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“That’s good to hear. You deserve it.”
If I was expecting any kind of reaction to confirming I’m with both Ezra and Sawyer, clearly, I’m not going to get it. Pearl continues casually setting the tea tray as the water heats.
“Is that it?” I ask.
“Harlow, love, this is not a surprise to me. As I said, anyone with eyes could see how you and Sawyer felt about each other. And after the way you blushed over Ezra last time, that wasn’t a surprise either.”
“You don’t mind us all being together?” I ask, quietly bracing myself for her answer, but of course I should never have expected anything except support.
“Why are you asking me? You’re all adults. If everyone involved is fine, then that’s all that matters.”
“I know,” I tell her, because I do. “It’s just... your opinion matters a lot to me. I never want to disappoint you or have you feel like I’m taking your son for granted. You’ve both been so good to me—” I stop mid-sentence, my voice cracking.
“Now stop that,” she says, kindly but sternly. “You’re like a daughter to us. You could never disappoint us, and you owe us nothing, okay? We love you as our own and raised you as such. That’s how we know how pure your heart and intentions always are. We trust you, and Sawyer, to make your own decisions—the right ones foryou.”
Yep, that’ll do it. Errant tears roll down my cheeks, and I swipe them away with the back of my hand, feeling like a six-year-old again who’s not quite used to this much love. She stops what she’s doing and steps toward me, hugging me to her gently, and we stand there for a moment while I get myself together.
“It’s good to feel things,” she murmurs, patting my shoulder as she pulls away. “Now, come on, I’m probably missing all the gossip on your cute new boy.” She winks as she pours the water into the teapot, and I grin, wiping my eyes once more and then carrying the tray out to the room. It quietens as we enter, but they all look amenable, so hopefully things went as well in here as they did in the kitchen.
“Now, where’s Nico today?” Callen asks. “Do we count him as number three, or what?”
I nearly drop the tray I’m lowering to the coffee table, but as I look up, I see him grinning wickedly and breathe a sigh of relief. Pearl tsks and smacks his leg lightly.
“That was mean.”
“Hey, let me laugh when I can,” he protests, his grin not fading, and I guess I have to give him that.
The unofficial-official meet-the-parents can only be deemed a success, and Ezra is of course made to promise that he’ll come next time too before we can leave, which he dutifully does.
We head to the gym straight from their house, and Sawyer disappears to check if his usual room is free while Ezra and I head to get changed. I meet Ezra outside the locker rooms, where he’s waiting for me, looking incredible in his gym kit. How did I get so lucky to havethis guywantme? When he gets next to me, I reach up on tiptoes to give him a kiss and ignore the glares from every woman in there, grinning up atmyguy. Pearl’s right, and so is he. Ezra and Sawyer are both adults. If I show them exactly what they’re getting into and they make the decision to stick around, then that’s on them. I can’t keep carrying guilt for what might happen. It’s exhausting and means I don’t enjoy the here and now, which with these two, is pretty great.
If I can compartmentalize training for The Games as just like any other day job, I might be able to get through this without having a breakdown.
Ezra takes my hand and leads me to the room that’s used for Sawyer’s PT classes, except we don’t get that far because in the hallway is Sawyer and a PT client—the client I saw him with that time. We’re really bumping into all of our skeletons today.
Ezra slows to give Sawyer privacy with his client, but I don’t, dropping his hand and walking straight up to them. I step up into the woman’s personal space, finger in her face as she takes a step back.
“How the fuck do you have the audacity to come back here? And still book him? Just because Sawyerhasn’tbanned you and called the police, doesn’t mean heshouldn’t. Touch him again and I’ll do both those things and so much more.”
Sawyer tugs me back into his chest as the woman continues to back away with a face like thunder. Her eyes flick up to him expectantly.
“She can say what she likes,” he says from behind me. “You don’t like it, then don’t do it.”
Then he spins me in his arms, wrapping them around my waist and kissing me until the strain has gone from my shoulders and I’m putty. When he finally breaks away, I look behind us, but the woman is nowhere to be seen.
“She’s gone,” Ezra confirms. “Also, possessive Harlow is so fucking hot.”
“She needs to know that he doesn’t belong to her,” I say defiantly.
“Oh, and who do I belong to?” Sawyer asks, amusement in his voice.
“Me.”
“You?” His hand snakes up my body and lightly squeezes my neck. “I like the sound of that.”
Ezra pulls at his pants. “Fuck, now I have to work out with a boner.”
A laugh bubbles out of me at Ezra’s complaint, and it feels good to feel good.
