“No, Gage, I can’t!” Everett said, but I ignored him and slammed my mouth down on his. He fought me for a few seconds, then melted into me. He sobbed into my mouth, then he was wrapping his arms around my neck. Since I’d only used the kiss to calm him down enough that he would hear me, I pulled back. I had one arm wrapped around his waist. I held the other hand out, but I didn’t even look at Nash, because I knew he’d know what I wanted.
A second later, he was taking my hand and leaning into my and Everett’s embrace so it was the three of us hanging onto one another.
“I’m going to make the same promise to you that I made to Nash at the wedding,” I said to Everett. “I’m going to make this happen for us, do you hear me? I love you both too much to lose you. I will talk to Reese, I’ll make him see that we never meant to lie to him.”
“No,” Everett whispered. “No, he can’t lose you and Ronan. He needs you too much.” Everett tried to pull free of my and Nash’s hold, but I refused to let him even budge. “I’ll go back to D.C. He doesn’t need to know about you, about Ronan.”
“Daddy?”
I went completely still at the sound of Charlie’s voice. God, I’d forgotten to close the regular door in addition to the screen door. I wasn’t particularly worried about Charlie seeing me with the two men, since she and I had already had the talk about her daddy liking boys rather than girls, but I still didn’t want her to witness the heated exchange the three of us were having.
But of course, that turned out to be the least of my worries.
Because when I turned around, I saw that my daughter wasn’t alone.
“Reese,” Everett breathed when he saw his son standing in the doorway.
“Daddy, why is Everett crying?” Charlie asked, her voice highand carrying the edge of tears in it. She’d become quite attached to Everett and Nash in the past few weeks. But as badly as I wanted to reassure my daughter that all was well, I knew it wasn’t.
You only had to look at Reese to know it wasn’t.
Because I could tell without a shadow of a doubt that he’d heard everything Everett and I had said to one another. And even if he hadn’t, there was no way to explain away the intimate embrace he and Charlie had walked in on.
Reese let the screen door slam shut, causing Charlie to jump in surprise. She looked over her shoulder at the space Reese had been in and then looked at me. I reached her just as she whispered for me.
“It’s okay, honey,” I said, gathering her in my arms. I knew she was completely confused, but I didn’t have time to explain things because Everett darted past me, calling Reese’s name as he went. Charlie wrapped her legs around me as I hurried to follow Everett and Nash. Happy and Medusa were waiting outside the guest house and quickly fell into step next to us. Nash and I were several feet behind Everett when he managed to catch up to the slower-moving Reese.
“We forgot the rolls, Daddy,” Charlie said quietly.
“What?” I asked.
“They were in the oven and they started to burn. Reese took them out and Pépère told us to come find you guys to see what was keeping you. I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“It’s okay, honey. You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said as I patted her back.
As I spoke, I was doing my best to catch up to Everett and Reese. They’d just reached the steps leading to the house. Reese stumbled as he tried to climb up them in his rush, but when Everett latched onto his arm to help him up, Reese lashed out at him with his cane. “Stay the fuck away from me!” he shouted. He didn’t actually hit Everett with the cane, but he came close and that had Nash moving faster.
“You ruined my life!” Reese added, just as Nash reached them. Everett grabbed Nash before he could go after Reese.
“Nash, don’t!” Everett cried. “Please!”
Charlie let out a sob and covered her ears with her hands. As badly as I wanted to get her away from the whole thing, I needed to intercede before someone got hurt. Reese managed to right himself and just as he reached the top step, my father threw open the door.
“What is going on out here?” he asked. “You all right, son?” he asked when Reese stumbled past him.
Everett released Nash, then covered his face with his hands and began to cry as he sank down onto the bottom step. Nash crouched in front of him, then pulled him forward against his chest, but Everett shook his head, then shoved away from him. He climbed to his feet and hurried up the stairs and into the house. Nash followed.
“Gage, what’s happening?” my father said, his voice full of worry.
I just shook my head at him because there was no quick and easy way to explain it. He followed me into the house and toward the kitchen, which had the lingering scent of burned food in it. Everett was knocking on Reese’s door, which was just down the hall from the kitchen.
“Reese, please, I just want to talk to you.”
There was no response from inside. Everett tried the knob, but nothing happened. “Reese, I can explain—” Everett began, but his words were cut off when the door abruptly opened. Reese pushed past his father. He had his phone in his hand, but nothing more. As he limped past me, he snapped, “You lied to me.”
That was it, nothing more.
Charlie hugged me tighter and I turned to hand her to my dad. “Can you take her upstairs?” I said. “The dogs too,” I added, since all three dogs were reacting to the tension they were sensing. Happy was pacing back and forth between us and Reese as he made his way toward the front door, and Medusa was turning in circles, a habit she only did when she was anxious. Even Zeus had woken up enough to let out a few short barks.
