50. Roman
FIFTY
ROMAN
“What do you mean you told them about the HoBros?” Reese demands. “The first rule of HoBros is you don’t talk about the HoBros.”
I look up from the chicken I’m placing on the skillet and at Reese. He’s standing on the other side of the counter, his arms crossed. He’s wearing a shirt, but it’s mostly unbuttoned. His dark hair is ruffled, grey eyes narrowed on me as he tries not to pout.
“I thought the first rule of HoBros is that we can’t leave the group chat.”
“It’s an implied rule,” Reese states.
“In the future, can I get the rules beforehand so I don’t accidentally break one?” I lower the heat on the stove as the scent of chicken fills the kitchen.
Someone knocks and before I can reply, Reese shouts, “it’s open!” I guess he’s made himself at home. In my apartment. It’s strange to have him here, it’s even stranger to think I’m hosting a legit dinner party–not out of choice–and that the rest of the guys are on their way right now.
“What’s cooking?” Holden enters the kitchen, carrying a case of beer that he places on the counter.
“It’s for the cats,” Reese says.
Holden runs a hand through his brown hair, looking around the apartment. “There are cats?”
“Three of them, or so I’ve heard. I haven’t seen them.”
“That’s because they don’t like strangers,” I explain.
As soon as Reese entered the apartment, Salem, Sabrina, and Buffy skittered off to my bedroom where they’re supervising Lavinia getting ready for girls’ night.
There’s a part of me that wants to talk her out of it and convince her to stay home.
She’s just recovered from the flu and I’m not sure I can go through that panic again.
“He told Jules and Lavinia about the HoBros,” Reese complains.
Holden is still looking around my apartment. “Pretty sure Lavinia already knows about the group chat from Drew and Kai, and you after you had two drinks at the Christmas party last year.”
Reese’s cheeks color and I turn away to hide my smirk. I turn the chicken over to cook the other side. Grabbing the beer case off the counter, I start stacking the drinks in the fridge when there’s another knock on the door.
I’m wiping the counter where Holden placed the beer case when Elena enters the apartment.
She’s in a short black dress and knee-high boots, her dark hair pulled into a high ponytail.
The long sleeves hide the tattoos on her arm, but there’s a peek of her thigh tattoo visible.
No one who looks at her will ever believe she used to be a professional ballerina.
“So, this is your apartment,” she says, glancing around. “It suits you.”
It’s bare. There’s nothing personal; all the furnishings were selected by the interior designer. Everything valuable I own is in boxes in the guest room. No place has ever felt like home, and I’ve never searched for one either. I can never let go of the feeling that I don’t belong.
The only times in my life I’ve felt like I’m exactly where I need to be and I belong is when I’m with Lavinia.
“Who are they?” Elena asks, nodding towards Reese and Holden.
“My teammates, Reese and Holden. Guys, this is Elena.”
Reese all but pushes Holden out of the way to get to Elena. “I’m Reese Miller, left winger for the Titans. They can’t survive without me.”
Elena looks at his proffered hand like he’s offering her a smelly gym sock. “No, thanks.”
She steps around him and away to the counter. Reese lowers his hand, looking at Holden in question, who’s grinning like an idiot.
“Is that Elena?” Lavinia calls from the bedroom. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“It’s me, and it’s all good,” Elena says.
She situates herself in a corner of the kitchen from where she can monitor the whole living space.
She reminds me a little of my cats because that’s also their favorite spot, and no matter how many times I tell them not to get on the counter, I always find them there.
The rest of the guys file in and I’m in the middle of introducing Elena to Kai and Ford when Lavinia walks into the kitchen. My train of thought collides with a fucking wall.
She’s wearing a slinky pink short dress that shimmers when she moves, her red curls have been pulled into a high ponytail that makes her hair look voluminous, and she’s paired it all with silver stilettos that look painful and painfully sexy.
Jesus Fucking Christ, I’m probably going to jail for killing someone.
“Okay, I’m ready. Jules and Sage are on their way, ETA five minutes. Do you want something to drink before then?” Lavinia opens the fridge, completely unaware that everyone’s stopped to stare at her. When she turns, I notice the low swoop on the back of the dress.
“You do realize it’s thirty degrees outside?” Drew asks, staring at his sister with his jaw set. Lavinia removes two bottles of water from the fridge, passing one to Elena.
“It is?! Damn, I wish I knew how to check a weather app,” Lavinia replies cheekily.
“You literally had the flu, a week ago,” Drew grinds out.
“Yes, and now I’m all better. I’m not going out like this, I have a coat. I’m going to be outside for a maximum of ten minutes.”
Before Drew can reply, there’s a gentle knock on the door before it swings open again and Jules and Sage enter. They’re also dressed in variations of pink, Sage in a long pink dress and Jules in one as short as Lavinia’s.
“Shit,” Lavinia whispers, her eyes swinging to Elena. “This was so not planned, El. I have a pink scarf you can borrow.”
Elena straightens, smoothing down her black dress. “Vin, I love you like a woman loves a woman, but there’s absolutely no way I’m wearing pink. Those days are behind me.”
“I have a black dress. It’ll take me two seconds to change.” Vin’s already turning when Elena grabs her hand and stops her.
“You’re sweet, but that’s not needed. I actually like being the odd one out for a change.” Elena’s completely unbothered by the color coordination. Vin still looks troubled about it and knowing my wife, this is going to bother her the whole evening even if Elena doesn’t think twice about it.
“I’ll still change, this dress might be too much,” Vin says. “The black dress is a lot more subdued.”
There’s a flicker of something in her eyes that I hate.
Self-doubt. Like she’s worried she’s making a mistake.
Like she needs to make herself smaller and disappear.
I’m walking across the kitchen and cupping my hands around her face, bringing her attention to me.
Her beautiful green eyes are troubled, and something twists inside my chest, hating this look in her eyes.
“Do you want to know what I thought when I saw you?” I whisper. I’m acutely aware that we’re not alone and that we’re definitely an object of curiosity.
Lavinia wraps her hand around my wrist, tilting her cheek into my palm, her eyes imploring me to continue.
“I thought I’m going to have to commit a lot of murders because I can’t fucking stand the thought of someone seeing you in that dress.” Lavinia huffs a laugh, and I continue. “You look absolutely beautiful, baby. And I can’t wait to rip this dress off you later.”
Lavinia winces, her mouth pushing out into a pout. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’m staying with Jules tonight.”
“Lavinia,” her name is a growl as it leaves my mouth, “I’m not above carrying you back here if I need to. I’m the only one who's going to take this dress off you tonight before we go to sleep in our bed.”
“What are we going to do before we go to sleep?”
“A lot of inappropriate things we shouldn’t discuss in front of our friends.”
Her mouth tilts up into a blinding smile, hand squeezing my wrist. My heart thuds inside my chest and I know I’ll do anything to see that smile. Climb the highest mountain or crawl through a fucking desert.
“You admit they’re our friends.”
“Yeah, Blossom. You made me soft,” I say with a soft smile.
“That’s never been my aim.” Her eyes flick down to my crotch and yeah, I’m semi-hard because she looks gorgeous in this dress, her scent surrounding me and it’s a Pavlovian response.
“I’m about one second away from sending everyone home and dragging you back into the room,” I say.
Lavinia gives me a quick kiss before stepping out of my grasp. “We’re going to be late for the show!” I take her coat and help her into it.
We’re almost done with dinner, and the conversation’s been flowing easily so far, mostly focused on hockey and our upcoming games. We’re currently the number one team in the conference, with the Falcons right behind us, and it fills me with a sickening amount of joy to be winning against Josh.
“Dude.” Someone kicks my legs under the table, and I look up to see the guys staring at me expectantly.
“What the fuck?” Reese says, his voice tinged with a bit of hurt. “I’m being entertaining and you’re not paying attention.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about Lavinia.”
“We get it, you’re in love with your wife, almost obsessively,” Holden says, “and you can’t possibly think about anything else. I’m offended that Drew wouldn’t even let us talk about Lavinia in a dating capacity and now he seems okay with it all.”
“It’s not like I had a choice in the matter,” Drew replies. “And I did punch him. What more can I do?”
I’m pretty sure Holden replies, but I can’t move past what he said.
You’re in love with your wife.
I guess I’m really that obvious. Since I’m not planning on letting her go, the onus is on me to change myself. At the very least, I want to be enough for her to stay.
“I’m sorry.” The words are out of my mouth before I realize what I’m saying. Conversation stops, and all the guys turn, waiting for me to continue. Their curiosity burns.
Picking up my glass, I take a sip of my water to stall.
“I’ve obviously made a lot of mistakes but most of it was in the heat of the game. I don’t have any personal animosity towards any of you, and I didn’t plan to physically hurt any of you or be an asshole in general.” I take a breath and swallow. Might as well go all the way now.
“I’m not good with people, okay? My first instinct is distrust, followed immediately by the need to push everyone away.”
Silence follows my confession and that’s fine because I’m not expecting them to say anything. I’m not even expecting their forgiveness. My eyes meet Drew’s for a fleeting second and he nods once.
“Damn it, Kai,” Holden sighs. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls something out and slaps his hand on the table in front of Kai. When he removes it, I see it’s a stack of hundred-dollar bills.
“Care to explain?” Ford asks.
Holden meets my gaze. “Kai has the tendency to see the good in people and he bet me that you’re not really an asshole. For the record, I do like my new nose.”
I wince, remembering the game two years ago when I’d elbowed him in the face. Ford smacks him on the back of the head lightly. “You didn’t need plastic surgery, idiot. Don’t make him feel worse.”
“You’re obviously forgiven,” Kai says. “We don’t hold grudges.”
“Speak for yourself,” Drew says. “I still haven’t forgiven him for the time he stole whiskey from my dad’s liquor cabinet and got caught with my sister in the pool house.”
“Dude, we were sixteen. It’s not like anything happened between me and Lavinia. We were talking.”
Never mind that I asked her to run away with me.
“In a bedroom,” Drew counters.
“Our clothes were on, and we were ten feet apart.”
“I’m ending this before it devolves into an argument,” Ford says.
“I was winning, for the record,” I mumble. Something hits my chest, and I look down to see Ford’s napkin. I pick it up and throw it back, laughing when it hits him in the face.
“Real mature,” Drew grumbles. “At least we’ve finished our food so it’s not a food fight. Again.”
“Do not start a food fight in my apartment,” I say. The hours of cleaning that will require will drive me crazy because I’m not going to leave it all for my cleaner like an absolute asshole.
We carry our dishes to the sink, and I start washing them while Kai dries and Holden and Ford put them away after I tell them where they go. Drew and Reese are cleaning the table and putting away the leftovers when Reese speaks up.
“I have a question. What the hell is a why choose romance?”
“Why can’t you ever have a normal question?” Holden gripes.
“There’s no such thing as a stupid question, Holden. What did you learn in middle school?” Reese shoots back.
“A why choose romance is when there’s one woman and multiple men,” Kai says. All eyes shoot to him and his face flushes a little as he looks up from the plate he’s drying. “Jules, Lavinia, and I read one recently.”
“Do the guys know each other?” Reese asks, frowning.
“Yeah, most of the time, they do. It’s like a group of friends,” I say with a shrug. I can’t let Kai take the heat of their curiosity all by himself.
Reese’s eyes move over all of us, and I can already guess what’s going on in his head.
“Don’t look at me,” Holden says. “I’m not sharing my girl.”
“Who the hell will want to date you, anyway?” Reese snaps back.
“Can we not have this conversation?” Drew grumbles.
“Why? Is it turning you on?” I smirk.
“Shut up, Maddox.” Drew shuts the fridge door and leans against it.
“How does it work?” Reese asks. He’s wiping down the dining table, his head turned in curiosity.
“A lot of stamina. Trust. Loyalty,” Ford says. “It’s not really different from a poly or open relationship.”
“Schedules?” Holden asks. His eyes are interested, but his face says he can’t wrap his mind around it.
Kai and I exchange a look. “Not always,” Kai says quietly.
Reese straightens up. “You’re telling me, there’s one woman and multiple men and they’re all going at her at the same time? The poor woman.”
Kai turns to face the room, throwing the dish towel over his shoulder.
“It’s not like that. At the end of the day, it’s a romance novel, so the whole…
event is romantic while being extremely filthy.
These guys take care of her. They don’t shove it in, and the heroine always wants it.
Plus, most of the time, it’s one on one. ”
Reese opens his mouth, and Kai holds up his hand. “If you have more questions, read a why choose romance.”
“You know what I’m thinking?” Reese asks. “We should bring back the book club.”
“No!” The guys all say at the same time.
“The last few times we held a book club, you tried to kill us,” Ford says to Reese.
“They were all accidents,” Reese says, his cheeks coloring a faint pink.
“What happened?” I ask out of curiosity.
Holden looks at me. “There was a time when he left cookies in the oven and almost started a fire.”
“There was alcohol poisoning,” Ford adds.
Reese protests as the accusations fly. They continue to argue over whether or not to start the book club again while Kai and I turn back to the sink to finish the dishes. It’s been an unexpectedly fun night, and I find myself looking forward to more of them.