Page 21 of One Last Memory

She nodded timidly, her eyes flitting between the three of us. “I’m going to try. I’m going to… need to figure out a few things but yes, I want to be different. I want to act out a little bit, do something for me.” Her eyes glittered with the possibilities and I could see that this was going to be fun. We were finally going to be able to see the full extent of the woman we were infatuated with.

“I can get behind that,” Mason joked, his voice gruff with desire.

Her gaze darted to him, a smile spreading across her lips. “You can get behind me for sure.” A round of grunts and hands shifting happened before Mason leapt out of his chair and pulled her into his arms, pressing their lips together. She gave in easily, arching her back and angling her head up for better access. Mason took what he wanted, shoving his tongue through her lips as he kissed her with a desire that mirrored Benji’s and mine.

Benji wasn’t far behind, slipping her from Mason’s hold and taking her lips next. She moaned against him, her hands gripping his shirt as she let him take what he needed as well.

Bailee really was perfect for us, wasn’t she?

I waited patiently, waited for Benji to release her. She stumbled back a step, her eyes dazed with the promise of the relationship we were desperately trying to give her. And then it was my turn. My heart bloomed as I grabbed her hips and pulled her close, letting her feel my arousal, my interest, mydesire.

Lee pulled back, her lips still open as she blew out a small breath. I wanted more than that taste, but I knew we needed to figure out logistics. She couldn’t completely uproot her life without a little pushback. She also hadn’t entirely lost her shell but with time and our help, maybe she would.

“I need to figure out a place to stay. Dad mentioned renting out the villa a little longer just in case things weren’t permanent.” Mason was about to disagree when Bailee shook her head, stepping back from us. Her cheeks were still flushed as she smiled. “No, I think it’s a good idea. I wasn’t doing much back in New York City, nothing that I couldn’t redo out here. But I need to find out what I want to do and not having to figure out the housing situation is helpful.”

Benji frowned. “Lee…”

I had to stifle a laugh, realizing that we were piling too much too fast on this poor woman. I slowly tugged her out of their reach, understanding the anxiety that came with the attention. “Hey, this is weekone. We can figure everything out as time goes on. For now, we can just be happy that she’s staying.”

Bailee let out a nervous giggle. “Yes, to all of that but like we can be happy in two days. Wait, no, don’t worry. I already canceled my ticket. I just need to help my mother understand that this isn’t an episode or anything. I promised her an actual dinner with the rest of my family. She needs a whole five step plan for her to stop worrying. I’ve got one thing to do, that dinner and then I’m all yours. Well, no. I’ll be here.”

I snorted, shaking my head. “Bella, what’s the one thing? Maybe we can help.”

“It’s… stupid. Just something I do that helps me deal with all the chaos in my head.” We were all looking at her a little strange as mild embarrassment flooded her expression. “I write everything down in a journal and then I bury it as a way to offload my emotions.” She shrugged, trying to hide behind her hair. “It works and I just finished the last page.”

Mason raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. “And does that work?”

“Mostly?” She slipped a small notebook from a side bag I hadn’t noticed before. “It was a way for me to leave all the bullshit behind but I started realizing that I was burying things I wanted to remember.” Bailee flipped through a few pages and I curiously stopped her when the page was crossed out. Her face flushed even more. “Well, that was the night at the club. The first one… I thought everything was just a joke, that you guys had played me. I wrote it in here because I wanted to forget it and then I realized that’s not what it was sooo… I crossed it out.”

Benji leaned forward. “Are we in there?”

She grinned up at the three of us and shook her head. “No, those are memories I wanted to keep.”

He nodded, reaching out for her hand. “Well then, I think I know the perfect place to bury your notebook. That little cove I took you to the first time? Hardly ever anyone goes over there. You can go back there any time you want.”

“I like that.”

I was right behind her, beside Mason who had his hand on my back. “And then you can start fresh out here, finding out what you want to do.”

“I’m thinking about setting up one of those little shops to make bracelets and…”

I frowned, not expecting for her to be an artist of some kind. She burst out into giggles when Benji went ‘really?’ and she shook her head, the peals of laughter making my heart warm. Her eyes were still guarded but she was slowly opening up to us.

“No. I have some realtor and hospitality experience so I was hoping Mason could hook me up a bit to help out with the… rich assholes like my parents.” She twisted around to grin at Mason and me, wiggling her brows. I couldn’t help but laugh at the way Mason turned red this time as Bailee just blew him a kiss, the four of us walking toward the far end of the beach.

BAILEE

Ihadperfectedtheart of telling my family the things they wanted to hear and conforming to every whim just to make them leave me alone but now I was trying to do the same thing while they were returning home and I was staying to follow my heart.

The last twenty-four hours of vacation had been a shit show. Aside from the loving texts from all three of my men and Elissa and Phoenix’s undying support, the others thought I was making a grave mistake, a rash decision that would have me crawling back home in a heartbeat. My only saving grace was Nala, my therapist, who told me that all she wanted was for me to enjoy the little moments and that mistake or not, this was only a move I could make.

She then set up an appointment for two weeks from now, requiring it to be a video call or in person, which meant that either I had decided to stay out here or had returned home.

“Did you take your medication?”

I rolled my eyes and then glared at my mother, wishing their plane would show up faster. They had plenty of time to walk through TSA Pre-check so my mother was currently hassling me as I stood inches away from the entrance.

“Yes, Mom.”Every decision I had made in the last twenty-four hours had been clearheaded and not made during the post-sex haze. For one thing, the old me would have made this decision and then moved in with the three men running around in my head. But now, I was going to carve a life out here for myself, away from the chaos and confines of the city. If that meant in a few months that these men meant more to me than just a few crazy nights, I would wholeheartedly walk into that relationship.

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