Page 112 of The Heat of Us

“How long have you known?” I demanded.

“It’s not important.”

“Ben.”

“When you followed me to Haven + Nest.”

“Goddammit!”

I fell back onto the nest, defeated. “Whatever,” I muttered. “I’m still taller than you.”

“That’s fine.”

Deep down, I think I knew this was how it was always meant to be.

40

ALEKS

I made Hazel her coffee in the morning and found her glowering at her laptop. I glanced at her screen and saw her OmegaFans messaging interface. “Are people bothering you?” I frowned.

She shrugged. “It’s nothing I can’t handle for now. But part of me feels like I need to hustle and keep growing as a creator but on the other hand…I don’t know if getting bigger is what I should be aiming for.” Hazel must’ve caught my weird, slightly confused expression. “Don’t mind me, just having an existential career crisis. Plus I’ve pretty much had to shut down the panty-selling side of my business ’cause, well, you know.”

I did know. Hazel would have gotten a lot of refund requests on any panties she sold recently thanks to the three of us.

I crossed over to her side of the kitchen bench and pulled her into my arms.

Still coming to terms with the fact that I could just…do that.

“Maybe you can talk to Remy about it. You know none of us want you to feel like you have to do this because the money’s good while hating every other part of it.” I kissed the little spot near her collarbone that made her squeak and curl up.

Hazel squeaked and curled up. “I know. I just don’t want to be told I’m going to hell today.”

I was instantly on high alert. “Why haven’t you blocked them? Or at least restricted?”

She looked slightly guilty. “He’s been tipping me a lot.”

“No amount of money is worth you feeling like shit, Hazel,” I told her sternly.

She blew a lock of hair out of her face with a puff of air. “You’re right. I always feel like I’m supposed to be accommodating. But that doesn’t mean letting people treat me badly.” Hazel pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped away at it for a minute. “There. Restricted. If he somehow manages to kick up a fuss still, I’ll block him.”

Hazel seemed understandably different since she told us about Adrian. Her life, her entire facade had been resting on a single, eroding cornerstone for years. Without it, she was scrambling, picking up the pieces of herself. Examining, re-examining one by one. Trying to determine if it was still her.

Ben, Remy and I could’ve easily been part of those pieces she was ready to toss aside. Instead, she clung to us with a desperation that really wasn’t necessary. None of us had slept in our own beds ever since she got her new nest. After the initial calm, her sex drive absolutely skyrocketed. Which did not sound like something I should’ve been complaining about but I was privately worried.

I didn’t want her to feel like she had to do that to keep us.

She teared up after Ben left for work that morning and I knew I had to do something.

“Leave the DMs for another day. Can we spend the day together? Just us?” I asked cautiously.

“Of course. Remy’s been putting off visiting his mum so he won’t have any excuse if we run away together.” Hazel’s eyes sparkled with mischief, no doubt expecting something fun and was probably already planning to rope me into a semi-public quickie. “What did you have in mind?”

“I want to take a road trip to the beach.”

Her face instantly fell.

Something told me she hadn’t gone near any beaches since she was with Adrian. The way she froze told me I was right.

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