Page 173 of The Charlie Method

“Please stop crying, baby.” He’s begging me now.

The commotion jolts Will awake. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

The deep concern swimming in his eyes shatters something inside me. I cry even harder, my chest heaving as the sobs I’ve been holding back for so long break free. It’s too much. Too much truth. Too much vulnerability.

Beckett holds me tighter. “It’s my fault,” he tells Will. “I said some dumb shit.”

“No,” I mumble through a sheen of tears. “You were right. Everything you said…it’s all true.”

Will sinks down beside us, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. It’s odd, the way he grounds me, makes me feel safe. Beckett does too, but in a different way. I trust Beckett wholeheartedly, but he doesn’t necessarily ground me. If anything, he makes me soar.

“I love my parents,” I whisper as the tears finally begin to subside. “So much. And I know they love me. But being adopted messes with your head sometimes, especially when you’re a kid. I know it’s irrational. They’ve never given me a single reason to doubt their love. But I remember lying awake some nights, especially if I did something bad, like stole a cookie and then lied about it or some other trivial bullshit—I’d lie there terrified that they’d come into my room and tell me it was time to go back.”

Will rests his chin on my shoulder, pressing a kiss to it. “I’m sorry. That sounds brutal.”

I gulp through the lump in my throat. The memories trigger a fresh rush of tears.

Me at age six, my clothes all dirty, clinging to my mom after I ran through the muddy playground when she ordered me not to.

Clutching her hand, desperate for reassurance. Asking her if she was going to give me back now because I was bad.

And then the relief that washed over me when she held me close and whispered that I was her forever daughter.

I hadn’t realized I was still carrying so many of those childhood fears, and I bury my face in Beckett’s neck, battling the tears while he strokes my hair and Will holds me steady.

“Breathe,” Beckett whispers in my ear.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, then exhale slowly, trying to let go of the anxiety, the insecurity, the constant need to prove myself.

But there’s nothing for me to prove. Not here, with these two guys. When I’m here, I don’t feel the need to be perfect. I just get to be…me.

DAD CHAT

Will Larsen has been added to Dad Chat

Luke Ryder has been added to Dad Chat

Shane Lindley has been added to Dad Chat

Beckett Dunne has been added to Dad Chat

JOHN LOGAN:

Yo. You’ve been recruited.

LUKE RYDER:

Recruited for what?

JOHN LOGAN:

To watch out for my daughter. This Isaac kid is a menace.

BECKETT DUNNE:

I don’t want to be in this chat. Unsubscribe.

WILL LARSEN:

---