Page 79 of Forbidden

“Well, well. You kinky bastards.”

Lane reaches forward and smacks the back of his head. “Fuck off.”

Doug just chuckles to himself and goes back to nursing his rum. I really hope he doesn’t attempt to drink the whole thing. But he’s a big boy I suppose, so if he wants to drown in booze, he can go right ahead.

Lane sighs and folds his arms. “So, the Portland CC Coach is a dick, huh?”

As Doug launches into a heated tirade, I glance at him, and he winks. Maybe it’s not such a surprise they hooked up. Lane seems to be able to play Doug with an ease I can’t quite fathom.

The rest of the journey passes quickly, with talk focusing on our season so far, the details of the meet Doug missed, and the plan of attack for the next one. We’ve got one in Idaho in a couple of weeks, but the big one is our rematch in San Francisco in a month’s time. If we win that, we’ll be in good standing to clean up for the rest of the season.

By the time we reach Doug’s place, he’s slurring his words. Aldo gently removes the bottle from his grasp and hands it back to me as Lane jumps out and steadies Doug as he spills out onto the driveway.

“You guys stay in the car,” Lane calls, wrapping an arm around Doug’s waist despite his protests. “I’ll be back in a minute. Just need to tuck Grandpa in.”

“At least Doug’s drunk enough, they probably won’t end up having sex,” Aldo scoffs.

Unclipping my seatbelt, I sit forward and rest my chin on the back of his seat. “How do you feel about everything? Are things back on between you two?”

“No,” Aldo says firmly. “We just . . . I just . . .”

I laugh. “He has that effect. I get it.”

Aldo drops his head back against the headrest with a groan and I sink my fingers into his hair, teasing the thick waves. “I wasn’t annoyed at him for being with other people. I was annoyed because he’s in permanent self-destruct mode. By ending things between us, I thought I’d prevented an explosion, but he’s just gone and set up another two.”

I drop my hand, tipping his face to meet his eye. “He’s not your responsibility, Aldo. He’s a grown-ass man. If he wants to set his life on fire, there’s nothing you can do to stop him.”

Aldo hums in agreement and a few seconds later, the passenger door opens and Lane hops in.

“Is he okay?” I ask.

Lane turns and winks at me. “Out like a light.”

I sit back, fastening my seatbelt, and Aldo reverses out of the driveway. It feels strange already without Doug’s presence, and I chew the inside of my cheek in thought as we head back to the main road. How is it that he has such an effect on us all? In a perfect world, he’d join in what we have going on, but I’m still not even sure what that is, or whether the others would be on board.

I’m pretty sure Aldo would want it, but Lane? Yeah, they’ve hooked up, but from the sounds of it, it was more of a helping each other out thing than an attraction thing. And then there’s the fact that I’m already seeing two guys. My skin heats. Adding a third to the mix seems ridiculous. I mean how would that even work?

Immediately my imagination goes to work, and my skin heats as though the others might be able to sense what I’m thinking.

“Do you want to come in and hang out?” Lane asks. “Totally get it if you want to head back to campus, but it would be nice to spend some time together. We could watch a movie or something.”

It takes me a solid couple of seconds to realize that we’ve pulled up outside Lane’s apartment block. Jeez. They really do live near each other.

“Totally up to you, Joy,” Aldo says, twisting in his seat to look at me.

It’s a ridiculous question, because why the heck would I pass up on an opportunity to spend time with these two? And cozying up between them, watching a movie, sounds like heaven.

“Sounds great!” I unfasten my seatbelt and open the door, the others following suit.

As we grab the stuff from the Jeep and head inside, Aldo wraps an arm around my shoulder and squeezes me into him before letting go. When I look up at him and smile, that same shadow is still there, dimming his usual brightness, and something settles in my stomach. Before we get too cozy tonight, we need to talk. I just hope that we’re all on the same page, because if we’re not, this will all be over before it’s even begun.

LANE

“I’m going to make hot chocolate,” I say, dumping the cooler on the counter and shrugging off my coat. “Who’s in?”

“Depends on whether you’re putting rum in it,” Aldo scoffs, taking my coat from me and then holding his hand out for Joy’s.

She frowns up at him as she hands it over, revealing a cute, oversized sweater and black leggings. “Do you want me to drive back? I can if you want me to.”

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