Page 36 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable

I take a shaky breath, gathering my courage.

"I feel so lost right now.” My voice cracks as I begin.

"I need..." The words stick in my throat. "When you're both here, when I can feel you both touching me, it feels so good and so right. And, it makes everything fade. A little. But..." I take a deep breath. "There's always this moment, this split second where I have to remind myself it's you. Where I have to fight not to freeze up and panic. It's never very far away. He's everywhere. He’s on my skin. In my bones. In my head."

I force myself to meet their eyes, first Zane's, then Levi's. "I don't want to be afraid of being touched, especially by you. I don't want him to have that part of me anymore—he doesn't deserve it." My voice breaks, and I hate how desperate I sound. "Please. I want you to show me what it's like to be touched without it hurting. Without being scared."

I know it's wrong to ask this of them, but I can't stop the words now that I've started. "I want you to show me how it's supposed to be."

Chapter Eighteen

Sunny

Iburymyfaceagainst Zane's chest, shame burning white-hot beneath my skin. I can't believe I just said the things I did. Maybe Garrett was right about me.

Silence stretches in the wake of my words, thick and suffocating. I can feel them exchanging a look over my head, having one of those silent conversations I can't decode. My stomach twists. The longer the quiet lingers, the smaller I feel. Maybe I asked for too much. Maybe it's too wrong.

The mattress shifts as Levi props himself up. My pulse pounds in my ears, bracing for the rejection I know is coming.

Then, Z exhales, soft and steady, his fingers trailing along my cheek. The gentle touch coaxes my eyes open, guiding me back to him.

"Angel," Zane's voice is deeper than usual, threaded with something cautious. "You need to understand what you're asking for. Because if this happens—if we do this—there's no undoing it."

Behind me, Levi's fingers brush through my hair, his touch gentle, but the tension rolling off him is palpable. "He's right, Angel. We won't be able to take it back."

I swallow hard, forcing past the tightness in my throat. "I know."

"Do you?" Zane presses, his gaze locking onto mine, searching. "Really?" His voice is steady, but there's something in it—an edge of protectiveness, of hesitation. "Because this isn't just about right now. It's not about chasing away ghosts or making things easier. You have to want this because you wantus."

"It'll change things, Sunny. It'll make you ours, and us yours," Levi murmurs, his fingers continuing their slow path through my hair.

The weight of their words settles over me, the depth of what it means sinking in.

"And you need to understand," Zane's voice dips lower, the vibration reverberating through my chest, "we don't let go. We don't give up on people we let in."

Levi's touch is a contradiction to his next words, impossibly soft as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "We're not gentle men, Angel." A pause, as his fingers linger. "We can be that for you. But what we are… who we are… that's not something we can change."

I meet his gaze, steady despite the emotions swirling inside me. "I've seen who you are."

"Then you understand why you need to be sure," Zane says, his voice steady but thick with meaning. He turns his head, pressing a slow kiss against my palm. "This decision has to be real, Angel. Not made out of desperation."

Their words should terrify me—the way they look at me, the sharp edge of finality in their voices. I know possessiveness. I know what it is to be owned, claimed, and treated like property.

But this… this doesn't feel like that.

It's not suffocating. I don't feel trapped.

It feels like finally standing on solid ground after years of drowning.

"I want this with you," I whisper, my voice steadier than I expect. "Both of you."

Zane's thumb begins a slow, teasing path across my bottom lip, his touch impossibly gentle. His gaze sharpens and burns into me. "Say it again."

"I want you both." The words slip from me, unshaken, certain.

A low sound rumbles from deep in Levi's chest, dark and visceral against my back, while Zane's eyes flood with heat. They don't move, don't speak. Their stillness amplifies the electricity crackling between us, leaving the space around us charged. My skin prickles with awareness at every point where our bodies touch.

"If we're going to do this, you need to know that nothing happens that you don't want." Zane's fingers trace a slow path along my jaw. "If anything feels wrong to you we stop. No questions. No explanations needed."

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