It was turning out to be a fun evening, all three of us lighthearted and happy in a way we hadn’t been very often recently.
I was nervous about telling Grady, and Raph’s brother, but also a little excited. I wanted to show off Izzy and Raph.
When I popped the last thing in the oven, I stepped behind Izzy, who was stirring a pot on the stove. I stared at him for several seconds, a tiny spike of nerves hitting me, but after a second, the nerves melted away. This was Izzy, and after what we’d done last night, I was sure he wouldn’t mind some cuddling. In fact, he’d been doing it all day, too, so I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around him from behind. I kissed his neck, rested my chin on his shoulder, and said, “We’re going to have to stop for groceries tomorrow.”
“I know. We should make a list,” Izzy said quietly.
Raph said, “When you two started talking about all the shit we were running low on while you were cooking, I started writing it down.”
I turned my head to face him. “You did?”
Raph nodded. “Yeah. I finished preparing the pie a while ago—it’s in the fridge—so I figured I’d start the list.”
Sending him an appreciative smile, I said, “Thanks, charmer.”
He smirked and started twisting his stool back and forth as he petted Jezebel. “No big deal. We’ll have to stop by the store tomorrow after the gym. I have a few new moves to teach you. Can I charge your knife? I haven’t done it yet today.”
“Sure.” I kissed Izzy’s neck before releasing him and pulling the enforcer knife from the ankle sheath they had me keep on at all times, except when I was sleeping. Although, they made me keep it next to the bed at night. The sheath was pretty cool since it sorta hid the knife from view, so if someone patted me down or lifted my pant leg, they wouldn’t see it. Not unless they knew I had one and went looking. Considering no human had ever been issued one before, there was a good chance it wouldn’t be found. Raph had told me this a million times, and I knew he was repeating it to make me feel safer, more secure. It honestly was working.
Raph took it from me, then caught my hand and kissed my fingers before releasing me and closing his eyes. The room filled with the smell of his burning magic, and the knife seemed to light up like it was reflecting flames or something. It was actually really cool looking. I loved watching them do magic. It amazed me every time.
I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but I thought I was getting better at sensing magic. Or feeling it in the air or something because I swore I could feel the power surrounding Raph and the knife. Maybe it was my imagination, or maybe because I’d spent so much time with them, but I was pretty sure I’d be able to sense other witch and warlock magic as well.
Just as Raph was finishing charging my knife, there was a knock on the door. He opened his eyes, pulled his magic back, and passed me the blade. I didn’t even attempt to get the door because I knew they’d both flip out if I did, afraid of who might be on the other side. So I didn’t argue when Raph got up to answer it.
Walking back to the stove, I leaned in to kiss Izzy’s cheek before leaning against the counter and crossing my arms over my chest. “You’re being too quiet. What’s wrong?”
Izzy shot me a pained expression that tore at my heart, and he said, “I’m afraid they’re not going to be supportive, and if that happens, I’m the one that’ll have to step back.”
“What are you even talking about? No, you won’t, Isiah.”
“You need your best friend in your life, and Raph needs his brother.”
“Yeah, and we both need you,” I said, clenching my jaw. “If they have an issue, it’s on them, not on us. It’s not like we’re going to stop seeing you because of them. They’ll just have to deal with it.”
Izzy searched my eyes before he sighed. “You mean that.”
“Yeah, obviously.”
He sent me a soft smile, but it was still strained. His tension wasn’t going to go away until we got this over with.
To hopefully make him smile, I said, “Plus, I didn’t think you came with a return policy.”
He snorted out a laugh, grabbed a potholder off the counter, and smacked me with it.
I laughed, holding up my hands in surrender. When he hit me with it again, I caught his wrist and smacked a kiss to his hand before plucking the potholder out of his. “I’ll take that, thank you.” I gently bumped his hip with mine. “Let me check the oven.”
He stepped to the side to let me do just that.
“Are you two decent?” Raph called out, making both of us roll our eyes.
“No, Raph, we decided to strip naked the second you left the kitchen,” I called back as I shut the oven door.
“Oh, naked cooking? I get to watch!” he yelled back.
“He’s such a child,” Izzy said through a laugh.
Raph appeared by the island, saying, “Grades and Alaric are here.”
“Since they’re literally right behind you, I don’t think you needed to announce it, goofball,” Izzy said with another laugh before waving. “Hey, guys.”
They greeted us, and I did them as well, and then we all walked into the living room while the food finished in the oven. Izzy didn’t seem to know where to go, so after exchanging a look with Raph, we both pulled him into the middle seat on the couch with us on either side of him.
Since Izzy was so nervous, I wanted to get the hard part out of the way, plus I didn’t want Grades giving me strange looks if I held Izzy’s hand or something before he knew what was going on. So I said, “We have something to tell you. An announcement, I guess.”
“What is it?” Grady asked. “Is everything okay?”
I smiled at Raph and Izzy. “Everything’s great.” Turning back to our guests, I picked up Izzy’s hand and laced our fingers together, noticing Grady’s brow furrow. Without further ado, I said, “Raph and I are dating Izzy.”
Grady blinked at me, and Alaric’s eyes went wide. Several beats passed before Grades asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean that all three of us are in a relationship together,” I said.
“All three of you?”
“Yes. I’m dating Raph and Izzy, and they’re dating each other. All three of us, together in a relationship.”
“You’re dating… two people.”
“Yes.”
“And they’re dating each other, too.”
“Yep.”
“Three of you in a relationship.” It seemed that I broke his brain.
“I think you broke his brain,” Raph whispered, echoing my thoughts and making it hard to hold in a laugh.
“Right again, Grades,” I said.
He stared at me for several seconds before leaning back in his chair. “Huh.” Another full minute passed while I let him come to terms with what I said, and Alaric still simply stared at us with wide eyes. Finally, Grades said, “That… makes a weird sort of sense.”
“It does?”
“Yeah. You all seem really close.” He shrugged.
When he said nothing else, I asked, “And you’re okay with this?”
Izzy’s hand tightened on mine, so I patted it with my free hand.