AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Vain arse. You know you do.”
“Did I look hot when you turned me to stone?”
“Hotter than that guy Michelangelo carved.”
“I have a bigger dick,” Darwin says smugly.
“Maybe it was just dead cold wherever they had him posing.”
Darwin chuckles. “Probably. Gabe’s legs are better, though.”
“They are damn fine. You three are the fittest lads I’ve ever seen. I got no idea how I got so lucky. Feel like I’m letting the side down.”
“I’ll admit we only keep you around because you have tits,” Darwin says.
I slap the side of his head. “Arse bag.”
He chuckles. “Do you really think any of us fell for you because you have a pretty face, teddy bear? Or a curvy little ass? You know that’s not what we see when we look at you.”
“What do you see?” I ask, curious, because I know why Charlie and Gabe love me, but I’ve never figured out the root of Darwin’s attraction, unless it’s just that I challenge him.
“I see a heart big enough to heal the whole world. Big enough to heal me, and I thought I was too broken to heal.”
I like that better than being an eternal thorn in his side.
I find his hand and fold our fingers together. “You were never too broken to love. Remember that, okay?”
He pulls our hands up to his face and kisses my knuckles. “Never too broken foryouto love me. I know the difference, Teddy. Gabe tried to love me, and I broke him. I broke what was between us. You were strong enough to stand against me. To not let me break you. And when you forced me to change, you were strong enough to forgive me. I’ll never forget that. Even if you choose Gabe or Charlie over me someday, I’ll always remember you loved me enough to fight for me.”
I reach out and pinch his lip. “What do you mean,ifI choose Gabe or Charlie over you? Do you think this is temporary? A collegiate walk on the wild side?”
“I-I just—”
Whenever I think I’ve dug down to the bottom of Darwin’s pain, I find a fresh layer.
I won’t ever stop digging, though.
“I choose you,” I tell him. “I choose you now. I choose you a hundred years from now. I choose you. I choose us. All of us. There will be no choosing between you. Not for me. Not ever. Marry me, Princely. You never asked. Why don’t you lads ever do the asking?”
A tiny chuckle trickles out of him. “You never give us a chance.”
He squeezes me to him. We lie together, in the broken silence of the Infirmary, until I begin to doze.
“Yes,” he whispers.
I know what question he’s answering.
“I want a really big wedding,” I say sleepily. “Everybody we’ve ever met. A dress made outta diamonds. A five-tier wedding cake on every table. And a honeymoon at the Royal Suite at Claridges.”
He swallows. “Whatever you want, teddy bear.”
I snort at him. “You’re a wanker. You know I don’t want any of that. I want the four of us together. A place just for us where we can kneel before the Mother and give each other our vows. Which will not include any obeying bullshite.”
“I wouldn’t dream of suggesting it,” he says, his voice thinning with sleep. “As long as it’s forever, I don’t care what else we vow.”
I tuck my face into the crook of his neck. “It’s forever, Dar.”
* * *
