Page 71 of Triple Threat

It took a while, and when I was finished, I changed into something more familiar since coming to the mansion, a light, amethyst silk, tank dress with spaghetti straps, the asymmetrical hem edged in actual amethyst beads weighting the material enough to keep it from floating up with the slightest of breezes.

I found Roan in the kitchen where we had a light meal sitting at the counter talking quietly, our mood slightly somber knowing that this was it… tomorrow would either be a day to myself or I belonged to Lach for the next three days.

I was trying not to think about it too much, and desperate for a distraction I asked Roan quietly what movie we were going to watch tonight. He smiled, genuinely pleased and said, “Anything in particular you would like to watch?” I shook my head.

“I liked the bridge movie, what else have you got?”

“Any objections to spaghetti westerns?” he asked, and I smiled and shook my head.

“None at all.”

“Alright then.”

We cleaned up together, went to the living room, and resumed our comfortable positions on the couch, only this time, Roan laid on his back, tucking me on my back between his legs, adjusting himself so that I could rest against his chest, his arms around me. He cued upThe Good, the Bad, and the Uglyand hit play.

We lay watching the movie play out when fifteen minutes in, like a freaking ninja, Kyle slipped over the back of the couch, half falling on me, on his back, his dark head resting onmystomach as he rolled it on his neck to look up at me.

“Hi,” he said simply, and I arched an eyebrow.

“Try again,” I said.

He grinned up at me recklessly. “Don’t be like that, Shady.”

“Strike one.”

He huffed out a breath and settled down on me, putting a hand on my knee and giving it a squeeze.

“Perilously close to strike two,” I said as Roan paused the movie.

“Fine. I’m sorry. I apologize,” he said, and I looked up to Roan who looked down at me, both of our expressions mirroring our surprise. “Tobothof you,” he added, and I looked down at him.

I couldn’t resist, even though I wanted to, but I was weak… I lifted one of my hands from where it lay over the top of Roan’s against my chest and pushed my fingers through Kyle’s silky soft hair, raking it back from his forehead. He closed his eyes, and I swear, if he were a cat, he would purr.

“Finish your movie,” he said. “I’ll be quiet.”

I looked up at Roan and with a soft smile, he hit play. I played with Kyle’s hair, held Roan’s hand, and strangely… I found that I could get used to this.

When the credits rolled, Kyle sighed. I thought he had been asleep, he had been so still, his breathing deep and even.

“You pack her bag, mate?” he asked.

“I shall,” Roan said. “Everything will be ready by morning.”

“Good deal… sleep tight. It’s wheels up at nine am,” he said and he sat up and heaved himself up over the back of the couch leaving me open mouthed and wondering out loud…

“What is he talking about? Where are we going?”

Roan simply chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

Chapter Twenty

Lach…

There were a few things that Roan was good at, but picking movies was not one of them. The movies he liked were long, and while there was certainly some good action, most of the movies had really long sections where nothing really interesting happened. One of the upsides was finding out that some jingle for a liquor brand, or a pretty common sales campaign had come from something that had actually been pretty violent was amusing.

His spaghetti western was too long. And it was a western. None of the women were good looking, there were no cars, and unless I recognized part of the score, it was mostly just background noise. Words don’t mean shit, the only thing that really mattered was what a person did. All the people in the foster care system, they had enough words that they could have pushed that Master and Commander guy’s ship around the world in like, eight days, instead of eighty.

I sat with them and watched their movie.

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