If he’d really been at the club, then hewould have known we weren’t together. But his behavior seemed to say that heunderstood they were under my protection. “If you get to go to the club again,I want you to make sure you take things slowly. No telling him personal thingsabout yourself until you know you can trust him.”
Telling them to keep their hands off thealpha would be a waste of breath, but the guy didn’t need to know where theylived or personal stuff until they knew they could trust him. I got nods fromboth of them, but I needed to make sure they understood.
“He was some kind of friend with theassholes, so you need to be careful, and BDSM can make a relationship moreintimate faster than traditional relationships. I don’t want you getting hurt.”Then I couldn’t resist teasing them. “Because then I’d have to find new slavelabor here and that would be terrible.”
They both laughed, but Seth shook his head.“You wouldn’t know what to do without us.”
That was truer than they probablyunderstood. “Come on, lazy boys. Let’s get everything cleaned up and put away.I’m planning on crashing and doing nothing for the rest of the night.”
That had them perking up and Ari got awicked smile on his face. “We’ve got a date.”
One guy to share, or did they each havetheir own this time?
Times had really changed since I was ateenager if I even had to think about that question. “I’m not going to lectureyou about being careful, but—”
That had them nearly hysterical withlaughter. “Hey, I’m not that bad.”
But their giggles and the way they rolledtheir eyes said otherwise.
Several lectures and a ton of dishes later,the boys were bouncing out of the house so they could get ready for their dateand I was heading upstairs to stretch out on the couch. I’d converted one ofthe guest rooms into a small den that was perfect to relax in.
I’d planned on watching TV, but as Istretched out and propped my feet up on the old coffee table I’d had for years,I looked down at my phone. “Fuck it.”
I wasn’t sure if it was too soon to call orif I’d waited too long, but I knew if I put it off any longer, I’d justoverthink it.
Scrolling through my contacts, I hit Wade’sname and watched the phone as it rang several times. When it finally connectedand a quiet voice answered, I couldn’t help smiling.
“Hello?” His voice was calm, but I couldhear curiosity in it.
“Hello.” I waited a second to see if hewould say anything and then continued. “I told you I would call.”
A low laugh came through the phone. “I wasstarting to think that I’d made up the whole thing.”
“No such luck.” I relaxed even more as helaughed.
“I’m glad you called.” Wade let out abreath. “Calling Tanner to get your number would’ve been embarrassing.”
I laughed. “Who owns that club?”
He giggled. “Nope, I told you that you hadto feed me dinner to get the good secrets.”
“Hmm, how does Wednesday sound, then? I’llmake you dinner and then bribe you with dessert for the good secrets.” I wasworried for a moment that it’d come out too flirtatiously, but he chuckled.
“I think that sounds perfect.” There was along pause where I could almost hear him thinking. Waiting was hard, but eventually,he spoke. “I’m sorry I pushed you away. You were a good friend and I shouldn’thave—”
“No apologies.” I let out a breath. “Ishouldn’t have walked away so easily, but at the time it seemed like what youneeded.”
Now I wasn’t so sure.
“Well, that’s in the past, and even thoughI know Matthew would have been frustrated with me, there’s nothing we can donow.” It was Wade’s turn to take a deep breath. “I expect to be moreentertained during our dinner. No apologies and lots of good stories.”
I chuckled. “Deal. Just telling you aboutthe Trouble Twins will leave you in stitches.”
“Who?” He only paused for a second. “Oh,the waiters at the opening. Really good stories?”
The excitement in his voice had me holdingback laughter. “They’d give Austin a run for his money.”
He laughed, and the happy sound made mefeel a thousand feet tall. It was silly, but I’d had such a stressful day I wasgoing to hold on to the feeling as long as I could. Because honestly, if Wadefigured out how much he meant to me, it might be the last time he came over.