“I’m not competing with you,” I said calmly.
Jake snorted. “You sure about that?”
“Yes.” Because here was the thing they didn’t know: I wasn’t afraid of them. I wasn’t threatened by them. I wasn’t trying to win.
I had already decided something bigger than that.
“If she leans toward you,” I told Coop, “I won’t punish her for it.”
Jake went quiet.
Bubba’s eyes sharpened.
Coop studied me like he was searching for weakness.
“And if she leans toward you?” he asked.
“Then I won’t apologize for it either.” I wouldneverapologize for how I felt about her or how hard I would fight for her.
No one spoke for a long moment.
Then Bubba nodded slowly.
“That’s fair.”
Jake rubbed a hand down his face. “Jesus. We’re having an adult conversation.”
Coop leaned back finally. “We hurt her,” he said.
Not a question. A warning.
“I know.”
“And I won’t letanyof us do that again,” he continued and it almost amused me that Jake actually looked startled. Had he forgotten just how much Coop adored her? How hard he’d fight for her too? Coop wasn’t the loudest one of us nor the most overtly friendly, but I’d seen how far he would go for the people he cared about.
I doubted there was anyone he cared about more than her.
“And you shouldn’t.” If that answer surprised any of them, then they needed to get this through their heads right now. “I won’t let any of us do that again either.”
The silence stretched almost taut between us as everyone digested the statement.
Jake pointed between us. “So we’re what? A… cooperative situation?”
“Don’t phrase it like a fantasy football bracket,” Bubba muttered.
I leaned back, finally grabbing a slice of pizza. “She’s not a prize,” I said. She was the whole damn package.
Coop’s mouth twitched faintly.
“Good,” he said, because that had been his real test. Was I trying to win just to win? No. He had a right to challenge that in all of us.
“Okay, but if you start brooding in corners and staring at us like we’re expendable,” Jake said as he tossed a crust back into the box. “I’m staging an intervention.”
“That’s fair,” I replied.
Bubba stood, stretching. “We’re good. For now.”
He met my eyes and all I saw in his was quiet agreement. No one would surrender, no one would submit. We were in this together, a pact. She would be the center and that was how we handled it.
