The silence that follows is deafening.
I stop pacing and look around at my brothers.
We've never said it out loud before. Not to each other. Not directly. It's been this unspoken thing between us for so longthat I'd almost convinced myself it was just in my head. That I was the only one pathetic enough to fall for my best friend's girlfriend and spend years pretending otherwise.
But looking around the kitchen now, seeing the same guilt and longing and desperate hope reflected in three pairs of eyes...
I'm not the only one.
We all kept our mouths shut. You don't steal your buddy's girl, no matter how wrong they are for each other.
I lean back against the counter and cross my arms.
"We need to tell her the truth." Nacho's voice is steady. Certain. "About Callum coming Friday. About what we feel for her. About what we're offering, if she wants it."
"And what exactly are we offering?" Pedro crosses his arms over his chest, his stance defensive. "A pack bond? A relationship with four men at once? A complete upheaval of everything she thought her life was going to be?"
"Whatever she needs," Sergio says, and his dark eyes move around the circle, meeting each of ours in turn. Making sure we're listening. "Whatever she wants. We lay out her options. Real options. Not ultimatums, not pressure, not guilt trips. Just possibilities. And then we let her choose."
I push off from the counter and start pacing again. Three steps to the fridge. Turn. Three steps back.
"And if she chooses to leave?" Pedro won't let it go. "If she decides all of this is too much, too fast, too complicated?"
"Then we let her go." Sergio's jaw tightens, the muscle jumping beneath his skin. "But we don't let Callum take her. There's a difference between Jessica walking away because she wants to and Jessica being dragged back to a man who thinks he owns her."
I stop pacing and really think about that distinction.
Jessica leaving because she needs time, because she's overwhelmed, because four alphas is a lot and she's barely hada chance to catch her breath... I could handle that. It would hurt like hell. I'd probably sand furniture until my hands bled. But I could respect it.
But Jessica going back to Callum? Back to the man who rewrote her wedding vows because they were "too emotional"?
I grip the counter edge again.
"He never deserved her." The words feel like a confession. Like something I've been holding back for years. "Not for a single second. He got lucky. She said yes because she didn't know any better, and he spent two years making sure she couldn't take it back."
"He spent years trying to break her," Pedro corrects quietly. "And he almost succeeded."
"But she did." Nacho moves closer to the group. "She ran. She got out. She came here."
"To us." I straighten up from the counter. Something that's been locked away for so long I'd almost forgotten it was there. "Out of everywhere she could have gone, everyone she could have run to, she came to Largo Waters. Ended up in our house. Wearing my henley." I pause. "Apparently stress-baking cookies with Sergio at three AM."
"Triple chocolate chip," Sergio says with a small smirk. "Not bad."
"The point is," I continue, starting to pace again but slower now, "she came home. Whether she realizes it or not, she came home. To us."
The implication hangs in the morning air.
"Callum's not going to see it that way." Pedro shakes his head. "He's going to see this as us stealing his property. Betraying our friendship."
"Ex-friendship," I correct, stopping my pacing. "He lost the right to call us friends when he started treating her like a possession."
I move to the coffee pot and pour myself a cup of Sergio's toxic brew. Take a sip. Wince. It tastes like regret and bad decisions, just like I thought.
Perfect.
"He'll retaliate," Nacho says, his sheriff brain running through scenarios. "Money. Lawyers. His family's connections. The Whitmores have power in this state."
"Then we'll fight back." Sergio's voice is steady as granite. He stands up from the table, his full height suddenly imposing in the morning light. "We have resources too. Our businesses are solid. We've got roots in this community going back generations."
