I'm His

13

We spend one more day out on the water before Chance steers us home. He takes the time to teach me how the yacht works, how to steer it myself 'just in case.' "Just relax. You're doing great." I furrow my brows.

"I'll try not to maroon us on an island, at least." The trip home is much more muted, my happy bubble thoroughly popped by what happened onboard. 

But when we arrive home, I feel much better. Walking through the doors, I'm immediately greeting by Phaedra and Marcus. "Hey, look who's back!" Marcus shouts with a smile. Lounging on the couch, Phaedra gives us both a big wink.

"Have fun on your little paddleboat, fearless leader?" Phaedra jabs playfully.

"Yeah, yeah." Chance swings his duffel bag around, letting it fall unceremoniously on Phaedra's lap.

"Ooof!" She winces before shoving it aside, grumbling loudly about ungrateful men.

"You're home early." Marcus doesn't look displeased, exactly, but that serious expression on his face seems a little out of place. 'Did something bad happen?'

"What are you guys up to?" I look curiously at the screen, seeing a mass of wires sticking out the back to Marcus's laptop. The lawyer keeps his stern façade for a moment before getting flustered by the mess.

"I was trying to see if one of my games could be played on our flat screen." Pulling her legs up underneath her, Phaedra sits crisscrossed on the couch. Her grin makes her seem much younger, gleeful at Marcus's failure.

"It's been way more entertaining than you'd think. At one point we needed to get the fire extinguisher." My brows rise and my mouth drops open slightly.

"Really? Are you not good with computers or something, Marcus?" A guy like him should be, considering his line of work. 'But then again, I don't see him on his phone as much as the others...' Marcus is quick to jump to his own defense.

"I am very tech savvy! Phaedra is blowing this out of proportion. As usual, she takes whatever chance she can to try and make herself seem superior." He gives her a heated glare.

"Marcus, you're a billionaire and a certified genius. You can handle a little needling. You might even NEED a little bit of teasing to make sure your ego doesn't get bloated. If anything, I do it out of love!" I laugh at the outrageous confession.

"I think I'm going to gag." Marcus grumbles, glaring at her. Phaedra laughs under her breath, pulling her hair over her shoulder so that she can stroke her fingers through it.

Looking around, I expect Ash or Hideyoshi to come out and join us. As if reading my thoughts, Marcus clears his throat as he begins picking up his mess. "The other two should be home in time for dinner, Adrian. I asked them to pick up something I needed for this emulator to work." I give Chance a questioning look, waiting for him to refute it. 'Skepticism at this point is a healthy reflex, I think.'

My boyfriend just shrugs. "What? I don't know where they are."

"...I do." Phaedra's deadly serious tone makes Chance stiffen up. "And unlike these two, I'm not going to cover for them." She wraps her arms around herself, sensually twisting and making soft moans. "They're consummating their forbidden, torrid relationship! In passion, and lust!" I burst out laughing and drop my head into my hands.

"Oh my god." Chance starts swearing under his breath, grabbing his duffel bag and taking it up to his room. He grabs my bags too, carting them all upstairs so that I can stay with the others, hanging out.

"If I didn't know better, Phae, I'd say you were actually rooting for this to happen." Marcus shakes his head at her.

"I am! Adrian and I are tired of being the only fabulous gays on the team!" I'm still laughing where I sit, it dying down to just chuckles now.