AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Look, I know I can be difficult to work with. I can be abrasive and controlling.” He starts once more, no longer meeting anyone’s eyes, just staring at the triangular formation of his hands as if trying to shoot lasers with his gaze alone. “I know that I can be infinitely worse when it comes to her.”
“Yeah, and? We know who you are.” I shrug my shoulders, shifting in my seat, my skin suddenly feeling itchy and stretched impossibly tight.
“I don’t want to be like that anymore. I’ve…recently come to the realization that I’ve been looking at this all wrong. I know I have issues of my own. Not only do I have a tendency to try and control every situation and not react the best when it doesn’t go my way, but I was operating on the assumption that Wicked would one day stop fucking around and either choose one of us, or leave us all.” He pauses for a moment, swallowing thickly and I glance at him long enough to see him staring at Wicked before I look away completely.
“I know now that that is not how this is going to go. I know it’s unorthodox and sounds completely insane, but for some reason…it also works. To, you know, share her. I can see it now. Whyit works. Izabella is…” My heart constricts in my chest and my hands start to sweat as he continues speaking. And I don’t even understand why.
“She’s broken. She’s been broken for a long time. Lost even. Someone like me can’t provide the comfort and safety that she can get with someone like Ezra.” His gaze flicks to the man in question, who nods in affirmation, a small uptick in the side of his mouth, then his eyes zero in on me. “And I definitely can’t make her laugh or forget her pain the way you can. That’s not within my skill set.”
“Could be if you somehow manage to pry your head out of your ass. You might need like a gallon of lube, though,” I remark.
Okay, so I can’t be serious for long. Got it.
Nic merely rolls his eyes, but instead of getting shitty, he reveals just the smallest of lifts in his lips.
“I think my head is far too large for such evacuations.” I choke on my own spit, coughing to rid my airways of the saliva before grinning widely.
“Hey, Ezra, can you look outside and tell me if you see any pigs flying around? Nic joking around has to mean that this is the end of the world!” Nic growls, though it feels far less serious than ever before, and I wave it off. “So, if Ezra protects her and comforts her, and I distract her and make her laugh, what is it that you offer her?” I already know the answer mostly, I just want him to say it.
“To put it simply, I challenge her.” His gaze goes unfocused as he gets lost in thought somewhere, an actual small smile gracing his face this time. “When she doubts herself, I’ll be there to set her straight. When she gets too full of herself, I’ll be there to take her down a peg. Life is about balance, and I’ll give that to her. See…” He sits forward in his seat suddenly, features earnest and almost excited as he leans his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together.
“Wicked has a strong personality. She has a very dominating personality in a way of saying. If I left the two of you to it, she’d end up walking all over the both of you. Not to say that you guys are weak, but your love does make you…well, weak.” His chuckle is only mildly chastising and I can’t find it in me to be embarrassed or offended. He’s right. “She needs me to put her in her place, to have someone who won’t take her shit, someone who refuses to let her run away from her fears and problems.”
I’ve never before seen Nic actually speak for so long, or look so damn happy…it’s unsettling. I scratch at the back of my head, glancing at Ezra for help, but he is too busy staring Nic down with a proud grin curving his mouth.
“Don’t you understand? I finally get it! I see it now.” Nic practically squeals in excitement. Okay, so that’s an over exaggeration, but what he’s doing is theNic-equivalentof an excited child squealing and screaming joyfully at a theme park. He is still Nic, just a weird, fever dream version. Taking a deep breath, his near black eyes shining like stars in the darkness of space, he stands dramatically. “She needs us all.”
“Well, took you long enough,culo estúpido.” I grin when Nic hardens his features. Standing up, I slap him on the shoulder in a brotherly way before walking out to the kitchen. Ezra barks out a short laugh at his dumbfounded expression as I claim nonchalance at his obviously very proud proclamation.
What he doesn’t know, though, is just how hard my heart is pounding, just how suddenly my entire body releases ages of built up tension, leaving me feeling slightly weak and shaky, or just how thick my throat has become.
I could almost shed a tear.
Because, fuck, it’s nice to have a family again.
Now that daddy is home anyways.
17
What do you do when you now have one guy who has professed his love to you, a second that has promised thatyou’llbe the one falling forhim, and a third who quite literally made love to you as if the world was ending and he wanted to get lost in ecstasy with you as it burned down around you?
Oh, and don’t forget the fourth. The crazy, psychotic stalker who is literally killing everyone who even remotely slights you in some way. But I don’t want to put him in the same category as the other three. Freakingshiver.
If you figure it out, let me know, because I’m at a loss.
Thank God I had plenty of rest after overdoing it with my abilities a-fucking-gain. I apparently promptly passed the hell out after the vision yesterday at the crime scene, only waking up long enough last night to shove food in my face and tell the guys what happened, before falling straight back to sleep.
The only thing that was revealed in the vision was that little flash of light on his chest. I am almost one hundred percent certain it was a police badge. Maybe that’s what he used to lure Emmerson into that alley, or away from his actual police detail. Maybe he was one of the two officers assigned to him. Maybe it was Alan…
One of the many things I’m sure the guys and I will be discussing later.
Right now, I’m just a bucket of emotions swirling around and threatening to spill over. If I’m not obsessing over the case, I’m obsessing over my relationship with the guys. It’s the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning–like right now–and the last thing on my mind when I’m falling asleep. It really is too much for a girl to handle.
A mixture between a sigh and a groan leaves my throat and I slam my fists into the bed beneath me as I think. My frustration is immediately echoed by my stomach violently growling and gurgling its tortuous emptiness as I sit up in bed and reach for my phone. I might not be a great cook, but I can order takeout with the best of them.
Calling a nearby diner, I quickly order enough food to feed a small army before venturing out to the bathroom across the hall so I can shower. I stay as quiet as I can, not wanting to wake any of the guys before they’re ready, as I turn the faucets, my finger tracing over the divots Mrs. Dixon made for me in the wall to set it at my preferred temperature.
Waiting until the water is hot enough to boil and steam the room before taking my clothes off, I busy myself grabbing a towel and ordering my smart speaker to play some music before sliding under the calming lava-hot shower head. The combination of classical music and the heat from the water releases tension and soothes aches that I didn’t even know I had as I fall into the monotony of washing myself clean.
