Chapter Twenty-Eight
“You’re staying over tonight, right?” Vinyl asked, his lips teasing the back of Elena’s neck. The moment he’d seen her slipping into the records room, he knew he couldn’t let the opportunity slip by. Her place was with them, and he wasn’t above using his kisses to convince her. She’d only been out of their bed for one night, but it was one night too many.
“Yeah,” she nodded, her curly bun wobbling in his face as he crowded behind her. She slid the filing cabinet closed and turned around. “I’ve already packed a bag. We just need to swing by my place to grab it.”
Vinyl pulled her into his arms, relaxing a little at the knowledge she was coming home with him and the guys. It was where she belonged.
“Hopefully you packed for more than just one night,” he groaned as he hugged her close. She was so damned squeezable he didn’t want to let go.
“I packed for two,” she told him, leaning back to look at him.
“Wh—” Vinyl was hushed by Elena’s finger over his lips.
“I’m not saying I won’t stay longer,” she continued with a look, “but let’s play it by ear, okay? Who knows…you could be sick of me by then.”
“Nebber,” he mumbled, his lips moving around the finger she’d used to shush him.
She snorted and dropped her hand with an eyeroll.
“It doesn’t make sense to haul a whole suitcase over to your place when I still need to go home every now and then to check on the girls anyways.”
Vinyl couldn’t help but smile thinking about the blue-haired lesbian couple that Elena referred to as “the girls”. The pair was a riot, and while they might be pushing ninety years old, they didn’t act a day over seventy-five. After their porch had been fixed, they’d talked Tanner and Pax into taking them on a short ride. The memory made him chuckle. The girls had been whoopin’ and hollerin’ so much he’d worried their dentures were going to fly right out of their mouths.
They were more independent than they made it appear; using the ruse as an excuse to lower Elena’s rent. The girls had spilled the beans that first day when they’d been rebuilding the porch. All three of them had pinky promised not to say a word.
“Got it,” he said with a nod that had her smiling again. Elena made it easy to love her. “Should we grab them some dinner tonight before we steal you away?”
“That’d be awesome.” She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. When they parted, she laid her head on his chest.
“Tired?” he asked, cupping the back of her head as she nestled closer. They were lucky he hadn’t had a chance to get dirty yet today or else she’d be covered in smudges.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” she shared with a yawn.
“None of us could either.” Vinyl smiled when she looked up at him in surprise. “You should have seen Pax hovering over the coffee pot this morning; he was like Gollum with the ring.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He wasn’t sure what it was going to take for Elena to realize they were head over heels for her. He’d thought that this past weekend would have made things clearer, but she still seemed unsure. “We missed you the moment we dropped you off. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that Tanner literally counted the hours until we could pick you up this morning.”
Instead of smiling like he thought she would, Elena frowned.
“What?” He tilted her face up until she was looking at him. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shake of her head, her eyes dropping to his chest tattoo where it peaked above his neckline.
“Don’t lie,” he warned, reminding her of the ground rules they’d all agreed to over the weekend. Communication was at the top of the list, especially in a relationship like theirs. “We’ve got to be honest with each other if we want this to work. So, spill it. What’s worrying you?”
She dropped her head forward, plastering her face against his chest. “It’s stupid.”
“Spill.”
“What if you guys—” Elena looked up, a myriad of emotions flashing across her face. “What if you change your mind?”
“Change our minds about what?”
“What if after a couple nights you guys get sick of me?”
“That’s not gonna happen,” he promised, giving her a squeeze when she went to step back. There was no way he was letting go now. It might take a little while for her to believe it, but the three of them weren’t going to let her down. They already loved her. “We’re going to work on you believing that darlin’.”
“Still,” she sighed. “We should have a code word or something to tell each other if it happens.”
“You want a code word to break up?” he asked, more than a little confused.
“Not to break up,” she argued with a shake of her head. “Just something that can be used if you need some space.”
“Space?”
“You know…like if I am overstaying my welcome.” Her fingers nervously fiddled with the stitching around his name tag, plucking at a loose thread. “Something that means, ‘no hard feelings but maybe we need a breather’.”
“First, that will never ever happen.” He put his hand over hers, calming her fingers. She was so anxious he could practically taste it. “But if it did, why wouldn’t we just be able to say that?”
“I don’t know.” Elena shrugged, looking everywhere but at him. “Maybe because it’s nicer to hear some random word like ‘Pegasus’ instead of, ‘I don’t like you anymore. Get out.’”