There. That was clear as dirt, right?
Noah and Chase exchanged a look.
“You’ve been staying in a lot lately,” Chase said mildly.
“Yeah.” Spencer nodded a little too enthusiastically. “I’m mending my slutty ways.”
Unless Noah’s brother asks me, and then I’m taking my cock out quicker than you can say, “Breaking the bro code.”
“You’re not a slut,” Noah countered immediately.
Spencer kind of was, but if they wanted to pretend otherwise, that was fine. Either way, they’d never judged him for it. They’d never judgedhim, period. He knew he could drive them crazy every now and again, but they didn’t hold it against him for longer than the moment in question. They didn’t care that he was a lot. That he was too much.
There weren’t many people Spencer could say that about.
But his roomies loved him anyway, and that was … special. Really special.
Spencer really, really didn’t want to fuck that up. Telling Noah the whole truth was out—not when Ash was right that itwasn’t Spencer’s secret to tell—but he could still share a little bit, right? Enough so they knew he wasn’t pushing them away?
Noah took a seat next to him on the couch, and Spencer cleared his throat, rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans. “I’m, uh, helping someone through, like, a weird heat situation. It’s just a little more intense than I’m used to.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Noah asked.
“Yeah. It’s … I mean, they’re cool. Really cool. I’m happy to help.”
I came so hard I thought my knot was going to implode.
But no. Spencer shouldn’t share that part. Not when eventually Noah was going to know that Spencer was talking about his little brother.
Noah wrapped an arm around Spencer, and Spencer leaned into the firm hold in spite of himself. Noah smelled like fresh ocean air, as per usual. His pheromones had always been soothing to Spencer. They smelled like what he thought family should smell like.
In his prior experience, family had always smelled like menthols and cheap, pheromone-enhancing perfume. Ocean air was way better.
Actually, Spencer had sported a little crush on Noah early on. So had Chase, for that matter. It was hard not to. Noah was golden and kind of perfect, but so genuinely nice no one could fault him for it. And he was hot as fuck, so … yeah, crushes were kind of inevitable.
Ash, on the other hand, wasn’t perfect—not at all. But that was part of the appeal, wasn’t it? He and Ryder were flawed in a way that felt … comfortable. A little dangerous and perfectly safe at the same time. Ash was too sharp. Ryder was too blunt. And Spencer was, as established, too much. He didn’t feel judged by those two any more than he did by his beloved besties.
Spencer had never found that with anyone else. He didn’t know what to do with it now that he had it coming from multiple directions.
Spencer let out a long breath as Noah casually scent marked him. Maybe Chase would let them both give him a little coat of pheromones, too, as long as he wasn’t seeing Killian anytime tonight. Then the three of them would smell like their own little crew, just like they used to.
And this would be fine, right? Maybe Ash’s hormones would stabilize quicker than they thought and he wouldn’t need Spencer’s help again. Then they’d tell Noah what had happened, and maybe he wouldn’t hate Spencer forever for it, if it was just the one time.
Spencer ignored the empty, cold pit that opened up in his stomach at the thought of being left out of Ash’s future, stabilized heats. That was just the way it had to go. Spencer might fit with Ash and Ryder as friends, but that was the limit.
Because people might occasionally fool themselves into thinking Spencer was boyfriend material, but no one really wanted him for keeps. Not like that. Not like … permanent.
Spencer looked up to find Chase studying him from the doorway. Spencer gave him a small smile, which Chase returned. “Have you let them know your boundaries?” Chase asked. “Drawn your usual lines?”
Right. Because that was what Spencer did. He let people know right up front that he wasn’t available for anything more than sex, just so no one got their feelings hurt unnecessarily. It didn’t always work—itoftendidn’t work—but he never knew how to be besides brutally honest.
Except, in this case, he’d kind of … forgotten to do that.
But what was one more lie, now that he was a lying liar?
Spencer snuggled in closer to Noah’s bulk, accepting the comfort he didn’t deserve. “Yeah,” he sighed. “Everyone knows the score.”
Maybe it wasn’t even a lie. Because, in this case, it wasn’t Ash and Ryder who needed the lines drawn. It was Spencer.
