29. Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

Skyla

W hen Wesley exits, I have no idea where we are or what we’re doing. Honestly, it could just be that I’m still in a post-orgasm haze. I’ve never had a more enjoyable car ride and probably never will.

He pulls off to the side of the road and parks, reaching into the center console to grab a pair of snow gloves. Now that we aren’t moving, I can see how quickly the snow is falling, and I can’t help but smile.

“Where are we going?” I ask as he hands me the gloves.

“Just come on,” he says as he adjusts his pants once more before opening the door, jogging around the front of the car to grab mine.

I slip on the gloves over my cotton ones as he tucks my arm through his and begins walking me down the street. He begins trying to match my pace as I match his before we begin gently pushing each other and laughing. It’s so easy to spend time with Wesley. He has this very protective and strong nature, but it can just as easily melt away, leaving space for this other lighthearted and goofy side.

A few more steps and, I finally understand why we are here. Dozens and dozens of food trucks block the road, hundreds of people moving from truck to truck with baskets full of food. My eyebrows raise as I look up to Wesley and smile.

“What is this?” I ask.

“The seventh annual food truck fair.” He grins.

Of course, why didn’t I think of it before? There was no way Wesley’s idea of a first date wasn’t going to include hordes of food. My perpetual snacker.

We move through the walkways for a bit before stopping at a street taco truck. We both order two and start munching when we come across a falafel truck. Wesley orders us one to share and that’s pretty much how we spend the next two hours. We laughed, cracked jokes, told stories about us growing up and ate. My God, did we eat.

The portions aren’t huge, thank goodness, but still, after the apple cinnamon churro, the strawberry cheesecake on a stick, chili dog, onion ring tower, and deep-fried cheese wedge, yep, you read that right, I can hardly walk.

Slowly, I practically waddle over to a bench beneath a twinkle lit gazebo. It overlooks the river, and I smile as I stare out over it, my stomach and heart equally stuffed. Wesley takes a seat beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist in an attempt to hold me closer to him.

My eyes instinctually look around.

“Shouldn’t we be careful?” I ask.

He shakes his head and smiles. “I’ve got us covered. Don’t worry.”

I open my mouth to ask how but decide maybe it’s better if I don’t know. I’m starting to see the bright side to women being left out of things in the Brethren. It’s a hell of a lot less stressful.

“Thank you for today,” I smile. “It was a lot of fun.”

“Thanks for coming.”

I drop my smile in faux concern.

“I didn’t have a choice. You were driving.”

He grins and shakes his head, leaning in to press his lips against mine. When he pulls away, his blue eyes are practically twinkling, his blonde hair holding several large flakes of snow.

Suddenly, his gaze becomes a little more serious as his fingers intertwine with my own.

“I know our relationship is unconventional, and you’re obviously in a different place with each of them than you are with me, and I don’t care, but I…I love you,” he says, forcing my heart to do a cartwheel, back flip, and beat out of my chest all at once.

“I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Each day spent with you, that love has grown more and more; all I see is you, all I breathe is you. You’re my entire fucking world. Nothing matters but you, and I hope you’ll let me prove it every day for the rest of our lives because I can’t picture a life without you.”

He lets out a short breath and shakes his head as his eyes come back to me.

“I’ve made mistakes, big ones. But even through all the mistakes in my past and all the mistakes I’ll no doubt make in the future, I’ll never stop loving you.”

I swallow roughly as I look at him. Is it crazy for me to feel the same way? Already? We’ve only known each other for a few months, and already I’m head over heels for this man when I have four others who also hold a piece of my heart. Yes, absofuckinlutly, yes.

“I love you too, Wes. I’ve loved you for longer than I think I even realized. The instant your lips touched mine, I knew that you were that missing piece to the puzzle. The one I didn’t realize was missing until you were right in front of me, and everything was so clear. You were always meant to be here.”

“And I always will be,” he says as he cups my face, bringing me in for a sweet and tender kiss.

I melt into him, lazily wasting minutes, or maybe it’s hours, getting lost in him. It’s never a waste when it’s time with him, though.

It’s been three days since Wesley’s and my food truck date and, honestly, I’m just now getting my appetite back. I was able to eat a small chicken salad for dinner, but that was pretty much it. There is no time to think about anything but the task at hand currently.

I woke up at four in the morning just so I would have enough time to put everything together. I’m just finishing the last swirl of icing on the cake when Ronan walks in, dressed and ready for the day. Meanwhile, I’m in my sleep shorts, tank top, my hair is in a messy bun, and there’s a streak of cake batter across my cheek.

Ronan’s eyes widen as he scans the living room and kitchen. It took me thirty-five minutes just to inflate all of the balloons with one of those helium tanks in the garage. Even longer, embarrassingly enough, to string together the happy birthday banner currently tacked to the wall and then this German chocolate cake…let’s not even talk about it. Why Asher has to love one of the most troubling cakes I’ve ever made is beyond me. Then again, I’m not exactly a world class baker, but at least I tried!

Ronan looks at me, a sweet smile melting across his face as he crosses the room.

“Baby, how long have you been up?”

I glance at the clock and grimace.

“Three hours.”

He shakes his head. “All for Asher’s birthday?”

I shrug. “It’s a big day. He has his ceremony tonight, and I can only imagine whatever that will entail will be…less than pleasant,” I say with a wince. “Then he has to go to a party at his dad’s house and pretend to be happy about officially becoming a member. I thought the least I could do was blow up some balloons and bake him a cake.”

He stares down at me as he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.

“You’re really sweet, do you know that?”

Ronan lifts my chin, bringing my lips to his, when footsteps sound through the kitchen. I scramble away from Ronan, grabbing one of the confetti cannons I bought before handing him one. I get ready to shoot it when I see that it’s just Wesley. He holds up his hands in surrender, and I lower my celebratory weapon.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

“It’s Ash’s birthday. Here,” Ronan says as he hands Wesley a cannon before grabbing another one for himself.

Another set of footsteps come down the stairs. Wait, two. Excitement runs through me as I nod at the guys. They take up their aim just before Liam and Asher stroll into the room, both with a melancholy look on their face. As soon as the confetti cannons go off, Liam’s downcast expression falls away. He looks around, wide-eyed with excitement, as he begins bouncing up and down while Asher remains shocked.

“Happy birthday!” I smile before setting the cannon down and running over to Asher.

Confetti is still fluttering around us, even more going off when Liam gets a hold of one, shooting it off into the air.

“Oh, these are fucking badass!” He laughs.

I wrap my arms around Asher, and he hesitates for a moment before closing his arms around me as well.

“Happy birthday, baby,” I say again, smiling as I pull away to look at him.

Instead of a smile or excitement like I half expected, he looks confused. His eyes roam around the room, from the balloons to the decorations and finally to the cake. His head tilts to the side as he shakes his head.

“What’s all of this?” he asks.

My own smile falters as my brows knit together.

“It’s your birthday…I wanted to do something special. Do you not like it? I can take it down if you—”

“No,” he cuts off quickly. “It’s perfect. It’s…” his words trail off, and I notice a slight gloss to his eyes as he blinks hard and looks at me. “It’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

I smile at that and kiss his cheek. “If you think that’s nice, just wait until you see what I got you for your birthday. Spoiler alert, it’s something that goes on my body that you’ll hopefully take off with your teeth.”

That seems to pull a smile out of him. He lets out a short chuckle as he shakes his head and brings my lips to his, holding me there for several seconds before pulling away.

“That better be a promise,” he practically growls.

“You can count on it.” I wink as Liam begins talking excitedly.

“Ooo, for my birthday, can I have a huge cake?! Each layer a different flavor?! Oh, and one of those balloon arches. They look so badass. And—”

“You’ll get what I give you and like it,” I say sharply, smirking at him as he gives me a goofy grin.

“Fineeee,” he drags out before practically bouncing over to us, planting a huge kiss against Asher’s lips. “Happy birthday, babyboy!”

“Babyboy?” Asher asks with indignation.

“Yeah, Skyla’s nickname is babygirl. You’re babyboy. It’s cute, right?” Liam asks.

“Adorable,” Asher scoffs, though there is no way he can hide that hint of a smile at his lips.

“Alright, birthday boy, babygirl,” he says, facing me. “I think it’s time for a little birthday throuple love, unless you fine gentlemen want to join?” Liam asks Ronan and Wesley.

Ronan lifts an unimpressed brow. “I put up with a lot for Skyla, but I think you can count me out of my nephew’s birthday throuple love session.”

“Ooo, good point.” Liam nods. “Wesley? Care to show Asher how well you can suck a cock?”

An amused laugh bubbles from Wesley as Asher gives him a pinched look. Wesley swaggers towards him, getting so close to Asher that his chest brushes against his.

“Don’t act so disgusted. I remember a moment in that shack that you loved my mouth on your cock,” he says, tilting his head to the side.

“Oh my god! I almost forgot about that,” Liam exclaims. “Fuck, that was hot. Round two?”

Wesley’s eyes don’t leave Asher’s, clearly fucking with him as he runs his tongue over his lips.

“Nah, you both have fun spoiling your boy. Maybe just a kiss for the road,” Wesley says as he grabs the back of Asher’s head and crushes his lips to his. Asher resists the entire time, but it doesn’t stop Wesley from stroking his tongue against his, trying to pry at his restraint.

When Wesley finally pulls away, he sinks his teeth into his lip once more and smirks.

“Take him out of here, too grumpy for my liking.”

“With pleasure,” Liam says as he laces his fingers in Asher’s, dragging him out of the kitchen and back up the stairs.

Asher reaches for me, and I go along with them, laughing at the very jealous look Ronan is giving Wesley right now. Let’s just be honest, Wesley did that 10% to fuck with Asher and 90% to fuck with Ronan.