Skye
Cole walked into my room a minute later and I couldn't help but gawk at his bare chest and legs. God but I was feeling really horny tonight.
First Jasper and now Cole. The memory of the sounds coming from their room just seconds ago was not helping either. All that testosterone. I know I was not supposed to be worrying about what went on between them but I had never seen two guys I found attractive going at it and the idea was more than a little intriguing.
I wondered what they would say if I just asked to watch. That kind of thing did not make me feel jealous at all. The only reason I had interrupted them was because I wanted to piss off that asshole. I knew he was just showing off how he could get Cole to fuck him with me right here. Jerk face.
"We doing okay?" Cole asked me and I could tell from his tone that he was amused by my reaction to their late-night bedroom activities.
"Mm hm. Thanks for letting me stay," I said in the sexiest tone I could muster. "And for the clothes."
I leaned back on my arms while sitting up and the t-shirt slipped off one shoulder since it was a little loose on me. Cole's eyes went to my bare skin and I heard him inhale deeply. His erection, the one Jasper had given him, was pretty evident through his tight boxers.
"Er...do you need anything, Skye?" he asked me, his own voice turning husky. "Are you comfortable?"
I studied him for a while before sliding out of bed and walking over to him. He was so still, so quiet as he waited for me to make a move. Placing my palms on his abdomen, I felt his tight muscles ripple under my touch and slowly moved my hands up over his chest.
"Skye-" he murmured uncertainly.
My response was to kiss one of his nipples and he hissed, his hard-on pressing against my pelvis since we were practically the same height.
"Don't I get a goodnight kiss?" I looked up at him imploringly, parting my lips in invitation.
He groaned and crushed me to him. "Of course you do, baby," he whispered tenderly before devouring my mouth with his.
I moaned into the kiss and wrapped my hands around his neck, rubbing my braless breasts confined only by his light t-shirt against Cole's bare chest.
"Mmm, Cole. You feel incredible," I sighed in pleasure and he shuddered at the words, kissing me harder.
"I can't wait to be inside you," he said to me roughly, his hands sliding down my back to cup my ass and squeeze.
"I know right?" I teased, enjoying his touch. "First dip inside a pussy in what? Like a year? Six months?"
"Two years," he rasped and I widened my eyes at him, leaning away from the kiss.
"Wow. So you're basically a virgin," I whisper. "Do you still remember what to do?"
He narrowed his eyes at me and slapped me playfully on the ass. "Go to sleep. We have things to talk about tomorrow. You, me and Jasper."
I grimaced at the mention of the boyfriend's name. It was the equivalent of cold water being thrown on top of us. We stepped away from each other and Cole ran a hand through his hair and smiled at me affectionately. "Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight," I replied softly watching him slowly walk away from me. "Tell your boyfriend to keep it in his pants for now, okay. Till I get headphones," I joked loudly because I wanted said boyfriend to hear and then marvel at my power when Cole did exactly as I asked. My new man chuckled at my words before shutting the door behind him.
~~~
Chapter 8
Skye
Breakfast the next morning consisted of breadsticks, Italian baked eggs and sausages, fruits and jam rolls with hot milk coffee prepared by the combined efforts of Cole and Jasper. I tried to help but they had a routine and I was still being treated like a special guest. Cole did cast me plenty of reassuring smiles and glances though, so that I would not feel left out.
I blew him a kiss at one point because I loved that he was being so sweet to me with Jasper right there. He was not hesitant about showing me affection or giving me attention. But I also noticed that the two of them touched each other a lot, sometimes absently. Bicep squeezes, arm thrown over the shoulder, back pressed to chest, stuff like that.
And when they smiled at each other with full on eye contact, I wanted to paint a fucking picture. I had never seen two men so much in love and so obviously happy about it.
"Alright, time to eat. I'll drop you back on my way to work." Cole said to me cheerfully, already showered and dressed in formal wear and looking entirely too handsome.
"Okay." I picked up a roll and bit into it. "Can I borrow some of your books?"
He nodded before sipping his coffee. "Choose whatever you want. Baby, can you pass Skye that cup?"
I looked up and realised he was talking to Jasper who was leaning against the sink just staring at us in that creepy way of his. He glanced sideways at my cup of coffee which Cole had asked for and I was pretty sure he was considering poisoning it when his gaze shifted back to me. Cole wasn't watching us because he received a call at that moment and stepped away to talk.
Jasper, wearing a green polo shirt, which stretched across his broad chest like it was painted on him along with dark jeans, walked slowly over to me with my coffee and placed the cup firmly in front of my plate.
Enjoy your breakfast, Skye, his eyes seemed to say as he stared me down, his blonde hair curling around his strong jaw, still damp from the shower. It'll be the last one you'll ever have.
I watched his firm, stubborn mouth open as if to say something to me, probably a barbed comment about me being second choice and stuff but then Cole was kissing that mouth and dumping his plate in the sink to announce he had to rush to Marco's house early because the man had to discuss some last minute design modifications.
"But...I thought we had an hour?" I was flustered because I still hadn't showered or changed. Or selected any books.
Cole gave me an apologetic smile. "You know what Marco's like, right? Temperamental asshole. But it sounded urgent. Here, I'll pack some of that food for you and you can eat on the way. Can you be ready in five minutes? I'm so sorry about this, Skye."
He hurried to pack my breakfast even though he was obviously ready to head out and I sighed and placed a hand on his arm to stop him. "Cole, listen. Don't worry about that. I'll get a taxi after I-"
"No," he interjected. "I feel bad enough as it is since I'm the one who insisted you leave your car behind so I'm taking you home first. And you're going to eat."
"Cole-"
"I can drop her."
We both stopped talking and looked at Jasper in surprise.
No. No, please. He'll skin me alive and feed me to the animals. Don't let me go with him, I mentally pleaded with my new boyfriend.
Cole bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. "You sure?" he asked Jasper who nodded.
"Yeah, I'm free right now and she can take her time. Let her eat and get those books, then I'll take her."
Cole fixed his uncertain gaze on me. "Is that okay with you?"
He sounded so concerned. He should be. He was leaving me with the enemy even though he was not aware of it.
"Um...yeah. That's fine."
A smile curved his lips and he brought up his hand to caress my hair, leaning forward to place a kiss on my lips.
"Okay. Be safe. I'll text you later. See you. Bye, Jasper," he said, nodding at the other guy and they shared a long look which I couldn't interpret and then he was gone, the door shutting behind him, leaving me alone with Jasper Wells.
His eyes seemed to burn a hole through me and suddenly, I was not feeling too brave now that Cole was no longer in the house to protect me from this monster.
Jasper was one of those fierce, determined and dangerous types of guys who made you feel scared but also made your pussy wet at the same time. His looks and attitude sometimes reminded me of Gerard Butler and his performance in 300. God, I had had such a huge crush on that man after seeing that movie. But I couldn't think like that about Jasper Wells.
He was off limits. Period.
"He
'll notice you don't like me eventually," I spoke up, trying to make peace if only to dispel some of the awkwardness. "It's going to fuck with his head if he realises you aren't happy about me. For Cole's sake, can't you at least try and get along?"
He folded his bulging arms in front of that massive chest and widened his legs in an aggressive stance.
"You want to get along after cock-blocking me last night?" he questioned bluntly.
Wow. This guy...Trust him not to sugarcoat his language.
I rolled my eyes and took up my own aggressive position, hands on my hips and back straight.
"Please. You just wanted to show off because I pissed you off in the kitchen. I had to make a counterattack. But I'm willing to make peace with you because I care about Cole and I know he will worry if you aren't okay with this."
Jasper sneered at me. "Don't act like you care more about Cole than I do, Skye. You've barely known him for two weeks."
"It's not an act. I do care about him but I'm sure you love him a lot more. This isn't a competition," I told him exasperatedly.
He scoffed. "Like hell it isn't."
I stared at him in shock. He actually did regard my presence as a threat. Was he really that insecure? Couldn't he tell how important he was to Cole?
"Jasper, I'm not going to take him away from you."
His dark eyes glittered in warning. "You couldn't even if you tried," he bit out.
"Yeah? If you're so sure then what the hell are you so worried about?" I challenged in a cool voice.
He looked me from top to bottom like I was a piece of garbage. "I just want you gone," he admitted bitterly. "I don't want to share him."
My forehead creased in a frown. "Well, shit. Then why did you tell him that it's okay?"
"Because he's in love with you!" Jasper yelled and I flinched at the sudden outburst. "He fucking went and fell in love when I was right here thinking I was making him happy and I was all he needed. And I can't...I can't even hate him for it," Jasper choked out and looked away from me, turning to grip the counter as if he needed to hang onto something solid to hold himself together.
"I want Cole to be happy. What I don't want is to play the blame game and spoil whatever we have. I thought I could do this for him but just looking at your face, fuck!" he cursed and rammed a fist down on the counter, making me wince from imagining the pain of that impact. "I hate it," he continued vehemently as though he did not care if he cracked his bones. "I hate you."
I couldn't speak because there was this huge lump in my throat. Jasper was just a blurry figure in front of me because my eyes were full of hot, fat tears. Damn it. I swiped at them and took huge, gulping breaths. I did this to him. I broke up his happy home. When Cole told me Jasper was okay with this, I believed him.
But the pain in Jasper's voice. Shit. This was really bad. Really, really bad. And Cole...loved me? I had no idea he had fallen so deep. He never mentioned that part.
The right thing was for me to walk away. Cole would get over it. I was just a passing thing for him. Soon, I will become a memory. A beautiful one, I hoped. I would make some excuse as to why I couldn't do this anymore. He was a sweet guy. He would understand. It didn't matter that he was the only person to love me, to show me so much affection and passion. It didn't matter that we hardly got a chance to be together properly. He belonged to Jasper. I was the intruder.
I wiped some more of my tears and then pinned a smile on my face. Then I walked over to Jasper and rubbed his shoulder in a gesture of comfort. I had been wrong about him. He was just hurt and afraid. He wasn't evil.
Jasper regarded me warily and I sniffed and cleared my throat.
"It's okay. I'll back out," I told him weakly because my voice refused to support me. God, why did this hurt so much? Cole was basically a stranger. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that I was causing so much damage. Just...just be there for him when I'm gone. He might have a little trouble getting over it at first. Do you...um...do you have a pen and paper I can borrow?"
~~~
Chapter 9
Jasper
The door opened that evening and I looked up from my laptop to see my boyfriend step inside our apartment with the most devastated look on his face I had ever seen.
I stood up instinctively, walking over to Cole and stepping close to him with a worried frown. "Hey. You okay?"
I tried to catch his gaze but he would not look at me as he shed his jacket and keys before making his way over to the couch.
"Cole?" Shit, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he was about to cry some more as he buried his face in his hands. I couldn't take it. I couldn't take his pain. I never could see him like this and breathe easy. He took things way too hard. "What's the matter?" I asked, my own voice clogging with unshed tears because his agony clawed at my insides.
He shook his head and I noticed his fist was clutched around a white folded page. Fuck. She had given him the letter already? I thought she would wait a few days, avoid him or something and then break it to him gently. I hated that bitch for doing this to him. It didn't matter that she had done it for me after my unplanned emotional outburst that morning. This never would have happened if she had just told him 'no' from the start.
"Tell me what you need," I urged earnestly, disliking this feeling of helplessness. Would he hate me now for driving her away?
Cole finally looked up at me with a blank stare and asked, "Do you want to drink with me?"
I blinked at him. "What? You don't drink," I reminded him because he was always so adamant about taking good care of his health.
"I want to. Please."
I sucked in my bottom lip between my teeth and nodded after a while. "Okay. What do you want?"
He shrugged, looking lost and defeated and loosened his tie. "Whatever you've got."
Minutes later, we were seated together watching a game on TV while Cole went through my bottle of Jack Daniels like it was water and he had been trapped in a desert for months.
"Slow down, buddy," I said quietly and he frowned at his glass.
"Can't believe she fucking left," he gritted and exhaled loudly. "She promised me she'll try."
I licked my dry lips and ran my fingers through his hair in a gesture of comfort. "I'm sorry, okay. I didn't mean for-"
"It's not your fault, Wells."
I paused and frowned at him. So she had not told him the part where all of this was technically my fault. I did not want to respect her for that but begrudgingly, I did. She could have told him about what I said but she had chosen not to. I was lucky. For that reason and also because Cole trusted me so much, he never for a moment thought I had something to do with her departure.
But it would be fine. He would get over her. It was all one big mistake, anyway. He couldn't love her that much.
He fell asleep in my arms two hours later with the bottle dangling from his fingers and Skye's name on his lips, her wrinkled farewell letter lying on the floor.
~~~
Skye
I absently watched the heavy traffic on the street outside and sipped my hot latte. It was cold and windy this morning. My hair was tied up in a messy bun, I was huddled in a huge sweater paired with leggings and this was the first time in a week I had ventured out of the house.
I missed Cole so much. He had grown on me. His smiles and cocksure attitude, the tenderness and wickedness I saw brimming in his green eyes when he looked at me. He would have cherished me. I knew that now. Would have treated me like a fucking queen.
But I didn't want to build my happiness by breaking anybody else's heart over and over again. I didn't want to do that to Jasper no matter how much of an asshole he was to me.
Cole had called me so many times and left messages. He had even shown up at my door once but I had pretended not to be home. I had already told Marco I couldn't work for him anymore due to sudden, unexpected commitments.
I snorted, sipping at my coffee. I was committed all right. Committed to moping around and feeling sorry f
or myself. Aching for someone who was never even mine to begin with. I didn't know how many paintings I had created in just this one week. Nothing but dark vibes and misery emanating from the canvas.
"I'll have what she's having," I heard a familiar and unwelcome voice say.
Looking up, I spotted Jasper Wells walking away from Mateo and towards me with long, determined strides, dressed in a blue sweater and jeans with his blond hair messily flying around in the wind. He had a camera hanging around his neck and carried a laptop.
I groaned as he approached and slumped my head on the table, hearing him take out a chair and sit down without even asking for an invitation.
Three's A Crowd Page 5
