Chase exhales, rubbing a hand down his face. Blake remains still, his expression unreadable.
“We wanted to tell you together,” Carter says. “We’re serious about this. We knew the two of you needed to work through your stuff before even thinking about Ginny.”
The room is so silent I swear I can hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Blake finally looks at me, really looks at me, and something in his eyes softens. “I won’t do this without Chase.” He swallows hard. “And if Chase agrees to it, then I think the three of us need to rebuild our relationship. I also don’t want to do anything without him. I’ve hurt him too much to do it again.”
My breath catches. “Yes,” I say without hesitation. “I understand completely.”
Chase just sits there as the three of us look at him.
“What do you say, Chase?” Carter asks.
“I’m scared,” he admits. “Scared of how I’ll react after everything.”
“What did you tell me earlier, brother? Baby steps. Just like you and Blake are doing, the three of you can do the same. Itdoesn’t have to go from zero to a hundred. It can be slow and steady,” Carter tells him.
“And like I said, Chase. The three of us together, never one on one. I’m not losing you,” Blake adds.
Chase sighs, but then, to my surprise, a small smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. “Well, at least now I know why Carter’s been so damn smug lately. I’ll try, baby steps. But I think we need a date, just the three of us, since Carter had a weekend with you.”
Carter laughs, nudging me. “Told you they wouldn’t completely lose their shit.”
Blake exhales slowly. “I still can’t believe this. So tell us the deal with Antony, since he’s the prick we need to handle first before tackling your father.”
A weight I didn’t even realize I was carrying lifts from my chest.
“Where do I start?” I ask sarcastically.
“He’s a dick,” Carter interjects.
“More than anything,” I say. “I’d rather skate solo than go to the Olympics with him. He’s manipulative and loves nothing more than feeding bullshit to my father. I used to think of him as a friend, but now I see he’s only used me. I just need to find a way to break off this partnership that doesn’t entirely piss my father off.”
“I’ll help you,” Blake says immediately. “Whatever it takes.”
Chase nods in agreement. “Yeah. We’ve got your back.”
Carter squeezes my hand, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and everything is going to work out.
Chapter 28
Blake
The rich scent ofThai food still lingers in the air, a welcome change from the never-ending supply of sandwiches Chase and I had been surviving on all weekend. We both adamantly refused to glance at anything even remotely resembling a sandwich tonight, when we were trying to decide what to eat.
As the four of us sit here together, it feels right. Complete. The way it should be. It isn’t perfect yet, but for the first time since the Poconos, I feel we’re all working in the same direction. To the same goal. To be a unit again.
My eyes keep drifting over to Carter and Ginny. The way they hold each other, the small affectionate touches they share—it makes me smile. Carter was gutted when Ginny left, ripped apart before he ever got the chance to tell her how he truly felt. What he wanted. What the three of us wanted with her.
I’d never seen him like he was with her before. In all the years I’ve known him, I thought he’d always be the flirt, bouncing from one girl to the next, never ready to settle down. But then Ginny came along, and suddenly, no one else existed for him. Seeingthem like this, together, happy, makes something settle in my chest. Maybe things really can be rebuilt. Maybe we can all find our way back to each other and finally be a complete unit.
Carter and Ginny snuggle up together in the chair, Ginny pulling a blanket over them, resting her head on his shoulder. The four of us are finally reunited in a way that doesn’t feel forced or awkward. Chase laughs beside me as we watchTraitor, a show I hadn’t expected to enjoy but now has become my guilty obsession.
Not wanting to feel like a voyeur to their moment, I turn my gaze over to Chase, shifting closer to him on the couch until our bodies are flush against each other. The warmth of his touch seeps into me, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I let myself believe that I belong here—with him, even after what I did. My fingers trail along his thigh, hesitant, waiting for him to push me away. But he doesn’t. Yearning for more, I flatten my palm against the soft cotton of his jogging pants, squeezing gently, just enough to remind myself that he is real and that we are sitting here together. Still, he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he lets out a breath, barely audible over the sounds of the show, and leans into me. When his fingers slip between mine, intertwining, my heart clenches.
He’s letting me in.
I sink deeper into the couch, my chest tight with emotions I’m not sure how to process. Chase rests his head on my shoulder, his breathing slow and even, and I close my eyes for a brief second, just reveling in the feel of him there, trusting me again, even in the smallest ways.
