Page 18 of Forever Theirs

The harsh scrape of chair legs along the beaten and sticky floor cut off whatever she was about to expose. Aiden took a single, menacing step toward Jessica. Anger and violence vibrated off him.

In a blink, the fake confidence was gone. Jessica’s eyes went wide with fear as she stumbled back a step, knocking into a table of locals who yelled at her to back the fuck off.

“Get the fuck out of here now, you fucking cunt.” Fuck, he was pissed. Crimson highlighted his cheeks, and his chest heaved with every labored breath. I knew it was her remarking on my damage that sent him straight into a rage. She could’ve said anything about him, and he wouldn’t have reacted, but come after me, and you got the side of Aiden hardly anyone knew existed.

Rounding the table, he put himself between the two women. With the threat to Aspen minimized, I turned my attention to her, expecting to find… fuck, I had no clue how she’d react to the shit Jessica just exposed about our type of relationship and my issues. Brows raised in surprise, I nodded in approval at the evident frustration on Aspen’s face.

Huh.

Was she mad at us because of Jessica’s revelation? Or was it because the obsessed woman interrupted our fun night?

Sliding my phone from my pocket, I shot off a quick text to Oliver and his dad, the sheriff, letting them know Jessica was here and causing a scene. Though I knew the others around us, who were clearly annoyed with the drama, had already contacted them too.

Careful not to touch her, Aiden herded Jessica away from our table and toward the door. Once they were a safe distance away, I slid the last potato skin from our earlier order closer to Aspen.

“You should eat that.” As if lost in her own thoughts, she startled at my words. Her head swung around, cutting off her view of Aiden escorting Jessica outside. “You have to be starving. I know I am.”

“I already ate my two. Eat it,” she said distractedly and chanced another look over her shoulder.

I stiffened when the door swung open, afraid it was Jessica coming back for round two, but it was Oliver. He hitched his chin my way, letting me know he was there, and stepped back outside to hopefully help Aiden.

“So, are we going to talk about that or act like some random woman didn’t just interrupt our night and drop some massive information bombs?”

I rubbed at my jaw, not releasing her questioning gaze. “Do youwantto talk about all that?” With a single knuckle, I inched the plate to the very edge of the table in front of her.

She shot me a grin and rolled her eyes at my insistence.

“Doyouwant to talk about all that?” she countered before taking a bite of the fully loaded potato skin. Her lids closed as she chewed, a soft, happy moan escaping. Watching her lips, combined with the sound, created visions of her doing that around my cock. I cleared my throat and adjusted my stiffening dick to keep it from painfully pressing against the zipper of my jeans. “You were right. I am starving, despite these delicious potato skins.” With a single finger, she slid the laminated menu between us. “How about we order some of those elk nachos next? You both mentioned they were good here.”

My lips twitched before the smile I failed to contain broke free. “Yeah, we can, though we’ll need three orders. Aiden and I can take down a plate each all on our own.”

Leaning back in the chair, I folded both arms over my chest, loving the way her dark eyes zeroed in on where the long sleeves were pushed up. I gave my forearms a quick flex, though showing off backfired when she licked her lips like she wanted to taste my inked skin, sending every drop of blood in my body rushing to my cock.

Looking at the ceiling instead of her tempting mouth, I counted to ten, giving myself time to calm down before I lunged across the table and kissed the life out of her. “And no, I don’t particularly want to talk about the shit show that just went down, but I feel you have questions and, frankly, deserve an explanation.”

Aspen held up a hand. “You don’t owe me anything if you’re not ready to explain or share.” She shoved the last bite of potato skin into her mouth and chewed while studying me, a slew of questions in her eyes. “But…”

“But you have questions about that little relationship statement Jessica dropped.”

“Well, yeah. Who wouldn’t?” I nodded in agreement and gestured for her to ask whatever she wanted to know. “First, let’s start with the obvious and most glaring question. Is that true about you and Aiden sharing?”

I held her stare and nodded, keeping a composed façade, even though I was anything but calm.

She swallowed hard, jerking her attention to Jubie before taking a sip of her beer. “That’s… interesting.”

I huffed a laugh. “Interesting?That’s all you have to say when you just found out the two guys you’re having drinks with like to share the same woman?” I leaned in close and made sure her attention was fully on me. “In every way, Aspen. There is no choosing between us. It’s both of us or nothing.”

Her lips parted, and with the tip of her thumb, she swiped at the corners as if checking for drool. “Okay, that revelation is a bit more than interesting, but I will say I’m not really shocked.” Both my brows flew up my forehead in surprise. “Aiden mentioned the man who started Uplift had two partners, a man and a woman. It made me think the rumors and whispers about there being an open-minded poly-type community in Anchor Bay were aboutyourcommunity.”

Condensation slicked my fingertips. The slippery glass spun along the table as I twisted it back and forth. “Nowthatis interesting. I didn’t know there were rumors about us floating around. Where did you hear that?”

Both her shoulders rose in a shrug. “Social media.”

“Ah.” Inhaling deeply through my nose, I worked through how to explain it to her. “Our community, which I now consider family, is unique in a lot of ways—our multi-partner relationship views being just one of them.” I finished my water and pushed the glass away. “We prefer that relationship style for various reasons.”

I eyed the empty glass, wishing it would magically fill back up. My throat felt like sandpaper from talking so damn much. Fuck, that was a lot of words at one time. I had always been reserved, the observer between me and Aiden. He held up the conversations, made women laugh, and was usually the one to explain our unique lifestyle. Not me. I was the silent protector who faded into the background, which I normally preferred. Where Aiden couldn’t stand silence, I savored it and was more than okay with him being the center of the women’s attention when we shared.

Unless it came to Aspen.

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