Chapter Fifty-One

Corey Takes All The Credit

Crossbody

Somehow, two full days passed before Vince remembered to actually call Holt back.

It was Sunday evening, and we were once again lounging in his bed, where we’d spent most of the weekend. Rob had actually asked Vince if he could have Lady Potato for a couple more days, gods only knew why, so we had decided to stay at Vince’s for the weekend.

Both of us were naked—unsurprisingly—as we ate greasy, squished burgers and watched reality television. Vince had told me that all he’d wanted when he was a kid was a TV in his bedroom, that it had seemed like the height of luxury to him at the time, so it had been one of the first things he’d bought when he got his own place.

“You like it?” he asked through his mouthful, nodding at the half-eaten burger in my hand.

“Mmm.” It was, quite possibly, the best thing I’d ever eaten. Grilled beef and melted cheese and pickles. Lettuce that should have been disgusting, because it was starting to go soggy, and a soft brioche bun that squashed too easily under my fingers, which were covered in meat juice and some kind of tangy sauce.

I took another huge bite, relaxing deeper onto the bed. My head was resting on the front of Vince’s shoulder, his arm draped around my neck and over my chest.

I never wanted to move. I’d never been this comfortable.

Why hadn’t I ever considered eating in bed before? And having a television in my bedroom? This was bliss.

Vince chuckled, kissing the top of my head. “I’ll take you out for pizza this week.”

Yes, I had, I was ashamed to admit, never tried pizza before. I’d never seen Vince more horrified than when I’d told him, after he asked me what I wanted for dinner.

I’d gone with burgers though, wanting to try them after remembering that conversation with Corey in the bar a while back. Last night, Vince had made us a huge bowl of fettuccine alfredo, and Friday night, we’d had Chinese food. I had tried that before, but only from an upscale restaurant downtown. Not takeout.

The takeout had been better.

I finished my burger and wiped my fingers clean with a napkin, then reached for our beer bottles on the nightstand. Another new experience for me, and another delicious one. It was cold and fizzy and almost earthy in taste, far more refreshing than water after the saltiness of the burger.

I passed Vince his beer and took a long gulp of mine, snuggling deeper into his side, my eyelids drooping with satiation as I gazed at the TV. It was like I’d only ever experienced this world through a foggy lens before, and now Vince had taken that lens off to make me see everything in full colour.

“I’m going to feel so sluggish at work tomorrow,” I mumbled drowsily between swallows of beer. “I never eat like this. And I haven’t worked out in… over a week.”

“Neither have I, but I always just bounce back.” Vince tipped his bottle to swallow the last of his beer. “Always got too much energy to burn off anyway.”

I smiled, turning my head to kiss his bicep. I loved his body—lean and wiry and almost sinewy. Raw strength and restless energy packed into a compact frame.

I had always been lanky, and royal fae weren’t supposed to do exercise that involved brute strength. We were only to partake in genteel activities like horse riding and fencing, so I’d been slim until I’d started secretly training with Corey all those years ago. Now, I outweighed Vince by seventy pounds and I was a good few inches taller, but I knew he could easily overpower me.

Mainly because I’d happily let him.

Encourage it, even.

I loved it.

I loved him.

Vince held back a burp as he leaned over to set down his empty beer bottle and pick up his phone. After glancing at the screen, he grunted. “Shit, should probably call Holt back.”

I laughed, tilting my head to look up at him. “You still haven’t?”

“I was a little distracted.” He smirked at me, making heat prickle up my throat as I smiled back.

When we hadn’t been eating and sleeping over the last couple of days, we’d been fucking. Last night, I’d sucked his cock as slowly as he’d let me while sinking two fingers inside him, stroking his prostate until he was shaking and fucking my mouth. Within ten minutes of waking up this morning, I was riding his cock while he lounged back against the headboard and let his hands roam sleepily over every inch of me he could reach. Smoothing up my thighs, splaying over my ass, thumbing my nipples, until he tugged me closer so he could suck on them while I cradled his head and moaned breathlessly, panting out his name. Then he’d extended that long tongue and curled it around my stiff prick as it bounced against his stomach with my feverish movements. I’d cried out, grinding onto his cock even faster while he lapped at me until I was shaking and spurting onto his tongue.

“Guess I better call him back.” Vince scrubbed a hand over his face, then shoved his messy dark hair back. “I did text him to let him know everything went okay, but he keeps calling. Wait, he’s left a voicemail…”

He tapped his phone screen, and Holt’s voice came through the speakerphone a few seconds later.

“Hi, Vince,” he began pleasantly, “it’s me. Holt. You’re not answering my calls, so maybe you’ve forgotten who I am. Holt. It’s Holt. I’m Holt. Your beloved manager? Your benevolent boss who gave you a week off at the last minute? I’m actually quite eager to find out how Crossbody’s doing and if he’s okay after everything that happened, so if you could just… oh, I don’t know, remove your abnormally long tongue from down his throat for five fucking minutes to call me back and let me know he’s actually well, I’d appreciate it.” There was a rustling sound before his voice returned and he hastily added, “Oh, and just as an aside, Larkin accidentally told everyone that you two are… you know, a thing. It was not my fault. It was Larkin. Blame Larkin.”

In the background of the voicemail, there was a faint whine followed by “What the fuck, boss!”

“I don’t know if you two wanted to keep it a secret for now,” Holt went on, his voice accompanied by a continuous scratchy sound, like he was filing his nails. “But, well, that ship has fucking sailed. Oh, and can you let Crossbody know that FAE BOYZ have delivered all the samples to his address? They said they included some of the new stuff from their masc lingerie range, and that they’re eager to get the photoshoot all booked in, so when he’s back at work we can talk about it.”

Vince was looking at me with an extremely interested expression at the mention of the FAE BOYZ brand and lingerie. I cleared my throat, my cheeks growing warm, and pretended to be focusing very hard on Holt’s voicemail.

“Axel called and let me know it all went well,” he was saying. “And he said you threw a cake at the Spring Queen’s face. Did you actually do that? I don’t know why I’m asking you this over voicemail. Anyway, let me know when you’re both coming ba— fuck , I just spilled an entire fucking bottle of nail polish over my fucking desk. Larkin! Help me! Will you—”

The voicemail finally cut off. Vince put his phone down, took my beer bottle from me to set it on the nightstand, then rolled me underneath him as he grinned down at me.

“FAE BOYZ?” he asked with interest. “The underwear brand?”

I blushed, trailing my fingers up his sides. “I agreed to do a sponsorship deal with them. Holt basically forced me into it.” Nibbling my lower lip, I finally admitted to the secret I’d been keeping from him. “Vince, I need to tell you… I asked Holt to pair us up for that first match,” I rushed out.

“What?” He blinked down at me.

“I went and asked him after I… after that night in the training room, when I…”

“Sucked my dick so good I almost blacked out?” he rasped, leaning down to kiss my neck.

“Yes, but—Vince, focus!” He huffed and lifted his head, so I continued. “I just felt like… I wanted to try and get some control back. But I shouldn’t have manipulated the situation like that. I’m sorry.”

He gazed down at me for a second, then shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t care.”

It was my turn to blankly ask, “What?”

“I mean, I probably would’ve been pissed if I’d found this out at the time, but…” He shrugged. “How can I get mad about it now? None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t done that.” Grinning, he dipped his head again to nuzzle my mouth and teasingly murmured, “You just wanted to spend time with me, huh?”

“Shut up.” My face went hot. “I did not . Not then. At least… not consciously. Except I… I have always struggled to stay away from you,” I admitted, tracing patterns on his skin with my fingertips. “And I spent most of my time at work thinking about you. How much I hated you, but still.”

He gazed down at me solemnly, dipping his chin in a single nod after a long moment. “Yeah. Same.”

Gaze drifting over my face, he reached up and gently tucked my hair behind my ear, then cupped the side of my neck and leaned down to kiss me. It was softer and sweeter than his usual kisses—just a light, almost chaste press of lips.

Then, as he pulled back, he shot me a dirty grin and shifted lower to start kissing his way down my neck to my chest. These kisses were filthier, his tongue stroking my skin, teeth lightly scraping. My breath caught, hands slipping through his hair.

“Now, tell me more about this photoshoot with the underwear brand,” he said slyly, grinning up at me. “And I’m very interested in them sending you lingerie. You gonna model it for me, your highness?”

My fangs sank into my lower lip as I grinned. “You know I’ll do whatever you want.”

His smile turned a little dark and feral, but the kiss he dropped on my chest was tender and affectionate. “I know.”

“You were supposed to call Holt back,” I said with a chuckle as he kept making his way lower, nuzzling my stomach and swirling his tongue around my navel.

He groaned, pausing to glance up at me. “Why don’t we go in to watch the show tonight? We can talk to him then.”

I fumbled around on the bed for his phone and lifted it so the screen illuminated, showing me that it was only seven thirty. I dropped the phone to clutch his hair again, nodding eagerly.

“Alright. Yes.” That still gave him plenty of time to keep going.

And he knew it. With another wicked grin, he shifted even lower until his head vanished under the comforter.

—

“Well.”

In unison, Vince and I looked up from the couch outside Holt’s office at the sound of the door opening and the deep, familiar voice that followed.

Corey stood there in his wrestling outfit—his tiny pink briefs and little cape—with his huge arms crossed and his sage green skin shimmering with a healthy layer of body glitter.

“Well, well, well,” he continued, sauntering closer.

Behind the desk in the corner, Larkin glanced up and gave us a sympathetic and mildly apologetic wince. He was sitting on Seb’s lap in the desk chair, and Cora was nestled in his arms, trying to stretch her neck far enough to eat the cookie on his desk.

Vince rested a protective hand on my knee and squeezed. “Corey—”

“I don’t know why I was surprised when I found out,” the orc said stiffly, and we both tensed. We’d suspected he might be angry that we hadn’t told him we were fucking while having our therapy sessions.

Then his face broke into a huge smile. “I should never doubt myself. I should never have doubted that I couldn’t reconcile the two of you. I am just. That. Brilliant.”

I pursed my lips to hold back my smile, managing a solemn nod. “We appreciate your help, Corey.”

“What?” Vince made a face. “We’d already fucked at least twice before we even started the thera—”

I covered his hand with mine and gave it a meaningful squeeze, which made him stop abruptly.

“You helped us work through some things that were… affecting us both,” I told Corey, and I actually meant it. He may not have been the reason we got together, but his well-intentioned therapy sessions had helped us. They’d given us the space to interact, to talk without it simply devolving into another shouting match.

To apologise to each other.

“That’s true,” Vince eventually said, giving Corey a crooked smile. “Thanks, Corey.”

“Just doing what the universe intended of me,” he replied airily, waving a hand as Holt appeared behind him, wandering out of his office. “I have a duty to spread this… positive energy just blooming inside me. God, maybe I should write a book. Do you think I should write a book? No, that’s silly, right? Or is it? Oh god, am I doing this? I think I just talked myself into it.”

“It’s still so, like, weird to see you two like… this.” Larkin gestured at our linked hands resting on my thigh. “Crossbody, bro, you should’ve seen how frantic Vince was when you didn’t come into work. He went all weird.”

“Wouldn’t leave my office,” Holt said, leaning a shoulder on the doorframe with his hands in his pockets. I glanced at Vince to see a purplish flush staining his pale cheeks.

“Told me to kick in your door when you wouldn’t answer,” Seb added calmly, resting his chin on Larkin’s shoulder as he scritched behind Cora’s ear.

“Yeah, well, fuck me for caring, right?” Vince was still blushing, his voice rough with embarrassment. Chest warming with affection, I silently leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“See?” Larkin immediately burst out. “It’s so weird. You two hated each other.”

“Nah, they just took a long time to realise they wanted to fuck each other,” Holt said conversationally, just as Taylor walked into the room. “Hi, babe.”

“Hi, honey.” He glanced at us nervously, giving us a tiny smile. “Um, honey, you probably shouldn’t talk about your employees’… personal relations like that.”

Holt snorted. “They know I’m right.” His expression sobered as he focused on me, shooting me a small smile. “You okay? We were worried about you.”

I willed my cheeks not to heat. “I’m fine. But I appreciate the… concern.”

He nodded, straightening and nodding at his office behind him. “Shall we go talk about everything?”

“What?” Larkin whined as Vince and I stood. “Why can’t you just talk about it here? Corey always says we’re like a family, right? Family shouldn’t have secrets.”

“Says the biggest fucking blabbermouth in the entire fucking company,” Holt said dryly. “Who was secretly hooking up with my bodyguard for weeks before he told me.”

“That’s different!” Larkin protested, his cheeks flaming dark blue.

“How?” Corey asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“Because… because Seb and I love each other! We’re in love.” He wrapped his arms around Seb’s neck and peppered kisses all over the side of the stoic werewolf’s face. “So it’s different. We didn’t tell anyone at first because we were falling in love . That shit’s private.”

“We’re in love too.” Vince slipped an arm around my waist and tugged me into his side. “I love the fucking shit out of him. So our shit’s private too.”

“Oh my god,” Corey murmured, his eyes growing glassy with tears as he rested a hand on his chest and gazed at us. “Have you ever heard anything so romantic?”

“Ever the poet, Vince,” Holt said dryly, then gestured at his office again. “So. Shall we? I’m particularly interested in hearing about the cake-throwing incident.”

“Cake-throwing?” Larkin immediately asked, perking up in Seb’s lap. “Who threw a cake? At what? Where?”

I followed Holt and Vince into the office, pausing at the door to glance over at the young fae.

“Vince threw a cake at my mother’s face,” I told him, then closed the door behind me.