Coming Back

by Lauren Dane

  Mick found it exhausting as well as pitiable.

  “I’m not going.” Adam waved it away, and when Jessi made a little growl he drew his fingertip up her neck to her chin to hold her gaze. “Angel, I’m absolutely not going, so don’t argue. I had a twenty-five-year-old who’s never held a job she wasn’t given tell me to get my life together. Because I have the audacity to love two people instead of just one. I don’t know if she was more horrified that one of the people was gay or that one of them was Jessi.”

  Adam and Mick laughed, but Jessi didn’t really find it funny.

  “Most people think I’m fun.”

  Adam took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I definitely think you’re fun.”

  “They don’t like you, because they can’t own you. You’re not after all the things they think are important.” Mick winked at the bread guy, and Jessi gave him a look. Mick grinned to tease her, but she remained frowning. “You can’t possibly think that’s serious.”

  Adam ran a palm over Mick’s head and Mick leaned into that touch like a cat. “He’s so pretty. They all can look as long as they don’t touch.”

  “I would like to point out that if I flirted as casually as you both do, you’d lose your shit. Back to your families not liking me. It’s dumb. Carey’s mother loved me. She still does. Especially now that Carey’s dating again and seems a lot happier. All my boyfriends’ families have loved me except for the two of yours.”

  “My mom loves you,” Adam said. “So does Lissa. The people who count in my life.” After the mention of his mother and sister, Adam cocked his head as he examined Jessi’s features. “I’m sorry. You’re more upset than I thought you were. What can I do to make you better?”

  “I’m just hungry.” She looked down to her menu and Adam’s gaze flicked up. Mick shrugged. She’d been tense on the way over, but he’d assumed she’d be better once she saw Adam.

  Their server showed up soon after and took their orders.

  “Once the appetizers arrive, we can talk about what’s bothering you,” Adam told Jessi.

  “Nope.” Jessi took her hand back and placed her napkin in her lap. “Both of you need to quit looking at me like that. I’m cranky and hungry. Let me eat and stop glowering at me.”

  Mick handed her a piece of buttered bread.

  “Thank you.” She ate it in three bites and downed the rest of her drink.

  Of course Adam never obeyed anyone, so when the first round of food came out, and everyone had eaten a little, he circled back to her mood.

  “Feeling better?” Adam used his silky sex voice. Mick’s cock loved that voice. He wasn’t sure about the rest of Jessi, but he’d been inside her when Adam had used it on her and he knew her pussy liked it too.

  “I don’t know whose day wouldn’t be improved by a bacon tart and some scallops.” She ordered another round.

  “I haven’t seen drunk Jessi in a very long time.” Mick sat back to settle in. “Good thing I’ve got a first aid kit in the trunk.”

  She sent him a prim look and then stole one of his crab cakes, replacing it with a scallop the size of his fist.

  “Sharing is loving.”

  Mick couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Maybe not drunk Jessi when we have to sit still for a few hours,” Adam said. “Drunk Jessi needs room to run and be free.”

  “Mock all you want.”

  Adam laughed. “I thought we were already doing that.”

  She muttered something and the words Mick was able to make out sounded suspiciously like stab and fork.

  He swiveled his body to shield any soft bits should she make good on her ruminations of fork stabbing.

  “Oh for god’s sake,” she snarled.

  When Mick turned to see what had prompted her outburst he saw a tall blonde who appeared to be making eyes at Adam.

  “What’s going on with that?” Mick asked.

  “She’s his ex. Showed up at the side door at four in the morning a while back. I informed her Adam was taken. As long as she keeps her butt over there, everything will be fine.”

  Was it weird he got hard at her jealousy?

  “I called her the day after she did that and told her to not come around anymore. That you lived there and I was with you. She has an office nearby, so this is a place she probably eats in often.” Adam kept his tone even, and not once did he look over in the blonde’s direction.

  Jessi harrumphed and Mick struggled not to laugh.

  “Were you this cranky earlier and I missed it? Or has my sister’s visit ruined your day? Or, do I need to correct your mood?” Adam’s smile went very dirty and Mick hoped she chose the last one so they could all go home right then.

  “You two have your cranky moments. I’m having one right now that I don’t need permission for,” Jessi said.

  “You’re absolutely right.” Mick squeezed her hand and gave Adam a look that he hoped said, back off.

  It was rare for her to be like this. Agitated, spoiling for a fight. Since it wasn’t that rare for Mick and Adam, he wanted her to get through it. She had a reason, even if it turned out to be some twisty Jessi-reason. She wasn’t prone to snits and when she was mad at them it was sort of hot, and it showed she trusted them.

  But Adam, well, Jessi was his and it was hard to see her unhappy.

  They had dinner, and once they’d left Jessi alone awhile, she relaxed a little. By the time they needed to leave to get to McCaw Hall for the ballet, she was tipsy but not drunk and annoyed, not mad.

  And she still looked fucking gorgeous in that snug gray dress with those towering heels.

  CHAPTER

  Seventeen

  Jessi couldn’t shake her mood. Even before Denise had shown up at the door, Jessi had experienced bouts of being overwhelmed. But in the five days since, she’d needed to hide out to try to get herself in order.

  She believed she had a life she was supposed to be living. She believed being with Mick and Adam was a choice she’d been meant to make since the first time Mick had ever kissed her and Adam had punched him and kissed her too.

  But all sorts of stuff rattled around in her head. So much had happened in the last month she found herself overwhelmed by it. It made her cranky.

  She took care of people. It’s what she did. Jessi wasn’t used to not being totally sure about everything she did. She liked it when she was the one doling out wisdom.

  Late nights and a push to finish two dresses for upcoming winter formals at a local high school gave her the excuse to sleep at the shop. Mick and Adam both prowled around her, dropping by to make sure she ate. Adam brought her coffee at least twice a day, and Mick napped on her bed while she worked downstairs for a few hours after he’d been at the track with his friends.

  They knew something was wrong but she’d told them both to back off, that she was trying to process a bunch of things.

  But they’d only let her avoid them so long and as Adam was a bossypants, she was now heading home after delivering both dresses. She’d take off a few days, sleep in, catch up with her boys, watch a lot of television.

  The house was empty when she arrived, so she got a load of laundry started, went up to the bedroom, and crawled into bed, burying her face in their pillows and snuggling into the space that was meant to be hers.

  She woke up sometime later when she was pulled into someone’s arms. Adam. She knew his smell, the way the hair on his forearms felt as he brushed his skin against hers.

  When she opened her eyes it was to find his handsome face looking back at her. “What time is it?”

  He kissed her, easing her back to the mattress and settling his body against hers.

  “It’s a little after six. When did you get home?”

  “Two. I finished up, closed the shop, and headed here after tying up loose ends. I just planned to close my eyes awhile. Oops. I have the next two days off. You feel good.” Jessi snuggled into his body, relaxing a little bit more with each breath.

  “I have on
e appointment I can’t miss, but I’m all yours otherwise. I saw your car in the garage and it made me so fucking happy. I know I said I’d be cool with you spending the night at the shop when you got busy, but I hate it when you’re not here. And I especially hate it when you use your work to keep your distance.”

  She stilled for a moment.

  Downstairs, the door to the garage opened and Mick called out.

  “You answer. He missed you too.”

  “We’re upstairs!” she called out. “You act like I was gone a month. I saw you both every single day of the four I was less than five miles from here.”

  Mick’s footsteps sped up the stairs and down the hall until he burst into the room and jumped into bed.

  “There’s a gorgeous stray in our bed, Adam.” Mick winked.

  “I suppose you’re going to want to keep her?” Adam asked, reminding Mick of the same words he’d given Jessi about Adam just a month before at the grand opening.

  “I’ll feed her and keep her clean.” Mick kicked off his shoes and then shucked down to his skin and got under the blankets with her.

  “Will you always get her exactly the kind of candy corn she likes and not that—and I quote—waxy crap that is a disgrace to the name candy corn?” Adam smirked.

  “You guys make fun, but it tastes like eating a candle your grandma has had since 1977 and brings out every Christmas.” Jessi felt that candy corn was serious business, and there was no crime in having standards.

  “That sounds like a very specific thing. Like maybe you ate a candle once.” Adam was so suspicious.

  “Who has a candle that looks like a piece of candy?” She shook her head, disgusted.

  “The burned wick wasn’t enough for you, angel?” If Adam thought she didn’t notice the way he tried not to smirk, he was a dumbass.

  “You’re kidding, right? It was a decorative candle. It’s probably in my mom’s Christmas crap in the garage right now. With a bite mark that she just put red fingernail polish over. Still unlit.”

  Mick laughed. “I think I’ve seen that candle.” He hugged her and she rested her head against his shoulder.

  “She never throws anything out. She might need it in ten years and then what? It’s not like you can buy candles at any old store or anything.” Jessi rolled her eyes, laughing as she thought about her mother.

  “She’s taken the next two days off. I’m taking them off too except for the few hours I need to be at a meeting,” Adam told Mick.

  “I can shift my schedule around to do the same. I might have to go in for a while tomorrow, but otherwise I can be here with my two favorite people. Having sex. A lot of it.” Mick ground his hard-on into Jessi’s side just in case she wasn’t clear.

  “First, though, we have talking to do.”

  Jessi and Mick both groaned at that.

  “What? Should we ignore the fact that she ran away for several days?”

  “No. But you can show some finesse. Jesus. You dress like you’d have some. You drive a car like you’d have some. But you just barrel through at Jessilyn every time and she automatically says no because it’s your weird relationship cadence.”

  Jessi and Adam both looked to Mick.

  “That’s pretty astute.” Jessi shrugged.

  “You’re too nice to her. You let her get away with too much,” Adam countered.

  “Except neither of you is my dad! Ew. Letting me get away with what? Letting?”

  “See?” Mick tipped his chin in Adam’s direction. “You use words you know will set her off. I think you like it when she gets mad.”

  Adam made a face. “She doesn’t get mad enough. She holds it in and lets it eat away at her heart. Puts everyone and everything else first. If she’s mad, she can let go of whatever the fuck it is she’s been pretending away.”

  “Hi. You remember me? I’m Jessilyn and I live here. I can also hear when you’re discussing me as if I’m not even in the room. So, guess what? Lucky you, I’m mad.”

  “What the fuck, Adam?” Mick sat up.

  “Finally,” Adam said as that feisty, pissy side of her came out. He shrugged as he turned to Mick. “It needs to be dealt with. She’ll avoid it otherwise.”

  “So you poked me into being mad after snuggling me awake?”

  “The snuggling is just as valid as the dealing with whatever is bothering you.”

  Adam knew her tendency to smooth things over would make it hard to open up about the things that had upset her. The only way to get her to do it was if she cried or got really mad. He’d far prefer her mad to crying.

  “I know you, Jess. You want everyone to be happy all the time. The only person you don’t insist on that with is yourself. Here’s a thing, though. I want everyone to be happy all the time too. You’re mine. Mine to take care of, and I can see you’re struggling with something. The only way this can work is if we share the load.”

  She frowned. “You should have admitted to making me mad on purpose after I told you everything.”

  He risked his safety and stole a quick kiss. “You knew it anyway. So, tell us.”

  She sucked in a breath. “We need pizza. With artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomato.”

  Mick curled his lip. “I’ll get more than one pie, obviously.” He got out of bed and went off to call in their order before coming back with three beers.

  He also tossed Jessi a Snickers bar. Adam had taken to keeping them in the freezer because that’s how she liked them.

  She kissed Adam quickly. “Thank you for thinking of me.” And clinked her beer to Mick’s. “You too.”

  “Pizzas will be here in an hour. She seems less cranky. Did you make her come or something?” Mick winked.

  “Not yet.” That would happen after the telling. “Now, your pizza has been ordered, you’ve been given chocolate and alcohol,” Adam said. “So time to get this over with and tell us what’s wrong.”

  “Or. I have an alternate suggestion. Let’s roll around and kiss a lot until the pizza arrives and then we can eat and I’ll tell you.” She got to her knees and whipped her shirt off. “I’ll let you get to second base.”

  “Shirt off is more than second base, isn’t it?” Mick, grinning, put his beer aside and used his body to take hers to the mattress.

  Adam took her beer, put it and her frozen candy bar off to the side, and dove in.

  An hour later, Adam handled the delivery and even brought up new frozen candy bars to replace the one they’d put aside before making out.

  Once they’d eaten a few slices, he gave her a look. “You need to get talking now.”

  She growled, but mainly because she knew he liked it. “Nothing’s wrong. Not really. It’s not like I’m mad at anything. I’m not even mad, I’m just… Ugh!” Jessi jammed half the frozen candy bar into her face, and he worried a moment she might choke. “Damn,” she mumbled around a mouthful, “forgot they were this hard when frozen.”

  Mick burst out laughing. “You know what? I had nothing this wonderful in my life when you weren’t around.”

  “So why did you live here for a year without coming to see me a single time?” Jessi asked once she’d managed to chew her candy bar.

  Mick’s laughter faded.

  Jessi cocked her head. “See, you guys say you want me to be honest and then I make you sad. It’s really hard for me to make you sad.”

  “I needed to hear it.” Mick hugged her. “It’s been there, unasked, between us since we got back together.”

  Adam needed to hear the answer too.

  “I’ll tell you. I promise. But it’s your turn right now.” Mick told Jessi.

  “As I said, it’s not that I’m mad. It’s just… things are jumbled. I don’t like that jumbled feeling in my stomach. I try to follow my heart. It’s important to me.”

  She washed down the rest of her candy with a few swigs of beer. “I know you two think I’m a kook.”

  Adam interrupted. “No, you don’t know that. You think that. Incorrectly.”


  “Or we make you feel that way,” Mick answered.

  “Fair point.” Adam took a deep breath. “For the record, I think you’re amazing.”

  She smiled. “It’s weird for you two, huh?”

  “What is, angel?” Mick asked her.

  “Jessi the girlfriend is different from Jessi the best friend.”

  Adam guffawed.

  Jessi’s eyes widened, but before she could get worked up, he shook his head, holding his hands up. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s just a true thing. We’re both learning that.”

  “In most ways, it’s the same as it’s always been. I’m comfortable with you both.” She paused, clearly frustrated. “That’s not really the right word, comfortable. But it’s the only one I have right now. I just feel like I can be who I am with you.”

  “There’s a but coming. I can tell,” Mick said.

  “This is complicated.” She waved a hand around. “We’ve all used that word and said that very thing. So, I understand that we’ve got a lot more hurdles than we would if there were just two of us and there wasn’t this backstory between me and your parents. I hate that your families don’t like me. It’s awful that your sister uninvited you to your father’s birthday. You’re both having to give up a lot to be with me. It’s chaotic and full of so much drama in the worst way.”

  “It’s totally complicated.” Adam shrugged. “Did it never occur to you that we’d have trouble with our families? Especially with what happened with Mick’s dad four years ago?”

  It had been Mick’s father who’d burst in on them. Having sex. He’d hauled Mick out of bed, screaming, red faced. Jessi had tried to calm them down, but Mick’s dad had shoved her out of the way.

  At the time, though Adam had been angry, he’d chalked it up to the chaos of the moment and the tussle between father and son. Now, given the way he’d treated Jessi after that, Adam wasn’t so sure it hadn’t been on purpose.

  “I don’t want you having to choose. It was one thing when there was general dislike, but this, this cutting off and being shunned? Because of me? It’s breaking my heart. I’m stealing something from you that I don’t have a right to.” Jessi’s voice had gone thick with emotion.