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Her lips twitched. “I noticed.”
“But if they don’t even want something as simple as exclusivity from me, they’re hardly going to want a relationship with me. They’ve certainly never hinted at it.”
Bold as they were, I couldn’t imagine them keeping such a thing to themselves, or denying themselves anything they wanted. They would be more likely to skip the whole ‘asking’ part and quite simplytellme that we were in a relationship.
“Maybe they haven’t verbalized that they want to build something with you, Briar, but that’s exactly what they’re doing. And I don’t think they’re subconsciously doing it.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
Izzy sighed. “Look, I get why you have doubts. I’d have them, in your shoes. But I’ve seen the way they are with you, I’ve seen the way they look at you. I won’t believe for a single moment that you don’t matter to them.”
“Maybe you’re right; maybe I do matter to them. But it doesn’t change that they don’t seem to view me as a potential full-on partner. That’s the point I’m making.” And my chest hurt each time I did, so I was getting damn tired of this conversation.
“It could be that something is holding them back … though I don’t know what it could be.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “I did once wonder if maybe they’re just put-off by the idea that Alondra will flip her lid if you had something real with Trace, but neither bloke ever seemed fazed by her shit. Has she contacted you about them yet?”
“Nope. I haven’t heard from her at all.” Alondra had been suspiciously quiet. No texts. No calls. No voicemails. Not even a smoke signal.
Izzy frowned. “Odd. She has to have seen the pictures of you, Trace, and Kaleb online.”
I would have thought so. Photos were taken of us at the restaurant where we had breakfast together the first time we stepped out in public, and those pictures were posted onlinefast. Speculation then began as to whether the three of us were ‘dating.’
When, back then, I’d asked the boys if they were worried that the photos and rumors might impact their career, Trace had waved it away and said, “Everyone will believe it’s just a PR stunt. You’ll see.”
I hadn’t been so certain of that, but he’d been right—something Zhen confirmed for me, since I didn’t keep up with the online gossip that was circulating. My apprentice often told me bits and pieces, finding the whole thing rather exciting.
Allegedly, there was a small number of people who believed that the rumors had substance. Most from this group egged us on for shunning society’s rules. Others felt that such things should be kept private. And then there were some highly religious individuals who branded such ‘unions’ unnatural.
But the believers opinions were buried beneath all the blatantly skeptical online comments that were plastered all over social media …
God, celebs have no shame, they’ll do just about anything for publicity.
As if we’d honestly believe that Trace Lacroix, who has his pick of women, would ever be prepared to share one.
They probably got pissed off that people were taking pictures so gave them something to take pictures of.
If they were really in a triad, they’d keep it on the down low, not hide the relationship in plain sight.
This whole thing has been blown out of proportion. I’ve got male friends who are handsy, it doesn’t mean I’m sleeping with them.
On and on it went.
In sum, the majority of the population rolled their eyes and got on with their day, completely certain that there wasn’t really anything to report.
I wasn’t even asked questions by any of the people I worked with on the current theatrical project. They, too, had apparently decided that the rumors were bullshit.
Still, I’d thought that the boys might nonetheless want to cool things down a little so as not to feed the small fire that burned. But they weren’t interested in going back to keeping our meet-ups private, so there’d been more sort-of-dates, more pictures, more speculation.
“Maybe Alondra is too busy sulking about the pictures to contact me,” I suggested.
Izzy gave an uncaring shrug. “Well, whatever. As I was saying, maybe something is holding Trace and Kaleb back. I don’t know what it could be. But I do believe they’ll power past it and offer you more at some point. They’re seriously possessive of you—anyone can see that.”
“Not so possessive that they insist I wear something red at the club.”
Her mouth bopping open and closed, Izzy inclined her head. “Itisodd that they haven’t claimed you. I genuinely don’t understand it. But even you can’t deny that there’s some territorialism there.”
Not enough to make them want to ensure that they didn’t have to share me with anyone else, though. And yeah, it hurt.
“They’re also very protective of you,” Izzy went on. “They guard you with their bodies at the club, making sure that no one jostles you or invades your space.”
