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“There’s something that needs to be corrected,” said Silas. His gaze shifted accusingly to Santiago. “Something that needs to be elaborated upon, before we go into this whole thing together.”
Even in the dim, pre-dawn light I could see the Venezuelan’s face go rosy red. He looked uncomfortable. Almost guilty.
But then he looked at me, and I saw the emotionbehindhis eyes. There was a depth there, now. One that ran deeper than I could’ve possibly imagined.
“Last night I told you we cared about you,” Santiago said, his voice cracking. “That you meant the world to us.”
He hesitated. Long enough that I actually cocked my head and urged him on.
“Buuuuut?”
Cody elbowed him. This time he absorbed it without getting angry.
“But there’s more to it than that,” he stumbled. “Alotmore. ‘Cared about’ doesn’t even scratch the surface. And while I don’t always have the right words for things…”
“What our friend the wordsmith here meant to say is that weloveyou, Brynne,” Silas cut him off. “All three of us. We don’t just ‘care’ about you, and we’re not simply out to protect you, or help you get your brother back. Not anymore.”
Cody nodded. He took my hand and his whole face lit up.
“We want you to know we’reinlove with you. As in LOVE love. As in it doesn’t really make any sense but we can’t fucking help it so we’re just going to roll with it for as long as we can, or as long as you’ll let us, if you know what I’m saying.”
My skin tingled. My ears suddenly felt like someone was lighting them on fire.
“Now you might not feel the same way,” Silas took over. “And that’s okay. We’re prepared for that.”
“Sort of,” Cody shrugged.
“I mean, you probably think we’re batshit crazy,” Silas went on, “and that by saying this we’re putting you in a really weird and uncomfortable position.”
“Especially right now,” Santiago added. “Right before the shit hits the fan.”
“Which is exactly why,” Cody jumped in, “we had to tell you now. Before anything else happens. Just incasewe might not get the chance to tell you later on. But we had to say it. We had to put it out there, into the universe. And now that it’s out there, it can live or die or—”
I kissed him silent, covering his mouth with mine. It was a lover’s kiss. A fierce, beautiful kiss full of passion and excitement and open-ended promise.
Then I kissed the others like that, one by one, as tears streamed down both my cheeks.
“A—Are those tears of—”
“Happiness?” I bawled exuberantly. “Yes!”
I grabbed Santiago by the face, placing my forehead against his. He’d be the last, I knew, to somehow get this. The last to understand.
“I love you too,” I breathed happily. “Each of you. I love you with my heart, my soul, my body. I love the three of you with everything I have.”
I was trembling, shaking all over. My spirit, soaring.
“And I don’t thinkanyof us are crazy,” I blurted with manic laughter. “Do you?”
All three men answered ‘no’ at the same time. Santiago had to add something else, though.
“But—”
I shushed him with my lips again, kissing him quickly then replacing my lips with an outstretched finger.
“Butnothing,” I told them in the unblemished morning silence. “I know it’s right. Itfeelsright. You hold me, you touch me, you cradle me against your bodies… itALL. FEELS. RIGHT.”
They were beyond words, and that was okay. I could see the elation in their eyes. The relief in their expressions that this was finally out there, and they no longer had to keep it in.
