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“What did you do?”
“There was a period of waiting while the authorities looked and filed papers and finally decided she wasn’t coming back. Once they made that determination things moved very quickly and Eleanor was shipped out to live with our uncle.” I chewed the corner of my lip in remembrance. “I was a legal adult, so they didn’t give a shit what I did.”
This time it was his hand that comforted me, slipping over my waist to tug me closer to his big, warm body. “It’s a shitty system.”
“Yeah.”
“Galen.”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I’m in like with you.”
His smile was tender, and his fingers tightened on my waist. “I’m in like with you, too.”
∞∞∞
I ended up leaving that afternoon following class and going to the farm. I left a note for the guys before slipping out of the dorm, bag over my shoulder. I trusted we would all do everything we could to be circumspect and keep our relationship quiet for as long as we needed to, but I still needed some time alone.
My time with them had been a barrage of sensation, both physical and emotional, since I’d moved in. Had I really ever had time to think? From the moment I’d entered their presence, I’d been consumed by them. Galen’s anger, coupled with the pull between us. Baron’s sweet, broody eyes that tracked me everywhere. Ezra’s sheer sexy magnetism. It was hard to be rational when confronted by all of that, all the time.
The conversation last night between all of us had helped, but the ruthlessly organized, proactive side of my personality demanded a roadmap. If X, then Y, followed by Z. First A, then B. I needed to have solutions in place if the things I feared happened. Comforting me, soothing me, coddling me wouldn’t help… in order to feel in control, I needed to plan.
With that in mind, as evening fell, I sat in my single living room chair, feet pulled beneath me criss-cross applesauce, with my phone in hand and a notebook on my lap filled with scribbles and crossed out notes. Sighing, I pressed the heels of my hands into my eye sockets. Nothing I was finding was making me feel especially better about our relationship and possible morality clauses, but I supposed a good lawyer could make a case for prejudice against alternative lifestyle choices. Although a legal battle was the last thing I wanted. I was thinking it would be better, even though I hated the idea, to simply keep our relationship discreet.
A knock on the door interrupted my research and I unfolded myself from the chair to walk cautiously to the door. Who would be coming here this time of night...or at all, for that matter? No one knew I lived here. “Who’s there?”
“Jude?”
My shoulders slumped with relief and I opened the door. It was Baron.
He stood before me, covered in raindrops and a lightweight hoodie, one arm propped up on the door jamb. “What are you doing here? I didn’t know you even knew where my house was.”
I opened the door wider for him to pass through, but he simply wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up into a hug, pressing his face into my neck and inhaling deeply. “I missed you,” he said, his voice rough.
“You missed me? I’ve only been away a few hours—”
He sliced my words in half with a kiss.
The immediate ferocity of his mouth on mine was a surprise. At first glance, Baron was quiet, patient… mellow, even. It was a deception. His tongue demanded entrance, and when I parted my lips swept inside to spar with mine, giving chase and then retreating in a series of confident, drugging strokes. He twisted his head to nip at my lips, giving me the half a second I needed to catch my breath. “Baron… whoa… where did this come from?”
“Where did what come from?”
“This… dominant shit.”
His mouth quirked up at the corner. “I have layers,” he answered, and kissed me again.
When he finally allowed me to have my mouth back, I let out a breathless laugh. “Yeah, you do.”
“You ran away, Pinky,” he muttered, shoving us into the wall and letting it hold my weight while he moved his hands down to cup my ass. I twined my legs around him reflexively, and felt him, hard and thick against my core.
I put my hands on his cheeks, held his face still so I could look into his eyes. “No. No, I didn’t run away, Baron. I’m just here for the night, and then I have to come back tomorrow for work. I left you a note—”
“I got it. But you did run away, Pinky. Lie to me but not to yourself. You can’t do that. Not after you were just in the hospital.”
I shook my head. “I really wasn’t… I just needed thinking time.”
“And that’s no problem. But talk to us before you split, okay? So we can see that face, know that you’re okay.”
