against the headboard, I watched while Tristin plugged the hair dryer into the nearest outlet and got to work trying to dry out the inside padding of my cast. There was no reason I couldn’t do this myself, and we both knew it. Maybe he wanted to be near me as much as I wanted to be near him.
“Do you want to tell me what happened with Hayle?” he asked after a few minutes.
“What makes you think anything happened with Hayle?”
“Because you were walking away from him when I drove up. Considering it was raining and pretty damn close to freezing, I assumed you weren’t climbing into his SUV for a reason.”
Good point.
“It’s been a hell of a day.” I didn’t even really know where to start. Actually, I did—with Vincent. I just didn’t want to.
Tristin placed a hand on my bare thigh, above my cast, and squeezed gently. “What happened, angel?”
Angel?
A memory resurfaced of him telling me that I was the best kind of angel right after the first time we’d had sex, and my stomach clenched. Taking the hair dryer from his hands, I turned it off and scooted away from him.
“I’m sorry. I—I can’t do this anymore.”
Chapter Thirteen
Thea
“Do what?” Tristin asked, confusion lacing his deep voice.
“Pretend. God…” I pushed my fingers through my wet hair, half-tempted to yank it right out of my skull. “I can’t pretend like this thing between us is normal or okay. It’s not okay.”
I’d been fooling myself to think I could continue faking it. Maybe it was because of what happened with Vincent and then Hayle, or hell, maybe it was the cold and the rain. But I just couldn’t do it anymore.
“What’s not okay?” Leo asked from the doorway, his broad shoulders practically filling it.
I should have been disheartened by his sudden presence. But, honestly, I was relieved. If I didn’t get this over with now, I probably never would. And I couldn’t continue living in a constant state of procrastination, no matter how much I wanted to.
Still, knowing I needed to do this didn’t make it any easier. My hands grew clammy and my chest squeezed painfully as I glanced from Leo to Tristin and back to Leo. “My feelings for Tristin. That’s what’s not okay.” His expression didn’t change, so I forced myself to continue. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, but I can’t pretend anymore.”
“Then, don’t pretend. Be honest.” The words suggested he might have been pissed, but his tone was soft and understanding, especially when he added, “It’s okay, Thea.”
Was it, though? Right now, I wasn’t sure how anything could be okay.
“If I can’t be with both of you, I don’t think I should be with either of you.”
Oh, shit. Why had I worded it like that? All of Petra’s talk of “the sexiest ménage à trois in history” must have rubbed off on me.
Leo nodded. “Okay.”
Okay? There was that word again. Had I somehow forgotten its meaning in its overuse? Or was Leo giving up on me that easily?
It totally wasn’t fair for me to expect anything from him right now, but I’d expected him to at least put up a little bit of a fight. Was this all a joke, and I’d somehow missed the punchline?
Unsure what else to do, I asked, “What do you mean?”
Tristin stepped forward, into my line of vision. “He means, okay, you should be with both of us.”
“I…I, um…what?”
Leo chuckled as he moved forward and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. Taking both of my hands in his, he said, “Be with both of us. It’s what we want.”
I stared at him, still waiting for the punchline. But his expression had sobered and didn’t betray even a hint of humor. Turning my attention to Tristin, he merely nodded.
My throat constricted, and I struggled to get out my next words. “You’re serious.”
“Yes,” Leo answered immediately.
“Why? I mean, why would you guys even agree to that?”
He intertwined our fingers and lifted one of my hands to his lips, lightly kissing my knuckles. “I know this isn’t the most romantic way to say this, but I love you, Thea. I want you to be happy. And, yeah, I want to be happy too. And I think this is the only way we both get what we want.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “You love me?”
“Yeah, babe.” He leaned forward and claimed my mouth, though only for a second. “I fucking love you, and you