Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 89535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“My plans to get you naked probably won’t happen because I don’t want to be about to come when West walks through the door and I need to yell at him. Screaming about irresponsibility while wearing only a towel compromises my argument. But I want to wrap myself around you while we wait for him.”
Kole buries his face in my shoulder. “That sounds even better.”
“My dick is offended.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Is this what having a boyfriend is like? No sex and dealing with whiny kids?” I lead Kole to the stairs that go down to the basement.
Kole chuckles. “Sounds like marriage, actually.”
We get to my room, and I throw back the covers. “Been together for a few hours and we’re already talking marriage? Might want to slow down there.”
Kole shoves me. “Definitely no marriage. Ever.”
That surprises me. “Ever?” I ask as we climb into bed and he snuggles into my side.
“It’s not my thing.”
“Huh.”
“What was that huh for?”
I shrug. “Granted I don’t remember my mom, but from what I’ve heard, she and Dad had this fairy-tale romance. And then he found another great partner in June. Dad made two marriages work—literally until death did they part both times. I kinda …” I slam my mouth shut.
“You kinda what?”
“Nothing. It’s stupid.”
“What?”
Seeing as he loves it so much when I share shit … “I thought I’d have that one day. While growing up, I always thought I was going to have a wife, maybe some kids, and then when I was with the juniors, I started discovering that a person doesn’t have to be a certain gender for me to be attracted to them, and that opened me up to a whole lot of other partnering possibilities, but … I guess I always figured I’d settle down. At some point.”
Kole’s hand runs down my chest over my shirt. “If you were NHL-bound, that would make sense. All that attention, you were likely to find someone who’d tolerate you. At least enough for the paycheck.”
I poke his ribs. “Hey.”
“It’s kind of sweet, actually. You like to show off this ‘I don’t give a shit about anyone’ attitude, but you only have to spend a short time with you for you to come out of your shell. Anyone who really knows you can see you care a lot. Especially about your siblings. It’s cute. I can see that guy getting married in the future.”
A life with a partner and a white picket fence sounds absurd to me, but the imagery of it is still super appealing.
My eyes drift close.
“Asher?” Kole whispers.
“Mm?”
“You can’t fall asleep. West isn’t home yet.”
“Keep talking to me.”
“Okay.” He does, but I couldn’t repeat anything he says.
His voice lulls me into sleep.
Damn it.
When I wake up, the room is bright, and the noise of our old washing machine’s dials being cranked echoes in my ears.
Apparently West came home at some point.
He stands at the machine punching whatever buttons he needs to press, and then he turns to face me and folds his arms.
The scowl on his face makes me think I’m in trouble when he’s the one who abandoned the kids last night with no word about when he’d return. No phone call to tell me to come take over.
“That better not be who I think it is.” He nods toward Kole, who’s still asleep.
I slip out of bed. “We—”
He puts his hands over his ears. “Nope. No. No. The only way I can play ignorance is if I don’t actually know anything.”
“Where were you last night?” I ask.
West averts his gaze. “Is that why you’re in bed with my boss’s son? Because I needed a break from …” His mouth closes, and I get the impression he was about to say he needed a break from the kids but doesn’t want to actually voice it aloud because the thought of any of them hearing and making them feel guilty would devastate him.
And I get it. I so get that he needs a break. I think all seven of us could do with a fucking break. But he can’t just run off on them without telling any of us where he is.
I wave in Kole’s direction. “That, and what we’re doing, has nothing to do with you.”
“You really expect me to believe that? You thrive on making the people around you as miserable as you are. If someone does something you don’t like, you lash out and hurt them in ways that actually scare me. First Ezra and now Kole? You’d put my job on the line just to get at me? What is wrong with you?”
“I knew you were more pissed off about Ezra than you let on. That was a mistake.”
“Sure it was. It wasn’t at all to piss me off because he and I …”
I frown. “He and you … what?” I don’t think I want to know the answer.