Page 27

Chapter 27

Weston

I s she being serious?

It kind of seems like she was. I glance between Professor Sinclair—there’s no way I’m calling him Bill—and Darcy. Both of them are sitting with their hands in their laps, barely moving. That doesn’t really inspire confidence, so I drop my hands to my lap too. I lean close to Darcy. “I wasn’t going to touch it,” I whisper. I sort of feel like I’m being accused of a crime I didn’t commit.

Not even a crime I was going to commit.

Okay, maybe I was going to. It just smells so good.

Darcy laughs. “She’s playing. Threats are her love language.”

She’s truthfully not at all what I expected. I’m actually not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t a five-foot-nothing tiny woman with hair bigger than her head and the chaotic energy of a hurricane. I’d almost think she was Parker’s mom instead of Darcy’s .

Elle comes into the room and sets plates down in front of all of us with a flourish. “Dig in, boys.”

Genuinely do not have to tell me twice. The second I bite into the garlic bread, my soul leaves my body and goes straight to heaven. Holy shit. “This is so good,” I murmur after I swallow.

Elle gives me a bright smile. “Thank you. So Darcy tells me you want to be a teacher.”

I nod. “Yes. I hope to teach English.”

“Ah, a boy after my own heart. I love that. I’m not sure how I ended up with two history nerds. I thought for sure I stacked the deck in my favor by naming him Darcy. No such luck.”

I smile at her and Darcy laughs. “To be fair, I like reading too. I just like history a bit more.”

“Nerds,” Elle mouths to me.

“I fear I’m not much better. History isn’t my thing, but I do have a stack of classic novels in my room taller than me.”

Darcy hums. “He’s not wrong. He’s been reading Pride and Prejudice to me out loud. We’re about done now. He definitely has a gift for it.”

“A good quality to have in a teacher,” Elle says. “So, are you wanting to teach at the high school level, then?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Elle narrows her eyes at me. “Final warning, Weston. It’s just Elle.”

I don’t want to risk my life, so Elle it is. Noted. Remembered. Won’t be forgotten again. I nod. “Dinner is fantastic.”

Professor Sinclair, who has been mostly quiet since we started eating, turns in his seat to face Darcy and me. “And we have brownies for dessert, so make sure you save some room.”

At first, I’m stiff and filled with nerves, but as the dinner goes on, I relax. One glass of wine blurs into two and then three. Professor Sinclair—Bill—is all smiles as he watches Elle with adoration in his eyes. Her boisterous personality grows bigger the more wine she drinks. Her cheeks get pinker, and before long, she and Darcy are joking back and forth with each other.

They all seem so comfortable and relaxed. Family dinners are never like this with my dad, and I sit back and take it all in. It’s clear that Elle has the same dry deadpan humor Darcy has, and I honestly love her already.

By the time all our plates are empty and we’re opening a third bottle of wine, we’ve all dissolved into laughter more times than I can count. I catch Darcy’s eyes. They’re a little hazy from his buzz, but they’re warm too.

I let my hand find his under the table and his eyes melt into something a little sweeter, a little more fond, as he lifts my hand and presses his lips to my knuckles.

The conversation goes well into the night and I sink deeper into my seat, the wine and atmosphere wrapping me in a warm blanket. I love this. This feeling of belonging. I was worried for no reason.

“You two should stay here tonight.” Bill’s voice pulls me from my internal musing.

“Oh. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense,” Elle says, smiling at me. “You boys have helped us polish off three bottles of wine. I wouldn’t feel right sending you home.”

“We could order an Uber,” I offer.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Darcy says, laughter in his voice.

My cheeks heat as I think about the last Uber ride we took.

“Really,” Bill interjects. “Stay here. There’s no reason for you guys to get an Uber when Darcy’s old room is right down the hall.”

I glance at Darcy and he shrugs. “I’m good with it. ”

Oh shit. Okay. I guess I’m staying the night at Darcy’s parents’ house. “Okay. Thank you.”

With a grin and a kiss to my cheek, Darcy leans past me and picks up my glass, swallowing down the last bit of wine.

I stand, offering to help clean the dining room, but Elle waves me on. “No thank you. You boys go get settled in for the night. We’ve got this.”

Bill laughs. “Oh, so now it’s we?” He still has that love-drunk look on his face, though, so I know he’s not really bothered.

God, is this going to be me and Darcy in thirty years? I sure hope so.

When Darcy stands with me and laces his fingers through mine, leading me out of the room and down a hallway, I feel at peace. Truly at peace. Happy and in love with a stomach so full of butterflies it’s a miracle they even fit.

“I’m just saying he had little man syndrome,” I say, dropping onto my stomach beside Darcy on my bed.

Darcy laughs. “Well, I mean, he was a little man.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he has little man syndrome. Marcus has little man syndrome too, and he’s bigger than I am.”

“We aren’t talking about him,” Darcy says, giving me a side eye.

Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. Darcy has not been what I would call receptive to talking to me about what actually happened with Marcus. I’m not even homicidal anymore. I mean, I am a little, but I wouldn’t lose my shit if Darcy finally told me what happened.

My stomach burns at the memory of his gorgeous face bruised and bleeding and yeah, okay, maybe I would end up homicidal again.

Not that it really matters, since Bill told us last weekend that Marcus got into another fight and was expelled. Turns out, beating the shit out of the dean’s gay son, who, unlike Darcy, didn’t fight back, is a step too far. I can’t help but wonder if he didn’t know who he was picking a fight with. And to make it worse, I’ve heard rumors that he tried to kiss the guy first, but was denied and flew into a rampage over it. I’m not sure how true that is, though.

“Anyway,” Darcy says, watching me warily. I force a deep breath into my lungs. “Napoleon wasn’t all bad. Most people aren’t. There’s nuance there. He did a lot of good things, but he also did a lot of questionable things.”

“Yeah, I mean, it was great that he helped pull France out of their despair, but like anything, too much of a good thing is bad. In the end, it was his own greed that got him,” I muse.

Darcy grins. “I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad that you don’t need me anymore.”

I roll onto my back and stare up at him. “I’ll always need you.”

“Not for history.”

Is he pouting about that? The petulant tone of his voice is almost too cute for words. “Maybe not, but I like to nerd out with you anyway.”

“That’s offensive. Anyway, it’s my favorite for a reason. The nuance, how almost everyone who did bad, also did some good, and how things aren’t always black and white. It’s fascinating.”

Not as fascinating as him. But then, nothing is .

“All the cause and effect, the dominos that fall and trigger more, the way something seemingly small can topple an entire empire.”

His hands are flying through the air, his expression animated, and I can’t help but grin at him. I love seeing him like this. So carefree, sharing what he loves, with no concern for anything else. It helps that I easily follow now. My smart man changed my entire life.

“One decision, West. One tiny little thing can cause one domino to fall and then another and another, and suddenly the world is fundamentally different than it was before. It’s crazy, isn’t it? How these tiny little pieces that don’t seem to matter in the small ways, add up to form the entirety of the world. Think of where we’d be if—”

I surge forward, cutting him off with my lips on his. He makes a startled sound against my mouth, but then he’s adjusting, moving until he’s on his back and I’m pressing into him, digging my fingers into his hair and kissing, kissing, kissing him.

He groans, rocking his hips against me, nails digging into my back and trying to pull me closer. When I break our kiss and smile down at him, he’s panting. “What was that for?”

I shrug. “You monologued about history. It was hot. Got me worked up.”

He blinks at me a few times before breaking out into laughter. “You’re so full of it. You just wanted to shut me up.”

I shake my head, leaning down to brush my nose over his and steal another quick kiss. “Not even close. I could close my eyes and listen to you talk—about history, or the weather, or what you had for breakfast—for literally the rest of time.”

Darcy’s cheeks flush bright red, and I laugh as I sit up. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we have finals, so we really should be studying.”

Darcy sits up with me, picking up his notebook that was crumpled a bit during our little interlude. “I hate to agree, but you’re right. I didn’t put all this work into you for you to fail at the last second.”

The next hour goes by in a rush of pencils scratching paper, notebooks rustling, and the occasional excited tidbit from Darcy. By the time we’re done studying for the night, my brain feels like it’s about to leak from my ears, and I’m exhausted. So exhausted, in fact, that I’m not even sure I can go for sex tonight, but I’m pretty damn sure I’m going to pass this final, and I know without a doubt it’s because of the man beside me.

“Are you nervous about getting your final grades?”

I look up at Darcy, trying to ignore the absolute crazy that’s happening in my apartment. I mean, I’m excited. I’m happy that everyone is here for Super Bowl Sunday, but at the same time, holy shit, there is not enough room in my apartment. If it was just me and Darcy with Parker and Ben, it might not be too bad. But somehow Landon, Devon, and Levi all ended up here too.

Devon and Levi have been throwing a football back and forth—which is not great for my sanity—and Landon and Ben are attached to Parker like the sun shines out of their ass or something. I’m not sure of the details between the three of them, and truly I don’t think I want to be.

I glance around at my full couch and lean forward, grabbing Darcy around the waist and pulling him into my lap. “No. I’m not nervous. ”

He nuzzles my cheek and drags his lips over my jaw. “Yeah?”

“Don’t make me hard on the same couch Parker’s sitting on, baby. They’ll never let me live it down.”

Darcy laughs, pulling away from me and putting some much-needed distance between his mouth and my body. “The only hiccup was one question about the guillotine and it was mostly because I had to think past how much I wanted to kiss you that day and actually focus on remembering your words.”

“Yeah? Was I a distraction?” His lips curve up into a smirk, and he winks at me.

“Always. My favorite distraction, though.”

I lean forward, keeping my grip tight on Darcy’s waist so he doesn’t fall off my lap, and pick up the plate of mozzarella sticks off the table. When I settle back on the couch, Parker reaches over and steals one.

I glare at them. “Hey, keep your hands on your own snacks.”

Park shrugs. “You’re hogging the whole plate, Weston. What do you expect me to do? Just let you get by with that? No.”

Darcy laughs. “They’ve got a point.”

I don’t even have time to defend myself before he’s taking one for himself. “You two are traitors.”

“Steal one for me, baby,” Ben says, rubbing his hand up Parker’s thigh.

“Ew. Don’t call me that,” Parker replies, but they do steal one and hand it over.

At this rate, I’m not going to have a single damn mozzarella stick to myself. “I’m regretting inviting all of you.”

“You love us,” Park says around a mouthful of my snacks.

“You’re pushing the limits.”

Darcy squirms in my lap, shushing me. “Boys! ”

Devon and Levi both turn, losing control of the football and sending it careening into the wall. Levi cringes. Darcy narrows his eyes. He’s got the professor look down pat and it’s turning me on, but fuck, when does this man not turn me on? “Both of you find somewhere to sit. It’s kick-off time.”

Properly scolded, Devon and Levi sit on the floor in front of the couch. There’s some wiggling and squirming beside me, and I glance over in time to watch Parker practically crawl into Ben’s lap and drape their legs across Landon’s. Without even looking away from the TV, Lan places his hands on Parker’s thighs and squeezes. The three of them are going to need to chill on my couch.

“And you three,” Darcy says, snapping my attention to him. “Keep it PG or I swear to God—”

“Darcy thought the lines they show on TV were real,” Parker says, interrupting him and making a roar of laughter echo through the room.

I can’t help but laugh along, and for once, Darcy seems unable to come up with a witty remark. At least for a second. “Park, we’ve been friends for a long time, but I really hate you right now. You can’t just call me out like that around a bunch of football players. ”

Parker shrugs, not taking their eyes off the TV. “I think you’ll find that I can.”

I’ll deny this to my dying breath, but it’s probably a good thing the three of them have… whatever it is they have going on. I’m not sure one person would be enough to contain Parker.

Everyone calms down for the most part, and we watch the game in relative silence. I say relative because Darcy truly does not know how to watch a game without yelling at the TV, but I think he’s found his match in Devon, who gets just as heated. I sit back, smiling as Darcy oscillates between sitting happily in my lap and jumping up with Devon to rage about the game.

By the time the game ends, the living room is a mess of half-empty plates, too many empty beer cans to count, one passed out Levi, and a flushed and smiling Darcy, who’s sprawled across me.

Parker finally climbs from Ben’s lap and starts picking up the trash, like the little godsend they are, and it’s not long before everyone is joining them.

“I don’t have a ton of space, obviously, but I have an air mattress in the closet if you guys want to crash here?”

Devon gestures toward Levi. “If someone can help me get him on the couch, we can sleep there if you three want to take the air mattress.”

“You’re both going to sleep on the couch?” Darcy asks with a yawn, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Devon flushes. “Yeah, it’s uh—not a big deal. I don’t mind.”

Parker points down the hall. “Anything in there I should be worried about before I go poking around in your closet?”

I laugh. “No. Air mattress is on the top shelf, and I’m pretty sure the pump is on the floor. There’s also a bunch of extra pillows and blankets in there.”

Parker nods, heading down the hall with Lan. By the time we’ve got the living room clean-ish, and I’ve helped Devon get Levi on the couch, Parker and Ben have the air mattress blown up and blankets and pillows distributed to everyone.

“How boring are we that we’re all going to bed before midnight?” Parker asks with a yawn.

“Not boring, baby. Sleepy,” Ben answers, pressing a kiss to the side of Parker’s head.

Parker scoffs. “Stop calling me that. ”

I shake my head with a laugh, and usher Darcy from the living room and into mine. They’re all big kids in there. They can handle themselves, or at least I hope so. We brush our teeth side by side and when we climb into bed, Darcy reaches past me and grabs my worn copy of Pride and Prejudice. “We have like ten pages left. We have to finish.”

Before I can agree with words—not that I planned on denying him—he’s pushing it into my hand and curling up against my chest.

I keep my voice low as I read, not wanting to disturb everyone in the living room, but also not wanting to break the intimate bubble we’ve created in my bed. When I read the final line and close the book, Darcy’s bright eyes find mine. The smile playing on his lips is my favorite thing in existence, so I pull him up to kiss him, reveling in the taste of his joy.