His voice faded to so quiet I barely heard it. The silly drunkenness was gone, but so was the asshole. Elliot looked… lost and empty. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him he wasn’t alone.
“Elliot called me one night, and told me if anything happened to him, I could have his entire console collection and his gaming rig.” Link sounded like it ached to say the words. To relive the memory.
Knowing where things were going, I understood why. I swore ice sped down my spine.
“The conversation felt wrong.” Link looked pale and as haunted as Elliot. “When I found him, I didn’t think he was still alive. The cuts were so deep. There was so much—” He shuddered.
Elliot made a noise that was part bark, part sigh, and part cough. “Anyway, so that’s how Link saved my life, and why I have ink on the insides of my wrists.”
Was it also why Elliot put up the heavy stone walls that kept people away from the real him, and was an asshole? Now hardly seemed like the time to ask. “I’m sorry,” I said.
Elliot let out a long breath, as if pushing the memories away. “You know what I’m sorry for? That I’m sobering up. How am I supposed to make awkward and overt passes at you that are interpreted as me being a drunken idiot, if I’m not drunk?”
And now we were back to this? “I don’t have a response to that.”
Elliot wrapped his arms around me in a hug that felt like him clinging on for life. He leaned us both more into Link. “Don’t sleep in the other wing tonight. Stay with us.”
“Okay.” I didn’t have the will to argue.
Maybe I didn’t want to be bitchy Fallyn full time. Not if Elliot was an example of what that looked like. Regret and sadness masking the real person underneath. If I hadn’t already made up my mind already, this would’ve done it for me.
Did that mean Elliot won?
He squeezed me again.
No. He hadn’t won anything. Not like this.
16/
fallyn
Ididn’t protest when Elliot pulled Link and I up to his bedroom. He wasn’t doing the bossy,take your clothes off, thing. He seemed to want to continue the conversation.
I wouldn’t have screwed them tonight anyway. I was pretty sure they were near sober, but the way our moods added to the silliness would’ve made for some impaired judgment.
I did help them out of their costumes, and the three of us fell onto Elliot’s bed together in various states of undress. They fell asleep long before I did, with me pinned between them.
Not that I minded the gentle pressure or security of being surrounded by these two, but sleep was a long way off for me. Elliot’s story still echoed in my mind. It was clear now why he got so upset about my videos. AcesPlayed really was everything to him. The company. The people.
It was almost endearing. Part of me jerked away from thinking about him like that, but I couldn’t help it. At least for an hour or two, I got to see his gooey caramel center. Was it salty? Sure. But it was also sweet. I’d suspected he had a heart, but I hadn’t expected to actually see it. Not exposed and vulnerable like this.
So now I had Link, who was default sweet, and Elliot who was one of those sour candies that changed flavor once all the bitterness was sucked off. It was obvious what they were to each other, so it wasn’t as if my falling—
Whoa. My doing what?
I wasn’t falling for anyone.
Maybe Link. A little. But I wouldn’t—couldn’t—come between him and Elliot. Not their friendship or their love.
For tonight though, I could be surrounded by it, and that was a pretty comfy spot to rest in.
Sleep finally took me, but I was woken up a short while later, by a weight on half of my body. I forced myself toward consciousness to find that Elliot had a leg draped over one of mine, and his full body was pressed into my side.
The assumption bothered me. “What are you—?” I snapped my abrupt question off. Was he even awake? “Elliot?” I said softly.
He didn’t answer, but his erection pressed into my leg. His heat was so freaking tempting.
It wouldn’t hurt anyone for me to enjoy the sleep cuddle. And this felt really good for something so simple. As I accepted this new position, Elliot shifted his weight again. He muttered something I couldn’t make out, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it was my name.