“How is that supposed to work?”Tom glares at me.“You’re all going to marry her?How’s that going to look?Do you think my parents will allow it?Fuck, have you even thought this through?”
“We’re working it out.It’s not conventional?—”
“Ha, right, conventional.My three best friends are fucking my sister with some guy who’s practically a man whore.”Tom’s bitter laugh rolls over me, but it’s nothing new.“How are you going to protect her when your father reappears?Or fuck, if anyone finds out who your father is?They’ll crucify you and her.”
“How’s it going to get out, Tom?”I stare at him.“In reality, there’s only a handful of people that know.My mom isn’t going to tell anyone and ruin her pristine reputation.The man who raised me?He’s not going to spread that around.I’m not about to tell the world I share DNA with that asshole.”
I pause and narrow my eyes.“That leaves you.”
Tom freezes and some color leaves his face.His green eyes spark.“I would never betray you.”
“And yet, you feel like we betrayed you with your sister?”Some part of me feels that way.That our friendship is lost because we fell in love with Sara.
Tom drops to the bench and shakes his head.“This is fucking with my brain.”
“You don’t think it’s fucked with ours?”I release my breath.“We aren’t with her to teach you a lesson or even just because we’re attracted to her.I know you don’t want to hear this, but we love Sara.We could never have her as individuals without hurting the other two.It made sense that when we finally allowed ourselves to be with her, it would have to be all of us or none of us.”
“I would have preferred none,” Tom mutters.
“And for a long time, it was.”I glance at the house, thinking of Sara.“You don’t understand how much we love her or this wouldn’t even be a question for you.We’ve protected her and cared for her as long as we’ve known her.Over time, that changed as we grew up.”
“I don’t think I can do this.”Tom rubs his temples.His weary eyes meet mine.“I know you guys.Fuck, we’ve talked about the women we’ve fucked and what we liked and didn’t.Now, all I can see is you guys doing that to my sister.”
He makes a disgusted face.
“Then don’t imagine it.”I grimace.“I don’t think of my sister or even my brother with other people.That’s just weird.”
“You know what I mean.”Tom meets my eyes.“Not literally, but…”
He gestures to the house.
I look at it and think about Sara in the attic.Her quickened breaths.The feel of her trembling against me.The way she tightens around me.Nope, I’m not ready to give it up.Not ever.
“I didn’t think you guys would ever cross that line.I thought you were all past wanting her.”Tom runs a hand through his ginger hair.“And how does Drew Young fit into this?He’s just fucking around with her?And you guys?”
I draw in a deep breath.“Sara wants him.He wants her.I’ll admit I was reluctant at first, but he’s a good guy and he genuinely cares for Sara.Fuck, I’m not sure we would have crossed any line at all if it wasn’t for him.”
“Fuck.”
“They all know about what happened that day on the docks,” I say softly.
He lifts his green eyes to mine and gives me a questioning look.
“I was ready to let her go.Even though I love her with all my soul, I would have let her go, but she wanted to know why.”My heart stutters in my chest at the thought of losing her.
“That makes sense.”Tom nods.“Sara’s stubborn.”
“She is, but when I told her, she got angry.”I tilt my head as I wait for Tom’s reaction.“At you.”
He huffs out a breath.“Of course she did.She’s protective of all of you.Wouldn’t ever listen to what I said, but if one of you said it, she’d do whatever it was or think however you thought.”
“But she was also right, Tom.”I let my gaze stray to the house that belonged to the man who gave me life.All he ever caused me was pain and anguish.But that house is now protecting the woman I love.“You never should have blamed me for your father’s death.I never should have let you blame me.I was a child, trying to find my place in the world.You were trying to protect me.Your dad would have done anything for us.”
“If you hadn’t gone, if I hadn’t told him…” Tom runs his hand through his hair.“It broke my mom.It broke Sara.”
“It broke all of us, Tom.He was like a father to Dante, Finn, and me.”I look at my hands.“He was a good man.It’s neither of our faults.We were children making childish decisions.I wanted what you had.A father who loved me.I thought that would be my biological father, but it turns out I already had a father who loved me.I just wasn’t related to him by blood.”
Tom’s gaze lifts to mine.There are tears in my eyes but I’m not going to let them fall.
