24
Brick strode through into the pool house, just in time to catch Elias kissing the back of Sterling’s neck as he sat in front of the monitoring system.
He cleared his throat and Elias jumped back. They both turned to stare at him guiltily.
“Um,” Elias said, his eyes widening. “Hey.”
He needed some advice. Part of him wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing in leaving Juliet with Xavier.
You’re trying to be trusting.
Fuck, it was hard though. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Juliet.
No, it was the rich, smart doc that he had problems trusting. He was pretty sure that Xavier had feelings for Juliet. But he’d come here to apologize. And Juliet cared for him.
And Brick was trying to be trusting.
So here he was. But he really needed his best friends to tell him he was doing the right thing. Because what he really wanted to do was storm into the house, grab Juliet, chuck her over his shoulder, take her up to his bedroom and fuck her until she forgot everything but his name.
“Sorry,” Sterling said quickly.
“Why?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. Both men looked sheepish. “I don’t give a shit who you kiss or fuck, so long as you do your job.”
“You really don’t care?” Elias asked.
“Of course not, you idiots.” He gave them an exasperated look, then glanced over the monitors and saw the one with Juliet and Xavier in it. They weren’t doing anything but talking. The knot in his stomach eased. “Besides, anyone with eyes can see the two of you like each other. You need to stop hiding it.”
Sterling and Elias shared a look.
“Guess that tells us,” Sterling muttered.
“I’m surprised you left them alone,” Elias said, seeing where he was looking.
“If I want a real relationship, I need to have trust,” he muttered.
“Where’d you read that?” Sterling asked with a smirk. “Been reading one of those ladies’ magazines?”
Brick shot him the bird. “You think I’ve given them long enough?”
“You know that Juliet cares about you, right?” Elias said to him.
“I know. It’s just they have a history. And the way he reacted the other day . . . it feels like more than friendship.”
“That girl is scarred,” Sterling said. “She doesn’t trust easily, but from the start, all she’s seen is you. She watches you like you’re her world.”
That knot eased inside him.
“Reverse harem,” Elias said on a cough.
Both men stared at him.
“Just saying. Although technically, it would be a ménage. Unless you added another guy.”
Sterling stared at Elias as though he didn’t know him.
The dark-skinned man blushed. “What? I like reading reverse harem books, it’s an escape from real life. It’s not like you haven’t done it before, Brick.”
That was true.