Reluctantly, Olivier packed up, following Eric through the back door. Outside, the air was crisp. Eric only realized then how much musk they’d filled the backroom with.
They really were due for some time alone. And his thoughts plummeted back into having Olivier on his cock, him fucking Ollie speechless.
Olivier glanced down at Eric’s hand. The wedding ring.
That felt like a cold splash of water. Shit. Eric bit his lip. He tried not to think about Alice. But with that ring on his finger, he still felt that obligation to her, even when she was dead.
She wasn’t coming back.
With Olivier watching, Eric slid the ring off his finger, and shoved it into his pocket.
Felt weird, not wearing the ring. But he also felt like a weight had rolled off his heart.
“Y-your ring,” Ollie said, his eyes wide. “You’re supposed to have it on. You’re married, Eric.”
Eric rubbed the depressed ridge the ring had left on his finger. “She’s dead. Wearing the ring would be acknowledging her, but it wouldn’t bring her back.”
Olivier fell silent. And there went the simmering heat that had been building up between them.
Eric sighed. He nodded Olivier over to the car door, his gaze catching on Ollie’s hips.
Felt kind of pathetic, mooning after his brother. But it wasn’t like he could forget about Olivier, when all those memories had been branded into his mind. What would Ollie say if he knew Eric had been jerking off to him this past week?
If he knew Eric had been fucking his own hand, pretending Ollie was taking every inch of his cock?
Olivier adjusted himself in his pants, glancing sidelong at Eric. “Stop watching.”
“Hard to when I had your cock in my hand. You’re hard for me, Ollie. Not every day that I get to touch you.”
“At least it isn’t obvious that we’re brothers.”
“In bed, you’re my omega. You’ll take my knot.”
Eric shut up—he was overstepping his boundaries. Except Olivier’s blush darkened.
Eric pulled open the passenger door for him, cupping Olivier’s ass when he climbed into the car. It was warm, firm, and Eric pushed a finger up against Olivier’s crack, right over where his hole was.
“Eric,” Olivier yelped, jerking away.
“Bad?” Eric let his hand fall to his side.
“N-no. It’s just... we’re in public.” Olivier dropped into his seat, groaning. “We shouldn’t have done the thing. Back in the shop. In front of Levi.”
“But you want more,” Eric murmured. “Want me fucking you senseless.”
Musk rolled off Olivier, so thick it could’ve crystallized in the air. “Eric!”
“Say that in bed. Wanna hear my name when you come.”
Olivier closed his eyes, his chest heaving. Eric climbed into the car, started the engine, and reached over to squeeze Olivier’s thigh. To his delight, Olivier lifted his hips, spreading his legs wider.
“Gods, I’m such a slut,” Olivier muttered, his cheeks red.
“Don’t even think that,” Eric growled. “You’re mine.”
Olivier closed his eyes, tipping his head back. “You say that like you know what I’ve done.”
“Tell me, then. What have you done?”
“I’ve slept with people.”
“So have I. It’s not like that means anything.”
Olivier cracked his eyes open. “It doesn’t?”
Eric shrugged. “Who you’ve slept with doesn’t matter. I want to be your alpha.”
Olivier sighed. “My previous alpha—Zan—he hated that I’d slept with other people. He said I was a sick slut.”
Eric narrowed his eyes, hot anger swelling through his chest. What kind of ex did Olivier have? “He’s talking shit. Who you’ve slept with doesn’t matter at all. You’re still you.”
“Even if I’ve slept with a hundred people?”
Eric blinked at that. A hundred was a lot. “You have?”
“Well, more like eighty, I guess.”
Still a lot. Eric looked at the lights on his dashboard, trying to imagine Olivier with that many people. But it had also been ten years since things fell apart at the fire escape. “I guess that’s an average of eight a year. That’s not so bad.”
“That was... all in a couple of years.” Olivier squirmed uncomfortably, looking at his hands. “A while back.”
That blew Eric’s mind. “Seriously?”
“I just... I didn’t know what to do with myself for a while. After you left. I knew you were angry with me. I just... I tried to forget you. It wasn’t easy. And then I went home smelling like a different alpha every night, and your mom... well, she called me a slut, too.”
Eric had been about to pull out of the parking lot. He stepped hard on the brakes, looking at Olivier in horror. Olivier bit his lip.
“Don’t tell her I said that,” Ollie said.
“Mom doesn’t say shit like that,” Eric said, incredulous.
“Not in front of you, she doesn’t.” Olivier closed his eyes. “She’s said things like that to me, over the years.”
Felt like his brain was bending in half, trying to imagine Mom doing that to Ollie. “Then how come I never saw it?”
Olivier sighed. “I tried telling you a couple of times. You never believed me.”
Eric remembered his mom smiling at him, praising him for his schoolwork. She’d been smiling when he handed Jenn to her, and she’d been happy when he returned to Meadowfall. His memories from his childhood were patchy—he’d never noticed how his mom acted around Olivier.
“I just remember a couple times when... when I was really happy about something you did, but she wasn’t,” Eric said.
Olivier shrugged. “That happened a lot.”
And Eric never noticed? His thoughts whirled. If Olivier was telling the truth... “Gods, I wish you’d told me earlier.”
He should’ve paid attention. He should’ve been better with Olivier. Mom had called Olivier a slut, and Eric didn’t even know.
And now, Olivier looked miserable. Eric’s heart sank. He reached over, taking Olivier’s hand in his own. If Olivier was telling the truth and Mom had done that to him... how could she? Olivier was her stepson.
But it wasn’t like Eric wanted to hammer on her door right now. Olivier never liked being in the same room as her. So Ollie would probably run if Eric talked to their mom, and that... wasn’t what Eric had in
