21. Let’s All Do Face Masks Together

Gavin

I'm not in the habit of policing my friends. But I'm also not in the mood for the next week to be awkward as hell. Best to get Hollis's crush as out in the open as Rhys's.

As I'm picking the main attraction for this awesome butternut squash bowl recipe I know I will make so much better than the guy on the video, Hollis clears his throat. "So listen, Viscount, there's something I wanted to let you know."

Rhys gives him a faux thoughtful look. "You don't like to wear pants around the house?"

"Nope. It's shirts Hollis doesn't like to wear," I correct as we head toward the kale.

"Thanks for the reminder. I never would have known," Rhys deadpans.

"Anyway," Hollis says, like he's trying again as I grab some of the leafy vegetable.

"Wait, wait. Is this when you admit you've been hoping we'd all do face masks together tonight, Hollis?" Rhys asks.

I snap my gaze to Rhys. "What's wrong with face masks?"

"Nothing," Hollis says, answering first. "The ones with aloe vera vitamins are great for puffy eyes."

"Yeah, those are good. But caffeine eye masks are better for puffiness," I put in.

"Shit. Really?" Hollis asks with genuine curiosity.

I nod. "Definitely. You gotta try some."

Rhys peers at us like we're putting him on. "Both of you do face masks? Both?"

Hollis claps a hand on Rhys's shoulder. "I think the more apt question is—you don't?"

Rhys shakes his head. "No. I bloody don't."

"Just for that, I'm getting face masks for everyone tonight. Yes, I am that generous," I say, then I navigate the cart out of produce and toward the toiletry aisle, hoping Hollis gets his crush confession out now.

It's complicated enough that they're both into our temporary roommate. Worse that I am too. But I'm not going to do a damn thing about my own nascent feelings other than quash them. Nothing gets in the way of hockey for me.

Some guys say hockey is life. I say it and I mean it. Hockey isn't just my job. It's how I survived that house where I grew up. I won't ever call that two-bedroom ranch house a home. After a semi-truck jackknifed into my parents' car one snowy day in Madison, Wisconsin when I was five and my mom's never-wanted-kids sister and her mean-as-a-cobra husband reluctantly took me in, the only home I've ever had is the one I found on the ice.

The teams I play with.

The guys who depend on me on the rink.

No way am I going to pursue a woman who teaches our cross-town rivals, who my center is obsessed with, who my team's winger has a crush on. These guys are my closest friends on the team—hell, they're like the brothers I never had. Chasing a woman we're all connected to in a tangled way is just asking for trouble.

What Hollis does is his business, but he'd better deal with the topic soon. I shoot him a get on with it look.

He gives a quick nod of acknowledgement, then shifts his focus to Rhys. "Anyway, Rhys, I could wait till we have charcoal and grapefruit on our faces, but listen," he says, squaring his shoulders, but not like he's posturing—more like he knows it's time to man up. "I'm into Briar too."

I brace myself for the fallout. I want everyone to get along. That's why I insisted Hollis do this when we were all running the errand. So I could run interference if need be.

I pause the cart, watching Rhys. His expression is blank for several long seconds. This is bad.

"That so?" Rhys asks Hollis with zero emotions.

"And I know you are too," Hollis says, unperturbed by Rhys's cool reaction. "So I wanted you to know."

"That's very interesting." It's said like Rhys is gearing up for…something.

Before things get heated, I cut in. "Guys, she's a friend of ours and a guest. You can't just compete for her."

Hollis snort-laughs as he turns my way. "Who said anything about competing?"

I jerk my gaze back and forth to Rhys's dark eyes, then Hollis's light ones. "Well, aren't you?"

Am I reading the room all wrong?

Rhys chuckles too. "Just because we both like her doesn't mean we have to compete."

"Okaaaay." I'm lost.

Rhys claps Hollis on the shoulder with an approving smile. "We always did have great taste, didn't we?"

"Still do," Hollis says with a laugh.

I'm so lost. "What the fuck is happening here?"

Hollis gives me a shrug and a smile. "We sometimes share."

I…freeze. I was not expecting that answer, and I'm unsteady as I respond with a strangled, "You…do? Like girlfriends? You share a girlfriend? Like Stefan and Hayes with their wife?"

Presumably, Ivy was their girlfriend first. I'm not sure how Ivy, Stefan, and Hayes all came together, just that they were a throuple when I landed on the team. Maybe that's what Rhys and Hollis mean?

Rhys shakes his head. "Nothing that serious. More like a night out, a party—that sort of thing. Well, once we realized we had the same excellent taste."

I can't let this go. "When was that?"

"Back in college," Hollis answers easily.

"You didn't go to the same school." I point at his chest, like I've caught them on a technicality, but really, I'm just intrigued.

"But we played each other a lot," Rhys says. "So…"

Translation: we hung out together after and met women.

Which, yeah. I've done that after games too. But never in tandem with another guy.

There's a funny tightness in my chest. Not because they shared. But because they never mentioned it to me. "You never said?—"

"Dude. We don't kiss and tell. Or fuck and tell," Hollis says to me, like he's explaining how basic arithmetic works.

Then it hits me—I'm not annoyed they didn't mention their kinks. I feel a little foolish. Like they have access to some secret room I never knew existed. A hidden library behind the stairs that they were sneaking into while I slept. "Are you two actually planning to share Briar?"

Rhys laughs, not meanly. Still, I can't help but feel he's laughing at me. "That, mate, is entirely up to her. It's always up to the woman," he says, like the cool expert who knows how sharing is done.

And, really, I suppose he does.

"It's Briar's call," Hollis adds. "Whatever she wants. Whether it's him. Or me. Or neither. It's all up to her. Nothing…or everything. Right, Viscount?"

"Right," Rhys confirms.

I'm suddenly getting an unexpected education. But I'm finding rules aren't all I want to know. There's a question that keeps repeating in my brain like a snippet of a song you hear over and over.

I should hold back. Really, I should. But curiosity has gotten the better of me. "Why? Why do you like to share?"

The question makes me feel vulnerable, but I've got to sate this curiosity.

Rhys smiles fondly, like he's remembering a good night. "Because there's nothing hotter than a woman overwhelmed by pleasure."

Hollis clears his throat importantly. "Well, the only thing hotter is when you're the ones to overwhelm her."

Rhys lifts a finger his way, like he's saying Hollis has made an excellent point. "Yes. You're right. That. That is hotter."

I wheel around and grab a bunch of face masks so they can't see me as I picture our guest. Good thing we'll have these masks tonight. Maybe underneath this pink grapefruit goo, it won't be obvious that I'm imagining how Briar would look…overwhelmed.

When we return home, Briar is stretched out on the couch, tapping away on her laptop, a pleased look on her face. Is that how she looks when she's devastated by pleasure?

Her gaze lands on me. "Ready, Gavin?"

I gulp.

I have no idea what I'm ready for. All I know is this next week in the cottage just got a whole lot more interesting.