Page 84 of Knotting Autumn

“I wish I had something else here. Usually I bring takeout for dinner and then go into town for breakfast.”

“Would you have preferred if we saved a cream cheese-and-cum cinnamon roll for you?” Cole said, grinning.

“Shut up,” Sawyer said, shoving him. His cheeks tinged pink, and I hid my smile behind my cup of instant coffee.

The men gathered up the bowls, and we all dressed. Thorne kissed me soundly on the mouth, and then he and Cole climbed into the car to drive down to the road where they could get some service and retrieve their messages.

“We should move this mattress back inside,” I said, looking up at Sawyer where he stood on the steps, staring at where the SUV had disappeared.

“Yeah, in a bit,” he said. His mouth curved into a frown as he pivoted and dropped onto the mattress beside me.

It was the first time the two of us had been alone since we left our little apartment. Now, I couldn’t imagine our lives without Thorne and Cole, but it was still strange.

“So, you and Cole,” I said quietly.

“Yeah,” he said, throwing his arm over his eyes. “Who fucking saw that coming?”

I couldn’t help my laugh. “Cole probably did. He went white as a sheet when he first met you. I remembered thinking it was weird, but now I wonder if he recognized you.”

“He’s…” Sawyer trailed off, his hand moving to clasp mine and twine our fingers together. “Different. Strange, but I’m afraid I like it. A lot.”

“I figured you did, considering all the sex,” I said. It felt good to grin. “So, we’re going with them, yes?”

His exhale was loud. “If I get my way, they’re coming with us.”

“I like that plan.”

Sawyer smiled back at me, and my pulse picked up. I really didn’t want to ask him my next question, but I had to.

“And what aboutus?” I asked, my stomach clenching. “Are you focused on him and I’m a side piece?”

The air between us shifted in an instant. His voice was strained. “What do you mean?”

“No pressure, but if you didn’t want to be together anymore, I’d understand.”

The tension snapped. Sawyer shoved up onto his hands and knees, looming over me. Startled, I fell flat on my back. His green eyes blazed with his wolf, and for a few seconds, I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes that fell somewhere between fury and betrayal.

“Autumn, you are mine. My best friend, the love of my life, everything. So please don’t ever put me in a position where I have to pick between you and Cole, because I can’t do that. You’re everything to me. You always have been.” His words tumbled out, growing more frantic and choked as his facade of anger crumbled into fear. “If you made me pick, I’m afraid I would choose you and it would kill me to be apart from him.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. We are together and we always will be. All four of us,” I said, grabbing him at the nape of the neck anddragging him down. His face pressed into my breasts, his heart beating rapidly under my hands as I drew soothing circles over his back.

“Just don’t make me fuck Thorne. He doesn’t do it for me,” Sawyer mumbled.

Wiping at my eyes, I laughed awkwardly. “Good. He can be all mine. And then you have Cole and me. And Cole has you and sometimes me, I guess.”

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” he said, relaxing against me. “But he is hot, isn’t he?”

“Ridiculously so,” I said, laughing again, this time out of relief. “And the piercings. That was a surprise.”

“Should I get some?” he said, rolling off of me and propping his head on his hand.

“You want to let someone stick a needle through your dick?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sawyer shuddered. “Not really. And what if they somehow got caught on each other?”

My eyes squeezed shut, ready to laugh again, when a sudden bolt of alarm shot through me. Gasping, I sat up. It had to be from Thorne through our fated mate bond.

Sawyer mirrored me, sitting up, his chest heaving. The sense of alarm burst into anger and then fear, and I scrambled to my feet, gripping the porch railing. Beside me, Sawyer doubled over, wretching. Sweat broke out over his skin despite the chilly morning.