Page 106 of My Brother's Billionaire Best Friends
Jack hums. “Good. Because I’m not letting you quit again.”
Harrison squeezes my ankle. “Me neither.”
I smile. “Me either.”
For the first time in weeks, maybe months, I feel like I can exhale. Because they’re here. I’m not alone. I never will be again.
26
JACK
We’re still catchingour breath.
The couch cushions are askew, a pillow on the floor, Parker’s hair wild from where Gavin had his fingers in it. There’s a print of her palm on the fogged window behind us, and somewhere in this room is a pair of my socks—no idea when I kicked them off.
Parker slips out from between us, grabbing the oversized shirt she’d tossed earlier. It’s Harrison’s. She buttons it with one hand while reaching for her hair tie with the other, a little off-balance and grinning like she can’t quite believe we’re really here.
Gavin leans against the back of the couch, watching her like she’s the whole world, while Harrison closes his eyes, arms folded behind his head like he’s finally letting himself exhale.
Parker tucks her hair into a messy bun and stretches with a groan. “You three exhaust me.”
Jackpot. I grin. “You didn’t look too tired five minutes ago.”
She laughs and then disappears into the kitchen. I hear cabinets open, the quiet sound of her starting a pot of coffee. Andsomething about it punches a warm, solid hole right through my chest.
This—whatever this is—it feels like something we’re allowed to have now.
I stand and tug on my pants, looking around for the shirt I peeled off earlier. I find it half-under Gavin’s blazer and shrug it back on just as there’s a knock at the door.
Parker freezes mid-stir. We all go still.
Then she turns toward us slowly. “Okay, that’s probably my mom.”
Harrison groans softly. “You didn’t tell her we were here?”
“Exactly when would I have told her? When you surprised me by showing up or when we started kissing each other?” she whisper-hisses, setting down the spoon and hurrying toward the door, hair still sticking up slightly on one side. “Just a minute!” She tries to run her fingers through her hair, but we tangled it pretty good, by the looks of things.
“That’s fine,” her mom says through the door. “I’m just holding a bunch of stuff, it’s not like it weighs more than the kids. I can stand out here forever, if you prefer.”
Gavin snickers as he pulls on his shirt. “Quality mom guilt right there.”
Parker opens the door once our naked parts are covered, and sure enough, there’s her mother—dressed like she’s ready to cook, bag of groceries over one arm, Tupperware in the other.
“Oh!” her mom says, pausing when she sees the three of us in various states of casual dishevelment. “Well. This is…unexpected.”
To her credit, she doesn’t miss a beat. Her eyes travel across each of us, then settle back on Parker, who shrugs helplessly.
“They showed up. We talked. We’re figuring it out. Don’t make a big deal?—”
Her mom hums. “Figuring it out with your shirts off, I see.”
Parker covers her face with her hands. “Mom.”
She laughs and steps inside, handing her daughter the grocery bag. “I was going to make dinner. But maybe you four need…some time.”
“No, stay,” Parker says quickly. “Please. It’s okay. Really.”
Her mom glances at the couch, then back to us. “Well, it looks like sin and victory in here, so I’ll just pretend I didn’t see anything.”
