“Does that bother you?”
“It’s a low-key setting in here.” Chase glances around, craning his head to see over the booth and around the diner. “Not like we’re being watched or anything.”
“It doesn’t,” I reassure them. “Honestly…it feels good.”
I study the guys, really observing their behavior. I haven’t really spent a lot of time with them outside of the gym, now that I think about it.
I thought that, being billionaires and all, they might be different when they’re not in workout gear…but they’re not. They seem really down-to-earth to me right now.
Even if we aren’t shacking up right here, we’re having fun together—in an environment other than the gym or the bedroom.
It’s appealing to me, and the guys become even more attractive in my eyes. I don’t want to say it out loud and jinx us, but I honestly feel like we could make this trio relationship work. We already have the perfect setting, and the chemistry is wild and on fire.
A few minutes later, the food arrives at the table, and I nearly drool over how delicious it smells and looks.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m starving,” I joke and tell the guys. “Eating healthy sure is a drag.”
“It’s definitely not as fun as diving right into this juicy bacon cheeseburger,” Eric laughs as he cuts it into three sections for each of us to share.
The first bite I take is an explosion of flavor to my taste buds. I swallow it, washing it down with a large gulp of strawberry shake while I impale the fries.
“Holy shit, this is good stuff,” I mumble with a mouthful.
“I’m ready to massacre this meal,” Eric says with wild, hungry eyes.
I am ravenous, and this food fulfills the emotional void I’ve had for a while. Sure, I’m happy and distracted by my new body and success, but damn…this is one fucking tasty and fantastic burger.
The conversation at the booth tapers slightly while we devour the food, bite by famished bite. Before I’ve nearly disgusted myself, I get full quickly because I’m no longer used to binge eating.
I lean back in the booth and rub my belly, reminded of the achievements that I just cheated on because my sash still hangs over my torso.
“Worth it?” Eric asks and wipes his mouth with a napkin.
“It was incredible.” I heave a satisfied sigh and close my eyes, suddenly feeling sleepy.
I rest my head on Eric’s shoulder and hold Chase’s hand, feeling warm and content and safe. Honestly, I could nod off right there, until—
“Can we help you?” Eric asks.
There’s a creepy looking guy looming over our booth, standing there with a weird expression on his face. He’s wearing sweat pants, but he doesn’t fill them out in the way that Chase and Eric do. His t-shirt has a fresh spaghetti stain in the middle.
He doesn’t respond to us. He just hovers over us with a strangely pathetic grin on his face.
“Excuse me.” Eric snaps his fingers in front of the guy’s face, and I squirm uncomfortably under the douchy guy’s stare. “What the hell do you want?” Eric sounds impatient now.
The guy shakes his head, coming out of his weirdo trance. “I was at the pageant,” he croaks. “Saw you there.”
Now he’s grinning right at me. I feel dirty just from being looked at by this creep.
“So?” Chase says, shifting in his seat to square his shoulders at this guy.
I tremble, as an ominous feeling washes over me. The food in my belly suddenly feels as hard and heavy as a rock.
The guy sneers at Eric and Chase and then focuses his leering expression back on me, his aimed target.
“I was in the audience.” He whistles. “Damn, you are even sexier this close up.”
My skin crawls with disgust, and I wish I could melt into the floor and disappear into a puddle just to be finished with this conversation.