Page 58 of When We Breathe
“I know.” I kiss her forehead and breathe her in. “My parents were shit. They didn’t physically abuse me, but they pretty much ignored me. It was clear that I was in the way, a nuisance, and not worth their time.”
“Well, fuck them,” Alex says, her eyes hot with anger. I can’t resist covering her lips with my own for a sweet kiss. Her indignation soothes me, just the way that Gabe’s love does.
“No one had ever told me they loved me until I met Gabe.”
I meet his eyes over Alex’s head, and he squeezes my ass.
“I do love you,” he says, so easily. So sure.
“I know. But it took me a little while to trust it. I kept wondering when the other shoe would drop.”
Alex cups my face, and with her eyes pinned to mine, she says, “I love you, Adam.”
Fuck. Me.Is there anyone sweeter in the world than these two?
“And I love you both so much that I ache with it,” I reply, hugging them both to me. “I love that we don’t have to choose. I can have both of you, together and individually. It’s going to be a lot of work, but anything worth having is worth it.”
“I couldn’t choose between you, even if someone had a gun to my head,” she says. “I love you both so much. And I know we’ll get looks, and people will judge us, but I don’t fucking care. Because I was meant to be right here, with you guys. We aren’t hurting anyone.”
“No, we aren’t,” Gabe agrees.
“Wait.” Alex stares up at me. “Whatever happened to your parents? Because I’d like to have a word or sixty with them.”
I smirk and tuck her hair behind her ear. “They died a while ago. The only good thing that came from them was a fuck ton of money. And thankfully, I’m good at making it grow.”
She wrinkles her adorable nose. “I don’t care about your money.”
“You and Gabe are my beneficiaries, so you should care.”
“You meanwill be?”
“No, you are. I’ve already completed the paperwork. If anything were to happen to me, you two would split everything in half.”
“Adam, you don’t?—”
“We’re a team,” I say, cutting her off. “The three of us.”
She shakes her head.
“He’s right,” Gabe says, and she turns onto her back so she can look at him. “Without you, we don’t work the same.”
“You’re saying, if I’d decided not to come back?—”
“We’re not thinking about that,” I say. “Because you did come back, and you’re staying.”
“He’s right,” Gabe adds, and she cups his face. “Hi, Shorty.”
“I love you,” she tells him, and my man melts for her. He falls forward and buries his face in her neck.
“I love you too,” he says.
“Okay.” Alex drags her hand down Gabe’s back and looks up at me. “What happens now?”
“Likeright now?” I ask her. Gabe grins and licks his lips.
She nods.
“Oh, we’re about to show you.”
