“Hmm.”
Maybe if Christian was living there, it wouldn’t feel so intense if I started dating Jasper.
“Why don’t I come stay?”
“What?” I’d been lost in thought, and it took a moment for his words to sink in. “Pretty sure he doesn’t need two of you to help.”
“Yeah, but he probably doesn’t want to be left alone with someone he doesn’t know, either. I know both of them, so I can smooth the way.”
My eyes narrowed. “Something you’re not telling me?” A thought flashed through my mind that had me grimacing. “You don’t fancy Christian, do you?”
“What? No, gross. He’s almost as much my brother as you are.”
Fair enough. “Well something’s up, isn’t it?”
“I want to make sure Jasper’s okay.”
“Cole?” I waited him out. He always caved.
“Okay, fine. I’m thinking about moving out in the new year, and I’m trying to get Mum used to the idea. So I thought a week without me there would be perfect.”
Christ, everyone and his dog wanted to move in.
As much as I thought this had disaster written all over it, he was my brother. I wasn’t about to say no. “Yeah, okay. I’ll let the other two know.”
I messaged Christian as soon as I hung up. Typically, he took it all in stride. He and Cole did get on like brothers. so there’d be no problem there. And if I was being honest there were some things that Jasper might need help with that I’d prefer he asked Cole to do rather than Christian. Yes, I was jealous. A fact I would never admit to either of them, if I could possibly help it.
Now to tell Jasper, not that I thought he’d mind Cole staying. It just meant I had to admit to being stupid for not thinking of him in the first place. Again.
Jasper was awake when I went in, with Angus predictably asleep on his lap. “Morning,” he murmured when he saw me.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Not bad, I guess, all things considered.” He glanced down at his phone and laughed at whatever was on there. “I told Cole last night.”
“Yeah, he just rang me.”
“Oh?” He looked up, eyes meeting mine, and I remembered looking into them when I was on my knees offering him a blow job.
I scratched the back of my neck, feeling a little awkward in the light of day. “Cole wants... no, insists on staying for the week while I’m away.”
He frowned. “As well as or instead of Christian?”
“As well as.”
“Oh. Okay.” He stroked Angus a few times, considering things. “Do I need both of them? It’s only my wrist that’s broken.”
I sighed but then explained what I’d just been through with Cole.
“I was going to discuss it with you, but then this happened—” I gestured to his arm. “—and I forgot all about it.”
“He’s your best mate, and it’s your house.” He sounded off somehow, and I couldn’t put my finger on why.
“Yeah, but you live here too, so it wouldn’t be fair of me to change the arrangements without discussing it with you.”
“Because I’m your lodger.”
I frowned. “Well, yeah.”
