“I’m aware of that. You haven’t spoken to me for five years because you assumed.” Stuart stared at the man who had once been his best friend for a few short months. He could have been a bigger man all those years ago and forced Tarin to listen to reason, but he’d been fucking pissed at the flying accusations, so he’d basically told Tarin to fuck himself and walked away.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tarin asked.
“You were seeing red at the time, and I was too fucking angry with you for not trusting me that I didn’t feel I owed you an explanation.”
“Five years, Stu…”
“Yep.”
“Why?” Tarin asked.
“Not my story to tell, man,” Stu informed him. That part was true. He was sworn to secrecy. And Stu would never break that kind of confidence with anyone. Not even to save his relationship with his best friend. A man who had been his only friend.
“I don’t know what to say,” Tarin admitted.
Stuart drew in a breath. “Say you’ll stop being fucking furious with me for something I didn’t do so we can move on and make a family here together.”
Tarin hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Yes. Of course, I will. I’d already put it behind me before today. For Ariel. For all of us.”
Stuart looked him in the eyes, wanting to make sure the air was as clear as possible without breaking anyone’s confidence. “I did not steal her from you, Tarin. No one did. It wasn’t like that, and you’ll have to trust me because that’s all I can give you.”
“Okay. I trust you. I know it’s too late and the wound is deep, but I’m sorry.”
Stuart’s chest tightened at those words. “I’m sorry, too, man. My hands were tied, and you were too unreasonable at the time, and then I was too stubborn. I never should have let you go five years thinking I’d slept with her though. That was wrong of me.”
Tarin swallowed. “It’s done now. We’re family.” He smiled and glanced at Kester and then Ariel. “Sorry for the sideshow.”
“It’s okay,” Ariel whispered, wiping her eyes.
When Stuart glanced at Kester, he found him also looking emotional.
“Aren’t we a bunch of saps?” Stuart grinned. “Moving on.” This was happening. This new family. Like it or not. His heart was racing. “This apartment is kind of small for four people. Do we want to consider moving somewhere else?” he said to get them back on track.
Ariel sighed. “Stu… No one gives a shit about the size of the apartment right now. Probably never. If it becomes a problem, we’ll deal with it. That’s not on today’s agenda.”
Sassy. So very sassy. How did she manage to make his palm twitch with the desire to flip her over his lap and spank her so many times? He didn’t even have the inclination to tell her to stop because he kind of liked it.
He looked at Ariel. “Listen, this is mostly about you. What you want. You can’t even know what that is right now, so we wing it and see what happens and make changes as we go along, okay?”
“Yes.” She nodded as she fidgeted in her seat.
“How do you feel about all of us bombarding you at once? Would you rather have sex with just one person? I mean at least today. Or the first time. Or…”
She shook her head. “I think we should all be together. If that’s okay.”
He nodded so slowly and subtly. Was it okay? He had no idea. He’d never been naked around men. Not that he had an issue with it. He just hadn’t done it. Apparently, Kester and Tarin hadn’t either.
“Can’t we just pick a room and do it? Let’s just do it. Stop talking about it. Just have sex and see how it goes.” Ariel glanced at each of them in turn.
“Sure.” Stuart pushed to standing. He was fucking nervous. Partly because it had been forever since he’d been inside a woman. Partly because he was worried about so many things. Making sure it was good for her. Making sure no one felt left out. Making sure no one got touched in a way that made them uncomfortable.
It was a lot.
Everyone stood.
“Let’s go in my room,” Kester proposed. “Relax. Take our time. Kiss. No reason to make this into a giant thing.”
Tarin laughed. “This is the most giant thing that will ever happen to me, so I don’t think I can pretend otherwise.”
“Me too,” Ariel agreed. She rubbed her palms on her jeans. “Look, it’s going to be awkward and we’re going to make mistakes and that’s okay.”
“See?” Stuart pointed out. “Ariel should be in charge.” He grabbed her hand and lured her into Kester’s bedroom.
Holy fuck. They were doing this. Like Tarin said, it was fucking huge. The hugest. Not a small matter.