Page 49 of Repluse

“Absolutely. The fact that you’re fucking gorgeous was an added bonus. But, yeah, the biggest attraction for him was your financial reliance on him and the way he could control you with it.”

My eyes and limbs feel heavy, and I add that latest piece of info to the ‘deal with later’ pile.

“I’ve kept repeating myself all day, but please trust me, and I promise I’ll put this right.” He pulls me in tighter, and for the first time ever, Frankie Walsh has made me feel safe.

I close my eyes, and this time, nothing can force them open.

I waketo the sound of banging and warm skin pressed against my chest. When I open my eyes, I’m staring across Frankie’s bare chest into the kitchen where Sam is slamming things about on the bench.

“You wanna make a bit more noise while you’re at it, dickhead?” Frankie’s voice rumbles through him and across the space as I start to lift myself up.

“Sorry, mate. Shall I just fuck off back to bed and leave you to slither your way in a bit deeper, you fucking snake?” Sam replies.

I blink a couple of times and look between them, then down at Frankie and me. Our bare legs are tangled together. One throw is on the floor, the other partially covering us. I’m wearing Frankie’s tee and no undies, while he’s wearing nothingbuthis undies.

“Are you mad at us?” I ask.

“You? I’m disappointed. Him? Pissed off, but not surprised,” Sam replies over the sound of the fancy coffee machine.

“Why are you disappointed and pissed off? What didwedo?” I ask through a yawn.

“He thinks we slipped out here in the night to fuck without him,” Frankie informs me.

I rub at my eyes as I process how it must look to Sam., how waking up alone in bed and coming out here to find us like this must’ve made him feel.

“Babe?” I call out.

Sam ignores me as he swirls milk around in the frother, steamer jug thing.

“Babe?” I call again.

This time he looks up.

“I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to disturb you two, so I came up here and had a cup of tea. Me getting up disturbed Frankie, so he came looking for me. We had a tea, sat here talking, I had a good cry, and must’ve fallen asleep, because here we are.”

He’s staring across the island bench, jug in hand, eyes darting between us.

“Why’d you cry?”

I have an internal ‘naw’ moment because of his concern.

Damn this man.

Damn both of them.

“I hurt her.” Frankie jumps in while I’m having my moment. “She couldn’t sleep because I hurt her. She didn’t know if she could trust me. Plus, I unloaded a shit ton of other stuff on her yesterday, and it was too much. I couldn’t sleep because that was all on me. I’d done that to her.”

Sam looks down, and I notice he has three coffee cups out, which he pours milk into. He’s making us coffee, so he can’t be that mad.

Frankie’s hand is resting on my hip, and he gives it a squeeze. “You okay?” he asks with a slight head tilt in my direction.

I shrug. “No. He’s upset.”

“Sam?” Frankie says his name so gently, it causes a visceral reaction in me. My stomach knots, and a lump forms in my throat. “What we’ve got, the three of us, I know it’s new, but it’s good. Really good, and I was worried I’d fucked it all up.”

“You haven’t,” I interject. “I know I gave you shit all day yesterday, but you haven’t fucked things up. I like what we have, but…” I look up, then between them. “We haven’t talked about this, but do we need to lay down some ground rules about what we can and can’t do when one of us isn’t around?”

“Well,wedon’t fuck each other unlessyou’reinvolved,” Sam says with a shrug. “So, no rules needed there.”

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