Axes & O’s

32. Nathan

Chapter 32

Nathan

Something heavy is on my waist, and I feel like I’m roasting in a toaster oven. I try to shift, but it’s as if I’m being weighed down by bricks.

I crack my eyes open, a soft snore reaching my ears. It’s still dark in here, but by the light leaking through the corners of the blackout curtains, I know it’s morning—if not mid-morning.

My eyes track to the source of the heat and snoring. A heavily tattooed arm is draped over my waist, and Morgan is wedged between myself and Fox. She’s curled into his chest, clinging to him like a koala bear. That leaves Fox’s face mere inches from mine.

Another soft snore departs from his lips, and I smile a bit. In sleep, Fox doesn’t look half as menacing as he does awake. With his features relaxed, I can see he’s just a regular man in his thirties. There are no tattoos or piercings on his face, just his well-trimmed beard and minor age lines from a hard life lived—one I got a glimpse into while we spoke in the kitchen.

My eyes sting as I think of what he told me. I felt honored that he shared even that small bit with me, but I’d be lying if I didn’t want to know more about his injury. I sensed a story behind it, and I wonder if it’s what led me to finding him in the kitchen in the first place, if his past keeps him up at night.

This couple’s history is another thing that’s a mystery to me. I know now that Fox joined the army at eighteen, that he and Morgan have been together since they were teenagers, and that they started their business together, but that’s about it. Well, and that they’re polyamorous and kinky as hell.

Images of what we did together before we fell asleep come rushing back to me. My body is a little sore from all the exertion but in a nice way, one that I’d gladly live with daily if given the opportunity.

The idea stuns me, and in the darkness of the room with Morgan and Fox sleeping beside me, I indulge in the vision of what a life like this would be like.

I don’t know much about their business, but I’m not opposed to physical work or using my body. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy surfing and working out. But I suppose if they needed help marketing or with social media, I could be of use there. I’m also good at math and working with people who do not have the name Kathy.

If I lived in Starlight Haven, I could wake up, have breakfast with Fox and Morgan, work, and then go into town for dinner with my family. Then there’s the sex and the intimacy I could have with them, the things I know they’d open me up to beyond what I’ve already experienced.

I reach up and softly brush a lock of Fox’s hair from his face, making sure the action doesn’t wake him. Never in my life did I think I’d be waking up next to a man, much less a man and a woman married to each other. But I’d be lying through my teeth if I said I hated it. The way they are with me and how I feel when I’m around them makes me realize that maybe what I thought was missing never actually was—that I simply hadn’t discovered this side of myself yet.

And now that I have, I don’t know if I could ever go back. The idea of driving away from here and pretending as if this weekend never happened physically pains me. And while I don’t know what Fox and Morgan see for us beyond our time snowed-in together, I know I can’t go back to who I was before, regardless of if they’re in my life or not .

I can’t be the man who sits on his hands and plays nice anymore. The man who goes to work and comes home at night alone with his takeout or climbs into bed with a woman who I know would be great for someone else. The man who chose to settle for that woman out of some guilty conscience to get married and start a family to fulfill my own family’s dreams. Especially not after this.

“Stop thinking so goddamn loud,” Fox grumbles.

My eyes focus, and I find Fox staring at me. He moves his arm from my waist and rubs his eyes, yawning.

“Sorry,” I say quietly.

“You don’t have to whisper,” Morgan adds, her voice raspier than usual from sleep and how much Fox and I used her mouth yesterday.

Now free from the weight of his arm, I reach for the glass of water on the bedside table. Fox brought it over for her last night after we cleaned her up and took care of her.

“Drink this,” I say.

Her eyes peel open, but she ignores me, burrowing herself into Fox’s chest.

“She’s stubborn in the mornings,” Fox says.

“Just the mornings?” I retort.

That makes him chuckle, and Morgan flips over so she can give me a death glare and a middle finger. If she weren’t so sleepy and cute, I’d turn her over and spank her cheeky ass. But I refrain. Not only because we used her plenty last night but also because I’m still adjusting to the fact that spanking her is where my thoughts went. How it made the morning wood between my legs harder.

How I’m not judging it this time.

With a disgruntled noise, she snatches the water and chugs it before handing the empty glass back to me. “Happy?” she asks.

“Very.”

Once I set the glass down, I turn back to see Morgan cuddling into Fox again, draping herself over him as if she can’t get close enough. It’s cute and a little weird, but that fits Morgan to a tee. Once they settle, I shift my gaze to meet Fox’s. His usual cool blues are warm, and if I had to guess, I’d say there’s approval in his eyes at the care I showed for Morgan, even though it seems silly since it was just a glass of water.

Yet in a way, I understand. Their relationship and lifestyle may be out of the norm, but they take care of each other in the way that works best for them.

“Nate,” Morgan says.

“Yeah?”

“Why are you thinking so loud and not completing our puppy pile?”

I chuckle, and Fox’s cheek twitches as he lifts the blanket up so I can scoot closer, permission from him to join in. A tiny voice in the back of my brain says I should hesitate, but I don’t.

I plaster my chest to Morgan’s back and wrap my arm around both their bodies. Morgan tangles her legs with mine, and my head rests in the space between Fox’s shoulder and neck. Morgan doesn’t make a funny comment about my cock being hard, and Fox remains quiet, his arm folding the comforter over us and trapping us in a warm cocoon.

When we’re settled with his strong arms around us, I let out a contented sigh, and sleep overtakes me easily.