Patrick's POV
Panic.
Tension.
Awkwardness.
These were just some of the things that filled the air between Andrew and I for the past two days.
I tried to blow over what had happened but it was hard considering every time I so much as caught Andrew's eyes, a deep blush covered his face and he immediately looked away. Anytime we talked his eyes were glued to the floor, the TV, or Jem if he was also in the conversation and that didn't help the matter blow over any faster.
I don't even know what had come over me when I did it.
At the time watching Andrew rage quit to one of the tamest games I've ever played had been too funny, not to the mention the commentary I was getting every time something didn't go his way.
When he threatened to just get up and leave, I couldn't give up the best entertainment I had seen in a long time.
My hand shot out before I had the chance to stop it and at that point all I could do was play along.
I was dragging him into my lap before I even knew what I was doing but the second he was planted firmly on my thighs, it all clicked and I realized exactly what I had gotten myself into.
Still, when it clicked, I couldn't help but give into the temptation. Teasing Andrew, even just the meniscal amount I had gotten away with, was too easy and I could see why Jem did it so often.
He became putty in your hands with ease and the way his words turned into nearly breathy moans were perfect.
The teasing and his actions had been fun until I was being affected by them and the second it happened, I froze.
I didn't even have to be touched before my dick was hardening and the exact second it happened, I needed distance and quickly.
Up until that point, Jem had been the only man that was able to make me hard; and who could really blame me? Jem is practically a sex god but Andrew? I'd known Andrew for years and I'd never felt this way when I was near him. I didn't really want to either.
It was awkward enough that we were chasing after the same guy, knowing neither of us would actually get him but adding onto the fact that Andrew was my only friend outside of work made the whole thing so much worse.
I wanted to forget about it entirely so I tried my best to pretend it didn't happen and I could only hope that Andrew would let it blow over soon too.
Now he and I watched in silence as Jem worked around the kitchen, cooking some Chinese dish I didn't even know the name of. Andrew's eyes were glued to the files and tablet in front of him while I was stuck all but staring at Jem just so Andrew wouldn't make it any weirder than it had to be.
But knowing how Jem was, I didn't allow myself to stare at him for more than a few seconds at a time so he wouldn't have a reason to tease about it.
"Jem," Andrew said after a while of pure silence, his eyes never leaving the files in front of him.
"Andrew," he said back, his tone mimicking the man beside me.
"What lengths would you go to in order to make us happy," he asked, his voice innocent but the smirk on his face was full of teasing.
Jem raised a skeptical brow as a frown covered his face. Andrew only smiled back happily as he batted his eyes a few times before going back to his files.
"I already don't like where this is going," Jem sighed.
"Just answer the question."
"How about you just tell me what you want before we got all dramatic and shit."
"Buzz kill," Andrew said as he rolled his eyes but when he looked up to Jem, you could already see that he was about to start begging. "We want to go out for a night. Just to do something fun for a few hours and then we'll come back."
Jem full out laughed at the statement, his eyes never leaving his pans as he shrugged off the question without so much as an actual answer.
"I'm serious," he said again when he realized he wasn't actually going to get an answer.
"Don't take this the wrong way or anything but are you actually insane?" Jem's voice was harsh but somehow also joking, like he was scolding a child but he didn't really care if they listened or not. "Or did you just forget about the people trying to kill all of us?"
Andrew huffed as he glared at Jem but he didn't seem to care at all.
"It would only be for a few hours, and you could even pick the place. Devon and Barrett could be there too. And if you can pull your head out of your ass for more than five minutes, you would invited too."
My heart stopped when his insult reached my ears. I didn't have the guts to look at either of them; not knowing if Jem would be able to laugh this one off too or if this would be the line for him.
"A few minutes is enough to get you killed," he said, you could practically hear the way his jaw clenched.
"Then why have we even been going to work?"
"Because that was the only way you allowed me to bring you here and because you aren't out in the open every day. Dev and Barrett are able to watch every person who comes in or out. They've learned names and faces so if they find someone they don't know they can stop them before they can do anything. Those are controlled environments. A night out is the farthest thing from controlled."
"You go out all the time though," Andrew argued with a new glare.
"I would hardly call twice 'all the time'," he said with an eye roll of his own. "I go out for work just like you. But unlike the two of you, I know how to handle myself if things go wrong."
Andrew huffed, his pleading eyes long gone and a scowl taking its place.
"So we just have to sit here until you finally deal with this?"
"If you want to live at least," Jem said with a shrug of his shoulders. I watched as he left his pans behind to grab plates, silently saying this conversation was over.
Andrew didn't seem to care about his non-verbal warning.
"Bullshit," he muttered but Jem didn't bat an eye as he handed both of us a plate, holding onto his as he waited for us to get as much as we wanted first.
"I don't know why you care so much. You don't seem like the most social person out there. I figured not going out much would be normal for you."
"Just because I don't do it often doesn't mean I don't do it at all. It's good to step outside of usual routines from time to time." Jem frowned at that before shaking his head as if he didn't really understand. "Don't you agree Patrick," he asked as he looked up at me for the first time since his ass had been on my thighs.
A tried to fight back the blush but when a small smile crossed his face, I knew I hadn't been successful.
"I mean, I understand wanting it get out of this house for a little bit but I also don't want to get shot just for sticking my head out of the front door," I said honestly but when he frowned I felt myself sighing. "It would be nice to have a night out though."
Jem's face fell from the usual smile to a blank face that I couldn't read, the face that Liam often copied when he was thinking or when he didn't want people prying things out of him. It was times like these when I was forced to remember how Jem pretty much raised Liam. The thought still made my stomach churn.
Jem didn't say a word as he watched up fix our plates while he stood there as still as possible. By the time Andrew and I sat down the couch, Devon and Barrett crashed into the kitchen as they did nearly every day at 7:30 on the dot, as if Jem had been training them to stick to this schedule for a while now.
Devon and Barrett met us on the couch seconds later but Jem still hadn't moved.
His eyes almost fogged over, his face still blank until his hand slowly moved to the pans to finally fix his own plate but his movements were robotic like they had been when he was trying to figure out what to do about a guy named Crain.
He walked to the couch and sat down with us stiffly.
The TV played in the background but since Devon and Barrett were continuing a conversation they were having earlier and Andrew and I weren't caught up with what were happening, it went completely unnoticed.
Soon enough our plated were discarded on the coffee table while Barrett's voice filled the room angrily, the conversation clearly not as friendly as it was only seconds ago.
"And what exactly would you two want to do on a 'night out'," Jem asked after a while. His voice lacked all emotions but the words 'night out' came out like foreign words to him.
A frown still covered his face though as if he didn't even like entertaining the idea.
"Anything really," Andrew sighed. "We could watch a movie-,"
"You can do that here," Jem filled in quickly.
"Or we could go shopping-,"
"As if you don't have enough clothes," Jem huffed.
"I'm not much of a shopping person," I say at the same time as Jem.
"Then we could bowl or play mini golf or do literally anything. We could just take a walk at a park for all I care."
"I literally have over a hundred acres here and you're asking to go to a random ass, litter filled park rather than taking a walk around here," Jem asked, clearly baffled at the thought but his voice was still monotone.
"The other two aren't terrible ideas though," I said with a shrug but Jem only hummed.
Devon and Barrett only got more pissed at each other by the second until Barrett picked up a pillow and threw it at Devon's face as hard as he could. A smile flashed across Devon's face as he dodged it with ease but a look of terror covered Barrett as the pillow hurled towards Jem.
Everyone froze as they watched; completely stunned at what Jem would do when the pillow made contact with his face, but the hit never came.
Jem's hand moved just in time, catching the pillow with ease only seconds before it would have smashed into his face.
The dazed look in his eyes was gone in seconds as he looked to his friends with a murderous gaze.
No one moved as Jem processed what had happened but when Jem sighed, the room somehow became even tenser than before.
"Fucking dumbass," Jem cursed as he gripped the pillow hard before throwing it right back at Barrett, who didn't have time to dodge it like both of his friends before him had. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me when the pillow hit Barrett right in between the eyes.
The force had him falling back against the couch harshly but even he laughed as he took hold of the pillow again.
"Oh it's on you asshole," he said while standing up. A sadistic grin covered his face as he stalked over to Jem who only glared back at him; shockingly a small grin of his own covered his lips.
"I dare you," was all Jem said when Barrett raised the pillow high above his head as he loomed over Jem.
A crazed laughter bubbled out of Barrett as he smacked Jem with the pillow over and over again before Jem even have a chance to process what was happening. Jem laughed too as he balled up on the couch before slinking down to the floor and running down the hallway.
Barrett followed him as he ran; still swatting Jem on the back with every step they took. They disappeared into Jem's room but only seconds later Barrett ran back out.
"Fuck I'm sorry," he yelled as he ran back to the living room. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He all but dove over the couch; hiding behind Devon who watching with the first smile I had seen out of him.
I watched slightly confused until Jem reappeared from his room, a pillow in each hand while he stalked closer to his friend.
None of us had time to blink before the pillow in his left hand was being tossed to Devon while he took the other pillow in both hands and began hitting their shortest friend as fast as they could while he curled into a ball.
"Dev you're a traitor!" Barrett whined as he endured both of them hitting him. "I came here for protection."
"You tried to hit me first you ass hole," Devon said as he Barrett's ass with the pillow harshly until both of their arms got too tired and they allowed their friend a well-deserved break.
"You're all children," Andrew sighed but the smile on his face showed he enjoyed watching them just as much as I had.
"Is that so," Devon asked, much to my surprise. Despite the fact that he drove me to and from work every day, he had never really talked to me unless it was to pass along information from Jem.
"Yep. It's honestly embarrassing."
"At least we have the ability to have fun outside of research papers and patient files," Barrett huffed out as he sprawled out on the floor, his chest heaving while his hair pointed out in every direction.
"Children none the less."
"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Jem said with a smile on his face. "I mean just look at me. If being a child allows you to look like this then maybe you should try it some time."
I hummed as I looked at the pillow Jem had dropped between us when he dropped back on the couch after Barrett's beating.
"So if we act like children we'll start looking like trolls? I think we're better off as we are," Andrew teased, making all three of their jaws drop while my hand slid over to the pillow Jem slept with every night.
"I don't know; it might be worth trying. Maybe we'll have better luck than they did."
I didn't give any of them a chance to process my words before the pillow was being gripped harshly between my fingers and being smacked onto Jem's face.
Everyone sat in shock, giving Andrew time to steal the pillow Devon had been using to deliver a much softer blow to Devon's stomach. Barrett laughed loudly from his place on the floor but my pillow slamming down on his chest quickly cut it off.
"It's time to die," was all he said as he grabbed hold of the couch cushion, giving me barely any time to turn my back before he was hitting me with it.
Devon and Jem took his lead and soon we were having an all out war.
Thankfully all of their hits were significantly lighter than the ones they were giving each other. I wouldn't be surprised of they came out bruised tomorrow.
As the war went on, alliances were made. Barrett, Andrew, and I were taking cover behind the couch while Jem and Devon had taken up refuge behind the kitchen counter.
Our laughter had been nearly none stop until Jem's phone began ringing.
His smile dropped slowly. The light that had been in his eyes died down to nothing but spark as dread clearly worked it's way back into his body.
Devon and Barrett's smile had gone with Jem's and now all three of them stood stiffly.
The joking energy that had once filled the house was gone in seconds as Jem picked up the phone and began walking back to his office, the door shutting softly behind him the second he was inside.
"Don't look so depressed," Barrett teased when he got over the initial shock. "That's the drug phone. If anything its good news."
"Because only good things ever come out of drugs," I said with a small eye roll, trying to not think of the fact that he had only heard the phone go off for mere seconds and was still able to tell what the ringtone meant.
"Just try not to let it get to you," Devon said, his monotone voice was back but it somehow didn't seem as harsh as it had been since I first met him. "He'll be done soon enough."
"He's right. But while he's busy that gives us time for a sneak attack," Barrett whispered as a wicked grin covered his face. "Everyone go get your folded socks so we can throw them at him and grab a cushion from the couch as shield. We're about to win this."
His smile and excitement were contagious and soon enough we were following his whispered orders, lying in wait as we watched the office door, prepared to start the second round at the first opening we were given.
Last updated February 8, 2022