Page 182 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

“They won’t,” Wayne says. She hesitates, and he steps closer. “It doesn’t stick here. Not in this town. Not around me.”

Rex shifts slightly, picking up the thread. “You think people here are going to take anonymous noise over what they see every day? You with Evan. You showing up. That’s not how this place works. Not the parts that matter.”

She doesn’t answer right away, but she’s listening.

I nod once. “You’ve already got a place here. You just don’t trust it yet.”

Her eyes flick to me. “And you know that? For sure?”

“I trust what I see,” I answer.

Wayne’s hand comes to her waist then, careful, still giving her the option to step back if she wants.

She doesn’t.

“You’re not bringing trouble into my house,” he says. “You’re part of it.”

Her breath catches on that. “I don’t want to mess things up for Evan.”

“You’re not,” I tell her.

“I am a little insane,” she mutters.

Rex huffs, amused. “Yeah, but not the kind we mind.”

That pulls a small, surprised smile out of her.

Wayne’s thumb shifts slightly against her side. “You don’t carry this alone.”

She closes her eyes, letting that settle. “And the baby? We really do need to talk about that.”

I take her hand. She grips mine tighter than I expect, and I realize it’s because she needs something solid to anchor to. “If it’s mine, I’m in.”

“And if it’s not?”

“That doesn’t change anything between you and me.”

Her breath stutters.

Rex moves in on her other side. “Same here. I’m not switching off because of a test.”

Wayne finally answers. “If it’s mine, I take care of you. If not, I’m still here.”

She looks between us, trying to fit it together. “How are you all so… okay with this?”

“We’re okay with anything as long as you are, darlin’,” Rex reassures her. “Right now, in all of this, our priority is you.”

She lets out a breath that almost turns into a laugh. “You’re all very… intense.”

“Yeah,” Rex says. “We get that a lot.”

She wipes at her eyes, embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t,” Wayne says immediately.

“You’re allowed to feel it,” I add.

She takes a breath. Then another. “Okay.”