Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
The words cut deep because I know it’s not how I want them to mean. “As your roommate?”
Prescott licks his lips and hesitates. “As my best friend.”
And as if he’d stabbed me in the heart for the millionth time, I rub my chest and try to accept that if I didn’t want an honest answer, I shouldn’t have asked. He already balked at the mere mention of being a throuple. Why would I expect him to call me his partner?
Nothing has changed. I’m not sure anything ever will.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
brady
My heart is still hammering in my chest, even though Prescott and Kit are long gone. My brother almost saw them, and I’m thankful that Levi diverted his attention. I send him a silent thank-you across the room, and he gives me an up-nod in return, but his lips are pressed together in disapproval.
Levi thinks I should tell my family because they won’t care, and I know they won’t. But my family isn’t exactly known for being subtle, and I want to protect them. Even if it’s from themselves.
Not only them, but I also need to think of Prescott. He has just as much to lose if he’s put in the public eye. With Kit’s new position at the Pentagon, he’s probably in the same boat.
Keeping it under wraps protects everyone involved. Including me. Because if the truth got out, I could no longer dismiss my feelings for Prescott and Kit as shallow. Not that I’m doing a good job of that at the moment. I’m one thread away from giving up the future I want, the future I’ve planned for years, so I could be with them. Both of them. However it could work.
Everyone in the room is staring at me like they’re expecting me to lead this sudden family reunion.
“Where’s Four?” Uncle Noah asks.
“He, uh, didn’t come home last night, I don’t think. He said something about crashing in someone’s dorm.”
“Whose dorm? It’s summer. The dorms are empty.” Uncle Noah frowns.
“Isn’t there summer housing?” I’m sure the guys said Four said he wouldn’t be coming home, but I didn’t talk to him. The text he sent me said for me to get home and not much else.
Uncle Matt grips Noah’s shoulder. “He’s a fully grown boy now. He can make those decisions on his own.”
Uncle Noah is rather protective of his kids—something I’ve grown up with, so have always known, but it still surprises me when my dads laugh at him for it because before Jackie, their eldest, was born, he was supposedly the least parental of them all. They say he was a selfish playboy and Uncle Matt somehow got him to settle down. I can’t see it.
Uncle Noah turns to his husband. “He also voluntarily chose to study poli-sci and wants to be a politician. A politician, Matthew. I don’t trust our son’s instincts.”
Four is taking one poli-sci class. One. But Uncle Noah isn’t only dramatic when it comes to his kids. Politics is another. I smother my amusement when I get a “don’t encourage him” glare from Uncle Matt.
I turn to my dads. “So, why the ambush?”
Pop shrugs. “Matt and Noah were coming to visit Four, your dad and I didn’t have anything on, and these two arrived last night.” He points to Peyton and Levi.
Dad sniffs. “Because unlike other children of ours, they make the time to come and see us.”
I barely find the time to have sex with two navy SEALs; flying to Chicago to reassure my dads that I love them is low on my list of priorities. But I can’t exactly say that. “You two are retired and have an endless supply of money. Why is it up to me to come see you?”
Dad turns to Pop. “Why doesn’t our child loooove us?”
“Maybe because you turn up unannounced and interrupt se—leep.” Sleep. Definitely sleep. Not a weekend of orgasms.
I’m so pissed, but it’s not like I can tell them why I’m mad.
“He woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Peyton says.
“I was woken up,” I correct him.
“Someone get this boy some coffee stat,” Dad says and pushes Pop toward the kitchen.
“As much as I’d love to stay, I really should go into the office this weekend. You know, law school doesn’t give me much time to get all the admin stuff done that Uncle Damon expects of me.”
Dad slips out his phone, hits a button, and puts it to his ear. “Hey, Brady’s not coming into the office today.” He hits End before Uncle Damon would even be able to reply. Thankfully. Because I’m sure his words would have been He’s not supposed to come in today.
“Look, I love you all. You know I do. But if I’m going to be good enough to take over as Peyton’s agent next year when I graduate law school, I need this experience now.”