Page 33 of Convergence

“Hmm,” Nate said, considering. “I can’t tell if I want to laugh or feel desired. Either way, I have a boner.”

I laughed, almost spitting out my coffee.

11

The snow was as high as my waist when we went outside, armed with the shovels they had left us in the little garage that housed Marie Curie. It hadn’t snowed all morning, so we felt confident in being able to make it to the lab. I waited on the doorstep while the guys dug out the shovels, seeing as they could tromp through the snow much easier than I would have waded. We had two shovels, and we rotated who was shoveling and who was taking a coffee break. The snow was heavy and difficult to shovel out of the driveway, and it took close to an hour. The three of us were sweating in our snow gear and panting by the time we climbed into Ev’s truck.

“Yeah, I do not like the snow,” Everett said and turned up the heating despite sweating under our winter gear. His accent was thick in his irritation, despite his calm tone of voice.

“No snow in Tennessee?” Nate asked from his place in the driver’s seat as he switched the truck into four-wheel drive.

“Not where I grew up. We would get a dusting, maybe an inch or two, every couple of years or so. Nothing like this,” he said and rolled his head to stretch out the sore muscles in his neck.

“I’m moving in with you.” Nate said as he maneuvered us out of the driveway “I could be a cowboy.”

I giggled at his exaggerated Southern accent with his cowboy comment.

“Could you now?” Everett asked, a smirk curling at his lip.

“Yeah, I’d look fucking fantastic in some cowboy boots and jeans. And a good hat,” Nate continued as he carefully drove us to the lab.

“I concur,” Everett said, and the smirk remained in place.

I cackled in the back seat.

We worked all day in the lab and headed home for a frozen pizza and salad dinner. After dinner, I went to my room to call my dad and check in, but he hadn’t answered. I sent him a text to say that I had called to say hello and got a waving emoji in response. I didn’t want the guys to know I had been all but ignored by my dad, so I remained in my room while they decided if they wanted to play a game or watch tv. Hearing the rumble of their voices up the stairs, I relaxed in my room with Everett’s history of campfire cooking book for a while. Since we had not run in two days, my muscles around my implants and surgery sites had got sore. Shoveling that morning hadn’t helped since it didn’t use the same muscles. I knew I needed to stretch them out.

I put on some running shorts and a t-shirt and headed downstairs to hang out with the guys who had decided on a movie. It was a comedy I had seen before, so I didn’t mind coming in part of the way through it. They were both on the couch with their feet up on the oversized ottoman. One scoot and they could have been cuddling. Everett had one of our soft blankets over his legs, and Nate was scrolling on his phone while the movie played. Nate looked up at me as I walked in and his eyes smoldered.

I stretched out my sore shoulders and watched the movie. I wasn’t standing directly in front of them, but I was within their line of sight if they looked over to the right of the tv.

Everett did a double take at me. “Are you going running?”

“No, I only wanted to stretch. My, um, my implant and surgery sites get sore if I don’t work the surrounding muscles,” I said shyly. We didn’t talk much about my accident or injuries.

“Do you need a hot bath?” Everett asked, concern etching over his features.

“Maybe when I’m done. I like to soak in Epsom salt baths,” I said, and my eyes flicked to Nate, remembering the time he walked in on me in the bath a few weeks ago.

“Okay, let me know and I’ll run you one,” Ev said casually and turned back to the movie.

His sentiment touched me, and I smiled as I resumed my stretching. I watched the movie as I went through some of my stretches, giggling at funny parts. When they didn’t laugh at a funny part, I looked back, expecting them to be asleep, but caught their eyes on me. When they realized I was looking, they snapped their heads back to the tv. Were they watching me stretch? I wasn’t doing anything particularly entertaining. I bent over to touch my bare toes to stretch out my hamstrings. There was a sharp intake of breath and when I stood and looked at them, I saw Nate blatantly staring at me with hooded eyes and I saw Everett’s gaze snap back to the tv. Theywerewatching me. Feeling powerful, I slid to the floor and did some bridging exercises to work out my transabdominal muscles and glutes. Nate groaned quietly and another funny part of the movie came and went with no laughter. This was fun. I got on all fours and did cat-cow stretches to relax some ‌muscles in my back and to further tease the guys. I knew that my running shorts were giving me quite a bit of a wedgie at this point from all the stretching, but I didn’t fix it.

“Why is nobody laughing at this movie?” I asked quietly. “I thought it was hilarious.”

“Nobody is watching the movie, beautiful,” Nate said in his deep voice.

Everett cleared his throat. “I’m watching it. I’ve seen the jokes before.” His voice was husky and rasping.

I smirked at him like he usually smirked at me. He looked back at the movie as if it had absorbed him the whole time.

Nate didn’t bother hiding his lust. He cupped himself through his lounge pants and bit his bottom lip. I smiled and nodded my head to the stairs, and he jumped off the couch and headed upstairs.

“Please keep the volume down,” Everett said in his calm voice.

I didn’t respond to him as I followed Nate up the stairs.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of the guys arguing. I heard raised voices, but couldn’t make out their words until I was on the stairs. I yawned as I entered the kitchen wearing nothing but one of Nate’s t-shirts, as I had woken up naked and in his bed.

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