16. Atlas
16
atlas
Sol was living her best life as we played games all day, ate too many strawberry concoctions and danced after we ate dinner. Her giggles, enthusiasm and never-ending energy was amazing to behold. It made me wonder how Nova kept up with her all by herself.
“Did you drive?” Colt asked, as we walked out of the festival that was still going strong.
He was carrying a sleepy Sol, who was fighting her exhaustion. She was crashing from all the sugar she had consumed earlier.
“We took the bus,” Nova said, looking at Sol who was sleepily smiling at her mom.
“Can we take you guys home?” I asked, hoping that we could finish our talk.
Ever since Theo admitted to kissing her and Colt liking her, I had this need for all of us to talk and work this out. I didn’t want to waste another second of us not being together.
Nova looked at us with a vulnerability I didn’t often see.
“It will be easier for her to sleep,” Theo added, holding onto the big bear Colt won for Sol.
“Ok,” she said, biting her lip.
“We are parked this way.” Colt guided Nova to the left.
We were lucky to be able to park so close even though it was outrageous what they charged. Theo said it was worth it if we got to take them home, we had been banking on them taking the bus like they did last year.
Colt unlocked the truck as Theo opened the door for Nova, helping her in, and I opened the door for Colt. Nova sat in the middle and Colt laid Sol on her mother's lap as Theo climbed in behind Nova. I narrowed my eyes at him. Lucky bastard got to sit next to her.
The drive home was quiet and about halfway home Nova also fell asleep against Theo, who never took his eyes off the girls. I looked back at them often, as I imagined what our future could look like. Colt took my hand, we shared a look, and I thought he might be thinking the same thing.
“I want this,” Theo said softly “And I still feel a little guilty about it.”
“Don’t feel guilty, babe,” I said, looking back at him.
“We talked about this, and we are all on the same page,” Colt said.
Theo nodded, looking back at the girls. Never in a million years would I have imagined we would end up here. I knew my feelings for her had grown and I had pushed them away thinking that I was being selfish by wanting it all.
Colt pulled up to their house and I got out slowly, opening the back door as Nova woke up.
“I got her,” I whispered, picking up Sol who instantly wrapped her arms around my neck.
Nova opened the house, and I followed her into Sol’s bedroom.
“You can put her on the bed,” she whispered, opening a few drawers and getting some pjs for her.
“Good night, Sunny,” I said, laying her down on the bed.
“Atlas,” Nova called out softly.
“Hmmm?” I looked back at her.
“Don’t leave, I'll be right out,” she said over her shoulder
“Of course.” I closed the door smiling.
I hoped she was seriously considering this, that she was considering us. Colt and Theo were speaking softly as I came into the living room. They looked at me expectantly.
“She said to stay.” I walked up to them.
“How did your conversation go with her?” Colt asked, pulling me in for a hug.
“I think good, we didn't get to talk about a lot, but she didn’t flat out say no,” I said, taking a deep breath to ease my nerves.
Theo sat down, leaning forward on his thighs, with his head in his hands. Colt and I shared a look, pulled apart and sat on either side of him.
“You ok?” I asked, leaning on his shoulder, rubbing his back.
He nodded.
“We will get through this no matter what she says.” Colt kissed his head.
“I know,” Theo mumbled. “I just….”
“Feel overwhelmed that this might happen and she might be ours,” I said, when he didn’t finish his sentence.
Theo nodded, looking at me. “I didn’t realize that I wanted her so much until it actually became a possibility. Now spending the day with them, it felt so right.”
I sighed. I felt it too. Colt didn’t look so convinced, but he was also skeptical when we all decided to date each other. Footsteps had us sitting up as Nova walked in the living room wearing shorts and a loose shirt.
She was gorgeous, my heart pounded harder as she walked to us hesitantly.
“Hi,” she said, as Sol came into the room.
“Thank you for a great day!” she squealed, hugging Theo, then Colt and me.
I tried not to be disappointed that she had woken up, knowing that meant we probably wouldn’t have time to talk.
“We had a great day,” Colt said first.
“It was the best,” Theo said.
“Maybe during the Fall we can head to Mountain View for their Pints festival, I hear they have good games and good food,” I suggested.
“I have never been to Mountain View,” she said excitedly. “Momma, we could go visit Darcy.”
“We could.” Nova smiled at Sol. “Come on, let's shower and hopefully get you back in bed.”
“Ok, thank you for a great day,” Sol said, waving as she went down the hall.
“Sorry, she woke up and I knew she wouldn't go back down.” Nova looked nervous.
“It’s ok,” Colt said standing up. “Come over for dinner tomorrow.”
“I work at the bar tomorrow,” she said. “I picked up a couple more shifts so we could go to the festival.”
She didn’t look at us, finding the floor better to look at.
“Tell us when you have the evening off and we can make dinner, give you some time to relax,” I said, walking to her. “You need a break, not even dislocating your shoulder was excuse enough to get you to stop.”
“I don’t have the luxury of stopping,” she sighed.
“Take one night.” Theo came to us. “Let us help you.”
“We can make dinner, and you can sit down with your feet up,” Colt said right behind me. “No excuses, we better see you at the house one day this week or I will come over here and throw you over my shoulder and drag you to our home.”
She shivered, biting her lip, nodding.
“Good night,” I said first, kissing her quickly.
Colt kissed her forehead and Theo, well Theo had to outdo all of us again. He opened her mouth with his tongue as he deepened the kiss. They looked great together, instantly making me hard. What would it be like to have her writhing for us in the middle of our bed as we gave her multiple orgasms?
“Good night,” Theo murmured against her lips.
“Uh huh,” Nova said, looking a little flushed.
We walked out, got into the car and headed home. The drive was quiet, and the silence continued as we got ready for bed. It wasn’t until we laid down in the dark that we spoke.
“Are we sure we want to do this?” Colt said first.
Theo tensed next to me.
“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked, as I grabbed Theo’s hands.
“No, well, maybe,” Colt sighed. “I’m just worried that we are not thinking this through. It’s not just Nova we are pursuing but it’s Sol too, and the last thing I want to do is get her hopes high. She’s never had a father figure and I’m worried that….”
Colt stopped speaking.
“I think that’s why we need to talk to Nova, maybe she can guide us on what to do,” Theo said. “That’s if she says yes. We would need to follow her lead because you’re right, we need to be careful with Sol, too.”
“She already adores you guys and maybe we just keep the same level of interaction,” I added.
“I’m just worried that if we continue, we have two hearts to consider. I know what it’s like to get excited at the possibility of getting a dad and I just don’t want that heartache to happen to Sol,” Colt said softly. “It feels like rejection, and she might feel that rejection times three.”
I hadn’t thought of it like that and my heart broke. Colt was speaking from experience, and I hated that he had had to go through that. We lay in silence.
“Let’s just think about her too, please,” Colt finally said.
I turned to Colt, pulling him to me.
“I love you, Colt, and your big softie heart,” I said, as he laid on my chest.
“Don’t tell anyone, it might ruin my reputation.” He nuzzled my chest.
“No one would believe us.” Theo turned towards us, throwing an arm around my waist holding onto Colt.
I chuckled. “He’s not wrong.” I kissed his forehead. “I agree with Colt, we need to be careful with them. They don’t need any more added heartache, and the thought of hurting Sol makes me sick.”
“Me too. I just want them to be happy,” Theo said. “Sol deserves to have a stable home, and I think we need to talk to Nova about that too.”
“I agree, and we need to make sure she isn’t seeing that other guy anymore either,” Colt grumbled. I loved that Colt was a little jealous, maybe it would humble him a little.
“If she is, maybe we need to crash another date,” I yawned.
“Maybe we should tell him to back the fuck off,” Colt said with a little hint of violence in his voice.
“We could do that too, maybe that is the better option,” Theo agreed.
“Hey, we are not doing any of that,” I chastised them.
“Ok, fine, let him sleep with her and woo her,” Colt said, looking up at me. “Let Sol meet him and?—”
“Ok, fine. We will ask her about him and then if we need to, we can take matters in our own hands,” I huffed.
“Great plan,” Theo said sleepily.
I chuckled. These two big oafs were so possessive, but also, the thought of that Henry Cavill lookalike made my skin crawl. She was ours and I think I needed to be ok with getting my hands dirty to make sure Nova didn’t need anyone else but us.