Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(61)

Maya leaned forward and gripped his cock like she had Border’s a moment ago. “I think that can be arranged. But I want the whole Ghost treatment. Just saying.”

He leaned down and took her mouth with his, her taste bursting on his tongue, all sweet and rich. “I can do that,” he murmured against her lips.

“I think I’m bigger than you, you know,” Border said as he walked up. “I might be the one who has to be behind you.”

Jake’s dick would permanently have zipper marks. “I like you behind me.” He leaned forward and kissed his lover before sighing as his second alarm went off. Apparently, past Jake knew future Jake a little too well. “I need to get clean and get going before my brothers kick my ass.”

Maya’s eyes brightened as she shut the second alarm off. “Not too clean, I hope.”

He kissed her again. “Never too clean around the pair of you.”

“Well, there was that time in the shower with the three of us,” Border said with a smile. “We got pretty clean then.”

Jake rolled his eyes as Maya snorted. “Yeah,” she agreed, “but then it took two of you to keep me up after my knees melted.”

“My dick was in you at the time, so I don’t really think I can blame you,” Jake said with all seriousness.

She snorted again, and he pulled away, knowing his third alarm wouldn’t give him enough time to shower. When she slid his phone into his pocket, he had to hold back a moan of his own. Damn spicy woman. Pure evil.

“See you when I get home?” he asked.

“I’ll be here,” Border said. “Got some paperwork to deal with.”

“I might be late,” Maya said. She held up her hands when both men opened their mouths to speak. “But I won’t be alone in the shop. Sloane is working late with me on another client.”

Jake frowned. “But what about driving home?”

“I’ll be as safe as I can, and I won’t take back roads.” Maya pressed her lips together. “It’s the best I can do and still live my life.”

Shadows passed over Border’s eyes, and Jake cursed. He knew the other man wanted to leave, or at least felt he had to, but there was no way Maya or Jake would allow that. They would just have to be careful. He met Maya’s gaze, and she nodded. They’d do their best.

They had to.

He quickly said goodbye once more and headed to the shower. By the time he got clean and made his way to the Gallagher site, he was just about late. Thankfully, his three-alarm system kept him ahead of the game. He knew that the way he worked bugged Owen to death, but his anal retentive brother just had to get over it. Not everyone lived their lives by spreadsheets and figures. As long as Jake was on time, and not late, he was fine. He might not always be early to things like Owen, but at least he took his brothers’ timetable into account.

As he walked toward where the three of them stood, talking with their afternoon coffees in hand, it struck him again that he was the odd Gallagher on the outside looking in. He didn’t own a share in the company, though the three had asked him if he wanted in when they’d first begun—and a few times since. He’d never felt right in doing so. He only worked on some aspects of the projects, and usually at the end when they needed statement pieces or accurate historical replicas that he was good at, though it wasn’t his favorite thing to do. Graham, Owen, and Murphy had a system going, and it wasn’t something he would ever fully be a part of. Even after all this time, it still bugged him.

Graham looked over his shoulder and spotted Jake before giving him a chin lift and turning back to the others. Jake sighed, knowing he should just get over himself. It wasn’t their fault that he felt like he stood between two worlds: the Gallaghers and the Montgomerys. His brothers had their own issues, but they were a tight-knit unit that worked together daily. He was only called in when they needed him. He might have dinners with them, might watch games with them, but he wasn’t truly a part of them in some aspects.

He was the artist. The different one. He was the bisexual brother. The one currently living in a ménage. It wasn’t like they ever treated him differently, but they had a connection to each other the likes of which he would never share.

Maybe that’s why he’d clung to Border as he had all those years ago, and why he’d made Maya his best friend even when he’d felt something different for her at the time. Now he had both Border and Maya in his life, and he was so damned scared it would all fall apart, and he’d be left alone once again that he wasn’t sure what he was doing.

It didn’t matter in the end. He’d do what he had to in order to make sure they didn’t leave him and turn him into some emo pile of shit when things went to hell.

He strolled up to his brothers, knowing if he didn’t hide what he felt about the way he was on the outside looking in, he’d hurt them. They were his family, his blood, and they didn’t deserve to feel like they’d done something wrong when they hadn’t. They had never once treated him differently for who he was, but since he felt it, it had to be real in some sense, right?

Or maybe he was going f*cking crazy since everything else in his life—other than his art—seemed to be up in the air.

He would just have to deal with whatever he felt and know his brothers would always be there for him. Because there was no way he’d lose them along with the two people he truly loved when things went to shit.