He shook his head. “I said I like it, Ariel. It makes me feel like I’m special to you or something.” He waved a hand through the air, dismissing the thought. “As for Stuart, I can’t tell you for sure why he’s being such an asshole around you. I’m not sure anyone really knows. But I can tell you, albeit reluctantly, that it’s not because he doesn’t like you.”
She narrowed her gaze, skeptically.
“I’m confident he’s so attracted to you that he can’t think straight around you. He warns everyone away from you because he wants you for himself. I don’t know why he’s stuck to this strange narrative in which he insists you’re too young to approach, but literally, no one else agrees with him.”
She gasped, eyes wide. “He does not want me for himself.” I wish he did. “He treats me like I’ve got a communicable disease, Kes.”
Kester laughed. “It’s a front, I tell you. I’m not sure he even realizes it. He’s using your age as an excuse.”
“For what?”
Kester shrugged. “Damned if I know. But the way he grumbles and growls about you is a sure sign to everyone that he’s claiming you for his own and we should all back off.”
Ariel blinked at him. “That’s absurd.”
Kester shook his head. “I’m serious.”
“He’s never said a kind word to me. He barely looks me in the eye. He never comes near me. It’s obvious he can’t stand me.”
Kester chuckled again, his chest rising and falling. “It’s like middle school all over again.”
She cocked her head to one side. “I have no idea what that means. I have only a vague understanding of what middle school even is.”
Kester smiled at her and dropped his arm along the back of the couch, lifting a lock of her hair and letting it run through his fingers. “Damn, your hair is as soft as it looks.” He turned back to her face. “Middle school is where kids go between elementary and high school. The awkward ages of twelve to fourteen. Girls are far more mature than boys at that age, and boys tend to act like idiots tripping over each other to try to catch a girl’s attention.”
She frowned. “Not following.”
“When a thirteen-year-old boy likes a girl, he’ll tell everyone around that she’s gross so they will back off and she will look at him.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” She smiled.
He chuckled. She loved the sound of his laughter. “Agreed. But it’s true.”
“Okay, let’s say for one second that Stuart does have a childhood crush on me as you’re suggesting. Why do you keep pursuing me then? He’s your roommate. Surely, you don’t want to make him mad.” A flush raced up her face and she winced. “Unless, you’re not pursuing me at all, and I’ve misread you. Or…” She narrowed her gaze. “You’re doing it to annoy Stuart or to get me closer to him.”
Kester’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “None of the above. I’m most definitely vying for your attention because I’m attracted to you. I couldn’t give two shits whether or not Stuart knows or cares or gets angry. His loss.”
She licked her lips. “My mother never mentioned how complicated men were.”
Kester laughed again. “To be fair, your mother didn’t live in a world where men outnumber women by such high margins. When your parents went into hiding over twenty years ago, the world was holding on by a thread, but it was still a mostly monogamous society.”
Kester stroked a finger down her cheek. She liked it. A lot. She wished he would do more than just that brief contact. She liked him, and like he’d said, even though she liked Stuart too, his loss. The infuriating man had pushed her away so many times, she’d lost count. It was impossible to believe he cared about her at all from the way he acted. In fact, his behavior suggested he saw himself more as a protector or father figure than a man attracted to a woman.
Kester released her hair on a sigh and gripped her hand again. “I’m under no illusion that there’s some kind of contest and in the end, I’ll win and get the girl. We don’t live in a world where that would be fair. I know you have feelings for Stuart. Your frustration with him speaks volumes, and I’ve seen the way you look at him.”
She winced. “And that doesn’t bother you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t let it. I can’t. I’d be a jackass if I claimed you for myself, especially since I know for a fact that Stuart and I aren’t the only two men who have noticed you.”
She gulped. “Who else?” Her heart was beating faster. It was so strange having this discussion. It shouldn’t be. She didn’t really know any other way of life. Other than the fact that her parents had lived in a monogamous relationship, she had no other models. Anything could be normal to her. After three months, she was far more accustomed to seeing polyamorous unions, especially among the younger crowd.
He smiled. “Well, every man who is single and under forty in the compound for starters. Who wouldn’t be interested in you? But more specifically, don’t tell me you aren’t aware that Tarin Gelman hunts you down as often as I do.”
Her cheeks heated again. He did. Tarin hadn’t been quite as blatant as Kester yet, but he did join her at meals sometimes and lingered longer than necessary to talk to her.
Kester grinned. “You did know.”
“Maybe. So now what? It’s not like when we arrived and Layla got snatched up by four men who were living as a family unit already. Tarin certainly doesn’t live with you two, Stuart and he have some sort of history that keeps them from exchanging civil discourse, and you and Stuart hardly speak to each other. Where does that leave me? What the heck am I supposed to do? There’s no way in the world I would let myself get passed around among three men in three separate relationships.” She cringed.