Page 65 of Agony of Our Regret

Gavin’s mouth moved as he stared ahead. After a second, he shook his head. “No. There are no anniversaries, birthdays, or holidays.”

I laughed. “I wasn’t trying to trick you. I just wanted to make sure before I agreed.”

“Even if we did, we could always reschedule. Noah’s making an effort,” Luca said, but I shook my head.

“No, none of them get to show up, and expect I’ll drop everything for them. You two are my priority. You come first.”

Gavin smiled. “We appreciate that, but you can’t punish them forever.”

There was that stupid word again. “I am not punishing them.”

“Fine, rewarding us.” Luca grew serious. “Nothing can get better if you keep them at a distance.”

“I’m not trying to.” I slumped and rested my head back. “It’s even harder to balance things now than when we were teens.”

“We knew that would happen eventually,” Gavin reminded me. “We just thought it would be when we went to college.”

I scrunched my nose. “Yeah, back when that was the worst thing that could happen.”

“This shouldn’t be an us-versus-them situation,” Luca spoke up. “How they arrived here doesn’t matter at this point. They’re here, and they’re trying.”

“And you want them back in your life, right?” Gavin asked.

I didn’t have to think about that. “Yes.”

“And so do we.” Luca gave me a small smile. “Life has thrown us about a million curveballs, but things are finally coming back together. Maybe we all needed to learn a few lessons before we started our lives together.”

“You set a boundary by not letting them move in. Having time together in your house was a really good idea. I’ve heard from each of them, and they’re reconnecting and working through their problems, personally and with one another. Eventually, we’ll all do the same and move forward. Going on a date with Noah is a step toward that.”

I pursed my lips but agreed. “I’m not ready to dive back into the six of us being together. Not like we did last time.”

“We didn’t have much to lose back then.” Luca crossed his ankle over his knee. “Now we do. You’re not just thinking about what you want. There’s the three of us plus a baby to consider. We have jobs and responsibilities. We don’t get to throw caution to the wind and dive right in, hoping for the best.”

“Plus, we’re aware of the AS this time. We have to be more careful.”

As if any of us needed a reminder of the black cloud hanging over us.I still hadn’t seen the security guards who were supposed to be watching us, which was a relief. I trusted they were there if needed, but I was glad they kept their distance.

“Any progress with that?” I decided to change the subject. I’d go out with Noah, and we’d continue to take things slow. One step at a time.

“We stopped another attack,” Luca said.

“Because of a vision?” I asked.

“No, Gavin’s team got through some firewalls, found some plans, and sent them to teams to stop it.”

Gavin shook his head. “That was a terrible explanation for what I do.”

Luca smirked. “Was I wrong?”

“You did your typey thing, really fast and in a secret code language, then boom! You’re in!” I teased.

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Yup. That’s exactly what my department does.”

I chuckled. “Well, it is amazing that you stopped an attack.”

“It wasn’t me alone. We’d been working on it for a while. We gained access to a lot of new information and have a new AI program that sifts through videos, documents, and looking for patterns. I doubt it will be helpful for very long, though. They might not realize they’ve been hacked for a few months, but eventually they will make changes.”

“Soak it in for a minute before going back to doom mode,” Luca told him. “You guys saved countless lives.”

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