Page 111 of Trouble

Shuddering, he loops his arms around me and squeezes.

For several long moments, we stay like that. Silent. Holding one another. Our hearts beating wildly but in sync.

Finally, he breaks the silence. “I’m scared.”

My battered heart pinches at the vulnerability in his tone. “I know.”

With a heavy sigh, he pulls back and regards me, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m falling for both of you, and you’re leaving.”

Tears prick my eyes as I run my fingers through his messy hair. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

Brows pulled low, he dips his chin and focuses on a spot somewhere around my throat rather than holding eye contact. “But you have a life—and you don’t need to stay here anymore.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. Tamp down on the trepidation that has kept me from opening up completely to both men. “What if I want to stay? What if I want you? You and Cade and us and this.” My voice wobbles.

Honestly, what I hope for is probably too good to be true. But I have to say this. He needs to know the depth of my feelings. And it’s hard to deny that sometimes, especially when this hard man is so soft beneath my fingers, what I long for feels so real and tangible.

I rest my palm against his pounding heart. “I want this, but you need to want it too. I can’t fall for another person who’s going to break me.”

He brushes a thumb over my lips, the move sending a shiver down my spine. “I would never hurt you.”

Head tilted, I give him a sad smile. “Not opening your heart to Cade and meishurting me.”

Declan takes a few steadying breaths. “I’m in love with my best friend.”

My heart floats at the admission, and my smile turns easy. This all feels so delicate and new. “I know.”

“And I’m fucking gone for you, Melina.” His eyes dart furtively between mine, as if he’s dissecting my reaction. “You own me, sweetheart.”

His voice is tortured. Like he doesn’t know how to convey what he’s feeling. Like he’s desperate for me to believe him, and he’s not quite sure I do.

Holding myself still, I assess him. My body is taut with tension, because honestly, I am questioning it. “Maybe it’s meant to be just you and Cade. Maybe—” My heart sinks, and I worry my bottom lip, knowing that what I say next will likely bring on the tears. “Maybe I wasthe glue that brought you two together.” I sniffle. “But I don’t have to be involved forever.”

Declan shakes his head, the movement so violent it jostles me on his lap. “No, sweetheart. We’ve had decades to figure it out, yet it only works because of you. You’re what makes usus. I’m awkward as fuck when I’m alone with him now. Hell, I gave him what was probably a mediocre blow job yesterday, because when we’re alone, I can’t help but fuck around with him.”

I laugh and smack his chest, feigning offense. “Excuse me, are you saying that doesn’t happen with me?”

The laugh that rumbles out of him sends waves of delight through me. God, is it a beautiful sound. Deep and gritty and full of affection. He smiles, suddenly cocksure. “Sweetheart, if I could live inside you, I would.” He sweeps a thumb across my cheek, strumming it reverently. “But I can also sit with you for an entire night and not feel the least bit compelled to force conversation. Just being in your presence puts me at ease. That’s special.” He angles in close, tightening his arm around my middle. “That’s love.”

He brushes his lips against mine, and my heart stumbles and falls over itself.

“You are my soulmate, Melina, mine and Cade’s. We wouldn’t be us without you. But with you,” his voice grows smooth, confident. “With you, I think we could really make it.”

Warring between smiling and bursting into tears, I bite my lip. “Cade was really upset.”

Eyes downcast, Declan frowns. “I hate that I hurt him. I just—I was so afraid to lose you, to lose him, and I didn’t know how to ask him to stay. I should have asked him to stay.”

“Why didn’t you? What happened this morning between the time you left our bed and the time we found you in the kitchen?”

His frown deepens. “I heard the two of you making plans to leave. You said you were going back to New York, and Cade was leaving?—”

God, the way all of this could have been avoided if I’d just spoken up earlier. If I’d said something last night.

With my finger, I tip Declan’s chin up and meet his sadeyes. “I was considering it, yes. My mother called and told me that Jason was arrested and that my brother bailed him out.”

Declan’s jaw locks. “I’ll kill them both.”

I press my fingers to his lips. “They got into a car accident on the way home. Jason’s in a coma. Or he was as of yesterday.” I shrug. “I don’t know his current status, and I honestly don’t care. When my mother called and asked me to come home, it was like a switch flipped inside me. I realized there was nothing I could say to them—no words I could conjure—that would ever get her to be on my side.” I sigh. “And I don’t know. I guess recognizing that freed me from trying so hard. From thinking too long on it. And I think that’s how I got my voice back. I’m not trying to be the person someone else thinks I should be.” I rub my thumb against the frown lines beside his eyes. “Youand Cade helped me find my voice. Helped free me by just loving me for me. And now I can’t stop the lyrics from flowing. So I wanted to get into the studio and get them all down before I lost this creativity streak. And my studio is in New York.”

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