Page 60 of The Burnt Heart

“There’s no sense of preservation in this younger generation, Romeo.” He patted her shoulder in commiseration, winking at me over her shoulder.

“I can handle myself just fine,” I insisted, stirring the mixture until my arm ached. She pursed her lips. I heard shouting, waving off my grandparents when they followed me.

“We’re looking for Adelaide,” voices clamored insistently, and I heard security shout for them to back up. Voices I hadn’t heard for a month. That I missed like a gaping chasm in my chest. I spat out an apology to my grandparents and ran.

“If you don’t step off, you’re going to get a bullet,” the guard warned as I raced through the entryway.

My heart stuttered seeing Briar, Logan and Jesse standing with their hands in the air and a gun leveled at them. They turned widened eyes on me. I pinched myself discreetly, wondering if this was another dream. Bittersweet moments that only worsened the ache.

“Put it away. They’re friends,” I hissed, acutely aware of how they deflated at my words. The gun lowered with a flicker of annoyance.

“They’ll have to submit to a search. They snuck onto the property and weren’t vetted.”

I sighed apologetically as Briar scuffed his ratty sneaker on the stone entry.

“Will you submit to a search?” I asked them. I hadn’t seen them since that day with Logan. When we had almost kissed. I blocked their phone numbers and avoided Calder Place. Jesse stretched out his arms and let the guard pat him down. The sight of them was like a kick in the chest. Warmth flooded my empty heart. I wanted to smile, to ask them how they were. But they bristled with a stand-offish energy. Even though they were the ones who had tracked me down, now they wouldn’t meet my eye.

Longing swelled under my skin, tightening it until I made a soft noise. I missed them so much.

But that was the problem.

I missedallof them. Which is why I had to cut them off. It was only going to get messier. I didn’t want to get in between their brotherhood. They were the only family each of them had. To step between them was wrong. But I couldn’t choose. My greedy heart wanted them all.

It was madness. But now they were here.

Jesse finished first and strode toward me, ignoring my protests. His arms flung around my waist in a tight hug. He tucked his nose into my neck and breathed like I was the oxygen he needed. I trembled in his embrace. The clutch of him around me settled a fizz that had simmered under my skin in their absence. I led them up to my bedroom, reeling that they were here. I turned, ready to apologize for ghosting them, when Logan cut me off with a swipe of his hand.

“You didn’t give me a chance to do this the day you raced off.”

He grabbed my face between his hands and planted his lips on mine. My hands fisted his shirt, gasping into his mouth. He tasted like a storm. Lightning, thunder and whipping wind. Darkness and flashes of light. I was drenched in the feel of him until a cough startled us apart.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I scolded Logan, looking at his pinkened lips. “You shouldn’t be here. How are you here?”

My chest ached as I sucked in a huge breath. I didn’t want to do this. I couldn’t choose and too many people were going to get hurt. There was no world in which I could have what I wanted. Even if I could look past the three of them, my mom flashed into my mind. This world had broken her. And she had broken me. I never wanted to put someone in the same position.

Silence strengthened the smug expression creeping across his face. Briar and Jesse didn’t look angry. In fact, they seemed pleased. Jesse fist bumped Logan with an affable grin. A frown smashed my eyebrows together. Had I misinterpreted everything between us? Jesse reached forward and snatched my hand to his chest.

“She’s not getting it.” His teeth flashed. Like I was a slow meal he was set to devour. I tried tugging my hand out of his tight hold, cheeks flaming. “Do I need to kiss you as well?”

“I’m confused.” I shivered as Jesse rolled his thumb in little circles on my skin. The slow motion crumbled me piece by piece.

“Tell me why you cut us off. Is it because you might have feelings for us, too?” he asked gently. There was a promise in his eyes, banked heat that sizzled against more than my skin. It begged me to lean in, catch fire, scar myself on bright, beautiful flames. I bowed my head, and his fingers convulsed around mine.

“All of us?” Briar clarified, looking hopeful rather than disturbed. My throat dried, slow to understand. Jesse’s thumb pressed down on my rapid pulse, a fluttering rabbit in a tightening snare. The bite of the trap didn’t hurt though, it was euphoric.

“Yes,” I admitted, waiting for the disappointment, bargaining, or anger. Instead, Logan thumped a hand on Briar’s back and gave me a giddy smile. They converged on me, Jesse holdingtight when I tried to retreat. “I know it was shitty to block you, but I can’t help the way I feel. I would never get in between you guys.” I kept my other misgivings to myself. That would require admitting who I was.

“Adelaide, hear us out. What if we wanted you in between us?” Jesse insisted with a wink, and I narrowed my eyes. They seemed to hang on my very breath, eyes gleaming with the spark of a thousand stars. I shook my head, trying to make sense of what they were saying.

“I want you, Adelaide. From the moment we met, you’ve dominated my thoughts.” Briar’s nostrils flared. “I know Jesse and Logan feel the same. So, it’s your choice. But don’t run because you fear breaking us apart.”

My heart swelled, hopeful, and tender with the opportunity to have everything I had wanted. There was still the pesky problem of them not knowing who I was, or how dangerous my life might be to them. They weren’t asking me to marry them. My lips tingled from Logan’s kiss, and my stomach flipped. But what they were offering? It seemed inconceivable, almost taboo. My cheeks heated at the thought of us, pressed together in the bed behind me. Jesse chuckled softly, as if he read my thoughts.

“You don’t mean it,” I argued, a feeble attempt. One they brushed aside with a snort. Briar reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. He searched my face with a soft smile.

“Is it so inconceivable we want to be with you?”

I made a soft noise. I should shut this down right now. March them to the door and order them to never return. But the words were wisps, ungraspable, no matter how desperately I clutched at them. Because I didn’t want to. Was this how my father had felt? When he’d seen the round cheeks of my mom and her innocence? This knowing. He had to have her, like I knew I did them. My stomach was concave, growling with feverish hunger for their taste. My toes curled on the carpet, a final, foolishattempt to ground myself. This was a mistake. Bound to end in someone getting hurt. Someone getting killed.

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