“I promise.” Whatever he sees in my eyes must be enough to calm his worries.
He gives me a quick nod. “Happy birthday, Abs.” Then he follows after his family.
She sags against my back. “That was fun.”
She’s relaxed and probably tired, but I don’t think she’s drunk. She didn’t drink much tonight, seeming more interested in just having fun.
I carefully spin around, looking her in the eye. “Has it been a good birthday?”
“Damn near perfect,” she says. “There’s one thing that could make it even better, though.”
“And what’s that?” Kane filled Linc and me in on what she said to him earlier in the night. I don’t know exactly what it means, but I’m willing to do anything to stop this yearning inside my chest that won’t go the fuck away.
“You… and Linc and Kane.”
“You have me,” I tell her because she does. She doesn’t even know it, but she owns parts of me I never saw myself letting anyone hold in their hands.
“Kind of,” she says, tilting her head to the side.
I nod. Just because all our feelings for one another are blatantly clear, it doesn’t erase any of the hurdles standing in our way.
Sliding her hand in mine, I pull her over to where Linc and Kane are standing.
“So, how are we going to make this work? Because I’m fucking sick of this,” I tell her, still holding her delicate hand.
She’s worrying her lip between her teeth, so I tighten my hand around her to try to reassure her.
“I still don’t want Oliver to know,” Kane says. He must see the way my jaw is clenched tight because he holds up his hand. “I don’t want him to know right away. I’m not saying never. I’m just…” He pauses for a minute. “I need to make sure it’s a forever kind of thing before I bring this into his world.”
“That’s fair,” Abby says. “I feel the same way about Mav.”
“What does this mean for us?” Linc asks.
I spare a glance at Abby before saying, “I think it means we give this a try. We keep it hidden from the boys, but we try.”
Kane and Linc both nod. Abby is back to biting her lip again, clearly worried about something.
“What are you thinking, beautiful?” I ask.
“Would this be just sex, or…” Her words trail off, like she doesn’t quite know how to end the thought.
“More,” Linc says. “It would be more.”
She lets out a heavy breath. “Okay.”
“I don’t think sex is just sex with us anyway,” Kane says.
I let out a quiet laugh. “We tried that once, and I think we all know how well that turned out.”
Abby leans into me, so her arm is pressed against mine.
“So, we’re doing this?” Kane asks.
“Yeah, we are,” Abby says with a hopeful clarity to her words.
Since the bar was closed to the public tonight, it doesn’t take us long to close things up and head out to my SUV that’s parked behind the bar.
Linc and I are up front, while Kane and Abby are in the back. She’s snuggled up next to him in the back seat with her head resting on his shoulder.
