Page 77 of Playing By Their Rules

“Mina, you kind of have to,” I tell her, keeping an arm wrapped around her shoulders. “Roman’s really nice, though—”

“No!” She heaves back and hits me with her elbow, right in the stomach.

I try to suck in a breath to gasp, but I can’t breathe at all. I double over, panicking.

Mina looks down at me in shock. But then Squid and Roman crowd to either side of her and march her toward their car.

Chance is at my side in a second, Ethan on his heels.

I can’t breathe—I can’t breathe.

“You’re okay,” Chance whispers, his dark eyes locked on mine. “You just got the wind knocked out of you. Give it a second, baby girl.”

“Maisie, I’m sorry!” Mina cries. “Let me go. Maisie, don’t let them take me. This was for you, for us!”

My heart aches as I struggle to catch my breath. I wish I could hug her. Even though she hit me, I know she wasn’t fully in control of herself. I wish I could offer her the comfort she gave me over the years. But Roman and Squid are fastening her wrists with plastic ties and guiding her into the back of their car.

After what feels like an eternity but is probably only twenty seconds, I figure out how to breathe again.

Roman closes the rear door of his car and faces us.

“Where—are you taking her?” I ask, still winded.

“Clear Springs PD,” Roman says. “I’ll have to give them your contact info so you can make a statement.”

“I’m not pressing charges,” I say quickly. “She’s done some terrible things. But I think she just needs help, okay?”

“Terrible things?” Ethan asks, helping me up.

It’s the last thing I want to talk about right now, when I’m watching Mina’s shadowed profile through the tinted window of Roman and Squid’s car, but I force out the story, quickly summarizing the deaths of Percy and Mina’s previous foster father.

“And you just now went into that cabin with her alone?” Chance’s voice is dangerously low.

“Don’t be mad,” I whisper.

“I’m not mad, I’m furious,” he says. “She murdered people, Maisie.”

“No,” Ethan says, clapping a hand on Chance’s shoulder. “You’re not furious. You’re scared. We both are. But we said we would trust Maisie. And see? She’s okay now.”

Chance waits a long moment before speaking, then he takes a deep breath. “Look at you, Ethan, the voice of reason. All right. But I still reserve the right to spank your ass pink, Maisie. Even if you haven’t broken any rules.”

“Happy to break a few if you need an excuse,” I say. I don’t sound nearly as flirtatious as I’d like, because my words are weighed down by my fatigue.

Sensing it, the guys help me into the back of Ethan’s car. Chance sits next to me as Ethan gets behind the wheel.

“Maisie,” Chance says in a serious voice.

I look up, doubtful. Is he still angry-scared about how I went into the cabin with Mina?

He kisses my lips softly while Ethan starts the car. “I love you,” he says.

“We both do,” Ethan adds, meeting my gaze in the rearview mirror. “I love you so much, Maisie.”

My heart swells with emotion. To be loved by not one, but two men—and two men like Chance and Ethan, who I’ve admired for years, who I longed for—it elevates my very soul.

Surely they must know, but I have to say it out loud. I’m exhausted, but I have to tell them. “I love you, too. Both of you. I love you.”

Chance kisses me again, then whispers, “You can rest now, baby girl, if you’re tired.”

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