Love Me (WITSEC #3)(10)

My posture straightened. “Do you all think I am incapable of telling any of you no?”

Colt, Creed, and Keelan wisely stayed quiet.

“Regardless, they still need to take things at your pace,” Knox said.

“My pace isn’t glacial, Knox,” I said, my patience wavering a bit.

Knox frowned, but his voice was calm. “I didn’t say it was.”

I exhaled slowly, regaining control. “I know you all mean well.”

“I’m sensing a but coming,” Creed mumbled.

I shook my head. “No buts. It’s just, everything…what we’ve done so far…” My cheeks became hot again as I stammered over what to say. “Don’t change the pace. Not that there really is a pace anymore. I’m already having sex with you, for crying out loud. Well, most of you, and I’ve told two out of three what I’m not comfortable trying yet.”

Keelan’s brows furrowed. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’m not one of the two.”

“It hasn’t come up yet. That’s why I haven’t told you,” I explained.

I could see that Keelan was about to ask what it was, but Creed spoke before him. “I find that surprising. Then again, you’d need another one of us there to do it.”

“I’m not ready for the one-on-one experience either,” I grumbled, beyond embarrassed.

Knox, who seemed to realize what we were talking about, let out a curse.

“Ah,” Keelan said. “I think I’ve caught on.” He smirked at the twins. “Sounds to me like you two assholes need to take a couple of steps down from the top of that moral hill you’re standing on. It hasn’t even crossed my mind to take that step with Shi.”

Creed gave him a disbelieving look. “I highly doubt you haven’t thought about doing it with her.”

Colt groaned, rubbing his hands down his face.

One side of Keelan’s mouth lifted. “Still didn’t even consider bringing it up. Shi is in no way ready for that.”

“We didn’t bring it up,” Creed blurted, making me wince. What I wouldn’t have given for the ground to open up and swallow me in that moment.

“Creed,” Colt said low, tone full of warning.

“You really expect me to believe that Shi was the one to bring up anal?” Keelan asked.

“Cheese and rice! I did! I brought it up! I brought up anal and double penetration. My butt is off-limits. All right?”

They had all gone quiet. So quiet you could hear a pin drop. Until Colt, who had his eyes closed and his hand draped over his nose and mouth, snorted. Keelan turned away from me, his shoulders shaking. Creed was the first to let a laugh escape. That was what broke their control and had all four of them exploding with laughter that bounced off the hall walls. Even Knox, who was a little hunched over, had a hand on the wall as if to keep him from losing his balance. It was a beautiful sound despite it being at my expense.

Trying not to laugh with them, I said, “It’s not that funny.”

That seemed to set them off more. I waited until they calmed down with my arms folded over my chest.

Colt cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, babe. We weren’t laughing at you.”

“I’ve heard that before,” I grumbled. “At least I’m not naked this time.”

Keelan’s head whipped toward Colt and Creed. “You laughed at Shiloh when she was naked?”

Creed frowned at Keelan. “Not because she was naked.”

“She just happened to be that way when the topic came up,” Colt explained.

I could see Keelan wanted more information, but it was time to drop this mortifying conversation. “Now that is settled, can we go eat before the food gets cold?”

“Yes,” Knox said, seeming just as eager to move on from what we were talking about. “Let’s go eat.”

We all sat down at the table and filled our plates with the delicious food Knox had made. Colt placed some French toast on one side of my plate a second before Creed dropped sausage on the other. My heart clenched a little as I stared down at my plate.

“Do you not like French toast?” Knox asked as he added food to his plate.

“I love it,” I said sullenly. “Shayla and I made French toast for my mother every year for Mother’s Day. It was her favorite.”

“We would make our dad chocolate-chip waffles for Father’s Day,” Creed said, and that seemed to surprise everyone.

“That’s right,” Keelan said with a sad smile. “Knox always lost his shit every time the two of you stole a handful of chocolate chips whenever his back was turned.”

“You stole the chocolate chips, too,” Creed grumbled. “You just never got caught and played the innocent bystander when we did.”

Keelan’s smile grew into a somewhat happy one. “I can’t help it, I'm older and wiser.”

As Creed and Keelan bickered, I took notice of how silent Colt and Knox were. Knox was quietly eating as he watched his brothers go back and forth. He appeared bored, but there was sadness in his eyes. Colt seemed to be frozen, lost in his thoughts as he stared down at his untouched plate. Hoping to comfort him, I placed my hand on his forearm.

“My dad always requested an omelet with whatever we wanted to put in it. He loved surprises and always looked forward to finding out what ingredients we’d choose each year,” I said, shifting from their dad to mine, hoping to ease their pain. “One year, when Shay and I were little, we wanted to make him a green eggs and ham omelet. We put ham and every green vegetable we could think of in it, which included broccoli and peas. It must have been so gross, but he ate every bite like it was the most delicious omelet Shay and I had ever made him.” My eyes welled up and I had to blink a couple of times to keep any tears from falling.