Page 21 of Room One Hundred and Nineteen: Watching Her

“I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not.” He groaned. “Doesn’t matter. We’re gonna find out in less than ten minutes.” He wasn’t wrong. Seven minutes later, we were parked next to her SUV that should have been upgraded a year ago. Two minutes after that, I knocked on her front door, hoping and praying for the first time in a very fucking long time that things would work out in our favor.

The door opened, and my heart never felt fuller.

Elena was wearing Miles’ hoodie and what looked like shorts so tiny that you had to look twice to see if she was wearing anything under that at all. It had taken us a week after Josh napped with her to find the time, and I liked knowing she hadn’t returned Miles’ hoodie.

“Hey, guys.” Her eyes widened. “What’s up?” Her eyes bounced from me to Miles to Josh and then back to me.

“Would you wanna go for a walk?” Josh asked. My brows bunched. We weren’t supposed to go on a walk. The plan was for us to ask if we could talk to her.

“A walk?” she repeated.

“Or if we could talk,” Miles said. She looked confused, and I was positive this was when she’d shut the door in our faces. This was when she sent us to hell.

“You three want to talk to me?” She blushed, and we nodded like a bunch of idiots. But we were her idiots. “Okay, umm, sure.” Her shoulder rose and fell in a shrug before she opened the door wider. “Come in.”

We’d never stepped foot into her place. Sure, each of us had driven past it, curious about the area she lived in and whether it was safe or not. Her two-bedroom cottage was sweet. Cozy and welcoming.

“If you guys want to take a seat.” She pointed at the oversized, well-loved older sectional. “Would you like something to drink?” Her eyes darted everywhere around the room but toward us. She was avoiding looking at us. She was nervous. The three of us glanced at one another and wordlessly communicated between us.

“Come here, baby,” I gently called for her. She exhaled slowly, shoving her hands into the pockets of the hoodie.

“Umm, the kids?—“

“Are with Rosie,” I cut in. Her brows bunched. She was cute if she thought she was going to outright lie to us.

“How do you know that?” she asked, but what she didn’t do was lie. Goddamn it, she was freaking cute. My lips twitched.

“Come here,” I ordered again, ignoring her question.

It hadn’t been too hard to get Rosie’s number from one of the girls in the daycare. It had taken a day for me to find the guts to call her, and when I did, I had my guys at my back.

We had laid it out honestly for Rosie.

We told her just how much we cared for Elena, how much we loved her. That the only thing we wanted was her happiness. After a scary warning, she told us she was in and would help us out with our plan.

If everything went off without a hitch, Elena would be ours and our time working in the emergency room would be over because we would be working at our own practice.

“Rick.” She licked her lips before she glanced at Josh and Miles.

“Go to him, baby.” Josh tipped his head. I held my breath. Would his gentle encouragement be enough? She wanted us. We knew that, but was it enough? Would she trust us and have enough faith in us to take a chance?

We waited for her to react. To see if she would move toward me or argue with us. Either way, we were prepared.

But we didn’t have to switch plans.

Elena slowly made her way toward me, and her hands slipped out of the pockets of the hoodie before she stopped about half a foot away from me.

“What?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, making the hoodie rise higher, giving us a peek of her toned thighs and the tiny purple shorts she wore.

“Closer,” I instructed. Her foot rose, and my hand reached for her, curling around her waist and bringing her right against me.

“Rick,” she squeaked, her eyes wide as she looked around me. “What are you doing?” she huffed and halfheartedly tried to push me away. When I didn’t let her go, she gave up the fight.

“Hi,” I stupidly said.It’s do or die time, and I say hi?! What the fuck is wrong with me!?

“Hi?” she repeated. “Rick?”

“It’s time we talk,” I announced. The slight fear I read in her eyes hit me square in the chest.

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