Page 206 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

This time, I can’t stop thinking about it.

I sit in the front beside Wayne, my hands tucked into the sleeves of my sweater, pulling the fabric closer around me as if it will bring calm. It smells of him, clean, grounded, safe, and I lean into it without thinking.

Fletcher and Rex are in the back, their quiet, reassuring presence filling the space just as much as Wayne’s. It’s different with all of us in one confined space like this, but it doesn’t feel crowded.

Wayne’s hand shifts from the gear stick and settles against my knee, anchoring me without making a thing of it.

“You okay?” he asks.

I let out a breath, watching the road stretch out ahead of us. “I don’t know. I feel like… I’m driving back into a life that doesn’t belong to me anymore.”

“It doesn’t,” he says simply.

“I think that’s why I need to do this,” I say slowly. “Because I don’t want it hanging over me anymore. I don’t want anyone else telling my story for me and lying. I don’t want there to be another version of what happened out there that I don’t get to control.”

Wayne nods once, eyes still on the road. “Then we get the truth. Properly, once and for all.”

Behind me, Rex shifts slightly, one arm draped across the back of the seat. “We’re not letting anyone spin this again, darlin’.”

Fletcher is quieter, steadier. “You get to hear it from them. Not through anyone else.”

I glance back at them briefly, taking them in, the way they’re all here, all part of this, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“You didn’t have to come,” I say softly.

Wayne glances at me. “Yeah. We did.”

Rex huffs a quiet laugh. “You think we’re letting you walk into this alone?”

“Plus,” Wayne adds, his thumb shifting slightly against my knee, “you saw how happy Evan was about staying with Mom. He’s getting a couple of days where he’s completely spoiled and in charge of the TV remote. He’s not suffering.”

That pulls a small smile out of me.

“No,” I admit. “He really isn’t.”

“He’s probably already convinced her to make pancakes for dinner,” Rex says.

“And dessert,” Fletcher adds.

“And seconds,” Rex continues.

I shake my head, my smile a little wider now. “He’s absolutely having the time of his life.”

“And he’s safe,” Wayne says quietly.

The words reassure me more than anything else.

Safe.

Not just Evan.

Me too.

I let out a breath and sink back into the seat slightly, the tension in my chest easing just enough to make space for more.

Because this isn’t me being pushed into a life I didn’t choose.

This is me going back on my own terms.