Page 214 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. One

“Thank you.”

I kiss him, running my hands over his hair and clasping them at the back of his neck. With a smile against my lips, he snakes an arm under my legs and pulls me onto his lap.

Three times now, Oliver’s told me he loves me. We chatted a little on Fridays at the coffee shop, but it’s only been two weeks since we’ve started getting close. Yet this man isin lovewith me. He said he’d die a thousand deaths for me if it meant I got to live.

It all feels so overwhelmingly fast, but at the same time all three of them feel soright.I’ve learned so much about Elliot, Rhett, and Oliver over the past couple weeks. Much more than I would’ve if we hadn’t been thrown into multiple stressful situations.

I’m not sure I’m ready to say the words back, but when I don’t, Oliver doesn’t look even a little disappointed. It’s like he said he loves me with the sole purposeof making sure I know. There’s no ulterior motive, no expectation of me saying it back.

How? How did I get so unfathomably, unbelievably lucky?

Elliot peeks into the room. “Hey, sorry to interrupt. I was thinking of swinging by your apartment and grabbing some of your stuff. Can you make me a list of everything you need?”

“Oh. Yeah, sure. Thank you.”

“No problem, love.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it to me. “You can make the list on here. I’ll make sure to bring your phone back with me. Fuck, we’ll need to get you a new one too, O.”

I start typing away, trying to think of everything I’ll need. I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying here, but I definitely don’t want to be alone for the foreseeable future.

As I make the list, my mind goes into planning mode, thinking of all the things I need to do.

Ava’s probably texted me a thousand times, so I’ll need to reply to her.

Am I going into work tomorrow? I feel like that’s a bad idea.

It’s a new month, so I’ll need to—

Shit. It’s a new month.

“Oh my god,” I say, shooting up straight in Oliver’s lap. “I didn’t pay my rent yesterday.”

“You were a little occupied, princess,” Oliver says.

“No, you don’t understand. They’re really strict about it. I can’t be late. I can’t—” I stop when I notice Oliver and Elliot exchanging a meaningful glance. “What?”

“We, uh…” Oliver chuckles nervously. “We took care of it.”

“You… what?”

“Your rent is paid for the rest of your lease, love.”

My mouth opens and closes on its own accord, like it’s trying to say something. But my brain hasn’t caught up yet, so all that comes out is, “Huh?”

With an amused smile, Elliot comes to crouch in front of me and Oliver. He takes one of my hands, kissing my knuckles. “We meant to tell you. Actually, wemeant to ask you first. But thensomeonegot a little too excited and skipped a couple steps of our plan.”

“Hey! You make me sound like a little kid,” Oliver whines.

I laugh. It’s such typical behavior—all of it. Of course they paid my rent. Ever since that Friday two weeks ago, they’ve done everything they possibly can to take care of me. And Oliver jumping the gun is so him that I’m not even surprised.

“I probably would’ve said no,” I mutter.

“And that—” Oliver says, poking me in the side, “—isexactlywhy I didn’t wait to ask you. Every time money comes up, you get this really stressed out look on your face. I don’t like it.”

“What? No, I don’t!”

Elliot squeezes my hand. “You’re a horrible liar, love.”

“I’m not!”