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Twenty-one
Zali
T
he airport buzzed with conversation and the hustle and bustle of people rushing to catch their planes. I was flat, my mood pretty urgh. I meant what I’d said to Tristan and Ezra—I’d respect the hell out of both of them if they didn’t come, but damn did I want them to be there and the knowledge that they might not… that they probably wouldn’t was like a storm cloud hanging over me. It was official. I was moping.
The disembodied voices on the PA system were almost impossible to understand, but I didn’t even try. I played with the handle on my oversized purse and studied the carpeted floor at my feet. I barely suppressed a sigh as another minute ticked by on my watch.
Another announcement came over the loudspeaker, this one from our gate, and my heart sank. This was it. Neither Tristan nor Ezra was coming.
No, don’t think like that. At least they had each other while they were here. Hopefully they could sort out whatever was going on between them while we were away.
“This is us.” Flynn nudged me and I hoisted my purse over my shoulder as I stood. My sigh was involuntary, and Flynn didn’t miss it. He slipped his arm into mine and leaned in close to whisper, “They’ll be waiting for us when we get back.”
“Yeah, hopefully.”
“They will. Have faith and trust them.” We joined the queue of first-class passengers shuffling forward as boarding passes were scanned. Each step was like swimming against the tide—harder and harder the stronger the pull was. The pull to Tristan and Ezra was intense.
I didn’t want to go without them.
But I had a real shot here at getting justice.
Revenge.
I promised myself that I’d do what it took. Now I needed to follow through with it.
“Wait!” The shout startled me, and I froze, the familiar voice pouring over me like honey. I choked out a sob and Flynn wrapped his arm around my shoulders, holding me tight.
Tristan skidded to a stop at our feet with Ezra right behind him. They were out of breath and flustered, but Tristan took my hands in his and huffed out a relieved laugh. All eyes were on us, the few hundred passengers about to embark the flight to Dubai suddenly focussed on the five of us. But as I gazed into his eyes, everyone else fell away. All the distractions and chatter muted, our group surrounded by a protective bubble.
“We’re coming,” he said, his voice filled with a promise. “We’re here. For all of it.”
I blinked back tears. I’d resigned myself to making the trip with the three of us. I was just hoping I didn’t get complete radio silence from Tristan and Ezra. I knew Tristan loved us, and I knew Ezra was trying, but I also knew that if they wanted their worlds to stay the same, neither could ever fully accept what I did. Would I walk away for them? Would I put my keyboard down and live life inside a little square box so we could really be together? For the first time in my life, I wanted to fit inside those boundaries that constrained everyone else. I wanted to be a law-abiding citizen, to have a nine-to-five and come home every night to a house full of my men and live the fairy tale.
If it meant having them, remaking myself in that image didn’t seem so bad.
“All of it?” I asked, needing to understand exactly what he’d meant.
“Every single thing, good or bad,” Ezra murmured, stepping up and running his hand down my bare arm. It sent a shiver through me, and Flynn pressed his hand to the small of my back, snuggling in closer as if to keep me warm. “We’re walking into this with eyes wide open, Zali.”
“What about your past?” I asked Tristan, squeezing his hand. I was hardly going to go into detail, but we needed to have this conversation, and I didn’t want to do it when we were ten kays up in the air in a flying tin can and he couldn’t leave.
“It will always be there, but I can’t keep letting it stop me from moving forward. You asked me to trust you, and I do. With everything in me.”
I let go of his hands and stepped into his arms, his strength and warmth surrounding me. I never wanted to let him go. Burying my face in his chest, I breathed him in. His heartbeat was strong and steady against my cheek, and his words soothed me.
“I love you, kitten, and you, angel.” Tristan pulled away from me momentarily, but instead of putting space between us, he tugged Flynn into our hug. They bracketed me as they snuggled closer.
Tristan tilted my chin up and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips, barely a brush of his lips against mine. “I’m coming with you. I’m in this 100 percent. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could have this.” He motioned between us, then gestured to Ezra and glanced at Ry, including him too.
That small action told me just how well he knew me—I needed Ry as much as I needed the three of them. Even if our relationship never turned into something more, he would always have a place next to me. In some ways, he was the most important person in my world, and Tristan’s acceptance of that caused a weight to lift off my shoulders.
“I never thought I could be part of something so wonderful, but we have it, and I’ll be damned if I walk away.” He cupped my face, his green eyes serious. They were filled with a promise that stole my breath. “We do what needs to be done. Together. We finish this. We get justice. And we love each other.”
He paused, just for a split second. His wicked grin lit up his face, and I swooned, actually going weak in the knees. Tristan added almost as an afterthought, “And I’m taking you on that damn date.”
I laugh-sobbed, and he tightened his hold on me before wiping away my tears with his thumbs and pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead. It was sweet above anything else, but it was worth a million words. It said,I love you. I trust you. I want you. I accept you exactly the way you are.
