Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Frustratingly, Lucien’s first impulse was to lean down and kiss him good morning, which was bad. It was as if a switch had been flipped in his brain that argued since he’d kissed the hell out of Calder last night, it was perfectly fine to kiss him now. Or anytime he wanted.
Last night should have gotten all desire to kiss Calder out of his system. Instead, the need was worse than ever.
Pushing all that aside, Lucien focused on Calder’s dazed expression. “Are you okay?” Calder’s expression immediately twisted up with a flash of anger, but Lucien held up his hands as if to ward him off. He continued, keeping his voice as gentle and soft as he could manage. “I mean that seriously. I’m genuinely worried about you. Are you okay?”
Calder deflated. He dropped his arm so that it slapped against his leg. “I…I have no idea how to answer that question,” he admitted in a low voice.
“Do you feel like you were forced into doing anything you weren’t comfortable with?”
Calder’s deep blue eyes snapped up to his in a heartbeat, his expression resolute. “No, absolutely not. I might look back on it now and wonder what I was thinking, but no one forced me into anything last night. I promise.”
Lucien was suddenly lightheaded with his relief. He rubbed his hand over his bald head and released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He didn’t think they’d pressured Calder into anything, but he’d needed to hear the words from Calder to be sure. “Good.”
A brief smirk flashed across Calder’s lips. “That might have been my first threesome, but I have done the casual hookup in the past.”
The need to kiss that smirk off his lips came roaring up with such ferocity that Lucien had to glance away. Something in him screamed that Calder’s days of casual hookups were over now. No one else would be kissing Calder or tasting him.
Naturally, the image of Calder and Gio had to flit through his brain at that moment. Yes, Calder and Gio kissing would be good too, but only if Lucien was right there to watch every delicious second of it.
“Do you think we’ve made things worse by…this?” Calder cautiously asked as he started to walk toward the house.
Lucien was grateful for the distraction, but it was a question he didn’t want to contemplate either. “I can’t imagine how things could be worse than they were.”
Calder gave him a dark look, then shook his head. “We can’t let this destroy the brotherhood. We’ve caused enough problems. I don’t want to be the reason that someone gets killed.”
Whatever sharp reply Lucien might have had died on his tongue to see the heartbreaking worry in Calder’s eyes. “We won’t be. We can get our shit together and be a team. I know we can. Last night…it helped us relax a little more around each other.”
Calder snorted softly but kept his eyes down on the grass. Lucien couldn’t blame him for his skepticism. Lucien was feeling pretty skeptical about the nonsense he was spewing, but there had to be some truth to it all.
“We had some laughs,” he continued. “It’s been a while since we had laughs together. We came together. That’s bonding-ish.”
“Not helping. Stick to the laughs,” Calder grumbled. Were his ears turning red?
Lucien cleared his throat. Yeah, probably best if he didn’t talk about those parts. “We laughed. We didn’t argue. Those are all pluses.”
“True.” Calder stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading to the porch and looked up at him. “Now what?”
“Now, we don’t talk about what happened. We forget about it. We had fun, but it was a casual hookup, and we move on.”
Calder looked like he slumped in his sneakers with relief. “Sounds good to me. But what about Baer and Wiley? They saw us leave with Gio.”
Actually, it was more like Lucien dropped off their drinks and shouted something about seeing them at home later, before he and Calder bolted out of the bar with Gio.
“It’ll be fine,” Lucien said, not really believing it. “If we treat it like it was no big deal, they’ll drop it.”
Calder nodded. “Good plan. I like this plan.”
So did Lucien. It was just that sticking to it when all he wanted to do was pull Calder into his arms was the problem.
Together, they quietly sneaked into the house, pausing here and there to listen for early-morning voices. Grey and Cort would still be in the apartment over the garage, but Clay and Dane could be up at this hour. Both were early risers. Lucien was counting on Baer and Wiley being unconscious.
With only faint noises coming from the kitchen, he and Calder shot up the massive winding front staircase and separated, heading to their own rooms on the second floor. Shower. He needed a shower to clear away the rest of the cobwebs in his brain.