Chapter Thirty-Three
Bailey
I had no fucking clue what time it was when our bedroom door opened on a Sunday morning in early December, Aiden’s footsteps padding across the carpet for a second before the mattress dipped at the edge as he crawled onto the bed beside me.
There was barely six inches for him to squeeze into since Hunter was taking up ninety percent of the bed, but he made it work, his leg draped over mine as he put his hand on my chest.
“Good morning,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my neck and burying his face against my skin, breathing in deeply and sighing. He was wearing a pair of loose boxers and a T-shirt he’d stolen from Hunter and me. Considering how good it looked on him, I was happy to sacrifice it to his wardrobe.
When it came to me, Aiden could have whatever he wanted. Just like Hunter.
“Mornin’.” I coughed slightly, my voice rough and thick from sleep. “What fucking time is it?”
“Nearly eight. I figured it was about time I turfed you two out of bed, and I thought this would be nicer than the blender.”
I chuckled hoarsely and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, my arm wrapping around his waist to pull him against me. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome. How’re you feeling after yesterday?”
“Good, I think. No worse than usual anyway, although my ribs are a little sore,” I said as I ran a mental check-in on my body.
We’d played York away yesterday, and it had been a pretty standard affair.
For us anyway. We’d come away with a solid win, and I’d been substituted off in the second half when I’d collided with one of their props.
His boots had rolled over my thigh while his knee connected solidly with my ribs, and I’d found it hard to breathe as the muscles pulled.
For a while, I’d wondered if I’d cracked my ribs, but it didn’t seem like it.
Although I did have a large bruise blooming across them, painting my skin a delightfully ugly shade of greenish-purple.
“How bad is a little sore?” Aiden asked, lifting his head to look at me pointedly.
I shrugged. “Just a little sore. It’s fine. I’ll still be able to lift stuff later.”
“I’m not worried about you lifting stuff. I’m worried if your ribs are broken.”
“I don’t think so. Anyway, there’s not much they can do if they are.
I just have to wait it out,” I said. I’d had cracked ribs before, and this didn’t feel like that.
Although last time it’d happened had been pretty nasty, so I supposed there was a chance there could be a hairline fracture.
Aiden sighed and muttered something unfavourable about rugby players, but I simply smiled and tugged him closer. “I know, we’re the worst.”
“You are, but it’s fine. I’ll live.”
“Charming, and there was me thinking you loved us.” I said it teasingly, the same way I’d said it a handful of times before.
But there was something about the way it fell off my tongue and the way Aiden tensed that made it feel different.
Like it wasn’t a joke but more of a reality wrapped in light-heartedness, a bad attempt at a disguise in case the truth wasn’t wanted.
I’d known for months I loved Aiden, but I’d never said it, too afraid that the bubble around us would shatter beyond repair.
“I do, but I still think you’re a twat for acting like potentially broken ribs aren’t a big deal,” he said quietly, lifting his head slowly and not quite meeting my eyes.
He seemed to be looking somewhere over my shoulder, where Hunter was sprawled out beside me with his face buried between the pillows, snoring gently.
I wondered if I should wake him up for this conversation, but part of me wanted to have it with Aiden first. Then he could tell Hunter later.
“Yeah?” I asked, needing to hear it properly. To have that confirmation of how he felt.
“Yeah.” A little smile curled across his mouth, just visible in the darkness, a tiny amount of grey winter light trickling in around the edges of the blinds. His gaze slowly drifted to mine, a shy certainty in his eyes. It was probably the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him.
“Want me to say it first?”
“Please.”
I gently cupped his jaw as a deep, warm sense of happiness filled my chest. “I love you, Aiden. So, so fucking much. I’m one of the luckiest bastards in the world, because you’re bloody amazing and I can’t believe you chose me.”
“Technically, you chose me,” he said softly, brushing his lips across mine. “I still remember the look you and Hunter gave me at The Court. You were both practically drooling.”
“Can you blame us?”
“No. I’m hot as fuck.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, you are. And I’m still saying you chose us.
You were the one who saw us, all messy and in need of something, and decided we were yours.
” I didn’t add that it felt like we’d been adopted by a stray cat who’d turned up on our doorstep and decided he lived here now.
But it was the most apt comparison I could think of.
“You were such a mess,” Aiden said, his smile turning teasing. “It was adorable as fuck.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“You’re welcome.” He kissed me slowly, like he was trying to memorise the press of my lips. “I love you too, by the way. Just so it’s clear. You and Hunter are everything to me, and if I did choose you, it was the best fucking thing I’ve done in my life. Nothing else will ever come close.”
“Same.”
“Not even if you got an International call-up and won the Six Nations? Or the World Cup?”
I pretended to think about it. “Eh, then you might fall into second.”
“Dickhead. But understandable.” He grinned and kissed me again, his tongue leisurely pressing into my mouth. I groaned softly, relaxing underneath him and slowly rolling my hips. Just to let him know exactly what he did to me.
There was a wry chuckle and a deliberate cough from beside us, and we turned to see Hunter watching us with amusement, his head propped up on his hand, dark hair spilling around his shoulders, strands stuck out oddly where he’d been sleeping.
“Did I miss something? Or did you decide to start without me?”
“Sorry, babygirl,” Aiden said, sliding over me to drop in between us, sandwiching himself in the middle. It was one of his favourite places to be. Probably because he could tease and control both of us at the same time. He tilted his head to kiss Hunter softly. “How’re you feeling today?”
Hunter gave a half shrug. “Not too bad, pretty much the same as usual after a match day.”
“You’re as bad as Bailey,” Aiden said, shaking his head softly.
“No, I’m not. I didn’t collide with anyone yesterday and crack my ribs.”
“Fuck you, my ribs aren’t broken!”
“That you know,” Aiden said pointedly, looking over his shoulder at me. Hunter grinned smugly, pleased Aiden had taken his side. I’d get him back later.
“Told you,” Hunter muttered.
“Don’t look so pleased, baby,” Aiden said. “I know you’re just as bad when you get hurt. Apparently, playing professional rugby means you abandon all sense of self-preservation.”
“Pretty much.”
Aiden chuckled, and I wondered if he’d expected Hunter to admit it. “You’re ridiculous. But I love you.”
There was a beat. Hunter’s eyes went wide with disbelief, like he couldn’t believe Aiden had said it. “Am I… is this a dream?”
“No, it’s real.” Aiden’s words were soft and sweet, his hands gently cupping Hunter’s jaw as he leant in for a kiss. “I love you, Hunter, just like I love Bailey. You two are the best fucking thing in my life. Nothing else compares.”
“I love you too. More than anything.”
“More than me?” I asked teasingly, leaning over Aiden’s shoulder.
“No. I love you both equally. You’re the best things in my life. I don’t want to think about how bad things would be if you hadn’t walked into our lives,” Hunter said softly, and I could see the emotion on his face. It was the same way I felt.
It wasn’t like our lives had been terrible, more miserable and unsatisfactory—the pair of us dancing around our true feelings and pretending everything was fine while slowly dying inside, refusing to let ourselves have the things we truly wanted.
Meeting Aiden had changed everything, and I’d forever be grateful we’d agreed to go on the team night out to The Court when Jonny had suggested it. And that we’d seen Aiden on the dance floor.
“Going home with you that night was the best decision I ever made,” Aiden said with a nod, kissing Hunter again.
Hunter grinned, and I’d never get over how beautiful he looked when he smiled. “That was nearly a year ago.”
“It was. We should celebrate.”
I put my arm over Aiden’s waist and reached across to Hunter’s so I was holding both of them.
Being able to touch them, to feel them, made me feel so relaxed and settled.
Maybe it was clingy that I always wanted to feel their bodies against mine, even in small ways—a thigh touch, a hand on their arm, their head in my lap—but neither of them had said anything about it.
And I’d realised they always put some part of themselves against me whenever we were together.
“I can think of a few things we can do,” I said.
“Do they involve me getting railed?” Hunter asked with a playful smile.
“Obviously.”
“Then I’m game.” He kissed Aiden deeply, and I watched the pair of them make out slowly, heat and adoration building in my gut. My cock twitched in my shorts, hardening against the back of Aiden’s thigh. He twisted around to look at me and smirked, his hand reaching back to grasp my neck.
“Come here, baby. We need your kisses too.”
I smiled as I leant over Aiden, my mouth finding Hunter’s and kissing him deeply. “Love you so much,” I murmured against his lips, drinking down his groan and letting it warm my chest.
“Love you too,” Hunter said. “Love you both.”
We had things to do today—a kitchen to sort and set up—but that could wait a little while longer. There were more important things for us to do first.
A couple of hours later—showered, fed, and properly dressed—we headed over to Aiden’s new kitchen share in North Hykeham, about twenty minutes from the centre of Lincoln.
It was a shared kitchen agreement with a small local catering company owned by two sisters, who Aiden seemed to have immediately clicked with.
He’d signed all the paperwork on Friday when he and Bacon had brought everything up from Leicester in Bacon’s dodgy van, but they’d mostly shoved everything into his corner of the kitchen, waiting until today when Hunter and I had been available to help.
They had half the kitchen each, with their own fridges and storage spaces, and from what Aiden had said, there would maybe be a few hours of crossover between them every day, but Aiden would still have the place to himself in the early mornings.
He’d made announcements across social media that he was moving, and as predicted, a couple of the drag artists from The Court had immediately banded together to place a standing order for the dressing rooms. It seemed like Ryan and Rory were basically spreading the word to everyone they knew, and it was apparently getting around since a local queer-owned bookshop had reached out too, interested in getting some cookies for the Dungeons & Dragons night they hosted regularly.
Aiden had also been researching local markets and was talking about finding more nearby queer businesses to supply. I had no doubts he was going to hit the ground running, especially in the run-up to Christmas.
He was still looking for a flat to rent, so he was currently living between our place and Jonny’s, but he’d found a few to check out next week.
Annoyingly for him, most of the decent flats seemed to go as soon as they came onto the market.
I wasn’t complaining, though, because it meant we got to see Aiden four or five nights a week.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” I asked as I climbed out of the car, looking around at the small industrial park we’d pulled into. It was virtually deserted, and I couldn’t see anyone else around. I guessed mid-morning on a Sunday wasn’t peak work hours for people who rented units here.
“Let’s organise the kitchen first,” Aiden said. “Then we can unpack all the other shit and get all the supplies out. Once we’re done, I might try mixing up a test batch of dough to see if I like where everything is.”
“Okey-dokey,” I said, my eyes lingering on Hunter, who’d gotten out of the car and was stretching his arms above his head, a sliver of skin appearing between the bottom of his hoodie and the waistband of his jeans.
There was a small reddish-purple mark on his hip which Aiden had sucked into his skin earlier, and I was very tempted to add a matching one on the other side.
“You’re staring,” Aiden said, the smirk obvious in his voice.
“Yeah? So are you.”
“Obviously, our babygirl is hot.”
“And you’re admiring your handiwork.”
“That too.”
Hunter spotted us and rolled his eyes, tugging his hoodie down as a soft flush spread across his nose. “All right, show’s over. Get your butts moving.” As he turned away, I was sure I heard him mutter, “Perverts.”
I chuckled and gestured to Aiden. “After you. Since you’ve got the keys.”
“Thank you.”
He glanced around, smiling as he realised we were the only ones around.
He reached out and grabbed my hand, tilting his head up for a kiss.
Then he dragged me after Hunter, grabbing his hand with his free one and standing on his tiptoes to steal another kiss.
The three of us walked hand in hand to the door, enjoying a moment of peace together before Aiden put us to work.
My chest burned as I looked at the three of us, my grin so big I was sure it looked ridiculous. But I had every reason to be happy.
I couldn’t believe I got to have this. It almost didn’t feel real.
But it was.
And I was going to hold on to both of them for as long as I could.
Hopefully for the rest of my life.