Haru’s Love (A Stepbrothers BL Harem) - Chapter 52

I said quietly to myself, “Why couldn’t you go with either Mason or Reo? Why do you have to be here with us?”

Noah must have heard me because he said sarcastically, “And I suppose you’d be the one to help Aiden if anything were to happen with the truck while we’re traveling, huh?”

I said, “If anything were to happen, I’d definitely help Aiden. I know I’m lousy at the heavy-lifting stuff, but I’m not completely useless.”

“I beg to differ,” he said.

I wanted to give back as good as I’d gotten but decided to bite my lips and stay quiet. I was never going to beat Noah when it came to us arguing.

I was damn glad to be out of the truck and getting away from Noah when we arrived at the new apartment building.

The place was brand new, massive and luxurious, fifty stories high, a hot spot for the uber-wealthy, and we were damn lucky to have claimed one of the five hundred units. It took us all afternoon and into the evening to move our belongings from the underground parking lot up to our unit on the thirty-fifth floor of the building. By then, every one of us was exhausted, and we still hadn’t gotten anything unpacked, with boxes everywhere in the open-plan living area, across the hallway, and upstairs where most of our bedrooms were.

There were six bedrooms in this apartment, and all of them were large and spacious, with three having a great view of the city of New York. There were also three bathrooms, plus two en suites in the two master bedrooms which were Aiden’s and Noah’s, located on the first floor of the apartment unit. The other four bedrooms were upstairs on the second floor, and they were mine, Isaac’s, Mason’s, and Reo’s. As the older brothers, both Mason and Reo got the rooms with the view of the city whereas mine and Isaac’s had a view of the thirtieth-floor courtyard.

“Pizza for dinner?” Aiden asked from across the room.

“Yes, pizza, please,” Isaac said weakly. He was lying on the floor, his head resting on my lap. I hadn’t a clue when he had moved his head there, since I was so exhausted myself that I just kind of collapsed there on the floor after moving the last of my belongings into my bedroom upstairs.

“Then I’ll order in,” Aiden said, retrieving his smartphone from his jeans pocket as he headed out into the hallway to make the call.

Chuckling as he looked at us, Reo said, “You two are a pair of weaklings.”

Isaac raised his hand in the air and said, “I concur and I’m proud of it.”

How could he be proud of being a weakling? Then again, it was just Isaac.

Mason came to sit on the floor close to me. He reached his hand out and started stroking my hair. His hand—large and warm—was very gentle on me, and I smiled, loving the feeling of being pampered. He said, “The new beds haven’t arrived yet. Did they text to tell us they were going to be delayed?”

On the other side of the room, Noah said, “They did. All our beds will be here on Monday.”

Mason said, “That means we’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight and tomorrow night.”

Reo said, “Good thing we still have our Japanese futons.”

Isaac raised his hand in the air again. “I know, we can all sleep in the living room.” He got up from my lap, looking excited. “It’ll be like when we were kids. Yeah!”

Mason laughed. “Sounds like fun. Let’s do that.”

Aiden returned and said, “Pizza’s on the way.”

Isaac said, “Bro, we’ve decided to sleep in the living room.”

Aiden chuckled. “Since our new beds are delayed, why not? Should be fun.”

“Yeah!” Isaac shouted.

Across the room, Noah said, “I see someone has forgotten to shower like they promised to.”

I felt my cheeks flushing hot at that sarcastic remark. I got up from my sleeping position, causing Mason’s hand to halt stroking my hair. Without looking at anyone, I left the room and headed upstairs.

Stupid Noah! Yeah, I forgot, all right?

In my new bedroom, I searched the packed boxes for my sleepwear, and after some hunting, I found them. Still fuming about demon Noah, I headed into the bathroom, the one located between my bedroom and Isaac’s, the one assigned to us.

Inside, it was luxurious with marble floors, countertop, and basin. The toilet sat to one side while there was a fancy bathtub on the other side and a shower cubicle tucked away in another corner.

After stripping myself naked, I headed into the shower cubicle. Turning on the shower, I sighed pleasantly as warm water sprayed down on me. The pressure was damn amazing, and I smiled.

I was in my own little world, enjoying the water on my skin when the door burst open and Noah stood there, a fluffy towel over his shoulder and two product bottles and a body sponge in his hands.

I felt my face heat up with embarrassment. Fuck! I was naked and in the shower, and Noah was just standing there, staring at me like I was an alien or something. He looked damn stunned, all right.

His expression dark, like he was fucking pissed, he walked in and said in agitation, “You’re such an airhead. How do you expect to clean yourself properly without shampoo and body wash?” He shoved the two bottles and body sponge into my hands.

I was quite dumbfounded as I took them. Turning on his heel, he left the towel lying across the side of the bathtub and then headed out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

I finally relaxed and realized I had been holding my breath the whole time from the moment Noah opened the door. I shifted my gaze to my hands and noted the shampoo and body wash.

“He’s pissed at me but still brings me these?” I said, confused.

After showering, my body now feeling fresh and smelling clean, I dried myself using the towel Noah had left me and then got myself dressed in my pajamas. I went downstairs into the open-plan living area a moment later and by then the pizzas was already here.

Aiden signaled for me to come over to him, which I did. He pulled me into his arms and planted a kiss on my forehead, at the same time sniffing me. He chuckled. “You smell good.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a sneak peek at Noah on the other side of the room. He still looked damn pissed and dark, and I felt a little freaked out by his bad mood.

“Hungry?” Aiden asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

After dinner, Isaac brought out his portable gaming console for multiplayers, and he and I began our car racing battle while the others unpacked and brought out the Japanese futons, duvets, and pillows. They arranged them across the living area with our heads directed toward the floor-to-ceiling glass window that overlooked the city, which was now dark and showcasing countless glittering dots of streetlights everywhere.

When I got tired of losing to Isaac—only because he had gotten damn good at it from spending a shitload of time playing it—I quit, and Mason took over. Meanwhile Aiden, Reo, and Noah disappeared off to their respective rooms, probably to do a bit of unpacking and then shower since they had separate bathrooms now.

I admit it was nice to use the bathroom whenever you wanted and not having to schedule and lineup like we used to.

I crawled under the duvet and lay on the futon, a shounen manga in my hands. I was just past a few chapters when Aiden joined me, and I snuggled against him. He smelled so damn good.

We made ourselves comfortable, me in his arms and reading, and Aiden embracing me while checking his email from work on his smartphone.

Isaac said, “That looks comfortable.”

Aiden said, “You’re not joining us until you’ve showered.”

I nodded in agreement.

Moments later, Isaac left, followed by Mason. I supposed they were heading up to shower and change before hitting the hay.

Alone with Aiden, I relaxed and basked in the sweet moments. Aiden laid down his smartphone on the floor and then buried his nose against my hair. He moved and kissed my forehead, followed by the tip of my nose, which drew my attention to him.

“What are you doing?” I asked, chuckling.

“Taking my opportunity when I still can,” he said. “Before the others return.”

I widened my eyes in understanding. We had been so busy for the past weeks, him working and me studying, and in every spare moment we had, we’d be cleaning up the old apartment and packing and organizing things that we hadn’t had any alone time together.

Before I could utter a word, his lips found mine. He kissed me passionately, his tongue slipping straight into my mouth, kind of catching me off guard.

I groaned deep in my throat, my body squirming in delight as he ravished me. My heart soared when he sucked at my tongue and then turned his attention to my lower lip, teasing it. I held on to him, begging for more as I moaned softly.

I felt he was about to plunge his tongue into my mouth again to ravish me senseless when he pulled back. With a firm hand about the back of my head, he pressed my face against his neck.

Huh? What was Aiden doing?

“Is he asleep already?” I heard Reo asking.

“Mm-hmm,” Aiden responded.

“Typical,” Reo said.

Ah, I see. Aiden must have heard Reo’s footsteps, which would explain why he had terminated our kiss so suddenly.

I relaxed and made myself comfortable again.. Wrapping my arms around Aiden, I closed my eyes, a smile on my lips.