Page 6

Chapter Six

Chelsea

"Hey, thanks for coming." I stepped back, opening the door wider so Atlas and Jay could enter.

Atlas gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Jay gave me a long look before walking past. "Doc," he said with a grunt.

"Jay." I shut the door behind them. "How's things?"

"Complicated," Jay said. He stopped to glance down at the pile of packing boxes in the kitchen. "You're really moving in with Storm."

"Yes." I picked up the boxes on the way home and got started while I waited for them to arrive for dinner. "It'll save me a fortune in rent."

"That's the only good reason I can think of to live with Storm Keller." Atlas stood beside Jay, his elbow on the scrum-half's shoulder.

"He's not so bad when you get to know him," I said. "I'm sorry he didn't give you a chance to do that yet. He's…stubborn."

"That's one word for it," Jay said.

"Why don't you boys sit and I'll get dinner onto plates?" I picked up the box that sat on the top of the table and placed it aside.

While they got comfortable, I spooned risotto into bowls and placed them in front of the guys, and one for myself.

"So, you two talked," I said. I stabbed a piece of mushroom with my fork and pushed it into my mouth.

"Atlas told me he killed Bruce for you," Jay said. Clearly he wasn't going to spare any words.

"I didn't ask him to," I said, more defensive than I intended.

"You wouldn't have had to." Jay glanced over to Atlas. "He made up his own mind, like he always does, and did what he wants." He didn't seem to mean it in a negative way. Rather that Atlas took care of people he cared about, whether they liked it or not.

Atlas shrugged. "Bruce didn't give me much choice in the end. I gave him the chance to change his mind and he didn't take it. That's on him." He also kept his words concise, not mentioning my past. Not even alluding to it. His expression suggested I shouldn't say anything about it. Not right now.

I gave him a faint nod to show I understood, but nothing more than that. We'd deal with it when the time came. In the meantime, Jay spoke like he hadn't noticed a thing.

"Atlas is a Scorpio," Jay said. "Once you have his loyalty, you're stuck with him for life." The look he gave the lock clearly said he wasn't going anywhere either. "This is good risotto."

"Thanks," I said. We ate in silence for a few moments before I got down to the reason they were here. "Both of you care about each other, don't you? A lot." My gaze shifted from one to the other and back again. "I don't want to get between you."

"Yes, you do," Jay said.

I was about to protest, but realised what he was actually implying.

I snorted a soft laugh. "I meant I don't want to damage your relationship with each other." I definitely wouldn't mind being in the middle of the two players. I was only human after all.

"What is that anyway? Are you friends, or are you more?"

"More." Jay shrugged without slowing down his eating. "He's not leaving me for you."

"I didn't expect him to," I said. I glanced over to Atlas, trying to figure out his thoughts. He seemed to be focused on eating, but I knew he was following the conversation. Maybe waiting to see where it would end up.

"What do you expect?" Jay asked. "Am I supposed to fall head over heels for you too?"

I regarded him for a few moments. "I'm starting to think you believe I'm some kind of princess who's gathering a horde of men around her." I paused for a beat before adding, "Dragon might be a better analogy."

"Aren't you?" he asked. "You have three boyfriends already, what do you want with Atlas?"

I sat back. "I'm attracted to him. Relationships aren't pizza. There's no limit on the amount of slices before it runs out. I'm not gathering men like they're rings, one for each finger. It's not just me benefiting from the relationships either. Storm and Frost are getting closer. Dallas is like a brother to them. We're a family. Families don't have limits either. There's never a bad time to add more family members."

"Family." Jay mulled over the word. He glanced sideways at Atlas. "Is that how you feel? Like it's a family?"

"I guess so," Atlas said slowly. "If you think of Storm as the asshole brother who gives you shit for everything."

"What about Frost?" Jay's expression and tone were tight. "Is he a brother too?"

"I'm not leaving you for Frost either," Atlas told him. "You and I, we're… Us." His eyes were soft as he regarded the other player. "If you just want it to be you and I, I understand. But I'm attracted to Chelsea and Frost. I'd like to see where it goes."

Jay looked down at his half-empty bowl.

I held my breath. I wanted to get to know him better. I liked how protective he was of Atlas and vice versa. But if he wanted to walk away, I'd totally respect that. Life was too short to mess with something that wasn't broken.

"Jay." Atlas put a hand on his lower arm, between his wrist and his elbow. "I care about you a lot. Whatever you decide, we'll go along with it. Right, Doc?"

"Absolutely," I said. "We don't have to rush into anything. If Jay wants to think about it for a while, that's totally cool." He could take all the time he needed. I wouldn't push. Life was too short for that too.

"I never could say no to Atlas. I've seen the way he looks at you. And Frost too, I guess. He seems like a decent guy." Jay drew in a breath and blew it out slowly. "And I can't deny my own physical attraction to you." He nodded to me. "If Atlas wants to try, I'm in. With some conditions."

"Of course," I said. "Whatever you need." My heart raced. My clit throbbed at the prospect of being between them physically. Watching them touch each other. Being touched. Finding out what they were into and exploring their fantasies.

"I'm not moving in with Storm any time soon," Jay said. "If we ever do, it'll need to be a big place. I need my space."

"I agree," Atlas said. "Storm and I would literally kill each other."

I nodded. "We're already looking into somewhere bigger." I didn't elaborate. A cliffside mansion was a big step, and too soon to think about yet.

Not to mention the four of us might drive each other crazy in Storm's place and decide not to stay together. If that happened, I'd be devastated, but I'd be lying to myself if I didn't think it was possible.

"Anything else?" Atlas asked gently.

"You don't have a problem with me fucking Chelsea?" Jay asked.

Atlas looked from him to me and back again, his eyes darker. "Fuck no. If we're both in, then we're both all in. If that's what you want."

"You don't have a problem with me fucking Frost then?" Jay asked carefully.

Atlas looked surprised, but then swallowed visibly.

For a moment, I thought he might say he did, but then he said, "I don't. If that's what you both want. I…wouldn't mind watching."

Jay put his hand over Atlas' that still rested on his arm. "I can't imagine being with him without you present. Or with Chelsea. But I'm okay with you fucking either of them without me. You know how I am, sometimes I need my space. When I get overwhelmed, I have to take myself away."

He looked over to me, not quite meeting my eyes. "It's not personal. I just get…overloaded. If I don't have a quiet space, I feel like I'm losing my shit."

"That's completely understandable," I said gently. "The world is a lot. Families can be a lot. The good thing about families is that we take care of each other. And support each other. Anytime you need space, no one is going to judge you for taking it."

"Definitely," Atlas said. "And if you lose your shit, we're here for you."

"You always are," Jay said softly. He rubbed the heel of his hand up and down his forehead. "At our old club, some people didn't get it. They just want to be up in your space, you know? They think I'm aggressive or distant, or fucked up, or something. But I'm just in my own head, trying to deal with my shit."

"Did you ever—" This was a delicate topic to discuss, and he may not want to. If he didn't, I understood. I wouldn't push, but I was curious.

"Get a diagnosis?" he finished for me. "Yeah, I'm on the spectrum. Big surprise, right?" I wasn't judging him, but clearly people in the past had.

"I've seen you on the field," I said. "Your hyper-focus, it makes you one of the best players out there."

He blinked a couple of times, clearly surprised by my response. "Yeah, if I like something I fixate on it. I look at it in a different way from the other players. Like— Like analysing the best way to catch, and how other teams are playing so we can figure out where their weaknesses are."

"He's pretty amazing," Atlas said softly. "The sport needs more people like him."

Jay shifted uncomfortably. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Of course," I said. "Can I ask you both something?"

"Can we stop you?" Atlas teased. He had half an eye on Jay, until the other player started to relax. He was clearly in tune with Jay's moods and levels of overwhelm.

I liked him even more for it.

"You can try," I joked back. I sobered for a moment, "Obviously you like each other, but I'm wondering how far…"

"We've fucked," Atlas said. "Was that what you're asking? We don't make a big show of it, because other guys can be pricks. But we've more or less been a thing since we both started playing for the Devils—" He cut off his words, pressing his lips together.

Jay gave him the side eye. "What the fuck?"

Atlas rolled his lips and averted his gaze from Jay.

I frowned at both of them. "What is it?"

"You fucking didn't?" Jay gaped at Atlas.

Atlas glanced away for a while before looking back. "It wasn't going to let you come to Dusk Bay alone."

"You hated the idea of transferring," Jay argued.

"If I told you I did it for you," Atlas said, "you would have been pissed off. Plus we have to put up with Storm. That would piss anyone off. Some of my pissed-off-ness was genuine."

Jay shook his head. "You're out of your fucking mind."

"What was I going to do?" Atlas asked, spreading his hands to either side. "I wasn't staying at the Devils anyway. I might as well be here with you. I don't regret it. I get to be with you, and I met Chelsea. Between us, we can make the Smashers not suck so much."

"I think it's sweet," I said softly. "Following him here. You more than like each other."

That was becoming more and more obvious. Why else would Atlas have made that choice? It wasn't a thing someone did unless their feelings ran deep.

Jay looked uncomfortable again, but Atlas was visibly relieved.

"I love you," Atlas said matter-of-factly. He looked as though the weight of the world was literally off his shoulders. Like he didn't have to keep living up to his namesake.

I had the impression this was the first time he said those words out loud, but he'd wanted to for a long time.

"I love you too," Jay told him. "You're an idiot for transferring here, but I love you."

Atlas grinned and worked on finishing his dinner.

I smiled to myself. This was going to be interesting, to say the least. I knew both would get along well with Frost once they gave each other the chance. If Storm would let them.

As long as he was in control, he might let them do whatever they wanted to each other.

"So," Jay said after a few minutes of companionable silence. "Do you have… Permission to do what you want with whoever you want?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Do I need permission?" I asked lightly.

Atlas snorted. "Considering it's Storm Keller we're talking about, you probably need written permission, witnessed by thirteen other people, with strict stipulations of exactly what you can and can't do." He smirked and started to count the points off on his fingers.

"No screaming too loud. No having better orgasms than any he could give you. A limit on multiple orgasms. No?—"

I laughed. "He's not that bad. He and the other guys understand that I can do whatever I want with either of you. They know all about you and I have their blessing. Believe it or not, I don't need their permission."

Yeah, Storm would say otherwise. He'd say he grudgingly gave his permission to me to enjoy them if I wanted to. If he did, I'd humour him. At the end of the day, as long as everyone was okay with it, I'd enjoy myself and these two guys, if that was what they wanted too.

Atlas and Jay both looked more than a little disbelieving.

I shook my head at them. "I promise you, there's no legal documentation with permission. Can you even imagine going to a lawyer with something like that?"

"Yes," Atlas said with a chuckle. "I'm pretty sure lawyers have seen worse."

"I wouldn't take that bet," I said. I finished the last of my dinner and rose to take the plates into the kitchen. "Does that mean you want to?—"

"I do," Atlas said.

"Me too," Jay said. He looked tentatively eager. As though he wanted to, but he was taking a huge risk with himself, and maybe with his heart.

I blinked heavily, once, before looking directly at Jay. "Before we do anything, there's something you should know. Something about my past." Now had to be the right time, before we went any further. Whether Atlas liked it or not.

Before I could say another word, Jay knocked the breath out of me by saying, "You used to work at Flirts. Atlas told me on the way here. He thought if I found out suddenly, I might not react right."

It took me a solid minute to get my head around that and think clearly again. If Atlas told him on the way to my place, then he couldn't have told Bruce. In that case, who had?

Right now, that didn't matter so much as the fact it wasn't Jay. I wanted to hug him. I was so relieved. I didn't, not yet. We needed to finish this conversation first.

"There's no right or wrong way to react," I said evenly. "Whatever you did or said, I would have rolled with it." I was also relieved he already knew and wasn't running for the hills. Was that what he meant by not reacting right?

"I might have freaked out," Jay said ruefully. "Imagining you being in front of all those people, being vulnerable and touching them…" He shuddered. "I don't want to think about it. It's almost enough to give me a meltdown. The footy crowds are rowdy enough."

"So this isn't about you being upset about what I used to do," I said slowly. "It's the thought of you doing it yourself."

That made total sense. For someone on the spectrum who didn't like a lot of noise or physical contact, the thought would be daunting. The stuff of nightmares maybe.

"Exactly," he agreed. "I'm not going to judge you for doing it. Unless you're going to judge me for playing a sport where I get to tackle the shit out of people." His smile was tentative, but warm. Clearly dealing with people in general was a daily challenge. One he faced down like the badass he was.

I smiled back. "I would never judge you for playing rugby. Not when I love it almost as much as you do."

"Now that's out of the way…" Atlas said, not so subtly hinting at the fact we were still sitting at the table talking.

"Is it out of the way?" I directed the question at Jay. "You know about me and what I used to do and you still want to fuck me?" That was direct, but I knew he'd appreciate it. There was no point in trying to skirt around the topic. Especially with someone like him.

"I want to fuck you more than I did before," Jay said. "You get me like Atlas does. Some people, they wouldn't have tried to tell me about their past. They would have let it creep up on me."

I did that with the other guys and the whole mafia shit, but not with this. Not when we were talking about intimacy. He should know what he was getting before he got me.

"I think we get each other," I said. "Let me show you."

Jay put his empty bowl beside mine and took one of my hands. Atlas took the other and between them, they walked me to my bedroom.