Page 35 of Sinners Keepers
I chewed on my lower lip, fighting off a grin. “Yeah. I do now.”
“Neither will we,” he stated plainly, his eyes on Alec now.
I thought of everything they’d done for me. While I was in the hospital recovering and once I'd come home, they'd stood by me patiently, just hoping something would help me remember. They'd been there to support and encourage me, even when I didn't grasp any of the things that had actually happened to me—even when I thought the worst of the man who'd loved me the longest and had only ever tried to protect and care for me.
“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious why they’d done any of it at all. I knew why Ijah had, but Alec and Law… I couldn’t seem to figure out their motivation in the beginning. Sure, Ijah had asked them to, but the ways they supported me went so far beyond just keeping an eye on me.
“Because you’re you,” he said, kissing the corner of my mouth. “Do we need any other reason?”
I hummed, taking a bite of the pastry. I’d been inexplicably drawn to each of them from the get-go, too. I felt it even before all of this, I just hadn't realized how deep my feelings went, and I would have never risked what I had with Ijah to explore them. “I guess not.” I would have done the same for either of them were they in a situation that called for it. “We’re probably all soul mates or something.”
I said this nonchalantly. Jokingly, even. But something in the way he looked at me made me feel like maybe it wasn’t a joke to him, and every part of me buzzed at the thought of that.
I wanted to be loved that much without having to do anything to earn it, but I wasn’t sure I knew how. And what if, in the end, I wasn’t enough for them? Was it even fair for me to expect them to wantonlyme when I wantedall threeof them?
I still couldn’t fully wrap my mind around each of them having feelings for me that were so strong, they were more than willing to share simply because it made me happy.
I knew that Ijah loved me. I knew he wasn’t going anywhere. But what if this wasn’t something that could ever really work or last when it came to Law and Alec being in the picture, too?
Last night had me feeling like I was living a wild dream.
I wassoafraid of waking up.
I think sometimes it’s hard for us to just let someone love us all the way—no conditions—when so few people in the world are capable of actually doing that.
“Hunter,” Law said, nudging my face toward his. His bright blue eyes were filled with so much affection. “Get out of that pretty little head. No one’s coming to jerk the rug out from under you this time. We’re not going anywhere.”
It was scary how they always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. I wished I could read their minds, too.
“How can you expect me not to worry?” I asked. “It’s hard for me to know what is real and what isn’t anymore.” I felt confident that I was currently cognizant of the facts, but who’s to say that would last?
He slipped his hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. “You’re right, we can’t expect that,” he admitted. “But we will be with you every step of the way regardless of what happens.”
Out of the corner of my eye, the guys stirred across the room, Alec stretching out his long limbs, yawning as he sat up. Ijah rolled over and followed suit, pushing his wild hair away from his face with one hand as he shuffled toward us, butt-ass naked, his eyes still half-shut in sleep.
He stopped in front of us, leaning down to cup my face. His hands were warm against my skin and I melted into his touch. He pressed his lips to mine in a gentle kiss before he straightened again and sauntered toward the bathroom.
Alec repeated the gesture, kissing me then...“Wait,” I said when my eyes caught on the tattoo he now had on his right thigh that wasmost assuredlynot there the last time I saw it. I eyed the varying shades of pink ink splayed across his quad—a poorly drawn dahlia. The one I'd drawn there, with none of its petals quite symmetrical now filled with color.
He brushed a thumb along the underside of my jaw. “Don’t act so surprised,” he said, leaving me gaping after him as he stalked after Ijah and went into the bathroom.
I closed my mouth around the lip of my mug, sipping my now-lukewarm coffee while still perched on Law's lap. With the bathroom door open, I could hear running water and the distinct sound of two toothbrushes working in tandem. Every now and then I could make out a few words spoken between them.
Okay, but why did they both already have toothbrushes inmybathroom? I guess it was Alec’s bathroom before now, but still.
I swallowed the last gulp and leaned forward to set the mug back on the table next to us. Law swatted my ass and started to stand before I could even get to my feet. I scrambled off of him and we filed into the bathroom just as Alec and Ijah were making their way out.
“Meet us in the kitchen,” Ijah said before jerking me into him and kissing down the side of my neck. I appreciated him letting me brush my teeth before going for my mouth again. “I’ll be just a minute, I need to grab pants. The ones I had on last night need burned,” he cringed.Or you could just not.
Alec snatched his from the floor beside the bed on his way out and tugged them on.
Law and I stood side by side in the bathroom, scrubbing our teeth. Apparently, he’d decided to move in as well. We barely made eye contact as we moved around each other, but it was so natural to be with him like this. I filled the sink with hot water to rinse away the remnants of my toothpaste as he stepped out to give me space to pee. Then, I washed up before making my way back to the bedroom. We linked hands as we headed to the kitchen.
I really needed a shower, but I hadn’t wanted to linger upstairs. I was more interested in hearing what they all had to say than anything else right now. I knew I was fucked in the head, but the fact that any of this was even possible had me questioning everything even more than I had been before. It was hard to know what was real and what wasn't, but I decided to go with what felt right in my gut.
Theyfelt right, and I knew I could trust them.
I was loved and cared for, for the first in my life. Being with them waseverythingto me, and even though my mind was a jumbled mess, I knew they’d help me make sense of it all.
