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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

EASTON

They kept the conversation away from the engagement for the rest of the meal, just like Arthur promised, but I knew my old man wouldn’t wait long to talk to me about it.

Arthur may have convinced him to wait until the meal was over, but I doubted he’d wait the whole night.

He was watching me and Gary, his eyes narrowed, and I knew he had some bullshit to say.

I didn’t need his help throwing the wedding, though.

I could afford something fancy on my own, and I was ready to throw hands about it if he tried to manipulate the situation to get us to postpone or have a long engagement or some shit.

After the meal was finished, my stepmom offered to give Gary a tour.

That sounded boring as hell, and I was going to refuse for the both of us so I could take him upstairs to show him my old room, but Sierra grabbed my elbow and pulled me away from Gary, whispering under her breath, “She’s the nice one.

Let him settle around at least one of them. ”

Gary looked anxious at the idea of me not joining him, but Sierra was right.

It’d probably stress him out more if he didn’t have at least one of my parents on board.

Not that I saw Veronica as my parent. She was nice enough, but we weren’t close.

She tried too hard, and it felt forced to me. Still, I wanted Gary to feel better.

“Go. I’m going to have a drink. I’ll meet you back here.”

“Oh, I’ll go with you,” Evie volunteered, hooking arms with Gary. My lip twitched against a scowl, but I didn’t comment. If I lost it again, Gary might not be enough to get my shit under control again.

Those three wandered away, leaving me and my siblings with my old man.

Sierra’s husband had to take a work call and walked off.

We all migrated to my old man’s office, where Arthur handed out glasses of scotch without a word.

Taking a heavy swallow, I enjoyed the burn as I had a stare off with my old man.

He wouldn’t win that shit. He couldn’t do it when I was thirteen, and he still couldn’t do it now.

“So, when’s the wedding?” Jayden finally asked, breaking the silence.

I ground my teeth together, fighting a scowl. I hadn’t picked a day, because I wanted to get my family’s input. Their schedules were harder to work around. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that anymore.

My old man shot a glare at Jayden. “They haven’t been together long enough to consider marriage yet.”

“Since when has that ever stopped Easton from doing anything?” Jayden pointed out.

Sierra nodded in agreement. “I don’t think you can fight him on this, Dad. He’s more stubborn than you are.

“And he’s an adult. He doesn’t need your permission,” Arthur finished.

It felt kind of nice to have all my siblings backing me up. But it did make me suspicious about why. They usually sided with my old man because they thought the same way he did.

“Why are you helping me?” I demanded.

“Dude. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” Jayden chided. I flipped him off, which only got a cackle out of him. He was such a shit.

“You’re different with Gary than with anyone I’ve ever seen you with,” Arthur answered, ignoring Jayden completely. “If you had been alone, I’m pretty sure you would’ve gotten into that car, weather be damned. You only hesitated when you noticed how scared Gary was.”

Sierra nodded. “You also let him stop you from being an ass. Not even your little friends could get away with that. He covered your mouth to stop your comments, and you didn’t even flinch.”

“I honestly never thought I’d see the day where you put stock in a relationship.

I mean, Sierra and I had you pegged as aromantic because you weren’t interested and didn’t give a shit about changing that.

You care about Gary. And about your relationship with him.

Enough to fight all of us on it, despite how early it is in the relationship.

That’s not something to ignore,” Jayden said, patting my shoulder.

I shrugged him off but kept my mouth shut.

I still didn’t feel like the romantic relationship type.

It was different with Gary. I wanted to keep what we had.

The playfulness, the teasing, the sex. He was a live-in best friend with benefits.

That was enough for me. And if it ended up being enough for him, then I’d do the relationship thing just to keep it that way.

“You love him, don’t you?”

I looked up at my old man, resisting the urge to wince. What the fuck even was love?

“I care about him. I want him to be happy, because I’m happy when I’m with him. Isn’t that enough?”

It took coaxing from my siblings and an adamant refusal to back down from me before the old man caved.

He was cautious about it, and tried several times to push a prenup, but I straight up told him no.

If this shit fell apart, I wasn’t letting Gary end up broke and struggling again.

No matter what happened, he was always my friend, and I’d take care of him.

We agreed to leave it for the night and discuss details again in the morning with Gary present.

Pretty sure my old man was planning on benefiting off of Gary’s gentle nature, because he normally liked to keep discussions like this between family.

I wasn’t going to let him bully Gary into a prenup, though.

I pulled Gary out of the sitting room, where he’d been talking with Evie and Victoria, without a backward glance.

He squawked in surprise, but he was smaller than me and didn't have a chance fighting me off. I didn’t stop until we were in my room, and the door was locked behind us.

“Easton?”

“Tomorrow, my dad is going to try to manipulate you into a prenup. Tell him no.”

Gary blanched at the thought, his eyes wide with horror.

I knew he’d have trouble with it, which was why I wanted the rest of the night to coach him.

I hauled him up over my shoulder, ignoring his protest, and dropped him on the bed.

The best way to have stupid discussions was naked in bed.

And of course, because Gary’s fucking perfect for me, once he figured out what I wanted, he was quick to cooperate, helping shed my hoodie and unbutton his shirt as I tugged his jeans and boxers down his legs.

I had to pause to get his shoes and socks off, but by the time I was finished, he was totally naked and panting.

“You look good enough to eat.”

The suggestion in my tone made his dick twitch and his pupils explode.

I crawled on top of him, seriously enjoying the fact that I was still fully dressed while he was laid out beneath me without a stitch of clothing.

I dipped my head, getting close enough to let my lips brush over his before backing off again.

Withholding the kisses he was so needy for.

I didn’t give him what he wanted until he started whining for it.

I always came prepared, and a quickie was a great way to work off the residual frustration from the evening.

Gary was a very enthusiastic participant, and I had to cover his mouth to keep his noises muffled.

By the time we finished, I was worn out and collapsed on top of him.

I stayed that way, enjoying the feeling of Gary’s fingers running through my hair, until he spoke.

“Are we going to clean up, or are you okay with being glued together by morning?”

I snorted, shoving myself off him enough to roll over. “I’m too lazy. If you want to shower, go ahead.”

He snickered and slid off the bed, but I didn’t hear the shower turn on.

Instead, the sink ran and a minute later, he came back with a warm cloth, running it over my chest and belly to clean up the mess that had gotten squished between us.

I sighed, closing my eyes, enjoying being taken care of for once.

When he crawled back into bed, he was wearing boxers, and I wasn’t happy about that.

We ended up in a wrestling match to take them back off, and he was breathless and laughing by the time I won.

I held them up in the air, far enough that he couldn’t reach, and spun them on my finger with a victorious grin.

“I should keep these as a souvenir.”

“Oh my god!” He covered his bright red face with his hands, shaking his head. “You’re incorrigible.”

True. And he liked it.

Tossing the boxers off the bed, I pulled the blankets over us to keep him warm before taking my spot again on top of him. I was comfortable before and didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t stay there. He did it all the time.

Gary made a happy noise and snuggled in, his fingers returning to my hair. I shut my eyes and relaxed.

“Easton?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay? You said you liked your family, but tonight you were… combative.”

I considered his question carefully. I’d been…

off balance for a while. More irritated than usual.

Something was bothering me, but until tonight, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.

Pushing up onto my elbows, I frowned down at him.

He was too damn cute, with his messy brown hair and chocolate eyes.

“It should be criminal to be that cute.”

He rolled his eyes playfully. “I guess that means I fit in better with you.” He poked me in the side. “Answer the question.”

Ugh. Fine.

“You said a while back that someone like me could have a relationship if it was different from the normal shit. Would you be happy in a relationship like that?”