Paul turned his head toward me so our noses were almost touching. “And just so you stop freaking out, Helena and I are the only ones who know.”
I blinked. “You didn’t tell Vince or Darren?”
He shook his head. “Seemed like a good idea that we keep it to ourselves. We figured if we were right, it’d be better if it came from you. And we didn’t know if it was just fucking or whatever. We didn’t want to mess it up for you.”
“I love you guys.”
“Us too, baby doll,” Helena said into the top of my head. “More than you could possibly know.”
We didn’t hear the door opening. We didn’t know how long he’d been standing there. But when Jeremy said, “Can I steal Corey for a second?” we all jumped apart.
He stood in the doorway to the trailer looking concerned. He only had eyes for me.
Helena cupped my face. “Is that all right?”
I nodded.
She leaned forward and left a sticky kiss on my cheek. She winked at me before turning around and walking toward the door. She stopped in front of Jeremy, hands on her hips. She was towering over him, and Jeremy swallowed thickly. “I cherish you,” Helena purred.
“Oh. Um. Thank you?”
“Oh, you’re so welcome,” Helena said. “Just thought you should know.” He stepped back to allow her and Paul to leave. I wasn’t surprised when she stopped. “Oh, and Jeremy?”
He looked back at her.
“You fuck this up and there will be nowhere you can run that I won’t find you. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. You will know only fear for the rest of your days.” She smacked his ass as she cackled wildly.
“Yeah,” Paul said, and I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve these people. “What she said.” He jerked his entire body toward Jeremy and seemed pleased when he recoiled slightly. “Also, you’re pretty cool or whatever.”
“What the fuck?” Jeremy asked faintly as they headed back into the bar.
“They’re a little… much.” I shook my head. “How much did you hear?”
Jeremy turned back to me. He took a deep breath before he climbed into the trailer and shut the door behind him. “Enough.”
I shuffled my feet against the floor. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“So… any chance we can just forget all of this?”
“Slim to none.”
“Great,” I muttered.
“Look, Corey….”
I snapped my head up, because I didn’t like the sound of that. His brow was furrowed, and he ran a hand over his beard. “Oh. I mean, I’m sorry? I know it’s a lot, and maybe I should have—”
He held up a hand, and I fell silent. “It’s not… that.”
Ugh. If he was going to break my heart, I’d rather not be in a trailer where a twink had just bee
n sucking off Mike. I hated everything. “Okay. Then what is it?”
“It’s a lot. You’re a lot.”
I tried to hide how much that stung. I didn’t think I was very successful. “I don’t mean to be,” I said in a small voice.