Chapter 28
28
Zach
“Sorry I got weird last night.” He felt awkward enough about it that he’d woken up when Kincaid did. Sleep hadn’t exactly been restful. He hadn’t managed to actually fall asleep until Kincaid came to bed, and even then, he hadn’t been able to sleep very well. He’d woken up multiple times.
Not like him at all.
“What happened?” Kincaid asked. He should have expected that since he’d opened the topic. If he hadn’t, Kincaid probably would have left him alone because he knew Zach needed time to think about things. Course, he hadn’t been able to do much else last night except think. “Did your sister say something to you? Tell you that Tad’s secretly a psycho stalker and ask us to save her?”
That made Zach laugh, which Kincaid clearly meant to do because Tad was so exactly the opposite of that.
“No, she just…” He shook his head. He didn’t want to get into everything because he didn’t want Kincaid to know that he was still struggling with the idea of telling their parents. “Somehow, we got on the topic of my parents’ separation.”
Kincaid looked up from getting dressed, alarm in his expression.
“Your parents are separating?”
“What? No, sorry. They did separate, for a very short time, back when I was like five years old. Krista said that I thought it was because of me because they’d gotten into an argument about me right before my mom kicked my dad out.” Zach shook his head, and Kincaid came over to sit on the bed next to Zach’s legs, facing him. “I don’t remember much about it. I definitely don’t really remember thinking that it was my fault they separated, but it feels right somehow.”
Expression softening, Kincaid put his hand on Zach’s leg or, at least, where Zach’s leg was under the covers.
“That’s got to be rough to live with.”
Zach shrugged. “Is it? Like I said, I don’t really remember, but she did. And she said something about me feeling like I’m still scared of them breaking up because of me.”
“Are you?”
“I don’t know. I want to say no because I know that’s ridiculous, but…” He sighed and reached out to put his hand over Kincaid’s. “It’s kind of messing with my head, and I needed some time to think about that.”
His boyfriend smiled at him, giving his leg a squeeze.
“I get that. Thank you for telling me this morning.” He leaned forward and gave Zach a quick kiss. “I’m going to go get breakfast started.”
“I’ll get up and help you.” Zach smiled wanly. “Since I’m up, anyway.”
“That would be great.” The smile on Kincaid’s face turned more flirty than sympathetic, and he winked as he got to his feet, which made Zach’s heart feel a little lighter.
He didn’t want to be a downer, he really didn’t…
Whether or not Kincaid realized the reason Krista had brought up her and Zach’s parents’ separation was because she was hassling Zach to tell their parents about Kincaid, he wasn’t sure. His boyfriend was very good at reading between the lines. He might have. Maybe Zach should outright tell him. Then he might feel better about knowing it wasn’t him.
It was because Zach had this ridiculous fear that his parents would fight, split up, and it would be all his fault.
Again.
The hitch in his breath made him rub his chest.
He would tell them. By the end of the month. Just like he’d promised Krista. Maybe he’d see if Julie, one of the mistresses at the club and also a therapist, could work him in for a session. Give him some perspective. Maybe help him figure out how to talk to his parents about it. Couldn’t hurt.
Yeah, he’d call her later today and see if he could get an appointment.
Yawning, he stretched and made himself get up. Might as well get moving.
By the time he made it into the kitchen, Amy was also up and sipping coffee as she watched Kincaid make breakfast. She twitched a little when Zach bumped Kincaid out of the way with his hip and took over. Though he didn’t feel like cooking all the time, sometimes he wanted to make something a little special.
Today felt like a crepe day. Especially since Kincaid had most of the ingredients out. He’d been about to make pancakes, but Zach was in the mood for something fancier.
“Any plans for the day?” Kincaid asked Amy, obviously unbothered by being bumped out of the way.
She shook her head, though she wasn’t looking at him; she was watching Zach. He’d started dicing the strawberries Kincaid had pulled out.
More importantly, he was dicing them correctly.
“Aren’t you scared of cutting yourself?” she asked, watching in fascination.
“No.” He glanced up at her, grinning as the knife continued to move, and she winced. “I’ve had a lot of practice at this. I worked in a restaurant through college and for a few years after. Kincaid loves cooking more than I do, but sometimes, I get in a mood. I can show you how to dice correctly, if you want.”
Cocking her head, Amy watched him as he pulled another strawberry his way and got to work.
“Or you could just dice for me?”
Zach and Kincaid both laughed.
“I could do that, too, although you won’t be able to do it this quickly at first.”
“Can you dice some cucumber for me? I want to make tzatziki later.”
“You sure you don’t want to use your patented dicing technique?” he teased.
“Oh, no, that only works on zucchini, not cucumbers.”
Zach froze as his brain blanked out because they were basically the same damn thing, and he didn’t know how to respond to that. The knife hovered in the air as his thoughts bounced incoherently around his head, trying to come together in a way that made sense, except that it made no sense and…
And Kincaid and Amy were laughing at him.
He scowled.
“Your face!” Amy pressed her hand against her chest, gasping for air. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I couldn’t help it… but oh my God, your face!”
“You are in so much trouble,” he said, wagging the knife at her. That just made her laugh harder.
So much for being a threatening sadist. He couldn’t help but smile, though he hid it, shaking his head and ducking his head back down to look at the strawberry he was dicing.
Kincaid high-fived her, which didn’t help.
“I saw that,” Zach said without looking up, making both of them laugh again.
Everything just felt so damn right…
He needed to call Julie later and talk to her about more than his feelings about his parents.
Amy
After breakfast, which was amazing, mad that Zach didn’t cook more often and determined to change that, Amy decided to join Zach for some yard work. Kincaid was going to help, too, but he wanted to go for a run first.
“I didn’t realize you were into gardening,” Amy commented as Zach pulled on some gloves and grabbed some clippers from the garage. She was wearing an extra pair of his gloves, which were rough against her skin and brought back memories of being a kid, helping her parents in their garden, something she’d enjoyed.
Jeremy hadn’t been ‘into plants,’ as he said. He’d had the barest lawn and only a few bushes that were as low maintenance as possible.
When Amy had seen Zach and Kincaid’s lawn, she’d honestly assumed that they hired someone to take care of it, but apparently, Zach did most of the maintenance.
“I find it soothing.” He grinned. “And I can take time to think, which is nice.”
Kincaid came out through the door between the house and the garage, dressed in nothing but running shorts. Which, of course, made Amy think about the times she’d now seen him naked. And then, when he’d been inside her. Her cheeks heated with a blush.
Thankfully, neither man seemed to notice.
“I’ll be back, then I’ll help,” Kincaid promised, giving Zach a quick kiss.
“Damn right you will,” Zach replied in a threatening tone, though his expression made it clear he was joking around. Kincaid winked at Amy, then took off, jogging out to the sidewalk and down the street out of view. She had to push away the pouty feeling of not getting her own kiss from him.
Get a grip. You’re not his girlfriend.
At some point, she really was going to need to get serious about getting out of this house. Her feelings were getting too confused, even for being on the rebound. She was getting attached. But who could blame her? Two gorgeous guys doting on her, feeding her, giving her multiple orgasms… No wonder she needed to get out of here, yet kept procrastinating on actually looking for another place to live.
“Okay, let me show you where to weed, and when you’re done with that, you can start watering,” Zach said, propping the clippers up against his shoulder. Suppressing a smile, Amy nodded and followed him out to the yard. She did like his bossy side, and she thought it was funny that he was turning out to be even bossier in the garden than in the club.
Though, as fond as her memories of gardening were, she quickly found she didn’t love being left alone with her own thoughts and nothing else to do. Zach was clipping bushes far enough away from where she was weeding that she would have to yell at him to be heard, which she didn’t want to do. Plus, he looked so peaceful whenever she glanced over at him, she didn’t want to disturb that. She should have brought her phone out so she could turn on some music or a podcast or something.
But if she went inside, he might think she was slacking.
Sigh.
It probably wasn’t a bad thing to have some time to herself to think. Except all she could think about were Kincaid and Zach and how perfect they were and how happy she was and how she wished things could go on like this forever. Well, like this, but with her actually a part of their relationship. Would that even be possible?
Would they even be interested?
Yeah, they were doting on her now because she needed their help, and they were good guys.
They were attracted to her. That much was clear.
But there was a very big difference between being attracted and wanting to be in a relationship.
One thing was very clear, though—she didn’t want to stay here for months and months as their club plaything but a third wheel in the home. That’s what she was really avoiding thinking about. The fact that she needed to figure her shit out and get out because, one way or another, this idyllic little bubble was going to end. It would be a lot better to end it on her own terms before she got her heart broken all over again.
Maybe once she had an out, she could ask them if they’d be interested in taking things outside of the club. She couldn’t do that before she knew she had an escape route because if they weren’t interested—or, worse, horrified at the idea—there was no way she could keep living with them. Not even for another night. Nope.
Pulling the last of the weeds out of the section of the garden she’d been working on, Amy glanced over to where Zach was still busily, happily trimming the bushes. He glistened with sweat, but he looked so happy. She wondered if Kincaid didn’t like gardening and if he was taking an extra-long run, but she bet he would be back soon.
In the meantime… she needed to water the flowers.
It wasn’t until she had the hose in hand that it occurred to her… poor Zach looked so hot trimming the bushes. He probably would appreciate a cool down.
Grinning, she let the water flow from the hose as she moved toward him, getting her thumb into position on the lip of the metal around the tube. As she came closer, Zach looked up, moving his forearms to wipe some of the sweat from his forehead as he did so.
“Hey, finished already?”
“Yeah, with the first part of the garden, I was going to water it when I realized you look a little hot.”
His gaze sharpened with suspicion.
“No, I’m— Ah!” His words cut off as she lifted the hose and put her thumb over the nozzle, turning it from a steady flow to a spray that she could direct—straight at him. “Amy!”
He dropped the clippers and came at her while she shrieked and backed up, still sending the spray at him, soaking him completely. Now, he was holding his arms up in front of him to keep the water out of his eyes while Amy cackled. Suddenly, he went from taking one slow, solid step forward to surging at her. She shrieked, stumbling backward, and he caught her around her middle, lifting her up and over his shoulder.
“Got ya!”
Amy squealed as his hand came down hard on her upturned bottom, accidentally dropping the hose. Oops.
“I’m sorry!”
“No, you’re not.”
Well, she sort of was, now that she was getting wet, thanks to being over his shoulder and the fact that he was completely soaked. She was getting soaked by proximity.
“I was just trying to help!”
“No, you weren’t— Oh, shit.”
Oh, shit, what? Amy tried to push herself to the side so she could see whatever it was Zach was saying ‘oh, shit’ about, but she was moving through the air and back on her feet so fast, she almost fell over. Zach caught her by her arm, and she could feel the rigid tension in his fingers.
She turned to see what he was looking at—a man and a woman had just parked on the street and were getting out of the car. The woman was beaming at Zach. The man… well, he looked just like Zach but older with salt and pepper hair.
His parents?
“Zach! Hello!” The woman rushed toward them. Her hair was a coppery red with highlights shimmering throughout, her makeup perfectly done, and her classy outfit made Amy feel incredibly underdressed. Glancing down, she hastily pulled the front of her shirt away from her breasts, where it was clinging. “Oh my goodness, this must be your girlfriend Krista told us about!”
Amy opened her mouth to correct the woman, but Zach suddenly pulled her against him, his arm going around her, fingers digging into her shoulder.
“Yes, this is my girlfriend, Amy.”
What. The. Fuck.