Axel’s eyes meet mine in the mirror, before swinging to Nik’s. Panic fills his honey brown eyes.
“Uh…”
“Johnny’s getting married?” I ask.
Neither of them answer me.
Johnny’s getting married… and I didn’t know.
I remember the way he used to look at me… like I was gravity itself. And now, he’ll be standing at the altar for someone else?
“What the fuck, Axel?!” I whirl around to face him. “Johnny’s getting married to another woman and you justtattooed his name on me?!”
Axel opens his mouth. Closes it. Looks to Nik like he’s begging for backup.
Nik sighs. “It’s not what you think.”
“Oh,really?” I snap, stepping back from both of them. “Because what itsoundslike is you permanently inked Johnny’s name onto my body without telling me he’s engaged!”
“Lina—” Axel starts.
“No,” I cut him off. “No more half-truths. No more secrets. If you want me to trust you—if you wantanyof this to work—then youdon’tget to keep things from me. Not things like this.”
Nik runs a hand through his hair. “We didn’t lie. We thought you knew. It’s complicated.”
I laugh, sharp and bitter. “Everything’s complicated with Johnny.”
He reaches for my hand, but I pull away. Not yet.
“Jesus.” I rub a hand over my face, dizzy with anger. With embarrassment. “You branded me with the names of four men andone of themis planning a goddamn wedding to someone else.”
Axel’s voice is quieter now. Less cocky. “It was never about ownership. It was about belonging.”
“Well right now,” I whisper, throat tight, “I don’t know where I belong at all.”
The room stills, heavy with all the things unsaid.
Nik tries again, voice steady but soft. “You do belong. With us. With Sean. With Johnny, too.”
Axel nods. “He loves you, Princess. We all do. And yeah, maybe we should’ve told you sooner, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’renotjust some random game piece on his board. You’re the queen.”
I look at them. At the guilt behind their calm, the panic behind their words. And under that? The truth. Theymeanit. The ink. The gesture. The commitment. But that doesn’t erase the sting.
I take a breath. One that trembles in my chest before I steady it.
“I need to talk to him,” I say.
Nik nods. “We know.”
Axel steps close, resting his forehead lightly against mine.
“You could laser that flower off your back tomorrow, Princess, but it wouldn’t change a thing.” He pulls back just enough to look at me. “We’d still be yours.”
And damn it… my heart aches all over again.
Because I know, whether I like it or not, I already belong to them too.
Chapter 33
