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“Are you nervous?” Liam asked me quietly once she was gone.
I blew out a deep breath and decided to answer him with brutal honesty. He deserved that much from me. “No. If she says no I’m just going to find some way to chain her to me permanently and I’ll deal with the consequences when they come.”
“Fuck,” he whispered, sounding slightly ill at ease.
Fuck sounded about right.
27
Autumn
I stared at myself in the mirror and for the first time in my life I absolutely did not recognize the girl looking back at me.
My eyes were bright and alive and I was finally wearing my tattoos with pride and holding my head up high instead of looking down so my hair could cover as much of my face as possible.
The guys had asked me to have dinner with them out in the greenhouse tonight. Just us.
They were up to something and by the the sly looks Ariel had been giving me all day the others were in the know on what was going on here.
I wished someone had let me in on the secret so I wasn’t such a bundle of nervous energy.
I had asked Ariel what she thought I should wear. She’d told me whatever I was comfortable in, so no help there. She wasn’t a very good girlfriend and when I told her this she laughed and called one of her husbands, handed the phone over to me after he’d answered, and then left me to it.
I would have called her out for it if the man hadn’t helped me sort myself out and pick out what he’d called the perfect outfit for my very first date night.
Date night.
That had made the nervous energy even worse, and I now had butterflies floating free in my stomach.
Ariel’s husbands had wanted me to go all dressed up for this dinner but I wasn’t exactly comfortable with going all out. It seemed excessive and insane to me. Damion made me show him everything in my closet and his partner had tried to balance his excitement out by being the rational calm one of the two.
In the end I hadn’t gone with what either of them had wanted me to wear. I went with what I felt the most comfortable with and I didn’t think I had gone overboard in the slightest. I thought I’d done quite alright, if I did say so myself.
I’d chosen a dress.
It was so long that the hem touched the floor when I walked. It was thin but soft and meant for summer I thought. I paired it with tall socks that went up to my knees and a white cashmere button up sweater that was big, slouchy, and very comfortable. I left it unbuttoned though so you could still see the dress.
I didn’t think Ariel’s prissy husband would have approved but thankfully I wasn’t having dinner with him.
It was pretty but still casual enough that my guys wouldn’t think I was trying to hard.
I wanted to try too hard though. I wanted to give it my all and I really wanted them to want to keep me as badly as I wanted to keep them. But I didn’t want to come off as desperate or being too much.
I left my face makeup free and my hair down, something Ariel’s husbands had actually encouraged. I mostly did this because I didn’t know how to put makeup on and I didn’t think I’d ever care to learn. After reading what Liam had given me about my tattoos I’d never do anything to cover any of them up.
Not ever.
I couldn’t stall for time anymore. It’d be rude to be late and keep them waiting for me.
Ariel was on the phone in the living room and as soon as she saw me she immediately hung up on whoever she was talking to.
Clearly, she wasn’t concerned with being rude to anyone ever.
“You don’t have to agree to anything. I just want you to know that it’s okay to say no and even though it might not seem like it, you have plenty of options.”
Someone touched my shoulder and I turned to see Rain standing next to me staring intently at his daughter.
He looked down at me with kind eyes that I hadn’t seen much of since that very first time he’d looked at me.
