Page 20 of Take Me Slowly: part 2
9
LEAH
I pulledmy coat tighter around myself and stepped into the pub. I was supposed to be meeting Fiona here for lunch, I hadn't expected to see Connor or Riley, much less them sitting with Brooks. Whatever they were talking about, it didn't seem friendly. I knew that look in Riley's eyes. He was sweet, but he could turn on a dime. Connor was, well, Connor. And Brooks didn't look too happy to be in the middle of what I guessed was a confrontation.
"What are all of you doing here?" I slipped into the chair between Riley and Brooks and rested my elbows on the table. "You're not planning each other's demise, are you?"
"We hadn't quite gotten to that point." Riley draped an arm over my shoulder and leaned in to kiss my cheek.
"Give us a couple more minutes," Connor said, keeping his eyes on Brooks.
"Your boyfriends are…interesting," Brooks said, returning the look. "They were just welcoming me to town."
"I'm sure they were," I said sarcastically. "No one is tossing anyone over the falls." That seemed to be the go-to, empty threat around here. At least, I thought it was an empty threat.
"I was thinking off the lookout," Connor said with a smirk.
"What do you see in these dickheads?" Brooks slid me a glance. "This one seems okay." He gestured vaguely at Riley.
"You hear that, Connor? He thinks I'm okay." It was Riley's turn to smirk. "I think that means he likes me."
"Of course he likes you," I said. "He'd like both of you if he got to know you."
All three of them looked sceptical at that.
"Depends if we want to or not," Connor said.
"Of course we do." Riley squeezed me tighter. "Because that's what Leah wants, right? For all of us to be friends. Or…more than friends." He gave Brooks an appreciative look. One that immediately set my blood on fire.
I hadn't imagined them together before, but I was now. I liked what my imagination had to tell me. All that bare, muscular flesh heaving, sweating and groaning. Mouths mashed together, fingers wrapped around each other's cocks.
"Whatever you're thinking, I like it," Riley whispered in my ear. "It's making your cheeks flush and your eyes darken."
My face heated. I hadn't realised it was so obvious. I cleared my throat and forced myself to focus.
"So, now you've all met," I started. I stopped, uncertain where I was going with that line of conversation.
"You told them I watched you," Brooks interrupted.
"I don't want to have any secrets between me and them," I said easily. "Unless you're ashamed of doing it?"
"I'm not ashamed," he snapped. "What else have you told them?"
I frowned. "What else is there to say? You and I never got along. We've never been close. I'm surprised you noticed I left." Apart from being alerted by the tracking device in my car.
Brooks rolled his eyes. "Leah seems to be under the belief her mother and my father cared about me, not her."
"Is that true?" Connor asked him.
"No," Brooks scoffed. "They didn't care about anyone but themselves and each other. Their only interest in me was trying to mould me into what they wanted me to be. They didn't give a shit about me as a person."
"They always—" I started to protest.
He cut me a look, bordering on a glare. "They always fucking what? Let me be whatever I wanted? We both know that's not true. You got indifference. I got nothing but disappointed looks and clicking tongues. Unless somehow I managed to live up to whatever the fuck their expectations were. Do you have any idea how difficult that was?"
I sighed softly and leaned against Riley. "I guess not. But I would have taken that disappointment over them not giving a shit."
"Really?" he asked, disbelieving. "You would have gone to law school because they forced you to? No you wouldn't. You liked being able to screw around with your sculptures. Boo fucking hoo when you couldn't stand up for hours and make them any more. You could still paint, draw or whatever art you want to do. I don't see them up here, dragging you home to make them into whatever puppet they want."
