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Part of that was because it just seemed crazy even to myself. To be thinking about possible futures, of mingling our menageries, of still being together weeks or months from now.
Admittedly, that had never been the kind of guy I was. I didn’t want to think of myself as a complete asshole when it came to women. I’d always been honest about what I wanted. Some good, dirty fun, and then it was all over. Everyone who was involved knew what they were in for.
But, yeah, it seemed like I wasn’t only willing to give up that, but somehow actually glad to do it.
For her.
“Yo, you good, man?” Eddie asked when I almost fucking sliced off the tip of my finger while cutting up greens for the tortoise who, when I’d walked up, had been digging in his new little enclosure area.
“What? Yeah. No, I’m fine. A little distracted, I guess,” I admitted.
“Yeah, man. I’ve been distracted a time or two in my life. Funny how all that distraction seems to come after you find yourself in a three-day fuckfest with a gorgeous honey.”
It was ridiculous to deny what was going on. But, somehow, that was what I found myself doing.
“I’m protecting her.”
“Yeah, man. I can see how having your entire body on her entire body works as a pretty good shield,” Eddie said as he pulled the lid off the giant pot of chili he was working on. “What’s the point of pretending like it ain’t what it is?” he asked, shrugging at me as he reached for an almost comically large wooden spoon to reach to the bottom of his massive pot.
“Don’t let him pressure you into making a commitment if you aren’t ready,” Alaric said, coming into the kitchen to grab a baggie of cut up celery and a small container of dip out of the fridge. “He just wants you to hang up your whore hat so he can try to snag some of the chicks who you would normally be trying to scoop up.”
“Or I could just want to see a brother happy,” Eddie insisted, then chuckled at the look Alaric shot him. “Okay, maybe both things can be true at the same time. So you’re really not going to have any of this chili because your scale is spouting some shit at you that you don’t like?” Eddie asked, frowning at Alaric’s nearly nonexistent snack.
“I like your cooking too much. It is starting to show,” Alaric declared, waving down at himself, but I couldn’t really see any difference.
“What?” I asked when Eddie clucked his tongue and shook his head at Alaric’s retreating form.
“Probably nothing, man. Just think that exotic dance club he used to work out might have done a number on him. He gains five ounces, and it is time for a crash diet.”
Huh.
“I hadn’t noticed that,” I admitted.
“Me, I dated a fine lady who never thought she was fine enough. Ended up in a rehab place eventually. Guess I am just more sensitive to that typa shit because of it,” he said, shrugging as he scooped up some chili to inspect it.
“Well, if you think Alaric is going overboard, let one of us know, yeah?” I asked.
“He’ll be pissed,” Eddie said.
“Pissed is fine. If he needs help, he needs help. Whether he likes you for it at first or not.”
“Alright. I’ll let you know. So, tell me about your hunny.”
My knee-jerk response was to insist she wasn’t “mine.” But, at the end of the day, wasn’t she? Or at least, wasn’t she beginning to become that to me?
“Dunno what to say. She’s…”
“It’s me,” Eddie said, shooting me a raised brow look. “Not one of these womanizers,” he said, smirking as he waved a hand out toward the whole clubhouse. “I love me the ladies. But I love me a lady too. Something special about having just one of ‘em.”
“She’s amazing,” I said, shaking my head, finding that word painfully lacking. “Got a huge heart and three-quarters of it is full of animals.”
“Sounds familiar,” Eddie said, nodding.
“She’s a talker. Talks in circles that shouldn’t make any sense, but always somehow does. She likes her small life, but is considering taking over for her parents.”
“She got them rich parentals, huh?”
“Yeah.”
