Page 22 of Cueball & Double-Z (Alpha’s Rejects #5)

For some reason, Jazz, of all people, got to me.

Sure, the Rejects teased me today about Cole and Gio.

I expected it. At least they didn’t do it in front of the brothers.

But Jazz… the most unlikely person to push my buttons.

Perhaps they were easy to push lately because I’d been letting my guard down a bit.

Maybe it was only me who was the problem.

Not to mention the brief memory that slammed into me.

Needing to unwind after dinner, I took a hot bath. It was cramped in there, the old tub not made to handle someone my size, but I wanted to soak, and I needed some peace.

I rested my head against the tiles behind me and closed my eyes.

Lavender bath salts filled the air, relaxing me.

As usual, my mind traveled to Cole and Gio.

It’d been happening a lot lately. Only two weeks in.

That was all it took before they started getting their clutches on me.

If they weren’t good souls, they probably wouldn’t have been able to penetrate my walls.

It could’ve been worse. I could’ve been drowning in memories of Shane.

Sure, he cropped up now and again, like he did today, but for the most part, his ghost had been pretty quiet, and I was listening.

Listening to his silence and to the signs that perhaps he wanted me to let him go.

I wasn’t ready yet, but maybe one day I would be.

It was the first time I had a flicker of hope, as small as it was.

My mind took an unexpected turn to some place off the beaten path.

It first went to Gio when he’d come out of the shower the other day with only a towel wrapped around him.

He’d put on some weight and some muscle.

No doubt lifting heavy bins of dishes would do that.

His thick hair was dripping water onto his skin, glistening.

It was only for a moment before he was in his room with the door shut.

But it was enough to wonder what else he looked like under that towel.

I shouldn’t have gone there, but I did. It felt inappropriate, but I couldn’t stop myself.

Then I drifted to Cole when he came out in that damn T-shirt with the neck cut, so it slid off one narrow, creamy shoulder.

He wasn’t femme like Blondie, but he definitely tended to be on the more delicate side.

He was beautiful. They both were. Inside and out.

Gio didn’t believe he was, but he was an amazing caregiver and protector.

You know what? Fuck it. It’d been a while.

I fisted my length and gave my cock a few tugs before getting serious.

I didn’t want to go at it for too long before the water got cold.

My hand twisted upward as I grazed the head, then moved faster, stroking and stroking.

I hadn’t intended for Cole and Gio to intrude as I rubbed one out, but there they were, nonetheless.

I kept pushing them out, but they kept demanding entry, so I gave in.

They were both between my legs, licking and sucking at the same time before they pulled away, kissing and fucking each other’s mouths with their tongues. Then they’d attack my cock again. God, I shouldn’t think of them like that, but I couldn’t stop the visual—the fantasy.

Swollen lips and smooth tongues swiped at my pre-cum. Blue eyes stared at me, looking for direction. One pair, a bright blue, almost cerulean. The other pair, blue like old denim.

Cole sat up and crawled over to me as Gio sucked me down. I bucked upward, making him gag, but he pressed me down with a gentle hand. The pressure was quickly building as Gio got lost in sucking my cock.

Cole leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine, sinking his tongue into my mouth. I nibbled on his bottom lip when he pulled away before we went back to kissing.

When he sat up again, his swollen bottom lip was bubblegum pink, and he was as sweet as candy. He was sweetness personified.

I held back a groan as Cole climbed on top of my chest and straddled me. I was so close. So close. The pressure burned through my body, heating up to my face. He held his cock out to my mouth and tapped my lip with the tip. I opened up, and he eased it in.

That was it. That vision and imagining Gio’s mouth were what finally toppled over the edge as I climaxed into my hand and the bathwater.

I lay there for a moment before my body got under control, then the slight guilt for thinking about them that way. But it was only in my imagination—where it would stay.

Still, it was the first time since I’d rubbed one out thinking about someone I knew. Usually, they were blank faces of imaginary men. Sometimes women. Now it was about Cole and Gio.

The water was cold, so I climbed out and dried off before heading to my bedroom.

After I got dressed, I sat on my bed, picked up my knitting from the bin next to it, and continued to unwind.

I went back to making Cole and Gio’s beanies since they liked mine so much.

They asked me to make one for them after learning I knitted.

No one else knew about my hobby, but I’d let it slip.

More proof that these two men kept punching through my walls.

After knitting several rows of the slate-blue hat matching Gio’s eyes, there was a soft knock on my door.

I sighed. So much for relaxing.

“Come in. ”

My bedroom door squeaked open, and in walked Cole, carrying a mug of something. He set it on my nightstand and signed, ‘Chamomile tea. You seemed stressed today.’

I swore to fucking god, no one saw me like Cole did. How had he noticed? I thought he’d been busy skating and fawning over Gio.

“Thank you,” I said, taking a sip of the hot brew with a little too much sugar, before setting the mug down. “That was kind of you.”

Cole beamed at me before looking around my room, inspecting it.

Like the first time he came to this apartment, he poked and prodded, being the nosy one he was, but I let him.

I liked watching him explore. His fingers ran along all the books on the shelf, pulling one out, looking at it, and then putting it back.

He took out another, glancing back at me and gesturing, ‘Did you read all these?’

“I did. Sometimes more than once. I don’t have a lot of space, so I read eBooks and listen to audio.”

He nodded and went back to his inspections. When he finished, he was frowning. I knew why, and I knew he was going to tell me.

‘You don’t have anything here that says Cueball. Your books kind of do.’

“I know.” What else could I say?

‘It’s sad.’

I shrugged as he sat on the edge of my bed, and asked, ‘What are you making?’

“Your hat. Well, this one is Gio’s.”

His smile stretched across his face so wide, it had to hurt.

I liked it better than his sadness. ‘You are so nice.’ He stood and turned his body, so he was sitting next to me with his back to the headboard.

His shoulder touching mine sent a wave of electricity through me, and my mind drifted to the fantasy I just had, but I shut it right down.

It felt wrong. His fingers resting on my forearm warmed my skin.

I wasn’t sure whether I liked this arousing reaction. It was happening more often now.

‘Can I watch?’

I nodded. “Sure.”

I quickly worked the yarn in a circle as he rested his head on my shoulder to watch.

I’d gotten used to Cole’s need for touch in a short period, but I was careful not to reciprocate it for all our sakes.

Having a fantasy was one thing. Enacting it was quite another.

They were pretty young, too. And I wasn’t ready for intimacy, even if Cole wanted it from me.

Sometimes I caught Gio looking at me as Cole did, but he was quicker to shut it down.

Soon, Gio walked in since my door was wide open. “What’s going on?”

‘Marco is making us hats,’ Cole signed. ‘That’s yours. It matches your eyes.’

Gio sat on the edge of my bed and watched along with Cole.

Usually, this would’ve annoyed the hell out of me, feeling my space being intruded upon, but they weren’t bothering me at all, surprisingly.

I liked them sitting next to me, watching my hobby in silence and with curiosity.

It was definitely a curious hobby for someone like me.

At least Gio had started getting used to Cole constantly touching me.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that or what it meant.

With the strength of his feelings for Cole, it didn’t seem likely his jealousy would simply vanish.

Then again, Cole touched him just as often.

Cole never left one of us out, like he was trying to keep us all tethered together.

I looped the yarn through my fingers and around the knitting needle.

I’d become proficient in it over the years.

When I first started knitting, I made mistakes all the time, but it never frustrated me, so I knew I’d found something I could stick with.

Knitting hadn’t been my first choice for a hobby, but I’d watch an older woman who volunteered at the shelter knitting one of her many scarves for those in need.

I’d asked her about it, and she explained how relaxing it was for her.

She was fast, and she could knit an entire scarf in a couple of hours.

It was she who taught me. Ms. Patricia, as she was known.

She’d since died, but I was grateful I got the chance to learn how to knit from her.

“Damn, you’re really fast,” Gio said.

“Just years of practice.”

“What made you want to knit?”

I had to be careful about how much I explained to them, but I wasn’t sure if it was even necessary since Cole could fucking read into everything I do more than Gio could.

“When I’m tense, I use it as a form of meditation.

I find it very relaxing.” It didn’t explain what initially drew me to knitting, but it was enough of an answer.

‘Why are you tense?’ Cole signed.

“It happens. Everyone gets tense sometimes, right?”

He nodded, his blue eyes watching every detail of my face, trying to discern what I wasn’t saying. Sometimes I felt like I was getting a dose of my own medicine.

As I knitted, I quickly forgot they were in my room with me, on my bed, touching me, watching me, getting lost in my project.

It was entirely too comfortable.