“What?” Beckett pushed away from the counter and made his way over to us. “She asked, so I thought she should know.”
“I agree.” I pulled my hands away from both Ryker and Jemma.
“We don’t need to discuss this right now.” It was Ryker’s turn to give Beckett the side-eye.
“I’m not a delicate flower.” I pushed past them all and made my way over to the kettle, making my cup of tea. “I can handle this conversation.”
I could.Right?
If they were going to be here, it meant that they cared. I took a deep breath as I added sugar to my tea and stirred three times. I reached for the spice cabinet and grabbed the cinnamon, adding a few dashes before stirring three more times.
Just in case.
“So soon after yesterday?” Jemma asked cautiously. Her voice was still soft, like I’d break again at any moment.
I turned around to look at Jemma. She knew me better than these two men. She knew how I was when I had panic attacks, how I worked on getting myself back up after them, but this time was different. This wasn’t an attack from being at an event for too long, or memories that came crashing back when something happened to trigger them. This was something that didn’t just happen to me, but to everyone in this room here. We needed to talk about this now that it was a new day.
While yesterday I was able to push it aside and not speak to them, today was not that day.
“I contacted Melody this morning.” Beckett continued to explain to me what they were talking about. “We had a discussion about the events that happened, what Parker said. We will be meeting with her and Parker next week, along with our lawyers, to discuss next steps.”
“So soon?” I was surprised at how fast Beckett was making this happen.
“If it weren’t for our lawyer needing to draw up a new contract for Parker, it would probably be today we were meeting with him.”
“You could meet with him so soon? New contract? How many times has this happened?” I rattled off the questions, tilting my head in confusion.
“We have a default contract for when something like this happens, which is why we could have met today,” Ryker was the one who spoke up this time. He made his way over to me, assisting me in finishing making my tea. He handed me the warm mug and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear, his hand resting on my cheek, before he continued. “But this is different. This involves not just me, but you.”
“We discussed this morning that the contract needs to be changed.” Beckett continued as Ryker and I stared at each other.
“He will never come here again,” Jemma spoke up.
“Along with our normal contract that Parker never mentions who Ryker is, we also included a clause that he will never come to your home or see you ever again. This includes events, social media—anywhere. It will be a lot for his lawyers to review, which is why we are meeting next week. It will essentially ruin his career, but he made the first move here, and we will be making the last.” Beckett explained further.
“It’s the best we can do without a restraining order,” Ryker whispered to me.
I pulled away from Ryker and looked over to Beckett, who looked mighty proud of himself, and Jemma, who still looked just as worried as Ryker did. They were all here for me. A part of this. The bad and the good that would come from it. I had no idea why they were here, though; why they would put themselves through all of this.
“Why are you all doing this?” I stood back, looking at all of them equally now. My heart sped up as I moved from face to face.
My best friend.
My boyfriend and his best friend.
How in the world had they gotten mixed up in all of this?
“What do you mean?” Ryker took a step toward me.
“Oh, honey,” Jemma said, a frown forming on her face with sad eyes. Pity. I knew it all too well. She took a step toward me, too, reaching me before Ryker. Her arms wrapped around me.
I tried to push her away, but she wouldn’t let me. I sucked in a breath, barely getting anything in.
“Because we love you.” She whispered in my ear. She mimicked the one, two, three breathing exercises we normally did when I started to panic. I followed the rhythm as our chests moved together. I stood in her arms until she finally let me go. She pulled away and placed her hands on my shoulders. “Because we love you.”
Jemma repeated her words, but this time for the whole room to hear.
I looked over to Ryker, who had a soft smile, and Beckett, who was nodding his head enthusiastically in agreement.
