He doesn’t call back, so I dart up there, and check his room. Empty, bed made. Shit. Where is he? I’m about to leave the room when I hear something outside. Laughter.
I walk to the window and see my dad spinning Misty’s mother around the backyard, showing off the classical dance moves he learnt with my mom. My smile brightens a little before it fades. Dread fills me at the thought of what this means.
It’s like knowing a storm’s about to follow a perfectly beautiful day. The kind of storm that destroys everything in its wake. My father has his good days and his bad. The worst of the former usually precede the best of the latter. Survivor’s guilt, his therapist once told me. He told me he never wanted to go to a shrink anyway. That was the end of it.
I watch him with Ms. Gordon and I wonder how long he’s been looking at her like that. Is it just that he’s remembering Mom? Or is he ready to move on? I can’t deny she’s been good for him. He seems less anxious when she’s around. I just didn’t think…
Okay, he’s definitely moving on. I didn’t need to see that.
I move away from the window and head down the stairs, trying to scrub the overly affectionate kiss from my brain. They were making out like teenagers. Seriously. I know what that looks like. There are always kids sneaking under the bleachers or sitting on them thinking they’re being stealthy when they do all their public fondling. It’s awkward and groping and there’s way too much saliva involved.
I consider leaving and pretending I never saw it. Who knows if I witnessed the first kiss or if they’ve been sneaking around for ages? I don’t think I want to know.
He’ll wonder where I’ve been if I don’t check in though. Sighing, I head to the door to the back yard. I make sure I fuck around with the lock and the handle before I open it, calling out to him as I do so. I expect to see them standing apart when I open it, looking surprised or embarrassed.
Instead they’re holding hands, and my dad looks pretty pleased with himself. Misty’s mother is smiling, a dreamy expression on her face.
“Hey, Ms. Gordon,” I say, before turning to my father. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s better than okay,” Dad says.
“We’re moving in together,” Misty’s mom blurts.
My dad grins. “Isn’t it perfect?”
“Uh…” I guess they must have been sneaking around for a while then. Makes sense considering they were acting like teenagers when I caught them just now, I guess. “You’re dating?”
He nods. “We didn’t want to tell you kids until we were sure it was something.”
“It’s definitely something,” Misty’s mom adds.
“So, um, by moving in together you mean you’ll be living here?”
“Oh,” Misty’s mom says, nodding.
“We’re going to live here. She’s going to sell her house in a few months. You can move in there for now.”
“Or you can stay here too,” she cuts in. “I’m not trying to push you out of your own house, Sam.”
“Of course not,” Dad says. “But you might like your own space while we’re just starting to get used to this thing.”
Translation too gross to think to think about. Yeah, I’ll be moving out now before I witness anything worse than the kiss.
“I’ll move some stuff over to Misty’s place.” I clear my throat. “Congrats. I need to go now, so I’ll move my things later, if that’s okay.”
I leave while I can, kind of relieved that I don’t have to do anything for Dad. I can just head back to Misty’s motel room. An idea sparks as I get moving. I get my smile back on the drive over. I always imagined sleeping with Misty for the first time in her high school bedroom. That’s still going to happen, even if it is eight years or so later than I hoped.
Forty
Misty
I head into the room, wrapped in a towel. Justin’s sitting up, rubbing as his eyes when I enter. Ty’s still in the chair by the TV. His gaze is heated when it locks on me. He heard me coming, and I know it. I wait for the flush to creep over my cheeks at the realization, but it never happens.
I pick up clothes as Justin turns his gaze my way. His expression is more downcast than Ty’s, but desire still burns brightly in his dark eyes. The urge to push the towel down and command them to touch me comes and goes. Is this what it’s going to be like until I choose?
I don’t think I can stand this for much longer if it is. I’m going to wind up making my decision based on who’s closest to me when I can’t hold out a second longer, and that’s a little too reckless for my liking. If I’m finally read to commit, and I’m not one hundred percent certain that I am, I need to be sure about my choice.
I turn back to the bathroom and the underwear drops out of my hands. Damn. If I bend over, Ty’s going to see my ass. Justin’s probably too far away. Still. I start to crouch when the sound of the motel room door opening captures my attention. I turn quickly, catching the edge of the towel on the bathroom door handle. Straightening causes the towel to unravel from around me and fall to the carpet just as Sam walks in.
The front door closes with a dull thud as I realize three sets of intense eyes are staring at my naked body. I stumble around, trying to decide if I should grab the towel or just dash into the bathroom. The decision stalls me entirely.
“What’s going on?” Sam asks, his gaze drinking me in.
“Nothing,” I snap back, covering my chest with one arm and my crotch with the other hand.
Justin’s stare is wide-eyed, his face flushed. Ty gets up and leans down by my side, making my heart hammer frantically as Sam takes a few steps closer.
Feeling the fibers of the towel against my back, I thank Ty mentally and then with my eyes when he closes the material around my body. His arms stay for a second, hugging the towel closed as I look up at him. There’s heat in his stare, but he restrains it well. For a second, I wish we were alone.
Then, Sam clears his throat. “She hasn’t chosen,” he says, directing a frown at Ty.
Ty laughs lightly, stepping back. “It was an accident. She caught the towel in the door.”
“Good,” Sam says, coming closer. “Misty, I have a proposal to make.”
“Sam, I don’t…”
“Just hear me out. Please?”
I never could resist a heartfelt plea from this guy. Not that I ever exactly crushed on him. Well, I mean, I knew he was attractive. He knows it. Everyone does. He just has a way about him that makes you want to give whatever he asks. Always has. He just never tried to use that way with me. At least not for anything sexual, or romantic. Now? I’m almost afraid to find out what he wants. Mostly because there’s almost nothing he could suggest that I’d want to kick off the table.
“Fine,” I tell him, trying to sound annoyed.
He smiles. “You have a decision to make.”
“Right.” I guess. I mean it’s not like I can walk around for the rest of my life with these horror movie eyes. “Your point is?”
“Spend a night alone with each of us.”
My immediate reaction to that suggestion is a soaring yes, but that’s the libido talking. I glance at Ty who shrugs. Justin’s frown tells me how he feels about it, but I kind of already knew.
“I don’t know,” I start, shaking my head.
“You need to be able to choose,” Sam tells me, his voice softening. “How can you do that if you don’t spend time with us?”
He has a point. I guess. It’s not like I have any ideas of my own here. I nod. “Okay, fine, but I can’t walk around like this for three whole days. You guys get a few hours each, and that’s it.”
Like I’ll be any closer to picking one of them to commit to forever on the basis of a few hours spent with each of them. I groan, knowing it’s not enough.
“If you’re worried about your eyes, maybe we should go buy contacts or something, Misty,” Ty suggests, clearly thinking along the same tracks that I am.
“I think we might have to,” I agree, running a
hand through my hair. “I can’t film with these eyes and a few hours each isn’t going to be enough.”
Sam grins. “I get tonight,” he tells me.
“Because it was your idea.” My nerves begin to betray me at the thought of spending the night with him. He’s determined, and my willpower is pathetic.
“Well, there is that,” he says.
“Fine,” I tell him. “But it can’t be in the motel.”
I’m not kicking Justin out for the night. It wouldn’t be fair to him.
“How ‘bout your mom’s house?”
My eyebrows shoot upward. “My mom’s?”
What is he up to? There’s no way he wants to waste the chance to spend alone time with me like that. And there’s no way my mom would leave us alone if she thought something might be about to happen between us. She’s way too nosy to butt out.
“You don’t like that idea?” he asks, clearly testing me.
“It’s fine with me,” I tell him, shrugging. If he doesn’t want to get laid, he’s going the right way about it. I should be relieved. Part of me kind of is. The other kind of wishes Sam had his own place.
I glance at Ty and then Justin. They both seem a little suspicious, but neither of them says a word.
“Then it’s settled.” He leans in and kisses me softly on the lips. “I’ll see you tonight, Flash.”
Forty-One
Tyler
Sam’s up to something. I knew it the minute I saw him. I just don’t know what his plan is exactly. Bringing Misty to her mother’s house seems like a weird idea if he wants time alone with her. He must have some other angle. I bet I can guess what.
They were friends for years, growing up neighbors. He’s probably trying to appeal to her sentimental side. It could work. If I was worried that she might be ready to choose one of us that might be enough to have me scrabbling for a plan of my own.
As it is, I’m remarkably calm about this whole thing. Sam isn’t going to steal her away. He only owns a piece of her heart. The rest is accounted for. He can’t take what isn’t his.
Misty took clothes back into the bathroom, along with the biggest make-up bag I’ve ever seen. She spends forty minutes or so in the room, while Justin checks his laptop and I sit idly in the chair next to the TV.
Just looks up after a while, and it’s obvious nothing can move his thoughts away from Misty. I clear my throat and his gaze drifts to me.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find other things to do tonight.”
His frown only deepens. He leans forward and keeps his voice low when he talks. “What if she sleeps with him?”
What if she does? I think about it, leaning back in the seat. I should feel something about this, and the faint stirring in my pants isn’t it. “She might.”
I’m okay with it? Fucking hell. I really am.
Justin, on the other hand, looks worried. Maybe I should be too. I could be wrong about all three of us becoming Misty’s mates. I strongly suspect I’m right, but when does that ever mean anything? I was convinced Misty would fall for me if I just made a move back in college. I knew she was into me. I was so damn sure she was going to be mine. That didn’t translate into anything more than one hot and heavy make-out session. I consider that and it doesn’t shake my conviction. It reinforces it. I felt sure before because she was always meant to become my mate.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell Justin. “She’ll come back with gator eyes.”
He sighs, turning his laptop off and digging around in a duffle bag by the side of his bed. He pulls out clothes, slapping them on the end of the bed.
“She loves him,” he tells me, running a hand through his hair. “She did the whole fake boyfriend thing with me when he met me. I saw the way they looked at each other.”
“And you don’t see the way she looks at you?”
His face flushes. “She doesn’t look at me the way she looked at him.”
He’s so green. I can kind of see why Misty likes him. He’s also the complete opposite of Sam in virtually every way. I mean, aside from the moment he shifted from gator to human and forcefully declared her his mate. The testosterone spike he was riding is well and truly over. The shy and quiet cameraman is back.
“You didn’t see her when you were this close to death, Justin. She loves you, and she told you that. She knew how badly you’d been hurt and she did everything she could to save you.”
He stares at me, and then the bathroom door opens. We both turn to see Misty walk out in her stage make-up and a hot pink dress with a matching cardigan.
It’s not really her style, but it’s her on screen persona’s style down to the pink and white heels.
“I know,” she says with a weary sigh. “I look like Junk-food Addiction Barbie.”
“You look very pink,” I tell her, knowing a compliment isn’t what she wants right now. She hates this look. I knew it wasn’t her choice the first time I watched her on TV. She pulls off the bubbly personality well. No-one would ever know she has a spikier side.
Justin goes into the bathroom to change, without saying a word.
“What’s up with him?” Misty asks, her gaze drifting over me as if she’s having less than pure thoughts. Maybe it’s the reptilian eyes, but I doubt that’s all it is. Every moment she’s walking around ready to take a mate is a moment her desire is on a hair-trigger.
Yeah, she’s going to sleep with Sam tonight. And she’s probably going to think that means she chose. I guess we have some stormy weather ahead.
“Oh, right. Justin.” I remember she just asked a question suddenly. “He’s worried you’ll sleep with Sam.”
She flushes. “What? He said that?”
I nod, realizing it’s probably not something he’d normally even talk about. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her. Too late to take it back now.
“We should really figure out what to do about these eyes,” I change the subject, wondering if contact lenses will even work. In theory I feel like they should. In practice, I’m not so sure.
“There’s a party supply store on the way to Grammy’s house. I’ll find something in there.”
“Give me a second,” I tell her, leaving the room to check the glove box in my car for the Ray Bans I’m sure are hiding inside. It takes a little raking around to find them. I go back inside, and she raises her eyebrows as I pass her the shades. “These should help until you get the lenses.”
She takes them, smiling. “Thanks, Ty.”
“I should probably head back home. Take a shower and whatever.”
She puts a hand over mine. “You can stay with us if you want to.”
She can tell I’m reluctant instinctively. A sure-fire sign of a true mate.
“Well, I’m kind of used to walking around in the same clothes for days on end, truth be told,” I admit. “It’s a PI thing. There isn’t always time to keep clean.”
“Well, you can at least shower. If Just doesn’t use up all the hot water.”
I smile. “Can I use your toothbrush?”
“I don’t know. That might be pushing it,” she tells me, shaking her head.
“I’m a big fan of pushing things,” I remind her.
Her smile fades a little. “Ty, about the gun…”
“You should take it,” I tell her. “I won’t force you, but I’d feel better if you were safe.”
“I could never shoot you, even if you did… I could never.” She shakes her head.
I should have known how she’d react about the gun. I shouldn’t have tried to give her it. I’d feel better if she’d take it, but I know she won’t.
“We’re going to figure this thing out,” she tells me, determination in her tone. “We’re going to find the real killer. Then you can get rid of the gun.”
The bathroom door opens and Justin exits with damp hair and fresh clothes on his slumping, shuffling body. I move toward the bathroom door as Misty starts to converse with him. I hear her soothing tone from the other side of the door as s
he tries to cheer him up.
I don’t know how the hell it’s going work between the four of us, but I know it’s going to. My cock hardens at the thought of Misty stripping off for the other man in the next room. I run the shower and take off my clothes. I remember the way she moaned when we kissed all those years ago and my imagination runs wild. Sam’s going to have her tonight. I only wish I could be there to watch.
Forty-Two
Misty
When Ty disappears into the bathroom, I find myself wondering what I can do or say to make Justin feel better. It’s probably my guilty conscience. I was this close to stepping into a relationship with the guy before he was attacked by a gator. Is it any wonder that he’s bummed out now that it looks like I have couple of other guys chasing me?
I feel horrible, and I don’t know what to do to make this better. It’s not like I can just say no to all of them and move on with my life in a far away town.
These damn eyes rule out that option. They won’t go back to normal until I choose a mate.
“Probably should have told Grammy I was coming round,” I murmur, realizing in all the chaos that I didn’t even call her to let her know I was in town, let alone that I intended to interview her live on TV inside the pink kitty paradise that is her house.
“You didn’t ask her about this?” Just seems amused by it, and it’s good to hear him perk up.
I shrug. “Everything’s been kind of crazy, Just.”
“Yeah, but will she be okay with us filming in her house?”
“We’re about to find out.”
He gazes at me, and I see the longing in his eyes before he turns away.
I wish there was something I could say to make things right. There isn’t. I can’t promise he has nothing to worry about from Sam or Ty. I can’t tell him he’s the only one for me.
I love him, but I love them too.
I bite down on my lip when I think about leaving town again. Justin’s the simplest option if I think about that. I don’t belong here anymore. Ty and Sam have lives here. I don’t. Neither does Justin.
Flashing Her Gators Page 12
