CHAPTER 94: DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED

Chapter 93

Jack

After a long pause, the air thick with the weight of everything unsaid, I bend down slightly and press next.

"Solutions," I announce.

The slide changes, revealing a neat timetable, color-coded and sectioned by days of the week.

"There are seven days in a week," I begin, trying to sound professional—like this isn’t about my personal love life.

"And this is a timetable I’ve devised as a temporary solution to our... structural imbalance."

Both Ciel and Nolan lean forward, skeptical but curious.

"Monday: all three of us have a date—or just spend time together. Tuesday: Ciel and Nolan. Wednesday: all three again. Thursday: Ciel and I. Friday: the three of us. Saturday: Nolan and I. And Sunday is a day off—personal time, no planned hangouts or dates."

They blink.

"That’s..." Nolan starts, brows furrowed.

"...very organized," Ciel finishes for him, voice soft but amused.

"Any alterations to this?" I ask, standing straighter, hands behind my back like I’m conducting a board meeting.

Silence.

"Please," I plead. "Someone say something before my dignity combusts."

"Uh... none from me, actually," Ciel says after a moment.

"None from me either," Nolan adds, lightly bouncing Lanny on his lap. "It seems like you really thought about this."

I rub the back of my neck, embarrassed but relieved. "Yeah, well... someone had to."

I shut down the laptop and place it aside, then take a step closer until I’m standing in front of them. Slowly, I get down on one knee—right in the middle of the rug—until I’m at their eye level.

They both look startled.

I take Ciel’s hand first, gently placing his palm against my cheek. His hand is soft, steady, familiar.

"Sunshine," I say quietly, my tone softer now, stripped of the teasing. "This isn’t something temporary to me. I want this... to be permanent."

Then I take Nolan’s free hand, his grip hesitant but warm, and place it on my other cheek.

"And you, little doggy," I say, giving him a crooked smile.

"I want the chance to fall in love with you properly. And for you to fall for me, too."

Their expressions soften—Ciel’s eyes shimmering, Nolan’s mouth twitching like he’s fighting a smile.

I cover both their hands with mine.

"I’d like to think," I murmur, letting the moment breathe, "that my heart’s big enough for the two of you."

They simultaneously give me twin smiles, warm and genuine, maybe this might work out.

It has to.

***

Nolan

Jack’s presentation two weeks ago... yeah, that was something. It was like he’d grabbed a scalpel and decided to perform emotional open-heart surgery on the three of us.

Brutal honesty, zero anesthesia. But... it helped. It tore off the pretty little bandages we’d all been hiding behind and forced us to look at the raw, ugly truth beneath.

I remember going through every emotion possible that day—overjoyed when Ciel accepted my confession, devastated when Jack poured a whole bucket of cold reality over it.

Now, staring at myself in the mirror, I’m not sure what I’m feeling.

The man looking back at me is a stranger. Hair styled. Dress shirt ironed so smooth it looks like it belongs to someone with an actual social life.

I tug at the sleeves awkwardly. "I feel like a monkey," I mutter.

"An attractive, good-looking monkey," comes Ciel’s amused voice from the doorway.

I turn, and there he is—leaning against the frame, arms crossed, lips curved into that knowing smile that always makes my heart skip.

"You’re not helping," I grumble, adjusting my collar.

He pushes off the door and comes closer, deft fingers fixing the mess I made of my tie. His touch lingers just long enough to make my pulse stutter.

"I don’t even know why Jack’s doing this," I mumble. "Why not take you out? You two just went to the movies."

Ciel looks up at me, eyes gleaming with warmth and that strange little smile that says he knows more than I do. "Because Jack has unnatural instincts. I don’t know how, but he always knows what we need."

I grumble again, mostly to hide the way my ears are burning.

"Trust me," he says, smoothing down the front of my shirt. "Go and get wooed."

I exhale, leaning down to brush a quick kiss to his lips—

"Break it up, break it up—it’s my day with the doggy. Sunshine, hands to yourself."

An arm slides between us, and I blink up at Jack.

He looks devastating.

Tailored black shirt, sleeves rolled, top buttons undone just enough to tease.He looks like every confident alpha stereotype ever drawn and standing next to him, I feel like the underdressed background character in a perfume ad.

"We’re late. We’ll be back soon, ’kay sunshine?" he says, and before I can even react, he leans down to kiss Ciel—long, slow, and lingering—as if he didn’t just break my kiss.

I roll my eyes.

When he finally breaks away, he wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him, his cologne doing something devastatingly illegal to my common sense.

"Let’s go, doggy," he murmurs, his voice dipping low enough to make my pulse skip.

I manage a quick, awkward goodbye to Ciel and Mary, the new nanny, before Jack’s steering me out the door like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

He opens the car door for me,actually opens it, and for a moment, I just stare at him. I’ve never been treated like this before, not by anyone. I slide in, and he shuts the door gently behind me.

By the time he gets into the driver’s seat, the air feels charged, like we’re both pretending we don’t feel it.

Once he starts the car and we’re on the road, his hand drifts onto my knee. The other rests casually on the steering wheel.

Jack looks like sin in motion, golden under the passing streetlights.

"You didn’t have to," I mutter, looking out the window.

"You’re right," he says easily. "I didn’t have to. But I wanted to."

"Still," I say, fiddling with the edge of my sleeve, "I think Ciel’s better suited for this kind of thing."

He smirks, just enough to make my stomach tighten.

"I think I know your best friend better than you do," he says.

"Sunshine’s probably been to a dozen of these fancy places. He doesn’t need more of them."

I pause. Right. Can’t believe I forgot that. Stupid.

"And I’m more suited?" I ask, glancing sideways.

"I wouldn’t say suited. But if you don’t have fun today, we won’t do it again. So just give it a shot, okay?" he says softly, eyes still on the road.

I look down at his hand on my knee, large, warm, steady. "I’m not accustomed to this version of you," I admit quietly.

He chuckles. "I’ve gotta bring in the big guns to make you fall for me, you know."

My heart skips a beat. I roll my eyes to cover it. "You’re ridiculous."

"And you," he says, smirking again, "are a lot more docile than I expected. Was I mistaken? Are you a cat, not a dog?"

"I take back what I said," I grumble, and he laughs—low and genuine this time.

The sound does something dangerous to my chest.

***

Jack

Nolan cleans up real nice.

I mean there’s a reason he was the second male lead. Look at him, flushed under the restaurant’s amber light, shirt tucked perfectly against his chest... yeah, that’s something else.

I cut into the fancy meat on my plate, something probably endangered and definitely overpriced, and take a sip of the wine. Smooth, rich, warm.

I should get a driver. Can’t be drinking and driving when I’ve got this kind of distraction sitting across from me, not risking our lives.

I look at Nolan again. More specifically, at the few buttons barely holding his shirt together across his chest.

Seriously, the man has no idea what kind of body he has, it’s so unintentionally erotic.

My dick twitches. I mentally tell it to calm down.

Down boy.

If I play my cards right tonight, though... maybe. Just maybe.

***

Nolan

A shiver crawls down my spine. I look up sharply and narrow my eyes at Jack.

He’s smiling—innocent. Too innocent.

He’s plotting something. Ican’t prove it but I know he is.

Still, I can’t deny I’m actually enjoying myself. Despite my nerves, despite my initial protest,it’s... nice.

The restaurant hums softly around us. Candlelight flickers. The food’s incredible, the wine is dangerously good, and the conversation is easy.

I catch a few glances from nearby tables, waiters stealing looks at Jack, a couple of patrons whispering. He looks like he belongs here, like this entire place was designed around him.

But his focus never wavers from me. Not once.

It’s... addictive.

I’ve never been treated like this before. It makes something in me stand a little taller, makes my chest feel full.

Like—yes. This ridiculously handsome alpha is here withme.

The way he cuts the meat and slides the plate toward me, the subtle, unspoken attention, no one’s ever done that for me. I’ve always been the caretaker, the steady one, the one making sure everyone else is okay.

And I love that. I love taking care of Ciel. I’d do it forever.

But being taken care of?

...It feels nice.

Ciel was right—Jack has this uncanny instinct, this way of giving you what you didn’t even know you needed.

And I hadn’t realized how much I needed this until now.

I’m a little buzzed from the wine, feeling bold and warm, and when I glance up—he’s already watching me. That look in his eyes... hot, deliberate, teasing.

I smirk and ask, "Trying to get into my pants?"

"Is it working?" he shoots back without missing a beat.

"Maybe," I say, biting my lip.

His eyes darken instantly. He raises his hand.

"Check, please."