Page 156 of Piece You Saved

“I don’t know either,” I say as I take his hand and squeeze. “We could learn together.”

And then I glance over at the three men who are my world. The Hounds. When I first met Aden, he told me that one of their regulars gave them their nickname. There’s only one problem with that nickname.

“Cerberus only had three heads,” I remind Aden, in case he’s forgotten.

The Hounds are three men: Aden, Kade, and Dariel. Harley would make four.

“It’s Greek mythology. Who knows how many heads he had?” Aden flashes me a quick grin and shrugs. “He might’ve even had four.”

Just when I don’t think I could love them anymore, they do something like this.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask quietly, because this is big.

This will affect all of us. I forced myself to say goodbye to Harley before. It hurt so badly, I don’t know that I can do it again.

Kade stalks toward me.

I search his face as he closes the distance between us, trying to read him. “If you’re doing this because—”

He places a finger over my mouth, silencing me. “Do you like him, angel?”

I don’t respond. If I say yes, it will hurt Kade, because I know he doesn’t like Harley. And if I say no, then it hurts Harley and me. I glance over at Dariel and Aden, trying to read them, because I can’t read Kade.

Kade frames my face with both hands, blocking the rest of the world out so it’s just us. He leans closer, and his eyes are so serious—so intent—I swallow a ripple of fear about what he will say next. “Do you like him, angel?”

I could lie. And I even consider it, but I’ve lived with lies, pain, and hurt for so many years I don’t want to do it anymore.

So I nod. “I do.”

He doesn’t appear the least bit surprised. “More than like?”

I hesitate. I don’t know. Since Harley stepped back into my life, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like without him in it. All I know is that it hurt to walk away from him, and these last two days without him felt like a piece of me was missing. One I need.

“I think so.”

Again, Kade doesn’t seem surprised by my answer. “So does he.”

I twist my head to look at Harley, but Kade’s grip on my face stops me. “We’ll figure this out together.”

“And if everything goes wrong?” I ask, not wanting to be the thing that breaks them apart forever. They were hurting before, and when I saw that framed photo in Aden’s apartment, I wanted to be the thing that made them stop hurting.

He kisses my forehead. “Then we get through that together as well.”

When he releases me to turn to Harley, I brace myself for him to explode into violence. Kade says he’s okay with this, but is he really? It wasn’t that long ago he was trying to shove Harley out of the front door.

Kade meets Harley’s eyes for a long moment. “Only I call her angel.”

Harley nods. “She’s always been Jane to me.”

Kade turns to me.

Wait? Is that it?

I’m back to gaping when Kade smiles faintly at me, gently nudges my mouth shut, and kisses me on the lips before he turns to leave.

Aden smiles, waves, and turns away as well. When Dariel does the same, I frown.

“Wait? Where are you going?” I call after them.

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