Come Back to Me

Chapter 30: Present Day

"How do you not know how to chop anything?" Joshua was laughing as he extracted the knife from my grip and nudged me aside. He shook his head at my massacred carrot chunks.

"When did you learn?" I huffed and allowed him to take over for me.

"Jay prides himself on being my sous chef," Noah said over his shoulder from where he was sautéing something on the stove.

Mal motioned for me to join him on the other side of the island, pouring me a glass of wine. "Pretty sure it's because Jay is still as competitive as you remember."

Joshua winked at me. "About everything."

He was looking exceptionally hot this evening. They all were, but there was something about watching Joshua in the kitchen that was twisting up my insides. In a good kind of way. His long blond hair was knotted loosely on top of his head. The second we got home, he untucked his white dress shirt, undid the top few buttons to expose his chest, and rolled up the sleeves. The silver rings he wore on his left hand glinted in the kitchen lights as he continued chopping vegetables, the muscles in his forearms tensing and relaxing as he worked.

I could watch him like this forever.

Joshua caught me staring and rewarded me with a dazzling smile. "Sit and relax while all your pretty men make you dinner."

Mal grumbled and pulled my seat closer to him. "I don't cook. So I'll also watch my pretty men make dinner."

Joshua threw a carrot chunk at him. Mal caught it and popped it into his mouth, baring his teeth as he crunched down on it.

"Tell me about this gallery thingy tomorrow night. I'm going, right?"

All three of them paused. I held my breath.

"The only way you're going is if you have one of us at your side at all times. Plus one of my guys. No -" he cut me off before I could speak. "This isn't up for discussion."

"I wasn't going to argue. I was going to say that I need to go shopping."

"No."

"Absolutely not."

"No way."

I rolled my eyes at all three of them.

"Then how am I going to get a dress?" I waved a hand at Noah. "You're wearing a tux? Then I need a dress."

They obviously hadn't thought about that. I smiled over the rim of my wine glass at Noah when he sighed and started wiping his hands on a towel. "Jay, throw the pasta on when you're done there. I have to make some calls."

"What about you guys? Are you all wearing tuxes?" I wasn't sure if I could handle seeing them all like that. We may not make it to the opening if they are.

Mal was shaking his head. "No, it's too hard to move in."

"Weak excuse. They probably don't make them big enough to fit freaks of nature." Joshua had moved over to the stove to finish what Noah had been doing. "I will unfortunately be wearing one."

It was hard to imagine Joshua in a tux. The worn jeans, disheveled shirt, and upswept hair were the only ways I had ever seen him. He hadn't even worn a suit for our school dances. Had he worn one for the funeral? I had been so out of my mind that day that I hadn't seen them at the service while hiding in the shadows, avoiding everyone's sad gazes and sympathetic words.

Picturing him in a black tux, his hair up, his usual rings and bracelets on, and maybe a shadow of a beard - like he hadn't bothered to shave that day - fuck. Yep, he'd be totally hot. When we got home, I could take him out of it, uncovering all his delicious skin. He could bind my wrists with the bow tie and make me pleasure him however he'd demand.