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“Mine too, and this isn’t the good stuff. This is mediocre.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it like a fish impression instead of a bird waiting to be fed this time. “I’ve never wanted to try food before. I want to try the good sweet and sour pork now.” She beamed at me and leaned in, giving me a quick kiss without even seeming to realize it. “Thanks, Jared.”
“Anytime, nugget,” I promised, not sure what I’d done besides be there for her, but I was glad she was happy. “So, the money thing might come off as greedy, but I think forusit’s going to be an issue if we’re worth it to you.”
She frowned, searching my eyes and then nodding. “Your mom didn’t love you enough to buy you what others got or take care of you. Like that?”
“Yeah, and I hate it’s the first thing I brought up, but when I was spinning out, one of the random thoughts was ‘I wonder if she’ll think I’m worth getting a pool because a pool would be so cool, and I’d love to put in a pool for her.’ And it made me realize this was going to be athingfor us, and instead of dancing around or letting it build, I like that we can talk about stuff.”
“Me too. It’s hard, but I do like it. I never had that before either.” She took a long drink of her tea before studying me. “What else would you want besides a pool?”
“You to take down your hair for me?” I asked, smiling when she did.
“Will you take your shirt off for me?” she teased. Her eyes went wide as I immediately peeled it off and started on my jeans. “Naked picnic?”
“I think that should totally be a thing,” I chuckled, giving her a challenging look. My heart soared when she nodded. The sun was setting, so it wasn’t super bright, but while she kept her shirt on she unzipped it and took off her pants leaving her in basically her bra and panties. “Thanks, nugget.”
She nodded, opening her mouth for more food. I kissed her instead and gave her more sweet and sour pork. “So what else would you really want?”
I shrugged. “I don’t want to be all materialistic or—”
“No, I didn’t think so, and I didn’t mean it like that.” She blew out a slow breath. “Thora was right and I never thought I would win. I think that was why I had no idea about the house. I never thought to have a house or home or a place, just running and eventually losing. But what you said about the pool was… Cool.” She gave a firm nod. “Yeah, I want a pool too. That would be awesome. Fun.”
I smiled, nodding. “Yeah, that’s where my head went too. None of us had a real home and we could build one here, whatever we want.” I cleared my throat. “I’d like us to work out more. You feel better since we started going on walks, right?”
“Yes, and I want to get stronger. Thora’s right and they’ll come for me. I am scared of that. I want to get stronger and… And I want to protect you guys too.”
I beamed at her, never having felt anyone care about me enough to want to protect me besides my brothers. “Us too. So you said the three of us would give you triple the power? How does that work? Could we help you load totems and sell them? Amelia said your network uses totems as currency too.”
She nodded, laying down on her side and propping her head up on her hand. “We could. I hadn’t thought of that. And yeah, we do. Sometimes it’s not money but power I need to get it done, so like Briony would pay me in unused totems I would need to buy anyways and a full totem that she unlocked for me that I could use for her and other jobs. I wouldn’t need those anymore, but others do.”
“So you like the work you do?”
She beamed at me. “I really do. I love it. All on my own, I found a way to protect others who got free like I did. I’ll never be in front of cameras like Meave or Tallulah and I prefer that. Even Sia’s getting tons of attention for her products.
“I… There’s nothing wrong with being the support system in the background or like Thora asked me to do a greenhouse for Sia of loofah. That’s what I want.”
“It sounds nice,” I agreed as I mirrored her position and kept feeding us, five of my bites for one I gave her.
“I’m full,” she admitted after a bit longer, and it was way more than enough for a real meal, so I didn’t push. She leaned in for a kiss instead. “Thanks for never being pushy when you push me. It really means a lot to me.”
“Me too, and I love how much you trust me,” I confessed, kissing her again. “And for the record, IlovedAmelia’s greenhouses. I love working outside. I was thinking we could get one of those tree shaker machines that harvests fruit trees and that would be like the most peaceful and awesome job ever. Jesse could make stuff from them or we could share them with the network too. Just our own bubble here.”
“I do like our bubble,” she muttered. “It was always my bubble in fear, but this is better. I’ll always be a homebody and you guys seem to be too.”
“We are here because we’re welcome,” I clarified. “We were always being shoved out the door or it was better to leave for our sanity, but now if we could have a real home, yeah, I think we would be.”
She smiled, as she turned onto her back, staring up at me. “So you’re not against the idea of staying forever?”
“No, I’m very much into the idea,” I promised, leaning closer as I set aside the empty containers and plastic bottles. “I think we need to not do anything rash, but when I look ahead, all I see is you and this place and all of us together, nugget.”
“That sounds so perfect,” she whispered and then moved her hands over her face. “I so want all three of you. I know it sounds insane and too fast, but Ifeltour connection and even Gaia’s blessing, and nothing has ever felt so right to me, so perfect. I want that. I want to really start our lives together even if it’s crazy and way too fast and I’ve never really wanted anything.”
“You can give us some time though, right?”
She nodded, smiling at me. “Yeah, I’d hate it if I pushed you guys.” She scooted closer. “So what else are you thinking about? Like an expansion if you each get your own rooms?”
“That is an idea,” I murmured as I moved my fingers to her stomach, swirling them around her belly button. “I think your room needs to be bigger for sure with a super swank bathroom. Huge tub with jets and one of those waterfall showers.”
