Page 5 of Cohesion

Some of the worry that constantly swirled in Sebastian’s stomach eased. A part of him—a big part if he were being honestwith himself—was still waiting for reality to reassert itself. The reality where he didn’t get to see those smiles anymore, where Quinn was just another officer of the law on the other side of the courtroom. Where everything between them had crumbled to dust, never to recover. Where mistakes he’d made haunted him for the rest of his life, without a chance to ever make it right.

He’d tried to hate Quinn, treat him like just another cop trying to stop him from doing his job. It didn’t matter how cold he’d pretended to be, or what words he threw at Quinn to keep the distance between them. It had never made a difference. Quinn had held his heart from the moment he’d first laid eyes on him, and no amount of pain or bad history between them would ever change that.

“For you,” Peyton said, slipping a piece of toast in Sebastian’s open mouth.

Sebastian winked at him and left it dangling as he finished the text and pressed send. He slipped it back in his pocket, leaning his ass against the table. He grabbed the toast more securely before taking a bite out of it. “Thanks,” he mumbled as he chewed. “Where’s Will?” He surveyed the room. Quinn was buttering the next set of toast, and Peyton had plucked one of the tall glasses of juice from the bench, sipping it. “And Jericho?” Their resident flirt was missing too.

“Coffee?” Quinn asked.

“I hope that wasn’t an actual question.” It was too early for cruel jokes. The answer to that was always yes. Sebastian could be on his deathbed and it would still be yes.

“They're jogging on the beach with Persephone,” Peyton answered, taking a bite out of another piece of toast. Had Sebastian even had that much bread in the house? Had someone picked it up yesterday? Food kept magically appearing.

“They’re jogging?Why?” Had they done that before? Sebastian didn’t remember them doing that. That sounded like a terribleidea. It was hard enough getting out ofbed. His tasks every morning were the simplest kind for a reason. Have a shower, brush teeth, get dressed, get coffee, get to work, get more coffee. In that order. Sometimes the coffee came before the shower, sometimes it was repeated. He was flexible with how often the coffee step occurred. Adding in “go jogging” wasn’t ever part of the thought process. His exercise involved boxing and weights. The only other cardio he did was take the stairs at work when he was avoiding someone. That happened more often than he was going to admit. It was one way to keep in shape, at the very least.

“It’s this thing that people do when they want to be fit and healthy,” Peyton quipped. “Will is naturally skinny, but those sexy muscles are man-made. And Jericho is…” He trailed off with a sly smirk. “Well, you’ve seen him.”

Sebastian wouldn’t want Jericho to overdo it; he liked the soft feel of his stomach, his strength hidden under the layer. “Why aren’t you out there, then?” he asked. If any of them had a body that looked like it needed some extreme maintenance, it was Peyton’s. All that firm muscle, rock-hard abs, and coiled strength. His smaller figure was deceiving.

“They didn’t ask, I didn’t offer,” Peyton said simply.

Quinn handed over a steaming cup of coffee that smelled like heaven in a mug. And also deposited another piece of toast in Sebastian’s hand. He hadn’t even finished the first one yet. Did he have a sign somewhere on him that said “feed me”? Like “kick me” but worse. Food wasn’t generally a priority for him until after his first coffee. And then it involved a drive-through and buying enough of something to butter up Monica and Caleb so that he could get away with a fewmorecoffees before they cut him off with threats that made certain parts of his anatomy shrivel up.

“I think Will wanted to spend some time with Jericho by himself,” Quinn said.

“He wants to see how Jericho fits.” Peyton reached around Quinn and grabbed more toast. “I get it.”

“Ifhe fits,” Quinn corrected.

Peyton finished his juice and slid his empty glass across the counter to stop neatly beside the sink. “Howhe fits,” he countered. He made Quinn take a bite out of his toast and then bit right next to the mark. “If he didn’t fit, you wouldn’t have let him anywhere near us.” He said it with such confidence that Sebastian almost believed it was that easy. Quinn had approved; therefore, Jericho was golden.

Quinn rubbed his lips, frowning. “Peyton—”

“He’s part of this now, isn’t he?” Peyton’s next bite was borderline aggressive, gaze locked with Quinn’s.

“If he wants to be,” Quinn said. He glanced at the toaster when more toast popped out. “But it’s not that simple.”

“It doesn’t have to be complicated.”

“He brings complications with him, whether you want to acknowledge that or not,” Quinn said reasonably.

“Probably should have thought about that before we fucked him,” Sebastian helpfully added. He took a sip of his coffee, the warmth sinking into his bones. “Or before you asked for that kiss.” Quinn had changed in so many ways, had become a stronger, steadier man than Sebastian had once known. It would take time to merge the old and the new.

But in a lot of ways, he was still the same. Romantic, sexy,not casual in any way. That night with Jericho had been about the four of them as much as it was about Jericho himself. It was why Sebastian had hated the cop that Quinn had dated. Had thought about asking Hunter to take him out. Quinn didn’t do casual, and he didn’t touch anyone that he didn’t have feelings for. Meaningless sex and random encounters weren’t his style.Erichad meant something, and Sebastian had struggled with it, even when it hadn’t been his business.

Not allowing Jericho to kiss him until Jericho wanted something more was Quinn all over.

“You think too much,” Peyton said, kissing Quinn’s cheek. “He knows what he wants, he went for it, and we let him. I spent years waiting for you, but it doesn’t always have to be like that.”

Sebastian could easily imagine Peyton at eighteen. He was stunning now, sharp lines and elegant beauty, long hair and thick lashes. Peyton had been newly enlisted when Quinn had met him, if Sebastian remembered correctly. Not that long after he and Quinn had broken up. He would have had shorter hair and been so damnyoung. If he’d been anything like he was now, Sebastian could hardly blame Quinn for falling so hard, so quickly. Sebastian himself hadn’t been any different, ensnared by both Peyton and Will within days. Hours. Something about the two of them, together and apart, was a siren call. He’d been helpless to resist them. Hadn’t wanted to.

“You felt it first with Jericho when you met him,” Peyton continued. “Seb did too.Andyou let him into our bed. Our first instincts are usually the right ones.” Peyton placed a hand on Quinn’s chest, one finger looping in between two buttons. “Spend too long thinking about something, and it becomes a chain you can’t shake off.”

Quinn put his hand over Peyton’s, swallowing it underneath. “Are you speaking from experience, Peyton?” he asked quietly, studying his face carefully.

Peyton dislodged his hand immediately, moving around Quinn to open the fridge. “No,” he said shortly. An obvious lie. “I’m just saying that you can’t always think your way through something and spend years rolling it around in your head before you make a decision. You gotta feel it and just go for it.”

“You don’t think I’m feeling it?”

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