Page 33 of Laurels and Liquor

“You two get yourselves situated. We can talk more tomorrow,” Rhett says once he’s recovered.

Mateo and I say our goodbyes and as he sets my phone off to the side, I sit up, moving to get up from the bed. But Mateo catches my wrist, pulling my attention back to him. He’s looking at me with an odd expression, not quite embarrassment, but close. I cock my head to one side in silent question.

“Are you really okay, Lucas? With what just happened? I know we’ve never… done that before, so I’m sorry if I overstepped—”

I cut him off with a laugh. His nervous rambles are almost adorable, but the worried frown on his face makes me pause.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I can’t say I’ve never thought about how you’d be in bed,” I reply, still teasing but softer.

Mateo grins bashfully, face going pink. “Same, though I figured you had your hands full. But then Lydia mentioned wanting to watch us, and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, and—”

“Wait,Lydiasaid she wanted to watchus?” I ask skeptically, cutting across more of his rambles.

Mateo nods and laughs. I grin to myself, not sure why I’m surprised by this development, but not mad about it. I’ve known for a long time that I’d do just about anything that woman asks of me, but putting on a show for her wouldn’t exactly be a hardship. And then maybe Lex would be there, too, topping Lydia while Mateo dominates me again. Or maybe once Rhett gets home…

I clear my throat, shaking my head from those thoughts before I get riled up all over again. Mateo is still looking at me with worry and hesitation in his eyes. My stomach clenches, and I reach out to pull his face to mine, claiming his lips for a brief but intense kiss.

“We’re going to put a pin in that for the moment, but you bet your ass I’m going to ask about these little daydreams of hers when she gets home tomorrow. For now, I’m okay with what just happened, and the idea of it happening again if you are,” I soothe, squeezing the back of his neck slightly for emphasis.

Mateo truly relaxes then and nods, kissing me again before sitting back. He looks me over, and the way his eyes linger on my cock for a half second longer than the rest of me makes my skin prickle. But then he blinks, remembering himself. “Let’s go get cleaned up. It’s almost time for kickoff. With the girls at Wickland House, we can watch the game in the living room tonight,” he says, getting to his feet.

He leaves his clothes on the floor, but I can forgive him. The view as he struts away is worth it. After another moment’s hesitation, I get up and follow him back to his shower. It’d be rude to leave the score unsettled, after all.

Chapter sixteen

Lydia

“I’mstillmadatyou for not telling me you have a pool sooner,” Gabby says for the fourth time this afternoon.

I roll my eyes and sip my cocktail, not answering. Wila still hasn’t found a building to run the flower shop out of yet, so Gabby has been going out of her mind with boredom. There’s nothing left for us to do on State Street anymore, and, in her own words, she can only stare at the same four walls for so long without wanting to climb them. So I’d offered to let her hang out at the pack house with me. She didn’t get the full tour the last time she was here, so when she got here the first day and realized all the fun we could have been having between the pool table, the swimming pool, and the massive televisions with gaming systems, she’s been here every day for the last week. She’s declined my offer to sleep over more than once, claiming to not want to step on any of my pack mate’s toes.

Not having her spend the night is, in all honesty, probably for the best. Mateo and Lucas have been keeping me busy, together and separately. Lucas, in particular, has been relentless in learning about all my deepest fantasies now that he’s learned about the ones I’ve had about him and Mateo hooking up. At first, I thought he was so keen because he wanted to make sure I was respecting the polyamorous boundaries of our pack. Nope. Turns out he wants to know so he can make my sexual dreams come true. Sometimes I think Rhett has the right idea, keeping him on a short leash. It took mine and Lex’s combined efforts to get him to go back to work and let my body have some time off.

Which is why Gabby and I are spending a third day in a row by the pool, sunbathing and enjoying the last of the nice weather before winter hits. Caleb is giving us a respectful amount of space, sitting on the deck above us, watching out. I tried to get him to come down and sit with us, but he’d insisted on having a better vantage point.

“When do you think you’ll finally be able to ditch your muscle?” Gabby asks as she sees me looking up.

I shrug and look away with a sigh. “When they catch Seth, probably. Darren’s going to be in the hospital for a while, I guess, and even after he gets out, I’m not sure he’ll come near me after what Rhett did to him.”

Thinking about that night brings all manner of confused feelings to my chest. I’ve stopped trying to blame myself for what happened, because I can recognize that we were set up to fail. The only part I regret is not getting out in time to avoid getting caught, and having Rhett taken away from me. Outcome aside, I can’t deny that Rhett certainly taught Darren a lesson he won’t forget any time soon. “I can’t believe he’s still a fucking ghost. Going three weeks without posting a gym mirror selfie must be torture for a guy like him,” Gabby says with a snort.

“How do you know he hasn’t posted?” I ask quickly.

“I followed him on socials after he ambushed you at the store. Figured it’d be worth it to keep an eye on the bastard,” Gabby explains flippantly.

“You didn’t have to do that. I’m sure it’s not interesting or fun to look at,” I mutter, brushing a stray hair out of my face to avoid looking at her.

“You can say that again. It’s just hundreds of pictures of this face.”

I turn and bark out a startled laughter as she twists her features into what someone might generously call a smolder, but it looks like she’s sucked on a really sour lemon. She drops the expression and shudders comically, making me laugh harder, which then sets off her giggles. We’re still laughing when my phone rings on the low table between us. As I look down, I gasp at seeing Jason’s name on my screen, and I scramble to answer.

“Jace!” I exclaim as I bring the phone up to my ear.

“Hey, Lydi. It’s good to hear your voice. How are you?” he starts, sounding more relieved than anything.

Jason and I have had limited contact over the last few weeks, due in large part to our mother watching him like a hawk. She’s waiting for him to slip up and reveal any sliver of information she could possibly use against me. But he’s been gray-rocking like a champion, even if that means not calling as often as I’d like.

“Better. How are you holding up?” I answer, sitting up slightly and tucking my legs in to sit crisscross.

---