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“Right now, you have to prioritize. What’s the most important thing to you right now?”
She looked into my eyes as a tear slid down her cheek. I reached out with my thumb and smoothed it away, watching as she nuzzled into my touch. I’d never seen Sam like this before. So afraid of the world around her that she would’ve rather closed herself off from it all than stand up against it like she always had.
“What’s really going through that head of yours?” I asked.
I watched her sigh before she leaned into my body, giving into the comfort I was more than prepared to give her. I held her close as I rocked her side to side, slowly turning us in the small hallway of her foyer. She was carrying a child fathered by one of us. She was dealing with an angry best friend and a couple of parents who had always been a pile of shit. She released all of it into me as tears soaked my shirt, and soon her arms wrapped tightly around my body.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’ve got you.”
I dipped my lips to her head and pressed kiss after kiss against her skull.
“My entire world is crashing down, Liam,” she said through her tears.
“I know it feels that way,” I said. “But there are upsides to what’s happening. Like the fact that you’re going to bring a beautiful child into this world. Or the fact that you’ve got four men who care for you greatly surrounding you and defending you at every turn.”
She lifted her head at my statement and gazed into my eyes.
“Do you question that?” I asked. “Do you question the fact that my brothers and I are here for you? That we care for you?”
“No,” she said, whispering.
“Then tell me what you’re really afraid of. Take a chance and spit it out.”
I stood there in the foyer of her townhome, cradling her in my embrace. The storm raging behind her eyes let me know I’d touched a nerve. She was opening up. Unfurling those layers for us she’d tried to hide behind throughout all of this. But maybe I needed a different tactic. Maybe all she needed was a little bit of reassurance that the outcome would turn in her favor.
&nbs
p; “I love you, Samantha.”
Her eyes widened, and I dipped my lips to hers. I captured them, tasting the shock of her body and the saltiness of her tears against them. I stilled my movements, waiting for her to respond. Waiting for her to come to me. And the second she fisted my shirt, I breathed in her scent. Pressed my tongue against her lips until she allowed me entrance.
I backed her up against her couch and settled between her legs. I gripped her hips, pulling her closer to me as she supported herself against the edge. She cupped my cheeks. Slid her fingers into my hair. Battled my tongue for dominance as a moan slipped from her throat and down mine.
My forehead fell against hers and I broke our connection, breathing in her air as her chest panted for more.
“I love you,” I said.
“Oh Liam,” she said, whispering.
I gazed into her eyes as her fingertips danced along my lips. Her eyes took me in, studying my reactions as I puckered my lips against her skin. She smiled, allowing a soft giggle to fall from her lips.
I grabbed her wrist and brought her hand to my mouth, peppering her palm with kisses.
“I’m scared that I’ll be left alone,” she said.
My eyes locked with hers as shame filled her face.
“I’m scared that something’s going to happen during this pregnancy and I’ll lose all of you, too. My parents will never be the parents I want them to be. They’ll never accept my life. And if I can’t fix things with Lauren, I’ll have lost the only person in my life I truly considered a friend. I’m so scared that if I misstep, I’ll mess things up with you guys and I’ll be alone. Just me and a child with no father.”
“Sam, look at me.”
“I’m sorry, Liam.”
“I need you to look at me.”
I crooked my finger underneath her gaze and rose her eyes back to mine.
“That is never going to happen. Not with any of us. Not on my watch. We’re here forever. Until the end. No matter what happens between us. We aren’t yours to lose. Only yours to keep. Do you understand me?”
