The corner of his mouth curved up. “It’s kind of weird, but I think we can make it work.”
A wide smile crossed her face. “I like being with both of you. I want to see where it goes.”
He nodded and took another bite from his bowl. It was mostly broth at this point, but there were still a few noodles floating around.
“I talked to Ez a little about his family,” she said, tentatively. “Does he not have anyone now?”
Ryker shook his head. “His dad is in prison, I think. He doesn’t remember his mom at all.”
“I see.” She tapped her chopsticks against the side of her bowl. “But you have a good relationship with your parents? At least, I assume you do if you took that shady job.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, my dad just has his demons. I can take you to meet them soon. If you want.”
“How are we going to hide all of this? If Ezra doesn’t have family to fake it with, then he might feel left out.”
Willow had such a sweet way of seeing things, even if she was tough as nails. He hadn’t been with anyone who would care so much. Though he hadn’t been with anyone long enough for it to matter.
“He’ll be okay,” he replied. “He’s pretty fucking obsessed with you.”
A laugh escaped her. “I think it goes both ways. Well, including you, two ways?” She shook her head. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you guys. You’re a bit unforgettable.”
He reached forward and took her hand, lightly stroking her delicate knuckle with his thumb. “Yeah. Same.”
Willow hesitated a moment. “Do you see us—all of us—long term? I’m not interested in short hook-ups anymore.”
Without missing a beat, he said, “Yes.”
A wide smile took over her pretty face. “Me too.”
Chapter 41
Willow
It had been two months since everything came to a head with Xander Coughlin. According to Ezra and Ryker, they had managed to skirt away without much notice. If anything was happening with the rival Davidiuk, however, they were keeping her in the dark.
Maybe it was for the better.
Willow eyed the results from her last scam and drummed her fingers on the arm of her computer chair. She had dumped the funds into Selene’s donation account using a few dummy profiles. Her coworker practically had tears in her eyes the previous day when she found out she’d be able to afford the surgery she needed.
Willow looked around her apartment. The three of them were about to move into a new place together that had three bedrooms. They would each have their own space, and any nocturnal activities would be arranged ahead of time.
Well. That was the idea.
Sometimes they would get caught up in the moment, like they had in the cabin watching that war movie. But the mainthing they had discussed was about sharing time. She had date days that would be one-on-one and then others that could include all three. Her boyfriends had already been best friends, so it wasn’t like they hated each other’s company.
She tried to offer them the option to date other girls since she didn’t think it was fair that she had two boyfriends, but they shot it down immediately. They were only interested in her, and they would do what it took to make it work.
Willow felt the same way. Even if she could somehow find the emotional and physical energy to get with another guy, it wasn’t appealing. She had everything she could ever want.
“You there, Crypty?”
That snapped her out of her wistful daze. Landon had gone home to Costa Rica. Of course, they had shared a ramen lunch at K-Shop to say their goodbyes. She felt bad about worrying him to the point of traveling back to the states and then nearly getting him killed by a double-crossing loan shark. Somehow, he didn’t have any hard feelings about it.
“Yeah, I’m here,” she replied over the voice chat.
“You know you don’t have to keep doing this, right? You won’t be a bad person if you stop stealing.”
Of course, she knew that deep down. It was a hard thing to reconcile, though. She had been doing it for years, enjoying the thrill of covert crime and the dopamine hit of helping those in need.
