Page 80 of Fear the Reapers

Was that what this was?

Did I actually love three men?

The better question should be, did they love me in return?

I spied them as I made my way down the stairs. The moment they spotted me at the bottom of the steps, they extracted themselves from the women’s clutches and made their way through the crowd towards me.

Maybe they did.

Between my guys, I watched as the women’s faces transformed from astonishment to anger. And when my men wrapped their arms around me and both of them kissed my neck, their expressions morphed into disgust.

So, I winked at them, like the catty bitch that I was.

Hunter and Dimitri chuckled into my shoulders, as if they both knew what I’d done.

* * *

It wasn’tthe first time we had gotten lost to the music, but this time with our bodies moving together, I had a moment of feeling like this was something I shouldn’t be doing. It was the first time I felt like this could look like more than what it was. Just as fast as the thought crossed through my mind, another set of hands landed on my hips. As he molded to my back, the scent of Dimitri’s cologne wrapped around me like a blanket.

A moment later, Liam winked and then disappeared through the crowd of dancers as he made his way to the other side of the club.

He must have seen someone he knew or wanted to know.

I considered all the moments we spent together. All those times when we went to the club. I remembered a time when I was hurting from Hunter’s rejection and had hoped I would develop a crush on my best friend. I also recalled the reason I didn’t feel that way toward him.

And it wasn’t because I wasn’t willing to sacrifice everything we had built.

He was my ride or die.

Since the moment I punched out the asshole who had been bullying him at school, I knew we would have a lifelong friendship. With everything changing around us, I knew he would be with me through everything. Just like I would be for him. No matter what type of shit I was going through. Some of the books I read talked about found family. Liam was my found family. We had been through everything together and had survived a couple of tiffs. It wasn’t a case of Liam not being attractive enough, rather it was that the only thing I felt toward him was sisterly.

When the next song began, I scanned the club again for him.

By the looks of things, he was gearing up for a night of fun. Liam was pinned between a man and a woman. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many times I’d seen him like this. As if he’d felt my eyes on him, he glanced my way and motioned with his hand to his ear, as if holding a phone.

Our signal.

“Now that Liam found a couple of someones to occupy his time, wanna get out of here?”

Dimitri glanced back at Hunter and Brax. They both nodded. “Great. Let’s go,” he said.

After we left the bar, we needed to walk a block to get to our parking lot. We left before the bar closed, so the streets were mostly deserted except for the one or two vehicles that drove by. It was kind of eerie being downtown with barely anyone around. The night was cool, but I barely noticed because I was surrounded by my men. We were almost to the lot when four men stepped out from between the buildings and into our path.

“Look what we have here boys,” the supposed leader said to his crew.

“Just keep walking,” Brax warned them.

The leader ignored his warning and stepped up into him.

Puffing out his chest like the man that he wasn’t, he tried and failed to intimidate Brax. I watched as the other three attempted to use the distraction so they could circle around our group. The only weapon I had was the ring Hunter had given me the night we went bowling. I hadn’t had a chance to use it, but I was eager to see what it was made of.

Not taking my eye off the one who was closest to me, I pressed my finger against the button to open the knife on the ring. Once I had done that, I moved so that my back was against Dimitri’s. The men mimicked my movement ensuring we were all back to back, leaving no room for the men to attack us from the back.

“Be careful,” Hunter whispered.

“Where is it written that only men can risk their lives for the people that they love?” I asked.

“Not the time,” he warned me.

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