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“Hey bro,” Pax said, stepping into the room quickly followed by Tanner. “Got your text.”
“Everything okay?” Tanner questioned. He reached behind him to lock the door, his eyes on her.
“Everything’s fine,” she reassured him. She gestured to Vinyl and rolled her eyes. “He shouldn’t have messaged you. It was just something silly.”
Annoyingly, the guys looked to him for confirmation.
“Elena wants to have a code word we can use when we’re tired of her and want her gone.”
“The fuck?!” both men hollered in unison.
“I didn’t say it likethat,” she said, trying to play it off. All she’d wanted was an easy way for them to end things without breaking her heart in the process. She didn’t know why, but the thought of them rejecting her via some ridiculous code word sounded like it’d be easier to handle. There was no way she’d ugly cry if they said something like farfegnugen as they were dumping her.Right?“And I don’t see what the big deal is.”
She winced as they looked at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was.
“Why…what…” Pax raked a grease-stained hand through his hair, obviously at a loss for words. He looked over at Tanner and shook his head. “Will you…?”
“I got it,” Tanner reassured him with a nod before turning back to her. “What the hell, ‘Lena?”
“Ugh!” Elena tossed her hands in the air. “You three are making this into a big deal.”
“Itisa big deal,” Pax defended with a hurt look. “Don’t you know we’re in love with you?”
“Say what now?” she asked after a blink, convinced she’d hallucinated the last thirty seconds.
“You heard him,” Vinyl rumbled as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. “But I’ll repeat it just in case.”
“Please do,” she whispered, needing the confirmation more than her next breath. She lay one arm atop his, grateful to have his anchoring embrace right now. Her heart felt about ready to pound right out of her chest.
“We’re in love with you.”
Elena sucked in a quick breath, the galloping in her chest showing no signs of slowing. After a moment, she twirled her finger in a circle to include the three men. “All of you?”
“That’s generally how it works around here,” Pax chuckled while the other two nodded. “And there’s no expiration date on us loving you, babydoll. We don’t need a code word because we’re playing for keeps.”
“We always have been,” Tanner assured her. He reached for her hand and linked their fingers. “Haven’t you been paying attention?”
“Apparently not,” she mumbled, some of their actions making more sense now the longer she thought on it. It was ridiculously obvious. They had been making moves to create a permanent space for her this entire time.She already had a key to their house for fuck’s sake.“Now I feel stupid.”
“Don’t,” Tanner told her. He moved in close to cup her cheek. “We should have talked about this earlier.”
“Earlier?” she laughed. “We haven’t been together long enough to have an ‘earlier’. Not unless you’re talking about our first date.”
“And what if I am?” Pax suggested with an easy shrug. “We already knew you were it for us.”
Elena’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. There was no way.
“Don’t you believe in love at first sight?” Vinyl asked, giving her a squeeze.
“Yeah,” she answered with a snort, “in books.”
“Consider us your fairytale then,” Tanner offered with a grin. “A real-life, love story.”
“I want to.” One small part of her was still worried this was too good to be true. She’d never been the main character before; it was a lot to take in.
“Come with me, sugar.” Vinyl guided her a few steps back to the office chair tucked in the corner of the room. “Tann?”
Without further instruction, Tanner moved the small pile of boxes that had been stacked in the seat.
