Page 117 of Clean Finish

Larkin snuffled a laugh. “Oh my god, they’re so fucking nosy. Yeah,” he shouted, giving them all a thumbs up before lunging up to smack a kiss on my cheek with a grin.

Taylor shoved Holt’s shoulder and said something to him excitedly, then grabbed the card and pen from Vince to scribble on the back of it.

He slapped it onto the glass. I KNEW IT

I chuckled warily, brows pinching. “What?”

“Oh my god.” Larkin rolled his eyes and looked up at me. “I kind of… talked to Holt about stuff a while ago, and he said Taylor was convinced there was something going on between us.”

“You talked to Holt about it?” I asked in surprise.

“Um, yeah,” he said sheepishly. “That day when it was all… weird. Sorry,” he added, nibbling his lip as he gazed up at me.

I shook my head. “Don’t be sorry.”

“I was just really sad,” he blurted, “because I thought you were gonna end our… thing.”

I melted, cupping his chin to hold him steady while I leaned down to kiss him. I’d forgotten about our audience until one of them started pounding on the glass, and I detected the faint sounds of someone whooping.

With a huff, I pulled back and smiled down at Larkin, stubbornly ignoring the crowd of wrestlers watching us.

“They’re, like, so embarrassing.” He rolled his eyes, then leaned up to press another kiss to my chin before pulling back and hesitantly saying, “Um… I know I don’t have to, like, ask for your permission or anything, but… I don’t want to stop being friends with them, Seb.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I swear I don’t want anyone else,” he said worriedly. “Seriously, the thought of it makes me feel super weird in a gross way. But they’re still… I’m still friends with them. Is that… okay?”

“Larkin, you don’t…” I shook my head. “You don’t need to ask me if that’s okay. You can be friends with whoever you want. And I trust you. You’ve never been dishonest.”

After a second, he beamed up at me. “Okay. I just… I’ve kinda missed hanging out with them.”

I chuckled. “Why haven’t you been?”

“Because I got all stressed because I didn’t want you to think things,” he grumbled. “I was just all confused. And then I started feeling guilty, so I just… I dunno. It’s been a rollercoaster, honestly.”

Laughing, I glanced back up at the windows. A couple of the wrestlers had wandered off, but most were still watching. Gabe shot me a huge grin and a thumbs up. Holt had his head tipped back in exasperation as Taylor said something and poked his chest with a teasingly smug expression.

“I mean…” I looked back down at Larkin and smiled. “Yeah, I was ridiculously jealous before, but like I said, I trust you, Lark. And now they all know you’re mine,” I added.

He grinned sweetly, tightening his arms around my neck to drop a firm kiss on my mouth. “Fuck yeah. Oh shit, I better text Hans to let him know it went okay.” Except he didn’t move, his lips twisting into a little pout. “I wish the show wasn’t on tonight so we could just go back to your place.”

“You could still come over after,” I said immediately, my voice growing a little husky. I fought the urge to slide my hands down onto his pert ass, aware that we were still being watched. Possibly by the boss.

“Yeah, okay. Shweet.” Larkin’s gaze dipped back down to my mouth, before lifting once more, filled with fragile hope. “But no more lessons, right? Just… me and you.”

“Yes.” Unable to resist, I lowered my mouth back to his. “Just me and you.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Placating Goliaths’ Diva Orc

Larkin

I was nervous as shit as I made my way to the backstage area later that evening to collect Cora.

Not because they all knew that Seb and I were together now—seriously, I was still practically floating even though it’d been hours since he found his special crossword—but because they’d probably all ask questions about how and when it had started. And the truth would just make things extremely weird.

I’d talked to Seb about it, and he’d just calmly said that I should tell them whatever I wanted. Which didn’t exactly help—I’d rather he just tell me what to do, in this situation at least, but Seb wasn’t like that. Because he was amazing. Freaking perfect. And now he was, like, officially mine.