“Yep,” Jake agreed, and then leaned forward to kiss me. The pressure was demanding and claiming until my lips parted for him, and then it was all sweetness and aching delight. With one last nibble to my lower lip, he said, “Go change, Baby Girl. Get in something comfy. You and Arch can decide on your date later. I’ll call him and get Coop to dump his shift. Then I’ll order more pizza.”
Some of the unease still threading through my system let go. It had been a long week, and the letter just seemed to take all the air out of what we’d accomplished. There’d been push back at school. I’d known it would happen, but I refused to let it get to me, and Rachel and the guys had my back. Still…
“Okay,” I said. “Sounds like a plan.”
They finally let me up, but Ian followed me back to the bedroom and stood there, leaning against the wall as I stripped out of my school clothes and into one of his T-shirts. I ditched the bra and then just went for a pair of Coop’s boxers under it.
Yeah, I was being sappy.
As soon as I’d changed, he opened his arms and I walked right into them. Against my hair, he said, “I know I’m still earning your trust…”
My heart fisted again.
“…but I need you to believe this, Angel. We’re in. I’m in.” Pulling back, he gripped my arms and stared down at me. “I’ll say it every time you need to hear it, but if you tell me you don’t want me to adjust my life for you or in any way suggest I leave you behind…well, I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I’m going to spank you until that ass is so red, you can’t sit down.”
A real shiver went through me. His pupils flared, and he shook his head.
“I mean it.”
“I know you do,” I told him, and the corners of my mouth curled upward. “I’m still getting used to this.” I spread my hands against his chest. “And I do trust you, Ian. I promise, you don’t have to keep proving anything to me. I’m working on it. It’s hard to be the one someone puts first.”
“I know, Angel. We’ve done it for a long time though, and it’s time you believed it, okay?” Then he kissed me with so much sweetness, my eyes flooded with tears again. The weight of his hands on my ass lifting me even as I wrapped my arms around him settled me even more. I don’t know how long we stood locked together like that, but Jake clearing his throat popped the moment.
“The guys are coming, and as much as I’d like to say let’s continue wherever this is going, you’re not into sharing that far yet,” he snarked at Ian. “And I’m not interested in watching television while you make Frankie scream back here.”
Another shiver of anticipation went through me.
Ian snorted, then kissed my nose. “To be continued…”
Yes, please.
By the time I was back on the sofa and sandwiched between them again with pizza in hand and the cats coming out to join us, I wasn’t feeling quite so melancholy. You know, they were right and I knew it. I’d already made that decision.
Harvard used to be the dream.
Chapter Five
College Girl
Jake
Arch called as soon as my text hit his screen.
“What happened?”
“She got waitlisted by Harvard,” I told him and pitched my voice low. I had him on speaker in the kitchen while Bubba took her to get changed. “I ordered more pizza. I know you two have a date tonight, but she needs a plan.”
“Fuck,” Archie swore. Something crashed on the other side of the phone. “I can fix this.”
“Maybe,” I agreed with him. “But right now, she needs us and she needs a plan more than she needs you making phone calls and pulling strings. This damage is already done.” Coop called while I was still finishing the text to him. “Hang on, I’m going to conference Coop in, just get in your car and head this way.”
“I’m already on my way downstairs.”
I switched lines. “Hang on, Coop, looping you in with Arch.” Then I connected the two. “I don’t have much time before she’s finished changing. She got the Harvard letter today, she was waitlisted.”
“Fuck,” Coop’s response echoed Archie’s perfectly. I felt it all the way to my bones. I kind of wanted to go kick the shit out of whatever admissions flunky looked at her transcript and mine, then decided I was in and she wasn’t.
Fuck them.
Fuck them sideways with a rusty chainsaw.
Blowing out a breath, I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Yeah, so, here’s what we’re doing. I ordered more pizza. You two are getting your asses here and we’re working out a plan.” The only way she’d let some of this go was to make a plan. That was why I told her I’d call them in the first place.
Frankie liked knowing what was coming. It was what made her crazy about our relationships. I got that. We all got that. She needed order in chaos. Waitlisted by her dream school was definitely chaos.
“I’ll drop off this last order and be there in twenty,” Coop said. “Need me to bring anything?”
“I’ve got alcohol already in the car,” Archie answered. “We got ice cream?”
I opened the fridge. It had been fully stocked when we got back. And… “Yep, two half gallons.”
“Good deal, be there soon.” He hung up, his tone as tense and terse as I felt. But Coop was still on the line.
“How is she?”
“She doesn’t want us making sacrifices in our choices just because she didn’t get in.”
He groaned.
“Exactly.”
“I’m coming,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.”
Yeah we would. After I ordered the pizzas, I walked back to find Frankie and Bubba locked together. As distractions went, that definitely worked. And fuck if it wasn’t hot.
“The guys are coming, and as much as I’d like to say let’s continue wherever this is going, you’re not into sharing that far yet,” I teased, meeting Bubba’s gaze. “And I’m not interested in watching television while you make Frankie scream back here.”
I got it, he wasn’t up for sharing her in bed. Fine. I liked my one on one time with her too, and I’d gotten a hell of a lot more of it than he had. Frankie shot me a smile. Some of the tension had left her face, but there was still a hint of stress around her eyes. The smile didn’t quite reach in and chase the shadows out of her green eyes.
We’d make a plan. That would at least go a long way toward helping, even if we couldn’t fix all of it. Frankie slipped out to the bathroom, and Bubba shot me a look. “You know it’s not…”
I waved him off. “Dude, we’re good. Not a discussion we need to have until when, and if, you’re ready.”
He raked a hand through his hair and then nodded. “Can you answer one question?”
“Depends on the question.” Some things were private. Even among us. I knew he got that.
“It doesn’t bother you at all when you’re right there and Coop’s all over her?”
A slow grin curved my lips. “Nope. Doesn’t bother me watching you with her, either. Not as long as she’s happy. Besides…watching her come? It’s pretty fucking sweet. Then getting to fuck her while she’s coming apart and can’t see straight? Oh yeah.” And now I was hard as a stone.