Page 20 of In Too Deep

“That’s great, Tori!” Eli exclaims, perking up.

She winces and shakes her head. “It’s really not. He made it very clear that me and my reputation need to be squeaky clean. No scandals or HR violations that the media could use to tarnish the team’s public image. And I didn’t tell him that we”—shestops and gestures in a circle with her finger to all of us— “are a thing.”

“So we tell him,” Oli says simply.

Tori lets out a frustrated huff. “It’s not just that I didn’t tell him. He straight up asked me to my face if there was anything he should be worried about, and I told him there wasn’t. To go back on that would be admitting the lie, which very well could cost me my job, if the HR violation doesn’t take me out first.”

We all pause, not sure how to respond to that. I don’t want Tori to give up the thing she clearly loves, but for a brief moment, I could picture our pack, and I still can’t believe how happy it made me. I don’t like that Oli is doing this to cover up his sexuality, but that is a different battle for another day. Is this bigger than one job?

“What if we went to HR and started the process of making this above board?” Eli suggests, trying to think his way out of this.

Again, Tori shakes her head. “I would more than likely end up being removed from position and shoved somewhere away from daily interaction with the team. And that’s if I get to keep my job at all. I’m really good at what I do, and I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to give it up.”

“Could you just tell him you don’t want the promotion? That Demetrius needs to pick someone else?” Oliver presses, words tight.

With my instincts sitting up to take notice, I narrow my eyes at them. I don’t like where this line of questioning is going. Tori seems to be picking up on it as well, at least based on how she squeezes my wrist and scoffs.

“No. You’re not hearing me. Dee could fire me for lying to him when I accepted the position if we go public. HR could fire me for not filling out the paperwork. Almost every way you slice it, there’s a high probability that I’m going to lose my job for you,” she says, more of the familiar heat in her voice.

Oli opens his mouth to argue, but I growl in another warning, drawing his attention.

“What? What’s your problem?” he snaps harshly.

I pause before I answer, and I’m glad I do. There’s hurt in his eyes, pain pulling at the edges of his face. Softening, I turn my hand over to thread my fingers between Tori’s as I look at her.

“If your job wasn’t an issue—and before you cut me off, I know it is, but I’m asking a hypothetical question,” I start, speaking louder as Tori opens her mouth. Her jaw snaps closed hard enough for me to hear her teeth clack together, and she slumps back slightly. “If your job wasn’t an issue, would you want to form a pack with them? And don’t just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. Really consider it.” There’s no judgment in my voice as I finish.

For a split second, I think Tori’s going to do just that: spit out the answer her head has lined up. But then she stops and looks down at the table, chewing on the inside of her bottom lip. I can practically hear the gears turning in her head, even as my mind drifts off into a fantasy, a world where we could have our cake and eat it too. Tori could keep kicking ass as the social media manager for the Mystic, and we would play every game under her watchful eye, pointing up at the press box every time we scored for her. Then we would go home and be together, living out our dreams by each other’s sides. We could get a dog, and maybe we’d buy a bigger house with a backyard big enough for a good game of fetch and a pool.

“In this imaginary world where I don’t have my amazing career that I’ve worked so hard to get good at and prove myself as competent in a male-dominated space, I... I think I would want it. To be in a pack. With you. All of you,” she says, speaking in fits and spurts, like she doesn’t want to say it out loud.

But her pink flush betrays her long before her scent does. The sweetness of her essence has returned, the magnolia notesgrowing stronger, as if the flowers are blooming right beside me. Oli lets out a long exhale, like he was holding his breath the entire time she was silent. Eli grins and reaches out to take Tori’s other hand. She looks up at him, and my heart squeezes painfully at the vulnerability etched on her gorgeous face.

“If you want this, and you want this”—Eli pauses to look at me before returning his gaze to Tori— “then we can make it work. We’ve got time. None of us are being shipped out, and your boss isn’t retiring tomorrow. We just need to figure out the details and take it step by step,” he says, his smooth words reassuring even to my ears.

Tori doesn’t move at first, but her eyes are distant again. We’re all quiet, and even the waves soften their crashes to whispers as we wait. But the longer we wait, the more Tori seems to shrink in on herself.

“I need to think,” she mutters after an agonizing minute.

And without another word, she gets up and walks away, closing the door to her bedroom with a slam.

I stare up atthe exposed beams of the ceiling, not even remotely tired even though it’s past midnight. My mind keeps replaying everything we said, the looks shared, everything about that gift exchange. We didn’t even finish opening the presents, which oddly bothers me despite the much larger issues at hand. I can’t imagine what might have been in the envelope Oli gave me, but it was clearly something he wanted me to open after I eagerly accepted his pseudo-proposal.

I don’t feel entirely unjustified for not agreeing right away. They’ve only known me for about six months, and I’m not sure if I’m fully behind their intentions. I don’t want to be some sort of cover for their relationship, especially when it would cost me my job. But has this been their plan all along? Have Eli and Oli been seeing me and courting me just so they could be together in public without facing backlash from homophobes? Do they even care about me at all?

My heart aches at the thought. Because it only occurred to me tonight how deep my feelings for them really are. But if they’re using me for their own ends…

I let out a little sniffle, swallowing back a whimper. God, I’m so fucking stupid for not catching onto this sooner. I was so wrapped up in the attention they were giving me that I couldn’t see this coming. I shouldn’t have let myself get this deep. I’m so fucking stupid.

More tears are coming, and I don’t want to wake Spencer with my self-pity. So I slip out onto the patio through the slat doors, curling up in one of the pool chairs as I look out over the midnight sea. I hug my knees to my chest and rest my chin on them, sighing deeply. I think back over the last few months, trying to see if there were any signs I missed, any clue that this was what they were really after.

“Can’t sleep either?”

Eli’s voice pulls my gaze upwards, and I find him approaching me slowly across the patio. Shaking my head, I turn my gaze back toward the ocean before he can see the tears forming on the edges of my vision. He sits on the edge of the pool chair facing me, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. We’re silent for a long minute, but I’m not sure if I have anything to say to him right now.

“I’m sorry, Tori,” he mutters heavily.

I steal a look at him, but he’s not looking at me. He’s staring out over the pool toward the horizon as well, blue eyes lost in thought. I turn my attention forward again, choosing not to respond.

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