Colin #4
I ran my hand up his thigh and cupped his groin.
I couldn’t help but snicker when I saw his irritation flicker into a different heat that I knew damn well he would not follow through on at the moment.
It was one thing to kiss me or let me grope him in a potentially open area; it was something else entirely to have sex.
That would be a lot harder to conceal quickly.
“You’re totally thinking about what you wish you could do to me right now, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Might be considerin’ one day finding somewhere away from these fuckheads and bending you over something,” he admitted in a rough voice that went straight to my groin. “Now ask your stupid ass question.”
“Kinda taking a gamble here, hoping it’s going to cheer you up a little,” I said and hurried on when I could see him losing patience. “It just popped into my head…what your wife, or soon-to-be-ex-wife, would think if she could see you right now.”
His expression was hard to read, but I didn’t think it was going over well, pulling the conversation back to her… until he snorted harshly. “She’d be pissed.”
“Because you’re actually able to enjoy yourself with me? Or because you’re doing shit with a guy?”
“I mean, both, but the second one ain’t for the reason you’re thinking.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was…adventurous,” he said carefully.
“How so?”
“Do you really wanna hear shit like that?”
I snorted. “Oh, I see. You’re not protecting her image; you’re trying to protect my feelings.
You know, you’re allowed to talk about stuff you did with previous partners.
It’s not going to hurt my feelings. So why would you getting with a guy piss her off if it wasn’t about the gay or bi thing like I automatically assumed? ”
He sighed. “Because she always not-so-secretly hoped one day I’d get into a threesome with her and another man…one where I, ya know…did things with the guy.”
“Ohhhh,” I said with a laugh. “She was one of those ladies, alright I got ya.”
“I can only imagine how pissed she’d be if she found out that after our relationship exploded in our faces, that’s when I ‘magically’ found a guy attractive,” he said with a frown. “Actually, it is kinda funny. I couldn’t have planned it better myself.”
“As much fun as this is as a mental exercise, I would like to point out that I’m not comfortable being used, even by proxy, to piss off your ex-wife,” I said.
“Soon-to-be-ex-wife.”
“Bro, you guys are separated for whatever reasons are leading to your divorce. Might as well call her your ex and get used to it, unless—”
He frowned, then flinched. “What, that we’ll get back together? Fuck that.”
“Hey, it happens. Sometimes two people hate each other because there’s still love there, but it can’t come out healthily. Sometimes that brings them back together.”
“I don’t hate her,” he grunted. “I don’t blame her for hating me, but I don’t hate her.”
“Hmm, then how do you feel about her?” I wondered.
“Tired,” he said instantly. “She was…is, just as stubborn and demanding as I am. She couldn’t, or I guess wouldn’t bend, not like you can sometimes… and get that fucking look off your face. I know a dirty joke before it shows up.”
“I was going to leave the comment about my body’s flexibility in my head,” I promised with a grin.
He snorted. “Everything was a fight, not the entire relationship, but the last few years. We didn’t wanna budge; we had to win.
We started becoming that couple no one wants to go out with because we’d make shit awkward by arguing.
She’d get nasty, and I’d get pissed. I thought maybe divorce was the only way we could ever be happy.
Hell, I thought she wanted a divorce. Now it just feels like she’s doin’ whatever she can to make it suck for me.
Like we weren’t angry enough before the divorce, it’s like she just needs to be angry. ”
“Like I said earlier, sometimes anger hides how hurt someone is,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe that’s the case here.”
“Then she’s awfully fucking sad.”
I laughed. “And you must naturally be a heartbroken soul by my logic.”
“Fuck off,” he grumbled, pushing me off his lap.
“Ow!” I grunted when I hit the ground, turning to slap his leg. “Asshole.”
I wasn’t really mad; a bit of harmless pain was worth it to see that smug smile on his face. That at least meant he wasn’t wallowing in his feelings as much, which was far better than the alternative.
“Did you come out here to make sure I wouldn’t terrify the new idiot?” he asked and scowled. “Who apparently has more baggage than he should for this place.”
“Aidan,” I told him as I used his leg to push myself up from the ground with a grunt, “doesn’t need you terrorizing him, that’s true.
But he also promised his reaction was because he was surprised and that he’ll be a good, professional boy after this.
So I think it’s best if we all give him that chance. ”
“And if giving him that chance blows up in our faces?”
“Well, he’s not going out on calls with us, so any ‘blowing up’ will just be tension, and you can ship him back to where he came from. But c’mon, you gave me a chance, and look how that turned out.”
His expression was deadpan. “You’re not really gonna use yourself as an example, right?”
“Why? You afraid that now the gay sex door has been opened you’re going to want to plow his ass so hard he can’t walk right for an hour afterward too?”
“No,” he said, giving me a push. “And shut up.”
“It’s what you do,” I chuckled, grabbing his wrist and pulling myself closer. “And if you promise not to sulk all day, and put that bad mood away, I’ll let you take your mood out on my ass later.”
“You’ll do it anyway,” he said with a shake of his head. “If I told you to be in my cabin at ten, clothes off, on your knees and ready for me to fuck your face, you would be.”
“True,” I admitted, poking the end of his nose and smiling when he growled. “But isn’t that a better way to deal with a bad mood than sitting out here, glaring at the woods like they offended you?”
“You offend me,” he snarled, slapping my hand away. “Quit!”
“Or what? You’ll fuck me stupid…again?”
“Quit!”
I laughed when he reached for me, dodging out of the way because while I trusted him, I knew I was getting on his nerves. “Now, admit you feel at least a little better.”
“Fuck off,” he said, but I could see the shadow that had been over his expression was gone.
“So I shouldn’t stop by your cabin tonight, then?” I wondered as I inched away from his fingers. “I was thinking we could share a shower. I know how much you appreciated the first time you saw me in the shower.”
“It’s clear no one ever beat your ass for that mouth,” he growled as he got to his feet.
I raised an eyebrow. “Were you not paying attention when I told you about me getting hate-crimed?”
He stopped, and his horror was touching and comical. “That’s not—”
“It absolutely was funny,” I said, inching closer. “Kinda like how you don’t get to say that I can’t use a certain slur for myself, you can’t tell me I can’t make jokes about fucked-up shit I put to rest years ago. Especially when it makes you panic a little.”
“Idiot,” he snarled, and I laughed when he yanked me into his chest again.
“Probably,” I said, tilting my head up to smile at him. “So…your cabin? Shower? Tonight?”
“Fine,” he grumbled, and I had to hold back a laugh. Mostly because he’d ask what was so funny, and if I told him it was because I realized the big, scary, grumpy butthead was getting wrapped around my finger, he’d be livid. I didn’t mind that being my little secret though.
“Now, are you going to be nice to the new guy? He’s had a hard enough day as it is.”
“Sounds like Mika’s ain’t been much better.”
“Well, he could probably have someone check on him. Wanna do that?”
“He’s an adult.”
“You’re the idiot,” I said as I stepped back, “if you think for a minute, I believe you don’t give a fuck about him.
So why don’t you come say hi to Aidan so he knows what kind of dickhead he’s working under, and then you can go find Mika.
And don’t tell them what you know. Mika will stress if he thinks you know about his business, and Aidan will feel even more awkward. ”
“What are you, my fucking mother?”
“I feel like I could turn that into a dirty joke, but the amount of effort wouldn’t be worth it.”
“You’re fucking stupid.”
“Yeah,” I agreed and gave his wrist a tug. “Now come play nice with the other kids and maybe I’ll let you have a juice box.”
Which was the exact moment I needed to move at a quicker pace, as I heard him lumber after me with an annoyed growl. At least it couldn’t be said that he was still thinking about his ex-wife, so I counted it as a victory.