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They were more independent than they made it appear; using the ruse as an excuse to lower Elena’s rent. The girls had spilled the beans that first day when they’d been rebuilding the porch. All three of them had pinky promised not to say a word.
“Got it,” he said with a nod that had her smiling again. Elena made it easy to love her. “Should we grab them some dinner tonight before we steal you away?”
“That’d be awesome.” She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. When they parted, she laid her head on his chest.
“Tired?” he asked, cupping the back of her head as she nestled closer. They were lucky he hadn’t had a chance to get dirty yet today or else she’d be covered in smudges.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” she shared with a yawn.
“None of us could either.” Vinyl smiled when she looked up at him in surprise. “You should have seen Pax hovering over the coffee pot this morning; he was like Gollum with the ring.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He wasn’t sure what it was going to take for Elena to realize they were head over heels for her. He’d thought that this past weekend would have made things clearer, but she still seemed unsure. “We missed you the moment we dropped you off. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that Tanner literally counted the hours until we could pick you up this morning.”
Instead of smiling like he thought she would, Elena frowned.
“What?” He tilted her face up until she was looking at him. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shake of her head, her eyes dropping to his chest tattoo where it peaked above his neckline.
“Don’t lie,” he warned, reminding her of the ground rules they’d all agreed to over the weekend. Communication was at the top of the list, especially in a relationship like theirs. “We’ve got to be honest with each other if we want this to work. So, spill it. What’s worrying you?”
She dropped her head forward, plastering her face against his chest. “It’s stupid.”
“Spill.”
“What if you guys—” Elena looked up, a myriad of emotions flashing across her face. “What if you change your mind?”
“Change our minds about what?”
“What if after a couple nights you guys get sick of me?”
“That’s not gonna happen,” he promised, giving her a squeeze when she went to step back. There was no way he wasletting go now. It might take a little while for her to believe it, but the three of them weren’t going to let her down. They already loved her. “We’re going to work on you believing that darlin’.”
“Still,” she sighed. “We should have a code word or something to tell each other if it happens.”
“You want a code word to break up?” he asked, more than a little confused.
“Not to break up,” she argued with a shake of her head. “Just something that can be used if you need some space.”
“Space?”
“You know…like if I am overstaying my welcome.” Her fingers nervously fiddled with the stitching around his name tag, plucking at a loose thread. “Something that means, ‘no hard feelings but maybe we need a breather’.”
“First, that will nevereverhappen.” He put his hand over hers, calming her fingers. She was so anxious he could practically taste it. “But if it did, why wouldn’t we just be able to say that?”
“I don’t know.” Elena shrugged, looking everywhere but at him. “Maybe because it’s nicer to hear some random word like ‘Pegasus’ instead of, ‘I don’t like you anymore. Get out.’”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Hang on a second, sugar,” Vinyl told her as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “Looks like you need some convincing.”
“What’re you doing?” she asked, eyeing the device.
“Calling for backup,” he answered, keeping one hand on her hip as he texted. “This is something we all need to be present for.”
“Now?” Elena looked around the room. She didn’t think that was a good idea. They had the space to themselves but outside the door it was business as usual. “Can’t this wait until later? You know, when we’re not at the garage and supposed to be working.”
