Chapter 29

Cole didn"t look worried, but he also didn"t look like he knew what Toby needed us for. Taking my cue from him, I decided not to worry too much. Instead, I followed him to his car, Oliver"s hand on my lower back. I slipped into the front passenger seat, Oliver in the backseat, behind me.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Cole slipped into the driver"s seat and shrugged. "I only have an address. I"ll take us there now." He started the engine and backed the car out of the space.

I looked behind me and shared a smile with Oliver. He was clearly thinking the same thing I was. Remembering Toby catching us out in the car park near the surgery. That led me to remember what we"d almost been caught doing.

The memory of Oliver fucking me in the back of my car made my heart race like crazy. No denying I"d missed him. I"d missed all of them, their hands, their mouths, their cocks.

I turned back around and watched out the window as Opal Springs passed by. We drove from the centre of town out to a more affluent suburb.

Cole pulled up in front of a large house and took out his phone to double check the address. "This is the place."

I exchanged another look with Oliver before removing my seatbelt and climbing out of the car.

I"d just closed the door behind me when Toby stepped out of the front of the house. He spread his arms out wide.

"Welcome," he said with a grin. "I was hoping you"d like this place as much as I do."

I eyed the house, then him, doubtfully. "No way in the world you moved that fast."

He laughed. "Nope. I"ve had this in the works for a while, but if you don"t like it, I can sell it and buy a different one." He sounded like he was talking about changing a pair of shoes. I supposed when you had enough money, a house was no big deal.

"I"ve gone past this place a bunch of times," Cole said. "It looks amazing from the outside."

Toby held up a handful of keys and jiggled them back and forth. "Let"s take a look on the inside, shall we?"

"Is this your grand gesture?" Cole asked him.

"It might be," Toby said.

"If it is, you planned to get in trouble in advance," Oliver pointed out. "Either you knew you"d fuck up or you like to have something up your sleeve." He seemed as though he wasn"t sure if he should be impressed or not.

"Or I just needed somewhere to live," Toby suggested. He opened the door and stepped inside, leaving us to follow.

The entry foyer to the house was large, but not overwhelming. It could have felt cold, sterile and unwelcoming. Instead, it was cozy and warm. Both in temperature and in look. The floors were covered in mid-tone hardwood, which wasn"t brand-new, but it wasn"t tired either.

"There"s an office through there, kitchen that way." Toby pointed. "This is what I wanted to show you first." He stopped in front of a pair of tall timber doors. He gripped the handles and slid them to either side, into the cavities in the wall.

Breath whooshed out of me.

"Holy shit."

Toby moved aside to let me walk a couple of steps and stand just inside the large room. Floor to ceiling were covered in bookcases. Leaning against one was a ladder on a rail that continued all the way around the room. Comfy chairs were scattered here or there beside low tables.

"This is incredible," I whispered, not wanting to shatter the moment. It was the perfect place to relax and read, and forget the rest of the world. The kind of room I"d dreamt of having since I was a kid.

Admittedly, my imagination pictured a secret door, but this was almost as good.

"It would be more incredible if there were books in here," Oliver said.

"Here"s what I"m thinking," Toby said. "It"ll take years to fill those shelves. That gives us something to work towards. And a good reason to buy all the books."

"Years?" I questioned. "I think you might be underestimating my ability to collect books." Give me one or two good book events and I could make some reasonable headway here.

"Luckily this place has lots of rooms," Toby said. "And enough land to extend the house. We could make a library as big as you want." He stretched his hands out wide.

"This is amazing, but I don"t know that it"s as simple as giving me somewhere to store books," I said.

He was trying, I"d give him that. And they were, after all, books.

"Lucky for me, I have something else to show you," Toby said.

"She"s seen your cock," Oliver said.

"She"s seen yours too, and judging by the body language, that wasn"t enough for her to forgive you either," Toby told him.

"I"m still working on it," Oliver muttered.

"Yeah, well, come this way." Toby took my hand and led me out of the library.

"Don"t tell me this place has its own rink," I said.

"You can tell me that," Cole said softly. "I"ve always wanted my own rink." Apparently whatever Toby"s plans were, Cole was all in.

"Not yet," Toby said. "I might buy the house next door, tear it down and put in a rink. Let"s put that in the ‘maybe' basket."

I walked with him to the enormous kitchen. The cabinets were light timber, the island covered in white, veined marble. All of the appliances were big and obviously new. A chef could make a feast in here.

As for me, I could feel fancy while cooking ramen noodles or Vegemite on toast. I had many skills and interests, but cooking wasn"t one of them. I preferred to eat. Although, I could make a mean margarita. Priorities.

From the island, Toby picked up a couple of sheets of paper. He handed them to me, an intense expression on his face.

I took them from him, adjusted my glasses and scanned the first page.

"You"re—"

"Applying for Australian citizenship," Toby finished for me. "I wanted you to know I"m not going anywhere. This is my home now. Here, with you. All three of you. Like I said, if you don"t like this place, we can find somewhere else. But you ain"t getting rid of me that easy."

"That"s wonderful," I said. I blinked away sudden tears.

In the back of my mind, I thought he might go back to America at some point and we"d never see him again. Part of my reluctance to forgive him was fear that as soon as I did, he"d be gone. That would break my heart all over again. And Cole"s.

"Yeah, it is," Cole agreed. "I"m glad you"re not going anywhere." He draped an arm over my shoulder and one over Toby"s. He kissed me, then he kissed the other player. "I love you both."

"I love you too," I told him.

"Yeah, love you, bro," Toby told him. "Oliver, you"re like the big brother I never had."

"Thank you for not saying I"m like a father to you," Oliver said, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.

Toby chuckled. "Nah, one father is enough." He took the papers from my hand and placed them back on the island. "I have one more surprise for you. Wait here." He hurried out of the room, towards the front of the house.

Voices came from that direction, followed by the front door closing.

Toby stepped back into the kitchen, a food delivery bag in his hand. Giving me a meaningful look, he placed it down on the counter and opened it. He stuck in his hand and pulled out a hamburger wrapped in wax paper. He turned it around and opened it slowly. The burger on the palm of his hand, he held it up for all of us to see.

"Observe, a perfectly good hamburger with beetroot on it. I"m going to eat all of this, just for Marley. No matter how disgusting and potentially sacrilegious it is."

Oliver leaned his hip against the island and crossed his arms. "Don"t let us stop you."

"Wait," I said. I pulled out my phone and opened the camera. "I feel like this is a good time to record the moment for a future giggle." I nodded at Toby to go ahead and eat.

He grimaced, but bit into the burger. His look of disgust was one of the funniest things I"d seen in a long time.

"How the fuck do you eat that?" he asked with his mouth still full. He chewed quickly and swallowed. "The shit we do for love." He took another bite and another, and went on eating until all of the burger was gone.

"Are you reconsidering applying for citizenship?" I asked. "I mean, if you"re going to be one of us, you"ll have to learn to eat those."

"Hell yes, and hell no," Toby said. "I"m never eating that again. By the way, I bought burgers for all of you too, if you"re finished laughing at me."

I responded by playing back the video and giggling at the look on his face. When it was finished, I started it again.

"Eating that shit was totally worth it to see you smile," Toby said. He pulled out the rest of the burgers and handed them around.

"That"s good, because if Kage saw this, he"d be furious," I said. "You guys eating hamburgers during the season." I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

The fact Oliver hadn"t lectured him already was another surprise. I had a suspicion he enjoyed watching Toby as much as I had. Cole too, although he was standing off to the side, looking bemused.

"Still worth it," Toby said. "Only… I"m out of grand gestures. Although, I could try to contact that author you love so much and see if I get an advance copy of her rugby romance book? I know some people."

"I wouldn"t say no to that," I said. I glanced down at the burger in my hand.

I took a few moments to collect my thoughts and understand the way I was feeling. I didn"t want to tell him what he wanted to hear unless I was completely sure of it myself. If I did that, the lie would be worse than the one they told me. I wasn"t going to do that to them or to myself. I especially wasn"t going to do that to my baby. They deserved the best start in life, including being surrounded by adults who cared enough to be honest with each other. Wasn"t that what every kid needed?

I looked back up slowly. "I like the way this feels. Being here with you. I like this house. I love the library."

"I love you," Toby said.

I smiled softly at him and said, "I love you too. But if you ever do anything like what you did, ever again, I will send that footage to Kage and maybe the Internet as a whole."

The video would go viral in a matter of hours, if not minutes. He was famous enough that people would love seeing it.

"Ohhh, blackmail, I like it." Toby grinned. He pressed a hand to his chest, over his heart. "I solemnly swear I will never be a dickhead like that again. I"ve learned my lesson. I"m going to be a good guy from now on. I don"t want to lose you." He wound his arms around me and kissed me gently.

"I don"t want you to lose me either," I said. I kissed him back, lightly at first but quickly getting deeper.

Oliver"s phone pinged with an incoming message. "Shit."