“What are the rules?” Rodrigo asked Severin.
“You know her limits.”
Rodrigo couldn’t hold back the low chuckle that started deep in his chest.
“No!” She tried to pull out of his grip.
“Come on, Minnow,” Rodrigo said. “Let’s not make this worse than it needs to be.”
Her big brown eyes welled with tears. “I don’t want to!”
“Are you a baby or are you a big girl?”
“I’m a grown fucking woman.” She glared at him.
His dick really wanted him to punish her right now, but maybe there were deeper issues that needed to be addressed. She was trying to look tough, but under that he could see how confused she was. “I like the rainbows and unicorns on your leggings. Almost as cute as the flannel pajamas you wear.”
Her glare turned impatient. “Are you going to hit me or are you going to critique my wardrobe choices?”
He dragged a stool over and sat to put them closer to eye level with each other.
“This isn’t about hitting. We’re going to discuss this like adults.”
She groaned. “Is this a lecture?”
“A conversation.” Sighing, he cupped her chin in his palm, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Are you acting out because you don’t want to share me with Severin?”
“No.” She frowned, as though confused.
“Then what is this about?”
One of her shoulders came up in a sloppy shrug. “I – don’t know.”
“What are you feeling right now?”
“It’s dumb.”
“Your feelings aren’t dumb, Minnow. Tell me.”
“I don’t know.” She flattened her lips and looked off to the side. “I don’t want to be less important than everyone else in this relationship. I’m worried that I’m going to be this pathetic little prop that gets used when you two want to spice things up.”
“So you think being mouthy will get you equal billing.”
“No one else loves me, you know. Severin is all I have, and the idea that he’ll love you more because you’re stronger and more interesting scares the hell out of me. I’m all in with him. If he stops thinking I’m important –” Her voice cracked.
Rodrigo opened his arms and she slunk to him, burying her face against his shoulder. Across the forge Severin had frozen – a colossal, filthy statue. Although his expression was unreadable, his eyes were filled with panic.
Fuck. It had only been a few days, and Rodrigo felt as if he was already screwing up their relationship. The horrid guilt that came with that thought ate at him. As lonely as Severin was, Minnow carried her own abandonment issues, even though the betrayal had happened later in life. He’d finally gotten what he wanted in life, but would the truest expression of his love for them be to back out now, before he caused irreparable damage?
The problem was, that until he saw evidence that he was honestly harming things, he couldn’t give him up. Or her. The feel of her in his arms was a guilty pleasure he shouldn’t have been enjoying so much. Such a small bundle crying against his shoulder.
Severin’s body was stiff with tension. He paced the length of the forge doing busy work that seemed pointless, and Rodrigo could almost feel his overwhelming urge to bolt from the space and get away from them. Maybe he should have handed her back to Severin, but right that moment, he felt it was important for her to learn to seek him out too, when she was upset. She did that by phone usually, or over a cup of coffee when Severin was occupied, but this non-sexual physical contact broke one of their unspoken rules with each other. It was time to let this happen, if things were going to work. He wasn’t content with being stunt cock anymore. He wanted love, and from them both. If he was lucky, it would happen. Eventually.
Tentatively, Severin approached. Would he take her away?
Instead, Sev reached out and stroked her hair. “I’m not going to lose interest in you, Minnow, and you know damned well I’m not the only person who loves you anymore. Rodrigo has been in love with you almost as long as I have – he’s just been holding himself back for my sake. My family loves you more than they love me. I’m sure Rodrigo’s will too. You’ll be way more popular over there than I am.”
He gave a half-hearted chuckle that filled Rodrigo with shame. His family was so open and welcoming with everyone, but their protectiveness for Rodrigo had worked against Severin’s favor. He wasn’t sure if they’d ever change their minds.
She leaned into Severin’s stroking, but didn’t let go of Rodrigo. Maybe the three of them could fit together like puzzle pieces. Hopefully they were pieces from the same puzzle.
Chapter Four
Body sated, Severin should have been asleep, but after waking at three he hadn’t been able to drift off again. He sat in the chair by the fireplace, watching them sleep.
Minnow shifted, her body seeking backward for his own. When she didn’t find him she moved toward Rodrigo and burrowed against his back.
Despite their ongoing power struggle, their sexual compatibility and affection for each other was undeniable. Why the girl had thought Ro would let her get the upper hand was beyond him, but amusing nonetheless.
It was ridiculous that she thought either of them could ever get bored of her, let alone get her out of their system.
The tangle of white sheets barely covered the two of them. Their bodies – soft against hard, pale against tan. Who needed sleep when he could watch them all night? Together, they looked like a magazine ad for something expensive – both unbearably beautiful, and yet they were his.
Not that he’d claimed Rodrigo past what he’d done in the alley.
They’d shared Minnow again a few times, with Ro no longer trying to conceal lust filled glances at either of them, but that was the extent of things so far. It was hard to know how to move forward with that. What if he didn’t get over his hang-ups and let things happen with Rodrigo? Would Ro lose patience with him?
He’d always been attracted to Rodrigo. The first time Church had brought him by, Severin had found himself checking the guy out again and again, while trying to get rid of him by being his usual prickish self. He’d kept coming by anyway, and gradually he’d become his friend, but the attraction had never really gone away.
The idea of doing sexual things with a man, though, had freaked him out even more than the idea of a woman touching him. He questioned whether he was bisexual or he’d just been trained to think of men in terms of sex. The idea of being with a man brought back feelings of being small and powerless. Being touched still brought with it a specter of shame that he could rationalize through with Minnow, but what if it was worse with Rodrigo? For some reason he didn’t seem like a threat when he was in the same room and naked, but Severin wasn’t sure if he could tolerate his touch if there were no clothing to shield him. What if he could never tolerate sexual contact with him? Ro deserved more.
The two of them curled in bed together were so perfect. He’d expected jealousy, but there was comfort in knowing they’d meet each other’s needs when he was too fucked up to do it. The situation now felt very full, though. Busy.
With three humans and four canines breathing the same air, the room sometimes felt too crowded. It was hard to get used to his life being noisy and sometimes chaotic instead of silent outside the forge.
The faint strains of piano music drifted up through the stairwell. Vague memories of lessons he’d hated accompanied the sound. Of having his knuckles rapped. Of his fingers seeming impossibly small for the task the piano instructor had set for him.
Like everything else Loïc did, his playing was perfection. No hesitation or missed notes. He was exactly what their mother had apparently wanted in a son. Perfect. Useful. Polite, glib, entertaining – everything Severin wasn’t.
Even though they’d been raised apart they had many similarities. It was like meeting a complete stranger he automatically just...knew.
Despite his brother’s debonair mien and neat handedness –
despite his attention to detail and fashion, and his ability to become the focal point of any gathering – in small ways being with him was like rubbing elbows with a mirror. Habits, turns of phrase, and even their laughs were the same. Their taste in coffee and books.
And, unfortunately, their taste in lovers.
Severin saw how Loïc coveted what was his. It set him on edge, knowing that his brother would be a better choice for Minnow, and that Rodrigo deserved so much more than Severin could give him. Ro been so patient with him over the years. Respectful. Willing to let their friendship remain a friendship if that was all Severin wanted. Now that he’d finally acknowledged his feelings for Rodrigo, more or less, the idea that he might lose him to his own brother made him wary.
Both Minnow and Rodrigo would be idiots for not choosing Loïc.
As for his brother? It wasn’t Loïc’s fault he was charming any more than it was Minnow’s or Rodrigo’s fault they were charmed by him. As a result, the mood in the house was often jovial and festive, with everyone sharing meals and exchanging witty banter, while Severin found himself withdrawing, unable to compete.
He pulled on a T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of boots then headed for the kitchen for something to eat before he headed out. Despite his emphatic hand gestures, all four of Minnow’s overgrown puppies followed him downstairs. He probably should have woken Rodrigo, since the buyer was meeting Severin at Ro’s house, but he wanted to be alone – other than the hooligans dragging their sleepy asses behind him, hoping for breakfast.
“You’re up early,” Loïc said entering the kitchen not long after Severin.
Severin rooted through the fridge, looking for meat. Minnow kept trying to make him eat a wider variety of foods, but he was a creature of habit.
“I have a bike to deliver,” Severin replied, pleased to find a plate of cooked bacon hidden behind a bin of chopped vegetables. The sight of the fried meat filled him with a weird affection. Like a plate of bacon was romantic or something? It was though, knowing she’d made it for him and left it where he would find it, with a subtle suggestion to make a good decision set in front of his inevitable bad decision.
He wanted to go back upstairs and make her choke on his cock.
Okay, so maybe their methods of showing affection were slightly unorthodox.
“I haven’t been to bed yet.” Loïc grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and bit into it. “Want me to follow you with the car? You’ll need a ride back.”
“Sure.” He could have called a driver easily enough, but this was better. This meant his brother wouldn’t be home chatting up the two people Severin couldn’t afford to lose. He also wouldn’t have to make conversation with yet another stranger.
They ate breakfast, fed the dogs, took them out to piss then headed for the garage. He wheeled the new bike out into the pale light of morning, and his brother whistled low in appreciation.
“I wish I had half your talent,” Loïc admitted. “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
“I’m more destructive than creative. At least you can play piano and make polite conversation.”
Loïc shrugged, as if that didn’t matter. “Polite conversation is a handy skill, and yet if I died no one would give a shit. Not even our sisters. No one ever would have given a shit, except maybe our mother when I was making her money.”
Heavy stuff for first thing in the morning, but then Loïc hadn’t been to bed yet.
Compared to Loïc’s life, his had been a fairytale.
“At least when I die mes enfants won’t be waiting their turn to spit on my grave.”
“Do you have children?”
Loïc smiled strangely. “It was a possibility once, but she ended the pregnancy almost before it had begun. If I did have children maybe they’d hate me too, not that they’d know abuse by my hand. Still, I’d make a terrible father.”
Severin had entertained thoughts of someday having children with Minnow, but all things considered, it might be better if Rodrigo fathered them. That thought, though, brought an unexpected twist of envy.
Maybe not all of them would be Rodrigo’s.
And what about marrying Minnow in the first place? How would that work, leaving Rodrigo out of that part of things? This whole thing between them was complicated and messy – maybe even a bad idea. But then, maybe his life wasn’t meant to be easy.
On the ride to Rodrigo’s, the wind was less biting than he’d anticipated, and for the first time in a while he wondered what day it was. Other than knowing it was a drop-off day, he had no clue.
He keyed in the security code at the gate when they reached Ro’s, then left it open in anticipation of the buyer.
Loïc parked behind him in front of the house then got out of the Audi R8 he’d bought the week before. The car was plain black, with no fancy detailing. It wasn’t as flashy as Severin would have expected for a young man with so much money, but then, Loïc had been trained to seem classy despite what their mother had made him do, and those lessons and choices were engrained.
As he stretched, he saw Loïc already had a damned football in his hand. The kid was a glutton for punishment. Loïc launched the ball to him, and he caught the sloppy throw without thinking.
“Is that what we showed you?”
Loïc grimaced. “It looks so easy when you and Rodrigo do it. I try and it wobbles like a drunk.”
They threw the football for about ten minutes. Insults flew back and forth faster than the ball.
“Come on, pretty boy. Is that the best you can do?”
“It’s hardly fair for you to expect me to catch up in a few weeks. Not all of us had siblings to throw a ball with.”
“Our sisters didn’t play sports with you?”
“Like Maman would have allowed them to get dirty? Ha. Besides, American football isn’t popular there.”
Severin caught the ball, even though it had flown wildly to the right, then launched it back. He was definitely doing more of the work, considering Loïc’s throws were so unpredictable and far afield. The first time Loïc had dragged him out to do this, he’d assumed Loïc was just dicking around, but soon it became clear that no one had ever taken the time to show him how it was done. Now he seemed weirdly determined to figure out how to do it right.
“You were allowed to play outside, though?”
“With supervision. I climbed a few trees in my day, but I always had to lose the nanny first. Now, if Maman had hired me a nanny like Minnow, I would have been a very, very charming boy.” Loïc’s tone was teasing, but under that there was a note of longing that made Severin angry.
“She’s mine.”
“I know, I know. She’s yours, Rodrigo is yours. Oh, and you have Church and Ilse too. Everyone loves Severin, and Severin doesn’t share. At least, not with Loïc.” The words were sour but not vindictive.
“You had our mother and sisters.”
“Martine, who used me. Our sisters, who were mostly kept away from me.”
“What about the staff?”
“She changed them twice a year after you left.” He grimaced. “Aurelie told us the nanny you used to have and her husband, the butler, found out what happened to you and tried to have Maman arrested, but she must have paid off the police. Because of that, my childhood was a parade of strange faces – nannies, tutors. They were under strict orders not to befriend us.”
“Our father wasn’t around at all?”
“Father?” He snorted. “No. She blackmailed our fathers to keep their names secret. Wealthy, powerful men, with a need to keep their reputations intact. We’ve all been assets since our conceptions.”
“Oh.”
“Did you think we had a loving father who she kept locked away?” He snorted. “No. They probably all wished us dead, but she was a dangerous woman, so they left us alone.”
“So we’re the sons of rich men who fell into her trap?”
“Yes. Your father’s ‘support’ paid for the house you live in. Then you paid
her back what it was worth.”
Severin fumbled the ball even though Loïc’s throw was perfect.
“He did?”
“Yes. A businessman. He died three years ago. He named you as his heir, since he had no one else.”
Severin fingered the lacing on the ball, blinking as he tried to sort through this information.
“My finance manager just found the account where Martine kept the money you inherited from your father. Once the documents are signed, it will be sent to you with an accounting. She invested it, but we liquidated for you. Do you want to know your father’s name?”
“No.”
“That’s where you got the height and the build, by the way. He was quite famous. If you’re ever curious about him, there’s a lot of information online.” He gestured for Severin to throw the ball back, and he did out of habit.
It was strange how he felt almost no curiosity about his father – probably because he had no memory of him. He also had no exposure to the idea of fathers, other than Church with his kids, and what he’d seen on television. Chances were he and his sperm donor never met. He was dead now, anyway.
The moment for questions passed as a new but beat-up pickup truck and trailer rolled through the gate and up the driveway, stopping next to the bike. The man who got out looked as if he hadn’t gotten a haircut in years either. He jerked his chin at Severin and strolled over.
“You Leduc?”
“Yes.”
“Darwin. Mind if I take a look?” He gestured at the monstrosity of a motorcycle. It may or may not be street legal, but buyers knew that was a possibility beforehand and didn’t much care.
“Be my guest.”
He nodded a polite acknowledgment to Loïc, walked back to the bike then began to check the welds the way Severin would if he was buying it.
“Nice to see one of your bikes going to a kindred spirit,” Loïc murmured quietly enough that the buyer couldn’t hear him. “Still waters run deep.”
Tragic King (The Dominant Bastard Duology Book 2) Page 6