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“But it matters ifBriarbelieves it,” Alondra clipped. “And what have you done to make her think that she should? Nothing.” She sliced her gaze back to me. “Would you really want to commit to two men? Men who, if it’s true that they want a relationship, apparently saw no harm in cruelly leaving you to guess what they want and feel? Men who care so little for you that they would be prepared to share you?”
A taut silence fell as three sets of eyes locked on me.
I swiped my tongue over my front teeth, fixing my attention on my mother. “They have some explaining to do, since you’re right that they did in fact leave me guessing. But if it turns out that everything they’ve said here is true—”
“Don’t be stupid, Briar, if they meant all they said you would have heard their little speech before now. They are opportunists. Users. Liars. You can’t honestly believe that Trace would risk staining his career by entering into a permanent triad and making it public news. Kaleb’s career would be just as stained, as would yours. Will you really—”
“Okay,” began Trace, his face hard, “you need to go, Alondra.”
She glared at him. “I am not going anywhere.”
“Why stay?” asked Trace. “What else is there for you to say that you haven’t already said? You’ve made your stance clear. So have myself and Kaleb. You’re clearly determined not to take us at our word. The conversation will only deteriorate, so it might as well stop here. Besides, Briar was right: Kaleb and Ihave some explaining to do. We’d like to get started on that, and we’d rather not do it with an audience.”
“You’d like to get started on feeding her sweet little lies, you mean.”
“Think whatever you want. Just do it away from here.”
She huffed. “You believe you can toss me out of my own daughter’s apartment?”
I let out a heavy sigh. “It really is better that you leave.”
Alondra gaped. “You would choose them over me?”
“It isn’t a matter of me choosing them over you,” I said. “I simply want to hear them out. I’d rather that I had that conversation with them in private. Yes, I know you believe they’re full of shit. But I intend to make up my own mind on that.” I lifted a hand when she looked as if she would argue. “This is for me to decide, not you.”
Her flush deepened. “I cannot believe you are prepared to entertain even the thought of being in atriad.Do you really think directors would hire you if they realized the rumors were true?”
“I’d like to think that most people won’t care what’s going on in my private life so long as I do my job well.” I was friends with directors who I knew wouldn’t bat an eyelid about it. Maybe there’d be some who’d ask if I’d be willing to work anonymously so that my publicity didn’t touch their project—I wasn’t too prideful to refuse. “I’ll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.”
Alondra gave a fast, judgmental shake of the head. “You’re a fool to hear them out. And you’ll be even more of a fool if you enter into a triad. It will be a decision you will one day regret—I promise you that. So listen to their lies if you must, but don’t swallow them.” With that, Alondra stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
I blew out a breath, my shoulders sagging.
Kaleb tightened his hold on me. “You okay, baby?”
“Yeah, that was just a little intense.” I looked from him to Trace and folded my arms. “So, I’m yours, huh?”
“Yes,” said Trace, his expression serious. “Ours.”
“Ours,” Kaleb echoed.
I liked the sound of that far too much. “This is news to me.”
Trace covered the space between us in one small step. “We decided weeks ago that we’d keep you.”
I frowned.Weeksago? “You never said anything. You didn’t even ask for an arrangement.”
“Because we wanted more than that, so asking for less just seemed like an insult to you.” Kaleb nuzzled my hair. “Plus, we wanted to give you time to get used to the idea of a triad. To get to know us better. To be able to see and feel that it could work.”
“Why not tell me that?” I demanded, annoyed that I’d been unnecessarily knotted up inside for so long.
Trace skimmed the tip of his finger down one side of my face. “We weren’t sure you were ready to hear it. Sometimes, you seemed relaxed with us. Other times, a part of you seemed to be on edge. Our hold on you felt precarious. We didn’t want to risk scaring you off.”
Izzy had been right, then. They’d misinterpreted my restlessness. “I was only on edge because you gave me mixed signals. You made yourselves part of my life, but you didn’t even commit to an arrangement. It made me think that just maybe you were fine with what we had but you didn’t want to make it permanent; that I didn’t tick all your boxes for what you needed and wanted in a third.”
His face going soft, Trace pulled me to him and curled his arms around me. “That’s not the case, baby girl. Not at all. You tick every fucking box.” He smoothed his hands up and down myarms. “I’m sorry if you felt like we were giving you mixed signals. That wasn’t our intention.”
“We would never wish to mess with your head,” Kaleb assured me, plastering his front to my back and settling his hands on my hips.
