Chapter 12
12
Amy
Being alone in the house with Zach was odd. She’d always known that Kincaid had a big presence, but at Stronghold and Marquis, there were always other people around. Lots of other people. Who also had big presences. Lots of Doms who exuded confidence and strength.
Not that Zach didn’t, but he didn’t to the same extent Kincaid did. There were some Doms who just had a little extra ‘oomph,’ and Kincaid was one of them.
The house felt kind of empty without him.
“So, what do you want to do tonight?” Zach asked as she wandered into the living room. He was seated on the couch, scrolling on his phone, though he did glance up to smile at her before looking back down at the screen.
“Oh, you don’t have to hang out with me if you still want to go to the club…” Her voice trailed off.
“I thought you were supposed to be keeping me from feeling abandoned.” He looked up again to wink at her, and her stomach did a funny little flip. “We could go to the club if you wanted to, though.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready yet.” Especially not if it was just the two of them. If they walked in, both of them, without Kincaid, would everyone assume they were cheating? Not something she felt up to dealing with right now. Plus, she was going to have to face all the inevitable questions from everyone, and to be perfectly honest, she would feel better if Kincaid was there for that, too.
He and Zach weren’t perfect shields, but as long as Kincaid was there, it would be clear to everyone that she and Zach weren’t cheating and that anything they did together—or had done together—was sanctioned by him. Plus, he and Kincaid were two of the Doms all the subbies thirsted over, so they were distractions in their own right. No one was going to pay attention to her if she was hanging out with both of them. They would be too busy lusting over the two hot Doms.
Yeah, if and when she went back to the club, it would be when they could both go. Preferably on a slow night. Like a Thursday. Not the busiest night of the week.
“How about a movie night?” Zach suggested.
“Sure, as long as it’s not a romance or something that will make me cry.” Amy plopped down on the couch next to him. “Maybe something superhero.”
“Um, superhero movies have both romances and scenes that will make you cry.” Zach put his phone down on his lap, turning off the screen and focusing on her entirely.
“It’s not the same as watching a romance where that’s the whole point of the plot. Or something like The Notebook , where, again, the whole point of the plot is to make you cry.” The last thing she wanted to do right now was watch someone else get their happily ever after. Even if it was a bittersweet one like The Notebook . Eventually, she’d get to that part of the breakup process, but not today.
“I feel like the point of the Infinity War movies was to make people cry,” Zach muttered.
“I’ve never seen them.” She knew what he was talking about, obviously, but she hadn’t taken the time to watch them. When he stared at her in complete speechless shock, she shrugged her shoulders. “I was always more of a Batman girl. I’ve seen all of those movies.”
“Wait, you haven’t seen any of the Marvel movies?” He reached up to his collar, like the button-down he was wearing was too tight around his throat, even though the top buttoned wasn’t buttoned. He was even starting to turn a little red.
Amy shrugged, enjoying his reaction to her casual indifference.
“I saw part of Ironman once, but I was sick, so I fell asleep halfway through.”
The sound he made was indescribable, somewhere between a bird squawk and a moose bellow, and he was tugging at the neckline of his shirt again. Amy pressed her lips together to keep from laughing because she could tell he wasn’t pretending to freak out. He was actually freaking out a little.
Such a boy.
“Okay. Okay.” He took a couple of deep breaths while she watched in amusement. “It’s okay. We can fix this. We’re starting tonight with Ironman.”
“Wait, are you going to make me watch the whole series?” Because it really was a series of movies, and if he said ‘starting with,’ that implied there was going to be more.
“Yes, except I’m not going to have to make you; you’re going to be begging to once we get started.” He shook his head. “We can maybe get through two, maybe three, movies tonight. We’ll do more tomorrow. Kincaid will back me on this when he gets home.”
“I said I didn’t want to cry, though.”
The look he gave her was pitying. “There’s no way we’re getting to the Infinity Wars for days. It’s fine. I’ll order some pizza and get out the snacks. We need to get comfortable. Go to your room and get into some pajamas.”
Amy bounced to her feet without thinking, automatically following his direction. She was halfway to her room before she scowled, realizing that she’d jumped straight to his marching orders. Should she have put up more of a fight? Protested that he was making the decisions for her?
That had been something that bothered her about Jeremy. He had a tendency to push his own agenda without thinking about what she might want to do. They never watched what she wanted to watch; they only ever watched what he wanted to. He’d never watched any of her favorite movies with her because they weren’t ‘his thing.’
No, this was different. She’d specifically said superhero movies, and that’s what Zach was going with. Granted, he seemed pretty excited about sharing the movies he loved with her, but she was pretty sure that if she told him she didn’t want to watch Ironman , he’d let her choose something else.
Still.
After getting changed into some pajamas and running a brush through her hair, she came back out to find that he’d somehow already changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and had a popcorn bag slowly rotating in the microwave. He was also on his phone again.
“How does pepperoni pizza, mozzarella sticks, wings, and cheesy bread sound?” he asked, not looking up from his phone as she walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.
“It sounds like a lot of food for two people.”
“Yeah, but then we’ll have leftovers. I’ll add a salad too, so we can pretend we’re being semi-healthy, and some chocolate cake. Sound good?”
“Sure.” She couldn’t help but be amused at how intently he was studying the menu. “Hey, what if I don’t want to watch Ironman, though?”
Immediately he looked up, more with concern than anything else. He didn’t seem at all bothered that she was changing her mind about him.
“Then we don’t have to watch Ironman . Did you want to watch a Batman movie instead?” Again, concerned and not at all mad or upset that she wanted to watch something she’d seen before, even though a few minutes ago he’d been barking orders at her over watching the movies he wanted to share with her.
Amy shook her head.
“No, we can watch Ironman . I was just wondering.”
The way Zach looked at her made her squirm a little where she was standing. He might not quite have Kincaid’s aura or penetrating gaze, but he did just fine on his own, and his scrutiny made her feel like he was seeing right into her. Probably seeing way more than he wanted to.
He nodded slowly.
“Okay, then.”
Okay, then.
Zach
Tonight felt like a test, though Zach wasn’t sure what he was being graded on. Amy had been on edge a little earlier, though as they’d watched the first movie, she’d slowly relaxed. Though, she did give him a hard time when she ended up sobbing on his shoulder over the death of Dr. Yinsen.
In his defense, he’d kind of forgotten about that.
He usually got a little teary-eyed over it. Amy’s reaction had a few of those tears slipping down his cheek as her emotions affected him.
But after that, she’d really enjoyed the movie.
“Time to take a break?” he asked her once the after-credits scene was over—they’d fast-forwarded through the actual credits so they could get to it a little faster.
Amy sat up from where she’d been snuggled up against him. Once she’d taken the position to cry on him, she’d just stayed there. It had been nice.
“Yeah, I need to go to the bathroom.” She glanced down at the coffee table, which was covered in food boxes. “We should also probably put some of this away if we’re done eating it.”
“I’ve got it.” He leaned forward to start closing the containers, but she was already bending down to do some as well.
“No, no, I’ll help at least.”
“You said you needed to go to the bathroom.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“I can hold it for two minutes to help clean up.”
The sassy way she said it made his palm itch. Especially with her bent over the way she was. It was like she was asking for her ass to be spanked.
But…
No.
It was too weird when they were here alone.
Especially when he hadn’t asked for consent. But the urge to playfully swat at her was strong.
He filled his hands with takeout containers to keep them busy and away from her ass, getting to his feet and turning away from the temptation. Amy went around the other side of the couch, carrying the pizza box, and they went to the kitchen.
Which, of course, caused a traffic jam at the fridge.
She giggled as she managed to get her pizza box in before him, but his longer arms crowded around her, trapping her in between him and the open fridge while he put his containers in.
“Okay, now you’re just doing this on purpose,” she said, laughing as she twisted around, looking for a way out that didn’t exist.
“Doing what?” He opened his eyes wide with innocence, straightening up.
Which put them standing far too close to each other. He looked down at her. She looked up at him.
If they were in a movie, this was where he’d move in for the kiss.
His gaze dropped to her lips.
And his phone rang, making both of them jump.
Zach jumped back, putting about a foot of space between them as his hand went to his back pocket, pulling his phone out to see Kincaid’s name flashing on the screen.
Guilt welled up inside him.
But nothing had really happened.
“I’m gonna go pee!” Amy scampered from the room, slamming the fridge door shut behind her as she fled, hair trailing behind her.
Taking a deep breath, Zach swiped his phone to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, there, am I interrupting anything?” Kincaid’s casual tone turned the question into a joke, but Zach’s stomach turned over, anyway.
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
But he hadn’t done anything. And he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t have kissed Amy, even though he’d wanted to. Because he loved Kincaid. Love was about choosing the person you wanted to be with, and he chose Kincaid.
“You called at the perfect time. We just finished watching Ironman and were taking a bathroom break before starting the second movie.” Zach shook his head, his body calming as he relaxed into the conversation. “She’s never seen them before.”
“Wait, she’s never seen them before, and now, you’re watching them without me?” The mock aggravation in Kincaid’s voice made Zach chuckle.
“Shouldn’t have decided to stay the night in Pittsburgh,” Zach teased. “Though, if you hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t be watching a movie, and I wouldn’t have known that Amy had never seen them. So, you’ll just have to join in a little late. We’ve got the whole series to get through.”
“Wait, she’s never seen any of them?”
“She says she watched some of Ironman, but she was sick and fell asleep.”
Kincaid made a strangled noise, echoing Zach’s sentiment.
“So Ironman 2 and Thor tonight?” he asked.
“Yeah, if we have time. I thought about throwing The Incredible Hulk in there, but…”
“But we always skip that one.”
“Pretty much. We can go back and watch it later if she’s really interested. She really liked the first movie, though, so that’s a good sign. She says she’s more of a Batman girl.”
“Well, who doesn’t love Batman?” Kincaid laughed, making Zach laugh because they both knew he was a pretty big Batman fan. They had their own little DC vs Marvel rivalry going on between them, though they both agreed that overall the Marvel movie as a series was better. But Batman had a longevity and popularity that even Ironman couldn’t match.
Yet.
“How was your day? Is Cassidy settled in?” Zach asked.
“She’s good. She’s going to be living with one of the Black Fox guys and his roommate, so she’s secure. They’ve got a really good security system, and she won’t be left alone at night, ever.” There was something in Kincaid’s voice though, like he wasn’t saying something. Zach knew his boyfriend too well to miss it.
“But…” He let the word trail off, encouraging Kincaid to keep going.
“But the team leader, David, is being kind of a hardass about her. He doesn’t understand why she didn’t file a report with the police. He’s got a very black-and-white way of looking at the world.”
“Hmm, I wonder what that’s like.” Zach rolled his eyes. If anyone knew what having a black-and-white way of looking at the world was like it was Kincaid. Granted, he had learned how to be a little more flexible since Zach had first met him, but he still had a very strict sense of what was right and wrong and a lot of impatience with grey areas.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me.”
“How do you know I was rolling my eyes at you?”
“Because I know you.”
“Yeah, well, I know you, too,” Zach teased. “I think your problem here is that you and David disagree on what the right thing to do was. If he agreed with you, you’d be all over his support.”
“He’s wrong on this one, and I tore him a new one about it. Then the new receptionist applauded.”
“Applauded?” Zach laughed, leaning back against the counter, crossing one arm over his chest while the other still held the phone to his ear. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some movement and looked over to see Amy walking past the doorway as she headed back to the couch.
“Standing ovation. And then she ripped him up, too.” Kincaid chuckled. “It was pretty great. I liked her.”
“Of course you did. She agreed with you.”
“That’s not why.” Kincaid paused for a moment. “It might be part of it.” Zach laughed again. “Okay, well, I’m going to let you go so you can continue Amy’s movie education. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”
They hung up, and Zach took another deep breath before walking out of the kitchen.
“I’m just going to run to the bathroom, and I’ll be right back if you want to get the movie cued up,” he said as casually as he could. Right now, the best tactic was to pretend like nothing had happened.
Because nothing had happened, and nothing was going to happen.
Which was why, when he got back from the bathroom, and saw Amy sitting on one end of the couch—rather in the center where they’d been before—he sat on the other.
And they watched the movie.