Page 89 of Trouble

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, giving her a small squeeze. “It’s just a piece of paper. The three of us know the truth. And so will thekid.”

“We’ll both be the father,” Liam said. He nudged her gently to get her to look at him, and smiled softly at her tear-stricken face. “Weareboth thefather.”

“How can you accept this so easily?” she sniffled. “It’s…”

“It’s exactly how it should have been from the start.” I glanced at Liam and he gave me a short nod in return. Breathing deeply, we both stepped back fromher.

The small box that’d been burning a hole in my pocket since we stopped by the jewelers on the way to Audrey’s flat felt heavy as I fumbled to get it out. My heart pounded so hard in my chest I could hear my own pulse drumming in my ears, a heavy mix of excitement and just plain fear making me shake as I sunk to one knee next to mytwin.

“Audrey—“

“What are you doing?” The look on her face was priceless—sheershock.

“Audrey—”

“Getup!”

“Audrey!“

“For fuck’s sake,what are youdoing?!”

“God, woman, would you shut up for just one second and let us do this?” Liam laughed. He carded the hand he wasn’t holding his box with through his hair, eyes dancing with mirth when they met mine. “You’d think being two about popping the question would make thiseasier.”

I smirked at him and returned my attention to Audrey. She was shaking.Badly.

“It’s going to be okay, love,” I said, grabbing her hand with my box-free one. “We’ve worked everything out—it’s going to be okay. Just take a deep breath and let us do this. Trustus.”

She didn’t say anything, but I could see her chest moving as she breathed indeeply.

“Good girl.” I glanced at Liam, and he grabbed her freehand.

“First off, we want to apologize. Both ofus.”

“We’ve not made any of this easy on you, and we are truly and deeply sorry for all the pain we’ve causedyou.”

“We can’t promise that we won’t give you a few gray hairs over theyears...”

“But we can promise you that we will never, ever, put you through the kind of bullshit we have while we got our heads out of our arses.” I offered her a smallsmile.

“We should have known from day one,” Liam continued. “It’s always been Louis and me. We’ve always been a unit. And yet it never occurred to us that when we fell in love with the same woman, it was always meant to be thatway.”

“There is no other way, Audrey. You’re not meant to be with me, you’re not meant to be with him. You’re meant to be withus. Both ofus.”

“W-what?” Her eyes widened as she struggled to accept what we were offeringher.

“We’re saying, love, that we want to share you. It’s the only thing that makessense.”

“And before you get any ideas—we’re not taking no for an answer.” Liam flicked the lid of his box open, revealing the ring inside. I followedsuit.

“You know this is how it’s meant to be, love,” I said, gently, when I noticed how she was still shaking. “Deep down, youknow.”

“You’re insane,” she whispered. “We can’t do this. You can’t… you can’tshareme, I’m not a… a…sandwich.”

“A sandwich?” Liam grinned at her lame ending. “You’re not a sandwich, so we can’t marryyou?”

“Shut up, you know what I mean!” she hissed, cheeks reddening. “For one thing, it’s not legal. And who’s to say you wouldn’t end up resenting the hell out of me down the line? That you wouldn’t regretit?”

“You’re telling two mafia sons you can’t marry us because‘it’s not legal,’” I said, shaking my head at her. “Do you think we give a flying fuck, as long as you say yes? It doesn’t matter whose name goes on the bloody paperwork, it doesn’t matter what thelawsays. All that matters is how we feel about you. And how you feel aboutus.”

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