55
THEA
“Wake up, my love.” I hear the faint voice breaking through the layers of sleep. The kisses on my neck make me smile and I turn to face Cole. He’s looking at me with a soft smile on his face. “I love watching you wake up.”
I groan, knowing my hair is a mess and I have morning breath. “Why are you dressed?”
He’s wearing a long sleeve V-neck and jeans. I’d much prefer him to be in the gray sweats he was wearing last night.
“Someone called in. I have to cover at the bakery.” He leans down and gives me a sweet kiss. I try to deepen it, but he laughs. “If we start that, I won’t be able to stop. I really have to go.” I pout, although I don’t argue.
“What about the barbeque?” He’s been working hard preparing for it over the last couple of weeks.
Running the back of his hand over my cheek, he assures me. “Everything’s handled and I should be back a few hours before.”
“Are you sure? Is there anything you need me to do?”
“No, no. The caterers will come around four. Jessie should be here within the hour to clean. Damian has a few things to pick up, but otherwise, we’ve got everything covered. Plus, you have a client at eleven, so I want you to focus on that. Alright?”
I nod and give him one more kiss before he pushes off the bed. “I love you.” He turns in the doorway.
“I love you too.”
My heart gives a small flutter. I’m in love and I still can’t believe it. And not with one man, but two. I told Sutton I loved him more than a week ago—the night we all slept together. I’ve loved Sutton for a long time. However, it was only in my vulnerable state that I fully realized how much and needed him to know I felt the same way.
The feelings I have for Wesley and Damian are still growing, although I care deeply for them both.
I’ve had many flashbacks to the morning we all woke up in that enormous bed, pressed against each other. Sutton and Cole framed my back and front, while Wesley and Damian had their arms thrown over them to keep contact with my skin all night long.
During the weeks prior, I’d had my share of sleeping and waking with Cole, Sutton, and Wesley. Damian was the only one who I’d yet to spend an entire night with. That morning, I watched him for a long time.
His face was soft and unbothered as his eyes fluttered beneath his lids. He looked angelic when he wasn’t shifting between being serious or devilish. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through his tousled auburn hair. I wanted to kiss those soft, pink lips. But most of all, I wanted to tell him it was okay to let down those walls once in a while.
I wanted to see him like this awake. So beautiful and unguarded.
I was too afraid to do any of that, so I settled for falling back asleep in the arms of the men who cared for me in a way no one else ever had.
Since that night, things have shifted in the house—not only between myself and each of them, but also between each other—like something’s clicked into place. Was I their missing piece, like they were mine? My whole heart hopes so, however, I also know it’s dangerous putting that much importance on what we mean to each other.
I still catch myself holding back, trying to protect my heart just in case the other shoe drops. It’s a habit I’m trying hard to break. That’s why when Cole leaves for work, I go to his desk and start up his computer.
The lock screen comes up. I don’t know his password. I’m about to go to my room and get my laptop when I click the password hint button.
Hint: Treat + Grad Year
My mind filters through the possible combinations. There are hundreds. And his grad year? It could be high school or culinary school, although I’m pretty sure it was the latter. Then I remember something. I look at his nightstand and there’s a picture of him hanging up the diploma in the back office at the bakery.
I really should go get my laptop, but this little challenge makes the nosy part of me giddy. Picking up the picture, I squint, trying to read the words on the diploma. 2011. I think. The date is small, however, I’m pretty sure that’s it. I do the math in my head and it seems to make sense.
The first part of the hint stumps me. It could be anything—eclair, truffle, ice cream. There’s likely a maximum amount of times I can try before it locks me out.
I’ll give it a go and if it locks up, then I’ll get my computer.
My fingers fly across the keyboard. Pie2011. A big red X appears next to my guess. Cake2011. Wrong again. Cupcake2011. Wrong. I get a warning that I have another two attempts before the computer locks.
Cole made me chocolate chip cookies when he was first trying out gluten-free recipes. They turned out amazing. He even started selling them at the bakery. Cookie2011.
The screen does nothing for a moment, then it goes black for a half second before the desktop image of a river and mountains appears in front of me. I give a little squeal of excitement.
I click on the internet icon and pull up the search bar.
It’s been on my mind a lot lately, Cole needing some extra attention. A couple of days ago, I came up with the perfect idea. I need to figure out a day that will work for both of our schedules and check if the Evergreen Inn has availability.
An evening away is just the thing we need.
Typing in the inn’s name, I hope there aren’t too many results. For the life of me, I can’t remember what city we ran out of gas in. It takes a moment for the page to populate. When it does, it’s the first one on the list.
My mouse hovers over the name, but I see something strange that makes me pause.
The link to the inn is in purple and in a small font beneath the website’s description are the words, You’ve visited this page 3 times. Last visit: 7/08/21.
Something feels off and I try to think back to our night at the inn. However, I can’t recall when we stayed there.
I grab my phone where it’s plugged into the nightstand and search the group chat, knowing that we told the guys that we ran out of gas that night. I type the word inn and the results pop up immediately. The date in the chat says the twenty-first of July—Cole visited this site two weeks prior to us staying there.
Goosebumps break out over my body and I feel sick. I don’t know why, but my gut tells me to dig.
I pull up the browser’s search history and find July eighth to see what else he searched. Most of it is mundane. Emails, recipe links, and the search for the inn.
The exact search reads inns near Clayton, Ga. My heart speeds up. Then I notice the other searches. Gas stations near the Evergreen Inn Clayton, Ga. My lip quivers and I can feel tears pricking at my eyes as I try to make sense of what I’m reading.
These searches were weeks before we even went on our day trip to North Carolina.
I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. My fingers fly to the mouse as I hurry to close all the screens. I push out from the chair and stand as Jessie comes into view.
“Good morning,” I say, a little too high pitched.
Her face scrunches. “What are you up to?” She asks suspiciously, looking around me at Cole’s computer.
What’s her issue?I mean, sure, right now I was obviously snooping, but she had a problem with me when we first met. “I’m not up to anything,” I defend, grabbing my phone off the desk and heading to the door.
I expect Jessie to move out of the way, but she doesn’t. She’s a couple of inches taller than me, although her presence makes her feel taller. There’s a deep set scowl on her face. That might work on other people, or even me, a few months ago. It’s not doing anything except annoying me.
“I have to get to work,” I tell her, motioning with my hand that she’s in the way. For a minute, she doesn’t move, and I think I’ll have to shove past her. Then she turns slightly, giving me enough room to squeeze by her.
Rolling my eyes, I move past her and head to my room.
“Whatever you’re hiding won’t stay that way for very long. You’re a shit liar. You might have them fooled for now, but they’ll catch on.” Jessie turns, heading into Cole’s room to start cleaning, leaving me confused and embarrassed. Can she really tell that I’m hiding something? Can the guys tell, too?
I push that thought out of my head. There are more important things to think about. Like Cole’s search history.
There’s an explanation,I tell myself. Did I see the dates wrong? Maybe I mixed them up. Could it have been August seventh, not July eighth? I try to convince myself of this, however, neither my head nor my heart believe me.
Cole most definitely looked up both the inn and the gas stations near it before we ever visited. Did he plan to run out of gas?
I need to get some clarity. I need to get out of the house. Once I have time away to sort out my thoughts, I can ask him about it. I’ll do it after the barbeque tonight.
There has to be an explanation. I need there to be one.
Clarity never came. My stomach knotted tighter and tighter throughout the day. I could hardly focus on my clients. Cassie was talking to me about her wedding. All I could do was nod and smile like I was paying attention. I wanted to talk to her about this, but she’d suspected them initially. If Cole has a simple explanation, I don’t want a seed planted in Cassie’s head.
Cole texted me throughout the day and I had to pretend to act normal. At least five different times I typed out a paragraph, asking him about what I found on his computer, only to delete it. Part of me wants to do it without seeing him because I don’t want to face him. However, the rational part of me knows I need to do this face to face so that I can read him.
Over the hours and hours of thinking about it, I could only come up with one reason for him to do this—he felt like he wasn’t getting enough alone time with me.
Maybe he thought I’d say no to staying the night or that I wouldn’t make time for it. Or maybe he thought his brothers would veto it. Either way, he manipulated and lied to all of us, and that isn’t okay. This isn’t the man I know—this isn’t my sweet and honest Cole.
My phone beeps as I’m locking up the studio for the night.
Cole: Hey, I’m going to have to close tonight. I’m so sorry. I’ll be at the house as soon as I can.
Me: Oh no! I’m so sorry. Hurry home!
The words feel disingenuous. I want to get this over with.
I turn over the engine after getting into my truck and head to the house.
Music thumps from above as I step out of the shower. I wipe the mirror and stare at myself for a moment, willing some strength to appear. I need to at least act the part until the end of the night when I can confront Cole.
Toweling off, I throw on some mascara, gloss, and brush out my hair. Slipping on a white bodysuit and ripped cutoff shorts, I head out of my room and force a smile. I can do this.
The sound of laughter and foreign voices drift downstairs, but I don’t want to go up there alone with a bunch of people I don’t know. I knock on Sutton’s door first. Silence. Then I go to Wesley’s room. It’s cracked and dark. They must be upstairs already.
I make my way up, finding that whoever was just there must have gone back outside. Crossing the kitchen, I go to Damian’s door and open it.
“Damian?” I call out. His lights are on and I wait a moment to see if he answers.
“Yeah? Come in.” He replies.
His voice comes from the end corridor and I follow it. I look around and find him at his computer, of course. “Are you ready? I think the party’s in full swing.”
I stop and glance around at the metal and plastic pieces scattered all over his desk. His computer tower is disassembled. I open my mouth to ask him what he’s doing, but something much more interesting catches my eye.
A massive canvas is hanging above his desk that wasn’t there before. Although it’s what’s on it that makes my breath catch. It’s a photo of me. Not just any photo—one Damian took the day he came to the studio and forced me to pose for him.
The one in front of the mirror.
“Wh-what is that, Damian?” I can’t tear my eyes away from it, but I vaguely sense him staring in the same direction. He stands.
Coming towards me, he circles around and stands behind me. Damian wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my shoulder. “Do you like it?”
I can’t focus on answering his question.
Studying the photo, I can tell he didn’t have the raw photo blown up. No, he adjusted the lighting to create dramatic shadows and highlights over my skin. The look I’m giving him in the mirror is sultry with begging eyes and my full lips parted. My ass is pushed out towards the camera, full and framed by my thick thighs.
“How did you get this?” I finally turn my head away from the canvas to look at him. He laughs as if it’s a silly question.
“It wasn’t that hard, princess. When you went to get dressed, I put the SD card into your reader and emailed them to myself. It’s been a long time since I’ve used photo editing software, but I think I did a pretty decent job with the lighting.” He kisses my neck. “You didn’t answer me. Do you like it?”
I close my eyes, trying to separate the knowledge of what Cole did from Damian’s actions, although I feel like I’ve been tricked in more ways than one by them both. I’m questioning everything they’ve done. The cameras in my photo area that he turns on and off to watch me come to mind. What else have these men done to invade my privacy that I don’t know about? Does Sutton know? Wes?
“I do, but Damian…You should have asked.”
He squeezes me tighter. “I know. I’m sorry. I just—I wanted to remember that day forever.” My heart lurches at the sentiment. “For me, things changed that day. We trusted each other on a level that most people can’t. You showed me I could open up again.”
This is a side of himself that he doesn’t show. I’ve seen glimpses, however, this is him giving me a full view of his vulnerability and trusting me to accept him. I turn in his arms and kiss him. He isn’t Cole. Having this picture made and making sure I’m safe at work are much different from faking a breakdown to get me alone.
I realize the canvas is positioned directly across from his bed on the other side of the room. Pulling away, I stare at him with a raised brow. “Is the placement a coincidence?”
He gives me a devious grin. “Absolutely not. I don’t get to wake up to you, so this gets me by.”
“Gets you by or gets you off?” He laughs at my quip and shrugs. “You could wake up to me,” I tell him cautiously. “I could sleep in here…with you.”
Damian’s gaze flicks down to my lips, then back to my eyes. “That could be arranged.”
I smile at the prospect and look over my shoulder at his work area. “What’s going on over there?”
He sighs and pulls away. Walking back over to his desk, he holds up a small part. “I finally got around to taking my computer apart to replace the CPU. When I took it out, I found that the thermal paste was removed. That’s why it was overheating.”
I look at him, confused. Nothing he’s saying makes any sense to me.
“The paste helps transfer heat away from the processor to keep it cool,” he explains.
I still don’t fully understand, but nod. “Does it evaporate or something…over time?” I feel stupid asking. I don’t even know if that’s the right terminology.
Damian runs his hand over the scruff on his face. “It can deteriorate with time, but it was completely gone when I pulled it out. Not a drop of it left. The only way that is happening is if someone removed it. That would mean they had to take my computer apart and use rubbing alcohol to get it off. This was deliberate.”
My body goes rigid at his words. “Someone came in here and tried to destroy your computer?” I know that’s exactly what he’s saying, however, I need him to confirm it. My blood runs cold as the thought resurfaces from two weeks ago. Gavin.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t have any other explanation.” Damian looks too calm for what he’s telling me. I’m afraid his suspicions that someone’s been in the house will lead him to Gavin and subsequently, my lying about it. My stomach churns at the thought.
He must see it on my face.
“Listen, I don’t know if it’s him. I’ve checked all of our security footage and I couldn’t find anything showing him coming or going. The tracker on his car hasn’t picked up any movement either. I don’t know…” He hangs his head and then glances back up at me. “Between this and the bad reviews, it feels like someone’s hellbent on taking down our businesses. It may be unrelated to Gavin. But that’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m having all the locks changed tomorrow and extra security cameras installed.”
My thoughts bounce in all directions. Between Gavin and what I found on Cole’s computer, I’m riddled with anxiety.
Damian comes back over to me and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Thea, please don’t think about any of this tonight. Let’s enjoy the party and we’ll figure everything out later. I promise.”
I suck in a deep breath and try to take his suggestion to heart. I can enjoy tonight. I can do that for Damian. The words don’t convince me, still, I give him a smile.