Page 25 of You're ours now

“I’m so fucking sorry, Mellie,” I say, running my hand down my face.

“I’m not,” Zayne states and we all look at him. “What?”

“You’re not sorry we lied to our best friend?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

“I’m sorry for how Mellie felt yesterday, and I’m sorry we didn’t come clean the day after it all happened. But I’m not sorry for being stupidly in love with her, and you shouldn’t be sorry for loving her either. None of us should be, and if it wasn’t for this stupid matchmaking show, none of us would have had the balls to say anything,” Zayne snaps.

“You love me?” she whispers.

I nod. “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember,” I say, as tears run down her pretty face. Leaning forward, I wipe them away with my thumbs.

“When I was sixteen, I knew I loved you,” Zayne adds.

“For me it was eighth grade, when you punched Zeke in the nose because he called me a dork, even though he was three times bigger than you,” Julius says, pushing his glasses up and wiping his eyes.

“But you’re all my best friends!”

“If that’s all you see us as, we really hope we haven’t messed up our friendship. If you want us to go back to how things were before, we will forget this ever happened. You are our world, Moo. We would do anything for you, including lying so you get to live out your fantasies, even if it’s one of the stupidest things we have ever done.”

“I’m just having a hard time believing it was you.”

“I fucked you on the pool lounger,” I say, and she smirks as her eyes sparkle at the memory. “And I gave you that orgasm you always complained you never had before.”

Her face flushes, either from embarrassment or arousal—either way, I’ll take it.

“And I had your ass,” Zayne says.

“Okay, okay, I believe you. But what does this mean for us, for our friendship?”

“No offense, Moo, but fuck our friendship. We want to date you. We want to make you ours,” Julius tells her earnestly.

“I stand by what I said at the resort. You’re ours now, Mellie,” Zayne adds with his signature cocky smirk.

“The ball’s in your court. We understand if you need time to think it over,” I say, feeling more hopeful now that maybe we haven’t royally fucked everything up.

Mellie stands and looks down at us and smirks. “I think... I think I need a head start before you come and find me. The winner gets to cover me with chocolate and lick it off.”

She doesn’t wait for our reply, running out of the living room and down the hallway.

The three of us look at each other, stunned.

Well, fuck. I guess it’s every man for themselves because I plan to find her first.

Chapter Fourteen

Mellie

My heart thumps wildly in my chest as I run through the house, searching for somewhere to hide. I can’t believe it was them the whole time and they are in love with me!

I know without a doubt I love them—I always have—but I never thought they would see me as anything beyond their best friend.

Ducking into Zayne’s room, I drop to the floor and scramble under his bed. It’s the only one high enough for me to fit under.

“Moo, we know you’re here somewhere,” Julius sings out from down the hall, though his voice is not loud enough for him to be close.

I listen for footsteps, wondering how long it will take them to find me. Sure, I didn’t try too hard to hide—why would I wantto prolong this? It’s something I have dreamed about so many times, but always discarded, thinking that it would never be a reality.

A hand encircles my ankle, making me squeal, and I’m pulled from under the bed as my heart races at the thought of who it could be. The instant I clear the edge, Zayne is on his hands and knees, crawling on top of me.

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