Liam had a very different opinion.
Seth ran his stiff fingers through his hair in frustration. Coming here after leaving Heavenly at the grocery store to spill his guts to his old friend had clearly been a mistake.
On his way, he’d stopped at the club to pick up his bag. When he’d arrived at the trio’s house, he’d found Liam alone. He was sorry to have missed Hammer and Raine, but he was ready to get the hell out of this sunshine-laden, earthquake-riddled shithole. Familiarity, sanity, work, family during a white Christmas—that’s what he needed. Not doe-eyed blondes torqueing him up and turning him inside out.
“I’m taking the red-eye home tonight.”
Liam shook his head. “You realize if you go home now, mate, you’ll be leaving the door wide open for Beck to sweep in and claim Heavenly for himself.”
“Yeah.” Impossible to miss that part. But by her own admission, she wanted Beck as a lover.
Fuck, hearing that she had feelings for the shitsack stung. The fact he even cared pissed him off more. After all the things he’d whispered to her at Raine’s party… He bristled. Had she used his words to get herself hot for that fucking sadist?
Liam still sat, peering up at him with a considering expression. Christ, the guy was doing that quiet thing again, like his clairvoyant mother. That worried Seth.
“And what about the girl?” Liam demanded. “What about what she needs?”
“Well, I guess Beck will give it to her.” That made him want to punch the doctor stupid.
“I’m sure he’ll try. But I’ve seen you with Heavenly. Like I said, I think you belong with her.”
“I thought so, too, but apparently not. I’m done letting a woman who fucking wants someone else yank my chain.”
He dragged in a breath to find calm. The nagging pain in his chest made that impossible.
“Didn’t you learn anything from watching what Hammer and I went through with Raine? You and Beck don’t need to brawl. And you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You both saw firsthand how it was made. Macen and I will even tell you how to drive the bus.”
Liam had lost his mind.
“Ménage is totally out of the question.”
The man’s skeptical brow and patience-of-Job sigh grated on Seth’s last nerve. “Because?”
“Don’t play dumb. Heavenly is nothing like Raine. Your girl finished growing up in a BDSM club. She knew exactly what to expect. Heavenly might be a grown-ass woman, but she’s naive and unworldly and… She’s Bambi, for fuck’s sake.”
“Why is that a problem?”
“I already told you. Heavenly. Is. A. Virgin.”
“All you and Beck have to do when you take her together is be gentle. The real problem is you two wankers. Figure your shit out and find out what she wants. What she needs. The answers might surprise you both.”
Liam’s lilting voice usually soothed him. Tonight, the tone irritated him like fingernails on a blackboard.
“That threesome you and I had was enough to scratch any itch I might have had for ménage. Besides, you know I don’t take on subs for more than a night or two. I’m not even sure why I’ve been lingering here. And I refuse to share air—much less a woman—with that snarky sadist. The two of us helping you and Hammer with Raine was one thing. That came easily.”
“My point exactly.”
What point was that? “But Heavenly? Not happening. In case you’ve missed the obvious, Beck and I fucking hate each other.” With every word he spewed, Seth felt his blood pressure shooting through the roof. Liam was one of his closest friends. Hell, like a brother. So why wasn’t he listening—or at least trying to understand? “You and Hammer worked it out because you had ten years of friendship and shared history to fall back on. Beck and I? Nothing but mutual loathing.”
“You say that now, but it’s amazing how close two men can become when someone they care about more than themselves needs what they both have to give her.” The almost patronizing smirk on the man’s face made Seth itch to slap it off. “Despite what Raine went through with her father, surely you’ve seen she’s much happier now.”
No denying that, but… “Not everyone is built for your kind of domestic bliss. Besides, I just wanted to fuck Heavenly, not get involved with her.”
Liam’s mocking smile widened. “You’re a liar… You were far more interested in Heavenly than you’ve been in anyone since—”
“Don’t go there. It doesn’t matter. Besides, Heavenly isn’t into BDSM. She probably doesn’t even know what it is.”
“I’m confident you gentlemen are capable of showing her the ropes, so to speak.” Liam smirked. “And Raine will be around for advice if or when Heavenly needs it.”
The tone and inflection of his words—even and deliberate, as though they spoke of nothing more mundane than the weather—only made Seth angrier.