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She takes a deep breath and tries a smile. It falls flat. Raleigh takes her other hand and draws her closer to us. She’s shaking, and unless I miss my guess, she’s trying hard not to cry.
“Tell us,” says Raleigh softly.
“I haven’t left the house all week,” she says.
“Until just now?”
Callie nods.
Raleigh tugs on my sleeve and we fold her in a hug, hanging on to each other, trading kisses now and then but mostly just holding on. Raleigh’s grip isn’t as tight on my arm as I know mine must be.
I’m holding on for dear life.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“For what?” says Callie, wiping her eyes and pushing us back a little. “You didn’t do anything.”
Whether she meant it or not, the barb lands. “I know. That’s why I’m sorry.”
“I meant, you didn’t do anything wrong, you jerk,” she says. But she’s lying, and we all know it.
“I made you promises—both of you—and then dropped off the face of the earth,” I say, shaking my head.
“Well, when you put it like that,” says Raleigh. He says it for Callie’s benefit, and it works; she laughs.
They’d be better off without you.
That might be true, but they’re here now. And better or not, I’m going to do my best by them. To take care of them. I have to. They’re mine.
Mine.
Callie looks up and blushes. I kiss her, wrapping an arm around her waist because I can’t stand being so far away from her. She pulls back a moment later, gasping for Raleigh.
“I’m here,” he says. The heat in his voice is unmistakable.
“I need you,” she whispers. Raleigh scoops her up, her legs going around his waist, and I guide them back to the bedroom.
This thing between us, it’s bigger than we are, the whole larger than the sum of its parts. Bigger on the inside than it should be from the outside looking in. The heat and the joy between Raleigh and Callie radiates around them, setting the air vibrating like a tuning fork. It’s almost palpable, the emotions rioting between them, and for long moments all I can do is stand there and absorb it all. Every touch, every sigh, throaty moans and his deeper cries, they fall like fists and keeping upright is all I can do in the face of their triumph.
Their love.
Oh, hell. Shit. Goddamn it. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were having fun, exploring each other. Satisfying old needs and new wants and everything in between.
Only now that I’ve seen it—it’s shining like a beacon between them; how could I have missed it?—it’s there. I think maybe it was always there.
Oh, hell.
I find myself standing beside the bed some time later, my breath catching in time with Raleigh’s thrusting body, feeling it like a physical touch when Callahan gives herself up to him a second time.
“West,” says Raleigh. His voice is rough, pained. “Need you here.”
My clothes hit the floor, because I’m here to be what they need. That brilliant beacon finds its mark somewhere in the dark inside me, and somehow I’m not surprised to feel it there. Not anymore. I kneel behind Raleigh, lining us up, moving with him as he moves into her.
I can’t say I ever gave much thought to what being in love might feel like, but I didn’t expect it to feel like this—pain and hurt and joy and pride and fear and failure and triumph, all of it and all at once. Mine and his and hers, more than the sum of our parts.
Callahan reaches for me, pulling me down, Raleigh’s shoulder pressed between us. She kisses me like she’s dying, and I’m horrified to feel the burn of tears start. I pull back, pressing my face to his skin, hiding.
“West.” She gasps, her eyes closing briefly as Raleigh does something with his hips. “West, it’s okay.”
