Chapter Two #2
“Ah, you’re right. Guess I better share, then.”
“Well.” Ethan smirked. “You are good at sharing.”
Zayne headed to the freezer and pulled open the door. “Let’s see, I have butter pecan, rocky road, salted caramel, pistachio—”
“Butter pecan.” Chloé grinned as she slipped onto a stool and Zayne pulled out the pint.
“Bowl or—”
“Pint.” She gestured to the small container. “An ice cream binge isn’t an ice cream binge if it’s from a bowl.”
“Fair point.” Zayne took a spoon from the drawer, and as he went to hand them over, the clutch on the counter began to ring.
All three of them looked at the glittery bag as though it were a bomb about to go off, and with the way this night was going, Zayne wouldn’t be surprised.
Chloé’s smile fell as she reached for the bag, pulled her phone out, and sighed. “I knew I should’ve turned it off. It’s my brother again.”
“Maybe you should take it,” Ethan suggested. “See what he wants.”
She looked conflicted as the phone fell silent, and Zayne offered up a smile.
“I’ll keep your ice cream cold for you.”
Ethan picked up one of the jackets and draped it over her shoulders. “See those stairs over there? The left side leads to a roof deck. Why don’t you go and call him back?”
Chloé glanced over her shoulder and nodded. “Okay, you’re right. Let me go see what he wants and then I can relax.”
“Exactly. Talk to him, and when you’re done, we’ll be right here.”
She hopped off the stool and made her way across their living room in that bombshell of a dress. Ethan came over to stand beside Zayne.
“We got a lot more than we bargained for with our little wildcat, didn’t we?”
“Yeah.” Zayne chuckled. “Like a pride of angry lions ready to rip our faces off. I’m not sure we’re going to come out of this alive.”
Ethan picked up his glass of whiskey and clinked it to Zayne’s. “Guess we’ll soon find out, won’t we?”
* * *
ETHAN DOWNED THE smooth contents of his glass in one gulp and poured himself a second as they watched Chloé disappear up the stairs and out onto their roof.
He hadn’t been lying about taking on more than what they’d bargained for. But the truth of the matter was, he wouldn’t change a thing. One father or three, Chloé had intrigued them from the very beginning.
Her laughter, her feisty spirit, her emerging sexuality. They wanted to nurture and explore that part of her as much as they wanted to learn everything they could about what made her who she was. So no matter how many men they had to get through, they weren’t about to let her go.
“How do you think that’s gonna go?”
Ethan glanced in Zayne’s direction and caught a hint of skin through the open buttons of his snowy-white dress shirt. His dick stirred.
“About as good as the rest of the night. Older brother. Our age. He’s going to know what’s up.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured too.” Zayne grabbed up the bottle of whiskey and didn’t bother with a glass as he took a long swig. “Should be fun.”
Ethan snorted. “Your idea of fun and mine vastly differ, then.”
“I don’t know about that.” Zayne placed the bottle back on the counter and stepped to Ethan’s side. “There’s something super fucking sexy when your protective side comes out.”
“I highly doubt I’m going to have to protect her against her fathers.”
“No, but you’re going to protect what we’ve found here.”
“And what’s that?”
“Each other.” Zayne smoothed a palm down Ethan’s chest. “I get this is new and all, but we claimed her. She’s ours now. And I know you’re not going to let her go just because her fathers are a little bit—”
“Pissed off?”
“Mhmm. I seem to remember another father who got pissed off at you too. That didn’t stop you from making me yours.”
Ethan covered Zayne’s hand where it rested over his heart. “Yes, but your father was already pissed. At you, me, everyone that wasn’t like him. You weren’t close to him. Chloé… She’s close to her family. We’re going to have to tread carefully there. I don’t want us to be the reason that ends.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Ethan thought back to the defiant light in her eyes tonight after talking to her fathers, then looked up to the door leading out to the rooftop.
“She’s stubborn, and if anyone pushes too hard one way, I imagine she’ll just rebel.” He eyed Zayne’s mouth. “Sound familiar?”
“I might know a thing or two about that.”
“Uh huh. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.”
“And what do we do till then?”
“I think, for now, we let her set the pace when it comes to this subject. This, us—it’s all new to her. She’s going to have to decide what she tells her fathers and when, and we’re just going to have to be patient.”
“I think you might be right. Whenever I was told I couldn’t do something, it only made me want to do it more.”
“Something I’m thankful for.”
Zayne chuckled. “I’m serious.”
“So am I. About then and now. You know me—I’m a big believer in fate. You walked into my life, and she walked into ours. If she’s meant to stay, she’ll stay.”
“And if she’s not?”
Ethan reached for the bottle and took a swig, not ready to answer that—because while he believed in fate, it didn’t mean he trusted her in any goddamn way.