Chapter Thirty-Five

Callum

 

Her big green eyes widened just a little more as she searched my face. "Do you have to go?" she asked me for the millionth time.

"Well, I mean, I don't," Gray piped up from the other side of the bed.

Harper laughed as I swore at Gray and pushed my head up on my elbow, tracing a finger down her back. "Yeah, I don't like that idea," I said, keeping my voice low and even. "You're mine."

"Ours," Gray corrected, glaring at me.

"So what does that mean...exactly?" Harper asked, rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. "Does that mean you’re both mine?"

I looked at Gray and nodded slightly. "Yeah," he said, and there was something changed about his voice. I recognized it because that's how my voice would sound right now if I had the ability to speak. "We're yours."

"My what?" she said, pushing herself up on her elbows and smiling playfully. "My boyfriends? With an s? As in plural?"

"Okay Miss Children's Book Author, we get it. You don't need to explain plurals to us," I grumbled. This was so fucking strange, but what was even fucking stranger was how okay it was. Here I was lying in bed naked with the girl of my dreams, having an amiable discussion about how she didn't totally belong to me. That should have pissed me right the fuck off, but instead, "Yeah," I repeated. "We're your boyfriends."

"And you're our girlfriend," Gray interjected.

Damn I loved her smile, and this was one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen from her. "Okay then," she whispered, kissing each of us in turn. "I'm okay with that." She licked her lips. "More than okay with that."

"Yeah you've seemed pretty enthusiastic about the arrangement thus far," I teased her, sliding my hand between her legs.

She swatted me away with a giggle. "But wait," she said, sliding her legs up and hugging her knees to her chest. "You're okay with this being a long distance thing though, right?" Her eyes flashed. "Because my work...my life...it's all here. I can't just..."

"We can come to you," Gray interrupted, looking at me meaningfully.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah," I said while in my mind I tallied up all the tours I'd have to reschedule. I made most of my money on weekends, when people were off from work and on vacation, but if it came to making a choice between that and Harper...?

Fuck, I'd pick Harper every time.

I lifted her hand and kissed it, nodding. She leaned down and peered at my face. "You sure?" she asked.

"What?"

"Cal..." she chided me. "I know you too well to not catch on to something bothering you."

"Just some scheduling things," I told her breezily, kissing her fingers again. "I'll figure it out."

She smiled softly. "Well it's not like I can't come to you some times," she said.

"You don't have a car," I pointed out.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "That's what rental cars are for."

"I don't like the idea of you driving all across the state like that," I told her.

"Seriously dude?" she said, sliding off the bed and pulling on her t-shirt. "I've flown all over the country giving talks and doing readings. I can handle driving myself."

"I'd still rather you fly," Gray added and I mentally thanked him for backing me up. "We can come get you at the airport."

"The airport is so far away that I may as well drive," Harper said with an exasperated sigh. She turned and padded her bare feet into the tiny kitchenette and I heard the sound of the tap running and the clinking of dishes.

I turned and locked eyes with Gray for a moment before we both followed her into the tiny living room. "Look we're not trying to be pigs," I said to Harper.

"Just trying to look out for our girlfriend," Gray finished, picking up the dish from her hand and drying it without comment.

She looked at him, and then at me and I knew they were both looking to me — the lifelong control freak — to make the final call. "Every weekend," I finally said, clenching my fist and then letting go of all the money I wasn't going to make. "We come to you three times a month, you can come to us once a month."

Grayson nodded in triumph. "I agree. And that means the vote is two-to-one. Majority rules."

Harper acted shocked and swatted him with her dishtowel. "You guys are a pain in my ass."

"Speaking of your ass..." I said, smiling meaningfully.

She turned and gave me a grin that had my dick hard in an instant. "Weren't you just saying you had to go?" she teased.

I sighed and looked at my phone. "Yeah," I said heavily, looking at Gray. He looked stricken and for a moment I thought he'd yell at me, tell me he was staying here with her, without me. Fuck, I might have done the same thing except...she wasn't my girlfriend.

She was our girlfriend.

And somehow the thought of being with her without him just didn't seem right.

He must have thought the same thing, because he sighed heavily. "You have that thing in the morning, don't you?"

"I can't refund another tour," I tried to explain to Harper. "I just can't."

"I know," she said, standing up on tiptoes to kiss me. For a second her eyes glimmered and I willed her not to cry because then I'd fall the fuck apart. Gray looked like he was ready to start bawling enough for the both of us. "Next weekend?"

"We'll be here," I said firmly.

"We'll both be here," Gray agreed.