.
“Do we have a game plan?” I asked.
Theo shook his head.
“I’m thinking maybe us just being there will ruin it?” Atlas suggested.
I laughed, “You guys are too innocent, come on.”
It seemed like I was going to have to do all the dirty work. I was ok with that.
We walked into the restaurant, and I immediately noticed it was romantic as hell.
“Fuck me,” I said under my breath.
Let's hope this guy is a douche and she has no interest in him.
“Hey! Sit anywhere you like,” a waitress said, as she passed us with a tray of food.
“That smells good,” Theo said.
I realized we hadn’t had any dinner.
“Colt.” I turned to Atlas who nodded his head to the right.
I immediately saw a big guy who was talking to Nova.
“Dammit, he’s good looking,” Atlas groaned.
“Uh, yeah, he looks like Superman,” Theo said.
“Really, guys? Whose side are you on?” I snapped, not wanting to agree with them, but he was attractive, and we all had a crush on Henry Cavill. “Come on, stop drooling.”
I walked their way, still trying to figure out how I wanted to play this when fate decided for me. A waitress I didn’t see lost balance of the tray she was carrying and I caught the tray, but a plate of spaghetti landed right on my chest.
“Oh my god!” The girl yelled.
“I got you,” I groaned, as the hot spaghetti hit my chest, I stepped back right into Theo.
“I’m so sorry,” she gasped, when she saw that I was covered in sauce and pasta.
“It’s ok,” I said, as awareness made my neck tingle.
Jackpot.
“Lacy!” A woman came over, helping me with the tray as Theo helped me with the plate of spaghetti missing a meatball that rolled to the table that Nova was at.
“I got it,” Atlas said.
I couldn’t help the smile that surfaced at how perfect this was turning out to be.
“Atlas?” Nova’s voice was just loud enough for me to hear.
“I am so sorry for all of this.” A woman, who looked like she could be the manager, gave me paper towels to clean my gray shirt.
“It happens,” I said, trying to hear what Atlas was saying.
“Your meal is on the house,” she said, picking up the spaghetti off the floor.
“You don’t have to,” I said, seeing Atlas shaking hands with Nova’s date.
Was he blushing? Dammit, why do I have to do all the dirty work myself?
“I insist, please, I feel awful.” She took the dirty paper towels away from me. “Our bathroom is in the back left corner. We might have a shirt you can have.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I said, as she left.
Theo looked nervous before he turned around to Atlas.
“What are you guys doing here?” Nova looked at all of us.
“I like Amore,” Theo said. “Hello, Nova, and I’m Theo.”
Nova’s cheeks grew pink. Her date looked between us.
“This is… is—” Nova stuttered.
“Clark, her date,” he said, holding out his hand suspiciously at us.
“Hey, man. We are Nova’s Neighbors.” I nodded back at him. “Hello, Nova. You look gorgeous. Sorry to disturb you, we will let you get back to your date.”
“Enjoy, Nova,” Atlas said following.
“You do look beautiful, Nova,” Theo said, and I could probably bet he had a blush on his face too.
“T-thank you,” she said.
I picked a table within her line of sight before I cleaned up in the bathroom. We enjoyed a meal with her glancing at us every so often. They left before we did and when we paid, Nova came storming back in.
“What the fuck was that?” she glared at us.
“What was what?” Atlas asked innocently, and he had that innocent look down to a T.
“Did you purposefully crash my date?” She glanced at Theo, her face flushed a beautiful red.
“Why… Why would we do that?” Theo asked, standing up, tapping his thumb against each of his fingers once.
He was nervous and it was adorable.
“I-I don’t know, you tell me,” she stammered, her chest falling and rising quickly.
“Why would we want to crash your date, Nova?” I asked, standing up too.
Her gaze bounced between us, landing on Theo. They stared at each other, he stepped closer, tilting her chin up as if he was going to kiss her. My heartbeat started to rise as he leaned closer, just an inch from pressing his lips to hers. Nova glanced at me, her eyes wide as I did nothing but watch as Theo closed the distance between them.
“Watch my boyfriends, as I kiss you,” he whispered.
My stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster as he pressed his lips against hers. She whimpered softly as he kissed her, her eyes fluttered closed for a second before watching me through half lidded eyes.
My cock grew instantly, arousal hit me, and I wanted to kiss her too. Theo cupped her face deepening the kiss when our waitress broke the moment.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked sweetly, completely oblivious to the tension between the four of us. “No dessert?”
“No, Thank?—”
“Shit,” Nova squealed, turning around and walking out the restaurant.
“No dessert,” I said, handing her the money, getting ready to follow Nova when a hand held me back.
“We don’t want to overwhelm her,” Atlas said, watching the door she had just gone through. “She needs space to figure out what the hell is going on and then we can talk to her.”
“Do we want to give her time to talk herself out of what just happened?” I asked, looking at Theo.
“She won’t,” Theo replied confidently. “She feels the pull to us, I know she does.”
I wish I had Theo’s confidence because all I could think about was giving her too much time to run away and then it would be really over.