Page 38 of Queen Of Clubs

“Here’s the deal, Jade. We don’t know what happened exactly all of those years ago or what the contributing factors were that kept us apart, but here's what we do know. Either it was a big misunderstanding or someone sabotaged us. I’m pretty sure we’re all going to go with the latter on that one. And we plan on doing everything we can to find out who did it, starting with that fucking PI,” Zane snarls.

“Until then, here’s what's going to happen. The fact is, Jade, you are ours. Always have been. The moment I laid eyes on you up on that roof, my soul claimed you. The only reason I held back from letting you know was because I knew once I had my hands on you, I wouldn’t be able to ever let you go. The same goes for these two.” He nods his head toward Everett and Griffin.

My heart races at his admission, the one I dreamed about when we were kids, and my eyes flick over to the other guys. Everett’s looking a bit fidgety, his eyes sad, nervous, and concerned. Griffin is watching me with a mix of hope, uneasiness, and panic.

“We decided that we would watch over you, be your protectors, take care of you the best we could without showing those two fucking waste-of-space foster parents that it was something more than friendship. We were not going to risk giving them a chance to kick us to another house or separating us in any way. We would have gone fucking mad being apart from you,” Zane continues.

“We did go mad without you,” Everett admits. “The past six years, Jade, it’s been pure hell. Sure, we have fame and money, everything we could want in the world. But we didn’t have you. Therefore, it made all of it useless.”

“There’s so much you don’t know, Jelly Bean,” Griffin adds. “So much we want to tell you. So much you need to hear.”

“We should never have left without you. But we did. We hate ourselves for it. But the thing is, Jade, we always meant to come back for you. Everything we worked for was for us to be a family, to be together. And now that we have you back, we are never letting you go.”

My mind's a total mess. They’re telling me everything I’ve always dreamed of. Years of thinking they hated me, that they moved on with their lives without me, and he’s telling me that was never the plan. That whatever intervened in our lives put us on these separate paths without our consent.

As much as I told myself I hated them, I never really did. I was convinced that if I distracted myself with the goal of never thinking of them, I’d simply get over them. Seeing them the other night proved that it didn’t work.

The fact is, my heart still beats for them. I want them. I want them so fucking badly it hurts. But all of this is too good to be true.

Zane leans over and pulls the tape off of my mouth. “Now, what do you have to say about all of that?”

“When we land, I’ll run.”

His lips twitch. “You have no ID, no money, no phone.”

“I’ll go to the cops.” I raise a brow.

“And who are they going to believe?” He cocks his head to the side. “You or us.”

“I hate you,” I spit.

He chuckles. “Sweet girl, I know you want that to be true, but you and I both know you don’t. Want to know why? Because you're fucking mine, Jade. You're my girl. My omega. Mine,” he growls. “I told you the day I left that I loved you, and I’m telling you right now, I still love you. How about you make it easier on everyone and just accept that fact, okay?”

“Is it true?” I ask Everett and Griffin. “Do you feel the same about me that he does?”

“Of course.” Everett’s eyes widen. “I know we were stupid and didn’t say it back then like we should have, but Jade, I love you. I’ve always loved you. All these years have been pure hell without you. All I did was worry about you. Who you're with, how you're doing. Are you safe? Are you healthy? Are you happy? I’ve never gone to sleep without asking myself that. Every. Single. Night.”

My heart pounds erratically and my eyes tear up, but I say nothing as I look to Griffin. “I love you, Jelly Bean. Just as much and as hard as the other two. Every concert we’ve done, I’d look out into the crowd and wonder if you were there. I’d search for the striking green eyes that always took my breath away and wished more than anything that I’d find them looking back at me,” he confesses. “It was always meant to be the four of us.”

This is all too good to be true. I can’t just let go of the last six years like it didn’t happen. I made a new life. A life I like. I love The High Roller, I love my job and the people who work there. They are my family.

But these guys were once my family, too, and so much more.

Swallowing hard, I lick my lips, trying to get my mixed emotions under wraps.

“When we were younger and we made all these plans to move away together, to start a new life, I honestly believed it would be as friends. I knew you all cared for me, but I didn’t know it was in the same way that I felt about you. I loved you three so hard.” I laugh.

“I was a lovesick girl who wanted nothing more than to be loved by her three hot best friends who cared so damn hard for her. I convinced myself that if something romantic didn’t happen and you never saw me the way I saw you, I’d be okay with that. As long as I’d get to keep you as friends.”

My cheeks grow hot as I admit this next part. “I told myself that if you ever found an omega, I’d learn to accept them, be with them so I could be a part of your pack, if it meant I could have you three in my life. Pathetic, isn’t it?”

“That would have never happened,” Zane dismisses, making my heart drop. “You wouldn’t have had to watch us be with someone else because there never was going to be anyone but you, Jade. If you ended up a beta, none of us would have cared. We didn’t want an omega, we wanted you. It will only ever be you, Jade. Get that through your pretty little head right now.”

“Stop.” I close my eyes, willing myself not to cry. Not right now. “This is a lot. It’s all too much.”

“It’s not enough!” Zane growls. “Why are you fighting this!”

“Because!” I snap as my eyes open. “It’s not as easy as you're making it out to be. You want me to just leave the life I’ve built at the drop of a hat to be with you. But I’ve spent the past six years trying not to love you. Telling myself that I didn’t need anyone but myself. I’ve been alone because the idea of opening up to someone else and giving them the power to crush me later was something I couldn’t come back from. It’s not as easy for me as it is for you.”

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