“It’s possible,” I admit. “Yeah, maybe they will break my heart. Maybe this whole thing will crash and burn, and I’ll regret it. But that’s my risk to take. Not yours.”
“We’re supposed to protect you,” Landon says softly.
“I don’t need you to protect me. I need you to trust me.”
Levi sinks back down onto his bed, his head in his hands. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“I know you don’t understand,” I say, moving to sit next to him. Then I explain everything from the masks right up until the game, leaving out the finer details my brothers don’t need to hear.
“They shouldn’t have lied to you,” Landon says when I finish. “The masks, the whole chase thing—that was fucked up.”
“I know, and I’m still mad about that. But they were going to tell me. They wanted to tell me.”
“The things Holt said during the game—” Levi starts, but I cut him off.
“They were out of line, and he knows it. He apologized.”
“He apologized?” Levi looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head. “Jagger Holt apologized?”
“In like three hundred text messages, yes.”
Landon sits down on Levi’s other side. “This is fucking insane. You know that, right?”
“Completely,” I agree. “But since when have we Kanes ever done anything the normal way?”
Levi lets out a long breath. “If they hurt you...”
“If they hurt me, then I’ll deal with it. And you can say I told you so.”
“That’s not what I was going to say. I was going to say if they hurt you, they’re free game. On and off the ice, I don’t care. I’ll make their lives a living hell.”
“Ditto,” Landon says. “They break your heart, and all bets are off.”
It’s not exactly a blessing, but it’s close enough. “Okay.”
“But, Leila,” Levi continues, “you have to understand what this means. We play them four more times this season. Every game is going to be brutal. This won’t be easy.”
“I know.”
“And if it gets to be too much,” Landon says, “if you need us, we’re always here. Even if it means admitting you were right and we were wrong.”
“Which we’re not,” Levi adds. “We still think this is a terrible idea.”
“Noted.” I lean my head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your calls.”
“You scared the shit out of us,” he says, wrapping his arm around me. “Don’t do that again.”
“I won’t.”
Landon moves to my other side and joins the hug, sandwiching me between them like when we were kids. “We love you, Leila, you know that?”
“I know. I love you guys too. Even when you’re being overprotective assholes.”
“It’s our job,” Levi says. “Comes with the brother territory.”
We sit like that for a few minutes, and slowly the tension between us eases. They’re not happy, but they will not disown me either. For right now, that’s enough.
“So,” Landon says, pulling back. “All three of them, huh?”
