Page 67 of Returning to Everton

She interrupts me there. “No, I haven’t. I just left. I abandoned y’all with no explanation. I haven’t even talked to you in ten years Hudson!”

“You think we don’t all know that wasn’t your choice? We knew your husband didn’t like us, Rowe. From the minute you introduced us, I saw the look in his eyes when you hugged all of us like you would never let go. He could tell we were close. He didn’t like it. Heck, what man would want his woman to be that close to a bunch of guys? I didn’t really blame him for that Rowe. But keeping you away from your home? Controlling who you could and couldn’t see or talk to? You’re lucky Quinn talked us down. We all wanted to kick his ass, Rowe.”

She’s staring at me in shock. “We absolutely adore you, Rowe. All of us. We were waiting for you to come home so we could show you. We were always meant to be.”

“You’ve been waiting for me? All this time?Allof you?” She’s still unsure, but I think I’m finally getting through to her.

“Yes, Rowe. All of us. Let’s go home and talk to the guys, okay? Let everyone have a chance to tell you how they feel.”

“But what about the bakery? We’re supposed to open in an hour.”

“Fuck the bakery. We’re closed today,” I assert. “I couldn’t give a damn about the bakery right now Rowe. You are more important. Always have been. Hell, I only opened the damn thing to feel closer to you,” I admit.

I help her hop off of the counter, and we start cleaning up. I don’t want all of this food to go to waste, so we wrap everything and put it in the fridge. The ovens ding just as we’re finishing putting the rest of the mixes up. We take the trays out and set them to cool. I put the coffee cake and cooked muffins in containers. I don’t want to wait for the cookies and muffins to cool so I just cool them with my magic and put them all in containers too. We finally decide to just take them all with us.

I grab her hand and we walk out the back door together, holding hands, as I lead her to my car. I open the passenger door for her and walk around to the driver’s side. While I’m walking to my door, I text the guys that we’re coming home. It’s time.

25

Rowen

The drive over to the guys’ house is quiet. Hudson’s giving me the time I need to think about everything he said to me. It’s just so hard for me to believe that theyalllike me like that. I mean, I’ve dreamed about that my whole life. Minus when I was with Harris for whatever reason. I’m starting to think the guys are right about that too and magic was involved.

When we finally pull into their driveway, Hudson opens my door for me and we walk up to their front porch. The door opens just as we’re stepping on the porch. Kayden is standing in the doorway wearing only a pair of low-slung grey sweatpants. I suddenly understand why so many women are obsessed with grey sweatpants, becauseDayum. I might be drooling. Kayden sees me checking him out and smirks at me.

“My eyes are up here Rowe,” he teases me and I roll my eyes as I push past him. “Well good morning to you too!” he calls after me.

Hudson chuckles and quickly catches up to me. “You’ve never been here before Rowe. Ya might want to let me lead this one.”

I huff in frustration, but I suppose he has a point. “Fine lead away. But don’t get used to it.”

Hud leads us into the living room where I see Nate and Ayden already waiting for us on the couch. When they see me, they jump up and come give me hugs.

“Good morning sweetheart,” Nate says as he kisses the top of my head while he hugs me.

“Morning, Nate,” I reply while still holding on to him.

He finally lets go and Ayden is quick to take his place. He squeezes me tight, then kisses my cheek. When he backs away he says, “I normally hate waking up this early, but for you, I jumped right out of bed.

I laugh at him. “Well thank you, Ayden. Seems we have some things to talk about, and Hudson here was rather adamant we do it now.”

“Damn straight I was. We’ve already waited too long and wasted ten years. I’m not waiting another minute to have this conversation,” Hudson retorts. “Oh, by the way guys, I kissed Rowe at the bakery.”

“What? We’re just telling people that?” I ask with my eyes wide.

“Not people Rowe, the guys. And for the record, I’d shout it from the rooftops.”

Well okay then. “I think I’m gonna need to sit down for this,” I say as I take a seat in the middle of the couch.

The guys all follow my lead and take seats around the room. It seems Hudson is still the self-appointed leader of the group, because he starts the meeting.

“I was talking to Rowen while we waited for our cookies and muffins to bake, and she apologized to me for kissing Declan. It took a while, but I explained that we weren’t mad that they kissed, we were mad at Declan for not telling us they had already kissed. And that we were jealous becausewewant to kiss her. As you can imagine, she didn’t believe me at first. I think she’s finally starting to think I might be telling her the truth,” he sums everything up for the guys.

I look around at the guys to gauge their reactions to that. My sweet Ayden sits next to me and grabs my hand.

“He is you know, telling the truth. I love you, Rowen. I have since we were kids.”

Kayden must have sat on my other side while I was listening to Ayden profess his love for me, because he takes my other hand and I look up at him.

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