Chapter 30: Naughty & Nice: Chapter 30

“It’s so good to see your faces. I missed you yesterday. Christmas wasn’t right without you,” Lorelei gushes through the screen.

Hendrix had reached out to explain the power outage, and we tried to video call her and Kian last night, but our signal wasn’t strong enough and they kept freezing, so we had to keep the communication to messages.

Lorelei is right though, it felt weird not having her a part of our Christmas. Although, considering how we spent most of the afternoon, it was probably for the best she wasn’t here.

My cheeks blaze as I vividly remember what the guys sitting on either side of me did to my body. Or more so, what I did to them.

Fucking hell, I’m such a whore. And no longer just a book whore…

“Aw, you getting all soppy on us, Sis?” Wilder teases with his usual gives-no-shit attitude.

“I missed my babies.”

Kian rolls his eyes next to her. “Bring you away to a tropical island and all you do is moan,” he deadpans.

Her head snaps to look at him.

“I have not been moaning,” she argues.

Kian smirks, his eyes darting between the three of us. “Oh, she has.”

“Dude,” Wilder complains. “That shit is not necessary.’

Kian throws his head back laughing as Lorelei shakes hers. She’s trying to look embarrassed, but really, she doesn’t care. She’s too happy.

As she should be.

“So, what did you guys do yesterday?”

“Uh…” Hendrix starts while I shift between the two of them awkwardly.

“We had a snowslide,” Wilder happily announces.

Lorelei frowns. “A snowslide?”

“Yeah, some moron opened the door, and boom,” he waves his hand out as he speaks. “Snowslide.”

“Right,” Lorelei mutters before the three of us go on to explain the whole debacle.

“Sounds very festive,” she finally concludes.

“Oh, don’t worry. We celebrated… in our own way,” Wilder deadpans, once again making my cheeks blaze.

Lorelei is going to notice. My stomach knots at the thought of having to explain this to her.

“So, what else is new? Any good gifts I need to know about?”

Hendrix and I sit quietly for a beat, and then predicably Wilder pipes up.

“Rix got a fucking epic gift this Christmas.”

“Oh yeah? From you or… no, you don’t do gifts,” she mocks. “Noelle, what did you get?”

“Go on, Noelle, show Lorelei what you got Rix for Christmas,” Wilder encourages.

“Why is it a gift for him? It could be a gift for me,” I argue, making Lorelei’s brows pinch.

“What did you get?”

“Go on, show them.” Before I know what’s happening, Wilder has placed his palm on my back and he’s pushing me toward Rix.

Hendrix looks over just in time, and after the briefest of eye contact with his brother, he wraps his hand around the back of my neck and brushes his lips against mine in the sweetest kiss ever.

“Oh my god,” Lorelei squeals. “Oh my god. Oh my god. You’re together. Finally.”

We part with a laugh before looking back at the screen.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this? Oh my god, I’m so freaking happy right now.”

Lorelei goes on and on about how long she truly has been waiting, telling us about all the times she’d thought we’d finally figured our feelings out and she got all excited. It’s only when Kian gets bored and asks about when we’re going to get to leave that she stops.

“Tomorrow,” Rix explains. “Wilder and I are going to see if we can dig the car out.”

A sad sigh passes my lips at the thought of leaving this place. It’s been everything and more than I could have asked for. So much more.

I look at the guys sitting on either side of me. They look so similar and yet are so different in every other way.

I love Hendrix with all my heart. Always have.

And Wilder. He means a lot to me too. Especially after this week away. And not because of the sex, or the pleasure, but because at times, he’s allowed me to see a slightly more vulnerable side of him that no one else gets to.

He’s always kept his guard up so high, even with me and Rix, that it’s incredible to see it lowered slightly. To have it confirmed that he isn’t an unfeeling, football throwing machine, and that there is a man with a heart in there if you spend enough time trying to peel it back.

Thinking about going home and him returning to that version of himself makes my heart ache.

“Is it still bad?” Lorelei asks, making me look out the window. The sun is shining, and although there is still a lot of snow out there, now the plow has been through, there’s a lot less. We’ve even seen cars.

It’s a reality check that life is still continuing outside of our little bubble.

Hendrix, Wilder, Lori, and Kian continue talking for another twenty minutes, but I barely react to what’s being discussed. I’m too lost in my own head to get involved.

“We’re going to go out and find the car,” Wilder says once the call is disconnected, pushing to the edge of the couch and heading out.

“Sure,” I mutter, speaking for the first time in ages.

Wilder’s footsteps get farther away, but Hendrix doesn’t follow. Instead, he remains sitting next to me.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, shifting so he can look into my eyes.

“Yeah, why?” I ask, attempting to cover up for the fact that I’m not. I mean, I am; there isn’t anything wrong. I’m just… unsettled, I guess.

“You’re quiet. I don’t like it when you’re quiet. It usually means you’re freaking out about something and don’t want to worry me.”

My heart skips a beat. This is why I love this man.

Reaching out, I cup his jaw and smile.

“I’m not freaking out. Just preparing to return home. I spent so long waiting for this trip and… it’s over already. I’m mourning it, I guess.”

“Was it everything you wanted?” he asks despite knowing the answer.

“It was so much more. I’m excited about what’s to come for us.”

“Me too, Elle. Me too. Are you going to be okay if I go out and⁠—”

“Of course. I’m going to start dinner.”

He leans forward and steals a kiss. I get the impression it’s meant to be a quick one, but he doesn’t pull back.

“I’m not doing this myself. Put Noelle down and get to work,” Wilder calls a few minutes later.

I laugh while Hendrix mutters, “Cock block,” against my lips.

“Just think, when we get home, he’ll go back to the team house and we’ll be all alone.”

I ignore the pang of disappointment as I say those words and focus on what I’m going to gain instead of what I’m going to lose.

“I can’t wait,” I breathe.

“Me neither. I get you all to myself.”

His words send a wave of heat through me.

I am so ready to embrace this new part of our relationship.

“I’d better go before he drags me out.”

“I love you,” I say as he climbs to his feet.

“I love you too,” he says back as he pushes his feet into his sneakers.

He disappears through the front door, leaving me alone for the first time in… quite a while.

I take a moment to take stock before I get up, put another log on the fire, and then walk to the kitchen. The refrigerator is still stacked with food, but seeing as it hasn’t had power for the best part of two days, I question what is actually safe to use.

I’m busy throwing the chicken in the trash when my cell buzzes on the counter.

Assuming it’s from Hendrix because quite honestly, no one else ever messages me, I walk over to it.

“Shit,” I hiss. I should have predicted this.

Lorelei might be Hendrix and Wilder’s big sister, but she’s just as perceptive and protective over me as well.

My thumb hovers over the send button, and the fact I hesitate tells me that I’m sending the wrong thing.

Deleting my previous message, I go with a little more honesty.

I feel better about my amendment for about two seconds before I start typing again.

Dots start bouncing immediately, and my anxiety spikes about what she’s going to say.

I glance out the window and find Hendrix and Wilder in a fully-fledged snowball fight instead of digging out the car.

Not a second later, her name lights up my screen with an incoming call.

“Hey,” I say, lifting it to my ear.

Abandoning the kitchen, I walk through the living room so I can stand at the full-length windows and watch the antics happening outside.

“What’s going on?” Lorelei asks, jumping straight into it. “Aren’t you happy with the changes between you and Rix?” The worry in her voice makes me regret the wording of my message more than I already did.

“Of course I am. I love him. I love him so much.”

“Okay, so what was I seeing on your face while we were on video call then? That wasn’t a crazy happy Noelle.”

I let out a huge sigh that she no doubt hears.

“I’m not sure you should be the one I’m talking to about this,” I confess quietly.

“Noelle,” Lori warns. “It doesn’t matter what is it. I’ll never judge, you know that.”

I do. I do know that. Lorelei has been the best parental figure the three of us have ever had. I’m just not sure she ever needs to hear the words that are on the tip of my tongue.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, shutting both of them from my vision as I summon the courage to confess. “Rix and me… we may never have happened if…” My words trail off, my stomach knotting.

“If…” Lorelei encourages.

Squeezing my eyes even tighter, I blurt, “If I didn’t hook up with Wilder first.”

Her gasp of shock rocks through me, and the stunned silence that follows doesn’t make me feel any better.

“Okay,” she muses as she thinks. “So… you want Rix, right? Not⁠—”

“I love Rix,” I say again as if it’ll magically fix everything.

“And Wilder?”

I shrug despite the fact she can’t see.

“He’s Wilder. He’s fun and easygoing and⁠—”

“The bad boy you shouldn’t want?”

“Something like that,” I mutter. She’s hit the nail on the head.

Wilder is not my type. Not that it seems to matter.

“How does he feel about all this?”

“I don’t know. He’s been… different.”

“How so?”

“I mean, there is literally nothing to do to keep him entertained here.” Apart from one thing that makes my face heat. “He hasn’t had his usual distractions. He’s been much more pensive, and quieter. He’s been thinking more.”

“Dangerous,” Lorelei says, letting me know she understands.

“Yeah,” I muse, holding back what I need to confess.

“Noelle, I can’t help if you don’t tell me everything.”

I both love and hate that she knows me so well.

“The three of us have hooked up. Together,” I blurt.

All the air rushes from her lungs.

“Wow. Okay. That sure explains the look on Wild’s face when Rix was kissing you.”