“She knows exactly what I’m asking; the woman is being stubborn,” Silas snaps, turning his icy glare on me. I shrug.
With no work shift today, I don’t have an excuse to run away from these two like I have been all week. I’m stuck, and I’m not sure if I’m annoyed or interested in seeing this house of theirs. Perhaps I’ll start looking for one of my own until they ask me.
Silas
Leaning against the truck as Cali and Rome head inside another building so she can look at an apartment, I’m more than fucking annoyed. She’s doing this to punish me, and my so-called best fucking friend is enjoying it. Cali has had us chasing our tails since that hot South Carolina day we met nearly a year ago.
With her long, dark brown, wind-blown hair, bright hazel eyes, and a wild streak a mile wide, California Brennan isn’t just a wanderer or free spirit. She’s a damn unicorn. The type of woman every man wants, but they can never catch because of that heart of a gypsy. She doesn’t give a damn about society or convention. Cali wants love.
Something I honestly didn’t think I was capable of anymore.
Not after Belize.
The horrors and the mass genocide that I witnessed that day will forever live with me, but Cali makes me want the dream. Love, marriage, family.
The trouble is, I can’t do any of those things without Roman. He’s the lighter side of us. He keeps me sane. Without him, I don’t know that I’d be functioning very well.
After we caught up with Cali’s cousin in Fayetteville a few months ago, we tracked her down to Long Beach. It wasn’t hard because she wasn’t hiding. Not really. Our girl wants to be caught; she just wants to make us work for it first.
The three of us share a connection I’ve never experienced before, and after one date with her, Rome and I agreed that she was our forever. Neither of us felt jealousy over the attention she gave the other, and maybe one day that might change, but in my gut, I know it won’t.
Seeing them come out of the building, Rome shaking his head no, and Cali with a dispiriting look on her face, I stride forwards, wrapping an arm around her neck. “How’d it go?”
“Ever smelled the inside of a month’s worth of stinky gym socks?” Cali gags a little as she asks.
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Oh good. Because this place smelled ten times worse.” Rome laughs as she hides her face in my chest.
The words needed to end this charade are on the tip of my tongue, but something’s stopping me, and it feels an awful lot like fear of rejection. She’s the only person who has ever had this effect on me.
“Where to next?” I ask as I open the passenger side door to let her in. Cali stares up at me with a hint of disappointment in her eyes, and I know it’s because she wants me to extend the invitation.
When I don’t, she slides to the middle and mutters, “I’m thinking about a bigger change. How about San Francisco?” My eyes slide to see Rome glaring at me. I’m pissing him off now too.
Just fucking great.
Walking around the truck, I slide into the driver’s side and decide to ignore her request and head out to the house we rented the day we arrived in Irvine. Either I’ll piss her off and she’ll storm out, or she’ll decide to stay, and maybe we can finally have an honest conversation about the three of us instead of her running away again because that shit just pisses me off and makes me want to tie her to our bed.
“Where are we going?” Cali asks as she plays with the radio.
“Home,” Rome answers her.
“No, we’re not.” Her arms cross, and my hands tighten on the steering wheel. This girl is asking for a hand across her ass. “Because we don’t have a home. You have a house, and I have a tin can for an apartment.”
I can’t stop the growl at her sarcasm. This woman gets under my fucking skin, right where I want her, but goddamn, does she have a mouth on her. I don’t say another word as I drive us home, whether she likes it or not. Entering the gated community, I make two right turns and a left before pulling into the three-story house in a cul-de-sac.
Putting the truck in park, I gaze over at Cali to see her lips pursed, and she’s staring straight ahead. Meeting Rome’s eyes over her head, we share a heated glance before he nods, and I step out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut behind me and heading inside.
He’ll get through to her where I can’t. My way of dealing with her obstinate ass would be a bed and a good, hard fucking. Disarming the alarm after opening the front door, I leave it open for them. I don’t want Cali to feel like I’m shutting her out with a closed door. I’m not good with words, but I can do actions.
The house was furnished when we rented it, so it’s nice, but not personal. It’s not a permanent residence for Rome and me; it’s a place to lay our heads until Cali can tell us what she wants. When she does, we’re prepared to build her the dream house she’s always wanted wherever she wants because home for Rome and me is Cali. The location doesn’t matter to either one of us.
Roman
No matter how many times I’ve teased Si about being a stubborn son of a bitch, he’s got nothing on the woman beside me now. She wants more than what I believe even she understands, but she refuses to tell us precisely what that is.
The fact Si hasn’t laid her over his knee yet is shocking to me. He’s the more dominant of the two of us and is never afraid to take what he wants, but I think with Cali, he’s scared of going too far and getting rejected by her. Whether she knows it or not, she has the power to crush us both.
The connection the three of us share had been instantaneous. We knew from the first date, the first kiss, the first time we told her that we were a packaged deal, that we were meant to be. I never believed in love at first sight until I met her.
After I asked Cali out and Silas showed up on the date, she didn’t balk and run. She was intrigued and curious. I could see the immediate attraction in her gaze as her eyes darted between the two of us.
“You know,” I start to say as I step out of the truck. “If you’d quit shutting us out and listened to what we had to say about why we’re here after you ran, you might find yourself a tad more agreeable.”
Holding a ready hand for her, I wait until her teary eyes meet mine, and I know that Si storming angrily away hurt her. I want to be sorry, but I can’t when she keeps running from us even after admitting she loved us in South Carolina. I have no doubt she meant what she said that day—telling us that she couldn’t live with the secrets no matter how much her heart yearned for us both.
Hell, we feel the same way. It’s why we’re here. But it’s more. Si and I came to a conclusion after missing her in Fayetteville. We can’t live without her.
“I’m afraid, Roman,” she finally murmurs as she unbuckles and slides over to me. Gripping my hand, I help her down from the truck.
Wrapping an arm across her shoulders, I pull her into my side and kiss the top of her head. “Aren’t we all, though, gypsy girl?” Cali elbows me in the ribs, hating when we call her that, but I think she secretly enjoys it too. Knowing we care enough to give her a nickname.