Elyse had also finally admitted to me that she wanted kids too, which had made me feel like I could jump over the fucking moon. She’d warned me that she didn’t want them immediately, though.
It was disappointing since I’d been about ready to drag her back to her bedroom and do my best to knock her up that very night, but I’d understood. Plus, I was pretty sure my plan wouldn’t have been successful anyway, given that she had a device to prevent exactly that from happening planted under her skin.
We spent a lot of time practicing though, which was fucking awesome. There was no better feeling in the world than being eight inches deep inside Elyse, but if I kept thinking about it right now, Mauli was going to see me get a boner. Not ideal.
It had been while we’d been talking about having kids that she’d told me she thought we should think about moving once we got engaged. We wanted to choose the house we’d start our family in together, and besides, Sunshine Cottage was cramped, even with just the two of us in it.
I had been walking on fucking sunshine all week. Everything I’d ever dreamed of having was finally and really within reach.
The only thing that wasn’t absolutely perfect in my life right now was the situation with Kole. It was a black spot that I couldn’t ignore and felt like a gaping crater right in the center of my chest every time I thought about it, which was often.
I couldn’t remember a time in my life when Kole wasn’t with me to celebrate the wins, ride the highs, and have my back in the lows. In the last week, I’d been at both the highest and the lowest I’d ever been and he hadn’t been there for any of it.
It fucking killed me.
Especially because I knew that we had hit a low point too. He’d been betrayed by the people he trusted most and couldn’t turn to them to talk about it. It made the crater feel like it was on fire to know that.
“Have you heard anything from Kole?” Mauli asked, once again making me wonder if he could read my mind.
“Nope, not a word. We’ve both tried calling and texting, but he never answers. Elyse tried going to his house, but he’d even gotten his locks changed so her spare key wouldn’t work. I went to the base to try talking to him at his office, but his assistant told me he’d left specific instructions if I showed up to tell me he wouldn’t see me.”
“Wow.” He whistled under his breath. “That’s extreme.”
“So is what we did to him.” I sighed, straightening up to give my back a rest and drag my hands over my head. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve even offered to let him have a free shot at me, but nothing. If I were him, I’d be wanting to rip my head from my body with my bare hands, but I couldn’t even get him to take me up at the shot of doing that.”
“Hey, uh, speaking of Kole and him wanting to sever your head from your body. Is that him?” He pointed at a spot behind me.
I pivoted around, momentarily too stunned to move when I saw Kole walking up to me. “Yeah, that’s him.”
Mauli’s wide brown eyes tracked Kole’s approach with mine. “Good luck, man. I’ll drive you to the hospital later, but we’re taking your vehicle. I don’t want your blood all over mine.”
“Understandable,” I said, then walked to meet up with Kole. “Hey. I’m surprised to see you here. Happy, but surprised.”
He pulled his sunglasses off his blue eyes, hooking them into the top of his shirt. “I’m surprised too, to be honest. Can we talk?”
“Of course.”
His gaze drifted in the direction of our site office. “Are you sure? I don’t want you getting fired over slacking or something. Especially since that would mean my sister would have to cover all your household expenses by herself.”
“You heard we were living together?” Fuck. I’d been hoping to be the one to tell him. “I’m sorry you didn’t find out from me.”
“It’s okay.” He gave me a tight smile. “I found out from Elyse this morning. So, can we talk now or do you want to meet me somewhere later?”
“We can talk now.” I motioned to the office. “There’s never anyone actually in there. It’s used as a locker room more than anything else.”
“Oh. Uh, okay.” He looked unsure for a minute. Then his jaw tightened and he lifted his chin. “You hurt me, bro. Badly.”
“I know.” I didn’t apologize. I’d done it a thousand times over the last week, until Elyse had finally told me that being as sorry as I was didn’t make Kole feel any better about it. Nor did telling him we’d never meant to hurt him. All I could do was to take responsibility, to own up to the pain I’d inflicted on him. “If it makes you feel any better, I hurt myself too.”
He blew out a heavy breath. “No, it doesn’t. I don’t want you to be hurting any more than I want to be hurting myself.”
“Are you here to take that shot?” I asked.
With a shake of his head, he sat down right there in the field. I followed suit but didn’t say anything. He was there for a reason and I’d wait however long he needed before he told me what it was.
He stared off into the distance for several long minutes, and it was then that I saw the bags under his eyes. Guilt ripped through my gut yet again. It was so intense, it made me feel sick to my stomach.
After a while, he sighed and buried his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I don’t want to hit you.”
“You don’t?” I cocked my head, trying to understand. “Why not?”
“Because it won’t change anything. It doesn’t mean that I’m not still pissed at you, but I don’t want to punch you anymore. You’re my best fucking friend.”
Since it sounded like he was gaining momentum, I kept my mouth shut. A thousand more apologies wanted to spill out of me, a thousand more suggestions of what he could do to me if it helped him get over his rage.
“I’ve been thinking about all of this a lot,” he said. “Actually, it’s pretty much all I’ve been thinking about. I haven’t slept much and I’m struggling to focus on work. It feels like everything has gone to shit without the two of you in my life.”
“We want to be in your life,” I said softly. “If you can let us be part of it again.”
He just blinked at me for a few seconds. Then a choked sound came out of his throat. “I just still can’t believe I trusted you both and you betrayed me like that.”
“I know. I fucked up, man. I should have told you a long time ago. I wanted to. I just…”
To my surprise, he actually managed what looked like a real smile at that. “You were just too afraid because I was being a way overprotective ass and you knew I’d hate it?”
“Something like that.”
He chuckled, but there wasn’t much humor in the sound. “Yeah, I know I had a role to play in all this, too. It wasn’t only you guys. We’ve all fucked up. Elyse was right about that.”
Letting out a deep sigh, he lifted his eyes to mine. “Look, after all the thinking I’ve done on this, I think I’m starting to understand. I called Elyse this morning and we talked a bit. She mentioned before that you make her happier than she’s ever been, and when I spoke to her, I could hear how happy she was.”
“She makes me happier than I ever knew was possible,” I admitted.
Kole pulled a face at me, but there was finally a hint of a smile on his lips. “I know, even though I still think it’s disgusting that it’s my sister making you this happy and my best friend doing it for her.”
“At least you know the guy she’s living with. That’s got to be a silver lining.”
He picked up a small pebble and tossed it at me. “No, not really. I didn’t ever want to know that she was living with anyone, least of all you.”
He grew serious again. “Actually, that’s probably not true. If she has to be involved with anyone, I guess it is a silver lining that it’s you. It’s gross as fuck, but despite all this, I also happen to know that you genuinely are a good guy.”
“What does all this mean then?” A small spark of hope
lit in the center of my chest. “Can you forgive us?”
“It’s going to take me some time to fully forgive you, but yes, I think I can get there. I don’t want to lose either of you, bro. I can’t.”
“We can’t lose you, either.” It was true. I knew that the gaping hole in my chest was shaped like Kole and I knew Elyse was feeling the same way. “We miss you, man.”
“I miss you, too.” His gaze hardened. “But if you ever hurt her, it won’t matter how much I love you or how much I know I would miss you. I will make you fucking disappear.”
“I know, but I’d never hurt her. I’d rather carve out my own heart with a spoon and give it to her before I hurt her.”
“Good,” he said.
Silence fell between us again, but this time, I was the first one to break it. “Will you come have dinner with us tomorrow night? Elyse would love to see you. She’s been halfway convinced she never would again.”
He stilled. “I’d love to see her, too. Honestly though, I don’t know if I’m ready to see you two in all your domestic glory.”
“We’ll behave,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “We do know how to do that, you know. It’s not like either of us wants to hurt you even more by making out in front of you or anything like that.”
His nose wrinkled. “Yeah, I definitely don’t want to see that. But okay, if you promise to behave, I’ll be there.”
Kole and I talked for another couple of minutes before I had to get back to work. By the time he left, it felt like the crater was finally closed.
Kole and I were good. Even though I knew we weren’t back to normal yet, we had made up and that felt fucking good.
When I got home a few hours later, Elyse was standing in front of the stove. She only had on a pair of lacy purple panties and a matching bra, humming to herself as she stirred something in a pot.
She didn’t hear me come in, startled as I slid my arms around her waist from behind before melting into my chest. “Welcome home, lover. I’m making a stew for dinner, but you might want to keep the takeout menus nearby. I’ve never tried one of these before.”
“You should have waited for me then. I’m a master at stews.” I planted a kiss on her lips when she turned her head, lingering as my dick began to lengthen. “You look so fucking sexy right now. Stews need time to develop flavor, you know?”
I splayed my hand over her taut stomach and planted a trail of kisses on her bare shoulders. She turned in the circle of my arms, bringing her hands to my chest.
Instead of winding them around my neck like I’d expected her to, she gave me a gentle shove. “Wait. I can’t think when you’re touching me like that, and I need to think right now.”
“About what?” I frowned.
“I spoke to Kole today.” Well, there was a mood killer if I’d ever heard one, but she was right. I’d lost my head for a moment because, well, she was in her fucking underwear, but when I’d come in, the first thing I’d been planning on doing was telling her about my conversation with him.
“Yeah, so did I,” I said, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. “He’s coming over for dinner tomorrow night.”
“What?” she practically shrieked, launching herself at me and throwing her arms around my shoulders. “I know you wouldn’t joke about something like this, so it has to be true. How?”
“He came by the plantation.” I wrapped my arms around her waist again, grabbing her thighs before setting her down on the counter and staying between her legs. “We talked and he told me he’s starting to understand. He also said he didn’t want to lose us and threatened to make me disappear if I ever hurt you.”
She chuckled, leaning forward to run her nose up and down the length of mine. “Yeah, that’s pretty much the same lecture I got. I didn’t expect him to want to spend any time around us yet, though.”
“I knew it was a long shot, but I invited him to dinner, and he said yes.”
Her eyes lit up as she smiled. “I’m so happy that he’s coming. I can’t wait to see him and get to spend time with him again.”
“Yeah, me too.” I brought my hands up to her hair, sliding into the soft strands and holding her gaze. “I love you, Elyse.”
“I love you too, baby,” she said. “Thank you for inviting him over. It feels like you’re bringing him back to me.”
“I’d have gone to hell and back to get him to come around, but this wasn’t me. It was all Kole.”
“Yeah, well.” She touched my cheek, scraping her fingers along my day-old stubble. “I love you anyway.”
“I love you too,” I whispered, then brought my lips to hers and kissed the girl who was finally, fucking finally, really mine.
Epilogue
Elyse
A light breeze flirted with the ends of my hair. The bonfire Jordan had started earlier was roaring and Mauli was crooning into a microphone he’d insisted we have at the luau.
Alice danced around the fire, her hand in Tyler’s. He was another one of her and Mauli’s mutual friends, but lately, I’d been wondering if there wasn’t something more than friendship brewing there.
The two of them had practically grown up together, and while Alice insisted there was nothing going on, I’d seen the way the two of them had started looking at each other over the course of the last few months. It had changed from the way they used to look at each other.
On the other hand, maybe I was imagining it just because I had become such a hopeless romantic. I couldn’t help it.
Jordan and I had been together for a year and the luau was our anniversary party. It had been the best year of my life and had convinced me that romantics were on to something. Being in love was the best and I wanted it for all my friends.
That wasn’t to say there hadn’t been hard times, too, but the good times more than made up for it. At least for me they did.
A contented sigh worked its way out of my chest just as I felt big hands closing around my hips and heat press against my back. His touch was so familiar by now, and yet it never failed to make my heart beat faster.
“Having fun, gorgeous?” Jordan asked, his lips brushing against my hair as he talked.
I nodded, leaning my head on his shoulder and putting my hands over his to lace our fingers together. “Yeah, it’s been fun so far.”
“I’m glad you like it because I’m thinking we should make it a tradition. Each year on our anniversary, we have a luau.”
“Planning on having more anniversaries with me, then?” I asked, my tone light and teasing. Jordan told me all the time how he planned on spending the rest of his life with me, so I was secure enough in our relationship to know what his answer to my question was going to be.
He squeezed my fingers and kissed the top of my shoulder. “You already know that I’m planning on having a lot more anniversaries with you.”
A smile formed on my lips as I turned around to look into his eyes, still holding his hands in mine. “Yeah, I do. It’s always nice to hear it, though.”
Just as I leaned forward to kiss him, a loud groan came from behind me. I spun around to face Kole, who had one of his hands over his eyes. “Tell me when I can look again.”
I laughed but released Jordan’s hands after a final squeeze and took a step away from him. “You can look.”
He dropped his hands and stepped forward to hug me. “It’s still so weird to see you guys kissing.”
“Come on, you’ve had a year to get used to it,” I said as I embraced my big brother.
Jordan chuckled, exchanging his own but much more manly hug with Kole once he let me go. “I don’t think he’s ever going to get used to it. From his perspective, I think it’s more like he’s only had a year to try, not that he’s had a whole year to actually do it.”
I rolled my eyes at them both. “Well, maybe if he’d find a girl of his own to kiss, he wouldn’t think it was so weird anymore.”
Kole poked me in the ribs with his finger. “Not this again. I know you’re on Team Eve
rybody-fall-in-love-right-now, but some of us are still enjoying the single life.”
“You just don’t know what you’re missing out on.” Jordan slung an arm over my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my temple. “I’m going to let you guys catch up for a minute. Mauli needs me for something.”
I frowned, my eyes darting to where Mauli was in the process of belting out a power ballad. “Whatever you say, but I think you might have to wait for a few minutes. He looks pretty busy to me.”
“Yeah, busy making us all deaf,” Kole joked.
Jordan laughed and then lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “There was nothing I could do or say to stop him. As soon as I told him about the luau, he said he would be singing and refused to back down.”
“Better go see what he needs then,” I said. “It might be a back-up singer.”
“Now that, I’d want to see.” Kole smirked. “And record for prosperity and future generations.”
“By future generations, do you mean mine and Elyse’s children?” he asked, a wide grin just about splitting his face in two. It was ridiculous how excited he got about the prospect of us eventually procreating.
Ridiculous, but so damn cute that I’d been tempted once or twice to rethink my stance on the timing of us starting to try making it happen. But all that would happen in good time. For now, I was happy to have him all to myself and I wasn’t quite ready to give that up just yet. I mean jeez, it’s only been a year.
Kole cringed the way he always did when Jordan brought up our future kids to him. He was okay with our relationship now, and he’d actually grown to be really supportive of it, but he still hated actually seeing us touching. The thought of the acts involved in procreating and the two of us doing them probably sickened him.
“Dude. No. I’m never going to mean your children with my sister. Don’t get me wrong. I know it’s probably going to happen eventually, and you better get her one hell of a push-present when it does, but just let me bask in denial for now, okay?”
“Okay,” Jordan agreed, his eyes darting back to Mauli. “I’ll be right back.”
Have Your Way With Me Page 25
