Scarlet Disaster by Colette Rhodes

Chapter 14

It was another hour before we returned to the guys’ cabin in separate cars. I parked on the other side of Nate’s truck, mentally preparing myself to go another verbal round with him to figure out what it was he was being so secretive about, though it was difficult to verbally spar with someone who locked themself up like a safe the second he was faced with any kind of confrontation. It didn’t help that he seemed so genuinely remorseful. His shame tugged at my stupid empathy.

Gabriel somehow appeared behind my car before I even had a chance to open my door, pulling my bag out of the trunk. Either I moved at a particularly leisurely pace, or these guys were seriously fast.

I shook my head at my weird musings as I climbed out of the car. My mind was playing tricks on me recently.

“Querida,” Gabriel said suddenly, turning back to look at me as he led me towards the house, a look of absolute horror on his face. “Fuck, we haven’t fed you today.”

I snorted. “I’m not a pet. I can feed and water myself, thank you very much. Besides, you haven’t eaten either.”

“I ate before we came back this morning,” Gabriel replied absently. “And of course you are not a pet, you are our guest.”

I stepped past him into the cabin that looked even smaller in the light of day, but the fire was roaring in the living room and the whole space was lovely and cozy.

Nate was pacing in front of the television while Brooks lounged on the couch, legs spread wide with one arm draped over the back, entirely dominating his space.

“Hey, Red,” he said cheerfully as Gabriel closed the door behind me and I began stripping out of my coat and snow boots.

“Brooks and I were just talking about Frank,” Nate volunteered, giving me that slightly kicked puppy look he’d been wearing since yesterday.

“Gabriel and I were just talking about how I should have sex with all of you,” I replied airily, because apparently seeing Nate’s face made me angry, and being angry brought out my inner petty.

“Oh?” It was an artform the way Brooks packed so much intrigue, amusement, and disbelief into two letters. I was low key envious.

“Actually, we were talking about how Lou hasn’t eaten all day,” Gabriel said, a mild chastisement in his tone.

“And…” I replied pointedly.

“And whether or not Lou would be open to dating any or all of us while we’re here,” Gabriel said with an easy shrug. “But the food thing is a higher priority at the moment.”

“The Frank thing is a higher priority,” Nate grumbled, taking far longer to speak up than I had expected him to.

“You stress too much. It’s bad for your health,” I told him, patting him on the arm as I wound my way between the coffee table, Nate, and the fireplace to get to the kitchen. This place made my house feel like a palatial mansion, though maybe it was just the oversized men making it feel so cramped.

I hummed under my breath as I made a beeline for the fridge, stopping abruptly when I saw what was in there.

Creamer, string cheese, and two full shelves of Lunchables.

What the hell? How were they all so buff and ripped like they lived off grilled chicken and protein powder pancakes when this is what their fridge looked like?

“Oh yeah, we don’t really cook,” Brooks admitted, sounding a little sheepish as he sidled into the kitchen, leaning on the bench. “There are Hot Pockets in the freezer. I’m trying to catch up on all the American food I miss when we’re out of the country, but tonight I was thinking of ordering pizza. Or we could get cheesesteaks—”

“Not cheesesteaks again,” Gabriel groaned, taking a seat at the dining table while Nate leaned against the doorframe. “Tacos?”

“I guess I could go for tacos,” Brooks sighed dramatically.

“Hold on.” I held up a hand to stop them, barely believing what I was hearing. “You three grown men in your thirties don’t know how to cook?”

“It takes ages,” Brooks replied with a shrug. “And then someone has to clean up afterwards. And everything we make tastes like shit. I mean, if we were making a pros and cons list…”

“Heathens,” I snorted. “I’ll cook while I’m staying here, as a thank you for all of this unnecessary protection you’re insisting on.”

“You might poison us,” Nate muttered. I shot him a dirty look, wondering why I’d ever been so cut up over him. He was kind of a dick. Maybe I dodged a bullet.

“Just you,” I replied with a sugary sweet smile, making Brooks laugh.

“Ótimo, we’ll go to the store later,” Gabriel said, sounding amused. “Sleeping arrangements? It would make sense for you to swap with Brooks,” he said, looking at Nate.

“Gabriel and I don’t mind sharing a bed,” Brooks explained to me. “Nate isn’t a cuddler.”

“I’m well aware,” I replied drily. Nate winced slightly, and honestly, it had been kind of a cheap shot, but whatever. He hadn’t given me a real reason for why he’d run out into the snow in the middle of the night, so I was going to assume it was for ridiculous reasons until he bothered to correct me.

“This boring as fuck winter just got a whole lot more interesting,” Brooks declared, flashing me a dimpled grin.

* * *

In the end, I wrote a grocery list for Nate who had to go into the studio for a while anyway. Gabriel had disappeared into the shower muttering about the paint stench, so I dug out my laptop and made myself comfortable at one end of the couch while Brooks occupied the other, flicking aimlessly through a list of movies while I checked my emails and ate a nacho Lunchable.

It was delicious, but didn’t really fit in with my whole ‘my body is a temple’ mindset.

I bit down on an excited squeal when I opened an email from a woman-owned lingerie store with a real focus on female sexual empowerment. I’d reached out to them without any real expectation of it going anywhere because, while I had a lot of followers, higher end companies didn’t want brand ambassadors with my kind of history.

Dear Scarlet,

We would love to work with you! We’ve been looking through your posts, and your relaxed, confident, positive approach to sexuality is exactly in keeping with our values.

I waited for the ‘but’, which I’d already got in a few responses so far. The ‘we like you but the sex work history is a deal breaker even though we sell sexy lingerie/toys/lube, sorry.’ Obviously they weren’t all like that—I’d partnered with brands before and used their products in live shows when I was camming, but I expected this company to choose reps who had a cleaner online presence.

We appreciate you letting us know about your work history, and would like to assure you that is not a dealbreaker for us. We are firm believers that sex work is work, and not something to be stigmatized for.

If you could let us know your address and sizes, we’ll send you some products to get started with. It’d be great to get a feel for the kind of content you’d like to produce.

“Someone got good news,” Brooks teased while I grinned like a lunatic at my screen and quickly shot back a reply with my PO box and sizes.

“Just being the boss lady I am,” I replied, flipping my hair because I was feeling some big Scarlet energy at the moment. If I could build a good relationship with this brand, it could turn into a pretty lucrative revenue stream.

I had no idea what I was going to do with all this stuff I was sent once I was on the road. Maybe I’d keep a storage unit somewhere just for my sex toy and fancy lingerie collection. Then when I died, I’d go down in Storage Wars history. They would call me The Girl With The Dragon Dildos and I would live on in infamy.

“What is it that you do?” Brooks asked, furrowing his brow like he was trying to remember if I’d told him or not as he cracked into his second—maybe third?—Lunchable.

I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to risk his judgment by telling him, but then Nate hadn’t been necessarily judgmental. He’d fallen prey to Scarlet’s charm, if anything he liked her more than plain old Lou.

Sex work is work.

I pulled up one of my social media profiles on my laptop and spun it around to face Brooks, bracing myself for his response.

He tilted his head to the side, eyes skimming the page before reaching out and scrolling down, the silence of the room a little stifling. Actually, I was pretty sure I could hear my own heartbeat slamming against my chest, so there was that.

“You’re so photogenic,” Brooks murmured, taking me off-guard. “These pictures would look amazing with your natural hair though.”

I had that thought myself. My “stage” clothes were in more neutral colors, and I took selfies against an oatmeal colored sheet with a pale blonde wig on. My darker hair would add great contrast.

“I don’t know if my followers would like that,” I admitted, turning my laptop back to face me.

“Ask them to vote,” Brooks suggested with a shrug, picking up the remote again and returning to his movie search. Easy as that.

Logically, I knew that at first glance, it wasn’t obvious from my social profiles that I’d ever done camgirl stuff too, but even so, his reaction to me taking racy photos as a job had been more relaxed than I’d anticipated.

“Want to get more Lunchables and binge watch all the Fast & Furious movies?” Brooks asked, looking genuinely thrilled at the idea. His pale blue eyes lit up with excitement, and his grin made him look more like a 19-year-old than a man in his thirties.

How could he be sexy and kind of adorable, all at once?

“You really don’t know me at all,” I laughed. “But sure. Put on the car movies.”

* * *

“Not this again,” Gabriel sighed, glancing at the screen as he entered the living room. His dark hair was wet from the shower, his usual curls straight and clinging to his skin. I was meant to be editing together a video of me modeling a lingerie haul I’d received last week—my screen turned awkwardly away from Brooks—but my fingers froze as I admired Gabriel standing in the doorway, our conversation from this morning repeating in my brain on a loop.

His gaze shifted from the television to me, and he gave me a smile that bordered on sinful, like he knew exactly what I was thinking about. The sensible part of my brain reminded me that I’d already had a one-night stand with one of these guys, and it had ended spectacularly badly. The other part of my brain that was actually my vagina said screw it! Fuck the rest of them! Collect ‘em all!

Both sides made very intelligent points. I had a lot to think about.

“Gabriel doesn’t appreciate films of quality,” Brooks told me conspiratorially.

Gabriel snorted. “I’m thinking of Lou, not myself. What kind of films do you like to watch, querida?”

“Ones where Colin Firth emerges from a lake in a soaking wet blouse,” I sighed.

“That’s… oddly specific,” Brooks chuckled. “If you’ve got a thing for men going swimming fully clothed, I’d be more than happy to fulfil those desires for you, Red.”

“Save it, Fabio,” Gabriel laughed. “Let’s help Nate unload the groceries. Not you, querida. Stay inside where it’s warm,” Gabriel added as he and Brooks moved towards the door. I frowned in confusion as they let themselves outside before hearing the faint sound of Nate’s truck bumping down the driveway.

Yikes, maybe I should get my ears checked? I hadn’t heard the truck at all.

The three of them came back inside a few minutes later with arms full of grocery bags, not looking like they were exerting any energy at all.

“How long was your list?” Brooks asked in awe as I led them into the kitchen so I could put everything away where I wanted it. Maybe I was being a little presumptuous, but it wasn’t like they were using the kitchen anyway.

“Long,” Nate muttered, setting his bags on the counter. “I had to look up a bunch of stuff. Green onions don’t look anything like onions.”

I was trying to hold onto my Nate Rage, but a small giggle slipped out at that admission. He got all moon eyed at the sound, and I forced myself to put my unimpressed mask back in place because I was mad, damn it.

“Can you two please just tell us what happened between you?” Brooks all but begged, watching the two of us like we were never-before-seen, exclusive Fast & Furious footage.

“Nope,” I replied, shooting Gabriel a grateful smile as he put the canned tomatoes on the top shelf I was struggling to reach on tiptoes.

“I’ll get it out of you,” Brooks shot confidently. “In the meantime, I have a very important question for you, Red.”

“Is that so?” I asked wryly, setting aside the ingredients I needed for the grilled fish and vegetable dinner.

“Very important,” Brooks agreed seriously, pausing for dramatic effect. “Are you a cat person or a dog person?”

I expected Nate or Gabriel to groan at the question, but they were surprisingly silent, like this was actually an essential piece of information they needed from me.

“Er, cat person,” I replied, looking around the quiet room.

“What? Why?” Brooks asked in a tone that bordered on a whine. I felt my eyebrows rising slowly in disbelief.

“Because cats are smarter, sleeker, and more superior in every way, irmão,” Gabriel chuckled, looking delighted. “Brooks here is a dog person,” he added for my benefit, shaking his head like that was a travesty.

“Pity. I guess no one’s perfect,” I told Brooks with a sweet smile, batting my eyelashes at him. I didn’t feel particularly strongly either way to be honest, but I respected the fuck-you vibe that cats put out. I’d always found that quite relatable. Then I remembered how easily I’d turned into an eager little puppy when Nate had told me I was a good girl, and wondered if I needed to think on this question a little further.

Brooks grinned at me like I’d just laid down a challenge. “So, shall we help you make dinner and you can tell us about your conversation with Gabriel this morning? I would love to hear more about this dating-all-of-us idea.”

Nate made a strangled noise, aggressively shoving produce into the bottom of the fridge like it personally offended him.

“I think we should talk about Frank instead,” he suggested in a strained voice. “You said he’s been sending you things—”

“Oh my god, not this again,” I groaned. “What is there to say? Frank and I had an arrangement for a few weeks, but that turned sour because it turns out he’s married and I was reading too much into things anyway. I left New York, he sent some messages, sent me money, but I never responded. He sent a gift to my house, which shouldn’t have been possible because he theoretically didn’t know my real name, and then he showed up.”

“So, what part of this makes you think you don’t need to be worried?” Brooks asked, sounding genuinely baffled.

I mean, it did sound worse when I laid it all out like that.

“Because,” I sputtered. “I was with him in New York a whole bunch of times one-on-one. If he wanted to hurt me, he had plenty of opportunities.”

“That was before you rejected him, querida,” Gabriel pointed out gently. “Some, er, guys struggle with that.”

“So, let him struggle,” I replied with a shrug. Fuck him. He could learn the meaning of ‘no’. Babies and dogs figured it out just fine.

It was polite of them not to ask me to elaborate on ‘arrangement’, I’d give them each a point for that. Unless Nate had given them a heads up on Scarlet, but Brooks had seemed genuinely curious earlier when he asked about my career.

“Frank is… not like other guys,” Nate said, that frustrated tone coming back into his voice that made me feel like he was hiding things. “He’s a powerful guy. Very, er, influential. I can’t understand why he’d be so interested in you.”

Why had I ever missed interacting with real life men? They were the worst.

“That came out wrong,” Gabriel said quickly, jumping to his friend’s rescue while Brooks made siren noises and repeated “danger” over and over again in a robotic voice.

“Did it now?” I drawled, raising an eyebrow at Nate and giving him two seconds to scramble out of the hole he’d just launched himself into.

“Uh, I just mean… we’ve heard of Frank Ashford, you know? He’s a well-known guy. Coming all the way here… I mean, he must really like you.” Nate rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and if I wasn’t still mad at him for the tap and gap, I might feel sorry for him. Maybe.

“Wait, you’ve all heard of Frank?” I asked, frowning. Frank was a successful guy, but he was hardly famous. I definitely wouldn’t have expected a travel writer, a photographer and a tattoo artist to have heard of him. “Why didn’t you mention that when you saw him at the bar?”

“We don’t know much about him, just remember hearing the name, you know? We travel a lot,” Gabriel replied quickly. Very quickly. “We’ve heard of all kinds of people.”

“O-kay…” I said slowly. That was definitely a lie. Maybe they’d specifically looked into Frank because of me? I wouldn’t have held it against them if they had, but I couldn’t understand why they’d lie about it.

“We’ve been to New York,” Nate added in what he probably thought was an encouraging, convincing voice.

“I haven’t,” Brooks supplied, looking a little put out about it. “I think my sister knows Frank though. I’ve been trying to get a hold of her, but we’re not that close, so it’s tricky.”

“Mm, I still feel pretty strongly like you’re all not telling me an important piece of information.”

All three of them suddenly found the floor very interesting as I replayed their interactions with him in my head. “When you met Frank, it really seemed like he knew stuff about you,” I said, glaring at Nate, who was still refusing to make eye contact. “And he’s full of shit, yada yada yada, but some of the stuff he said to you was weird. Not like, stir-the-pot, make-a-scene kind of weird, just straight up unusual. Unless you two already know each other.”

“We don’t,” Nate insisted, finally meeting my gaze with a pleading look in his eye. “I promise you, Lou.”

I wanted to believe him. His face was open and honest, and he was looking at me like he was begging me to see the truth in his words. But I’d been burned by Nate once before. Maybe he hadn’t lied when he’d abruptly ran out after sex, but he’d definitely disrespected me, and I wasn’t about to take anything at face value when it came to him.

“Can we go back to the dating all of us thing?” Brooks asked hopefully.

I shot him a scathing look, because I was pretty content to not date anyone who was obviously lying to me.

What Would Scarlet Do?

Probably something really confident and sassy that left these three idiots on their knees, panting after me, but I just… didn’t have it in me. The less Scarlet-ing I did, the harder it was to slip the mask on when I needed it.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Nate muttered, finally answering Brooks’ question that had been hanging awkwardly in the air. “I can’t stop you, but I feel that getting involved is too… risky. With her.”

What. The. Hell.

What had I ever done for Nate to talk to me like that? Sure, I’d played up the seduction stuff a little because of all the garbage he spewed about me being too fragile to handle him or whatever, but he made it sound like I’d tricked him into something.

“The fuck is your problem?” I snapped, whirling around to face him. “Seriously. You’re the one who—”

I slammed my mouth shut, remembering we had an audience, both of whom were looking wide eyed at the rage in my voice. Maybe I’d done a good job of shoving it down over the past twenty-four hours and pretending like I could be civil with Nate, but now it was boiling up to the surface and I was ready to drown in it and take Nate with me.

Forcing myself to calm down before I said something I would regret, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, reminding myself of all the exciting things I had ahead of me. I had plans. I was going places—quite literally. All these men with their pretty eyes and even prettier lies were just a stupid distraction that I’d leave behind me one day.

This time next year, I’d be lying on a beach in Mexico drinking a cocktail, snuggled up to my latest fling—who would have more abs and a bigger dick than Nate—and I would barely remember any of this.

“Forget it. Doesn’t matter. Tell me what it is you’re hiding from me,” I demanded hoarsely, staring Nate down. Redeem yourself, at least one percent.Show me you’re not an entirely terrible person.

Nate’s lips thinned as he held my stare, the tension evident in the lines of his face, even as those brilliant green eyes begged me to just drop the subject. Breaking eye contact, I cast my gaze over to Brooks and Gabriel, who were both unnervingly silent, looking at anywhere but my face.

“I’m going to lie down,” I announced, impressed with how even I kept my voice. I swung by the living room to grab my laptop before disappearing past the guys into my borrowed bedroom. The sound of absolute silence followed me.