“I help.”
“Huh.” I make a face, walking around the table to scope out a good angle. “Must be a rich person thing.”
“What do you mean?”
I flick a glance in his direction. “I work at Duke’s most nights, and I temp whenever I can on top of that. Every dollar in my bank account? I know exactly where it came from. When I ask you what you do for a living, you say your family owns hotels and that you help.” I shrug. “It’s just different. I’m sure you don’t clock in and out either.”
Ryland’s posture stiffens. He shoves his rolled sleeves higher up his arms, revealing a little more of the swirling ink on his forearms as he lifts his brows at me. “Are you saying you don’t think we’ve earned what we have?”
The expression on his face isn’t even quite anger, although his voice has a sharp edge to it. It’s more like… fuck, I don’t know what. I wish I could read him better.
I backpedal a little, surprised by his response. “No. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I don’t know your life. Clearly.”
I’m surprised again by the bitterness that coats my final word.
Surprised by the undeniable truth—that I want to.
“Your shot,” Theo says, nudging me gently with his shoulder and drawing me out of my silent standoff with his friend.
We keep playing, and although Ryland never seems happy about the game, his answers do get a little longer with each one he gives.
It’s a good thing I’m pretty decent at pool. That’s how I learn that the three men all live within five minutes of each other—which explains how Theo got here so quickly that night—that they’ve known each other since they were little boys, and that Marcus wanted to be a race car driver as a kid.
“Yeah. I can see that.” I snort, remembering the way his car whipped around corners on the way over here.
Theo grins at me, clearly enjoying spilling the embarrassing dirt on his friend. “He had a helmet with a racing stripe on it and everything. He used to wear that thing all the damn time.”
I cackle, trying to picture the intense, overwhelming man with the multi-colored eyes as a little kid, running around pretending to race cars. As I do, a strange ache squeezes my chest, and my laughter fades.
The other day in the car, I felt like Marcus was looking at me differently—seeing me as a whole person and not just some ephemeral idea he’d been following around for years. Am I starting to see him the same way?
And is that a good thing or a bad thing?
“What’s so funny?”
As if summoned by my thoughts, Marcus appears in the doorway. He’s pulled on his jeans, but he’s still shirtless and barefoot. He looks casual and powerful like this, like a lion ranging around the watering hole.
Theo glances over at him and grins. “Ah, nothing. Just telling Rose about your childhood aspirations.”
“You fucker.” Marcus chuckles, his voice still a little rough from sleep. “You know I’ve got embarrassing shit on you too, right?”
“Hey. You can tell her whatever you want. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Sure. So I’ll just mention the time you fell off the roof trying to sneak into Emily Scalese’s house—”
“All right, all right.” Theo holds up a hand, then looks at me. “It’s not what it sounds like.”
“Really?” I shoot back, shoving down the completely irrational twinge of jealousy at the thought of a teenage version of Theo sneaking into some girl’s house. “Because it sounds like you fell off a roof trying to get laid.”
He purses his lips, then shrugs. “Okay. It’s exactly what it sounds like.”
I can’t help the amused smile that breaks across my face as Marcus strides into the room, his bare feet silent on the floor. He wraps an arm around me and buries his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling my skin before pressing a kiss to it. A fresh wave of sensation pours through my body, as if I didn’t just get thoroughly fucked by this man a few hours ago, and I tear my gaze away from Theo, who’s watching us hungrily.
“You all right?” Marcus asks quietly as he lifts his head.
I don’t know if he’s referring to what happened at my apartment earlier, what happened between us upstairs, or what’s been happening in this room with his two friends, but when I hesitate for a second, gauging my emotional state, I find that I really do feel okay.
“Yeah.” I nod.