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She leaned in and pressed her lips to Bryce’s, lingering there in a sweet, chaste kiss. “I love you too. Both of you.”
Cole shook his head, his chest tight and his lungs seizing. He stood and turned away, giving them his back. He stumbled over to the window, needing air.
Crossing his arms across his chest, he hid from them. He was exposed in more ways than one. Hearing their words rubbed him raw, like rough sandpaper over soft timber.
He sucked in a breath, but no air entered his lungs. His vision spotted, his knees nearly buckling under him. Reaching out, he grasped the windowsill, trying to halt his slide to the floor.
Cole stared unseeingly out the window. What was happening? Why now? Why this?
He needed…. He didn’t know what.
Cole choked out a sob, when a warm hand landed on the small of his back, rubbing gentle circles. Bryce had startled him. His man leaned in close and blanketed Cole with his strength. A soft kiss was pressed to his shoulder and Ava’s long hair brushed against his arm as she leaned her head against him.
“I don’t expect you to say anything,” Bryce reassured him. “I get it if you don’t feel the same.”
Cole’s chest clenched and the burning behind his eyes increased. He blinked, but it did nothing. His throat was closed, a boulder sitting there, stopping him from swallowing.
Ava whispered, “Do you know why I want to flip houses, Cole? I want to mend something that was broken. We can give it a new life and fill it with love. I want it to give it a family. I want it to shine, because even though it might not know how beautiful it is, it really is.” She gripped his forearm.
Cole’s heart slammed against his ribs, the breath squeezing out of his lungs. He gasped in a shuddery breath and another sob broke free. Their arms wound around his waist and shoulders, and he buried his face in Bryce’s neck. Tears tracked down his cheeks, soaking Bryce’s skin, but his man never let go. Neither did Ava. She pressed herself against his back and held tightly, kissing his shoulder.
“We want you, Cole. We always will. You’re an incredible man. You’re so worthy of love,” Ava whispered. He couldn’t help the tears that fell when he cried harder. But Ava and Bryce still didn’t let go. If anything, they held tighter.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy,” Bryce promised. “Both of you.”
“What if you change your minds?” Cole asked, his voice small. “I can’t lose you.”
Bryce tightened his hold around Cole’s shoulder and threaded his fingers into Cole’s hair, kissing his forehead. “You won’t be alone again, Cole. I promise you. I’m all in.”
“Me too.”
Cole sucked in a slow breath and wound his arm around Bryce’s waist. His warmth gave him the strength to reach for Ava. He held them close. Cole was scared stupid. But in their arms, he found his courage.
Bryce and Ava wanted him. He’d walked away from them when they told him they loved him. Instead of getting angry or hurt, they were comforting him. But that was what you did when you loved someone. You made sure they were okay. You didn’t toss them aside. You didn’t impose conditions on your love. You kept your promises, and you were all in. Just like he’d asked them to move in with him, they wanted to work together too.
Light dawned on him. The crushing weight in his chest loosened and warmth surrounded him. They wanted it all, and he… he wanted it too. Logically, he knew that there was always the possibility that things might go south. Nothing was guaranteed. But his life hadn’t been the same since Ava and Bryce crashed into his world. They’d turned everything upside down, lighting him up with their warmth.
They were sunshine and fire. They were love.
Just like going with them the first time was the right move, Cole knew in his gut that this was the right move too.
He pressed a kiss to Ava’s temple and slipped his hand under Bryce’s shirt, needing to feel his smooth skin under his palm. Ava and Cole had held him close and shown him day after day that he mattered to them. They hadn’t been together for long—barely even two months, but he knew. In his gut and in his heart, he knew. They were the ones for him.
They were his home.
He pulled back and looked at them, both their eyes red and glassy with emotion. Bryce’s beautiful face, one that was usually filled with smiles and happiness, was drawn tight, and Ava’s was filled with devastation.
Cole wrapped his hand around their napes and drew their foreheads together. He closed his eyes and breathed them in, steadying his racing heart and shaking hands. In their arms, Cole finally found the courage to let them in. To smash those walls down and give himself permission to love again. He took a deep breath and soaked in their strength and support. “Me three,” he whispered.
The fear that had held him in its grasp didn’t magically disappear after saying he was in. He thought he’d exorcized the ghosts of his past. His parents weren’t supposed to hold any sway over him anymore, but they apparently did. Ava and Bryce’s reactions at least went a long way in helping to shake loose his insecurities. It was as if the admission and permission he’d given himself to fall for them had taken the weight off his soul. It was as if he’d reclaimed his heart from the rubble.
Bryce laughed, the sound so full of joy that he couldn’t help his own smile, and Ava squeezed him, pulling his face down to hers. Her lips pressed against his and her tongue demanded entry. He didn’t hesitate, diving into her and devouring her moans until she was breathless and he was hard.
Fifteen
Bryce
a few months later
