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I felt like the odd one out, which I was.
“Let us know if you need anything, darlin’,” Hansen said to me.
“We can move the couch under the cover of darkness,” Jagger stage whispered.
Macy pointed to the door. “Out!”
The badass bikers conceded to her order.
I smiled at the easy and natural interaction between each of the couples. I’d never seen anything like it. And I couldn’t get used to it, seeing people truly, genuinely in love.
“So?” Macy asked once the men left. “Do you like it?”
“Like it?” I repeated, looking around. “Like is not a word that works in this scenario. I’m speechless.”
She smiled softly. “That’s kind of what I was going for. We were going to have a big party here for a surprise, but then you got out early… I think this works better, though, honestly.”
I agreed. There was no way I would’ve been able to handle all of this with more people present. I was finding it hard to stand as it was.
“I can’t, I can’t accept this,” I stuttered, looking around the room, staring at the double doors that looked out onto the patio. The cloudless sky stretched on forever. Or at least to the mountains in the distance.
“Of course you can,” Macy replied. “Because I’m forcing you to accept it.”
I stared at her. “I’ll pay you rent. I insist on that.” I thought of the jewelry that might still be in the motel room I’d completely forgotten about. If it wasn’t, I was totally broke. Well, I had some cash I’d saved from the café. It was a decent amount since Swiss had never let me pay for anything, but it wasn’t enough to pay rent indefinitely.
If Swiss did respect my wishes, I’d be looking at a long divorce where I most likely wouldn’t see a dime for a while. If I saw anything.
I’d signed a prenup. I hadn’t thought anything of it, sixteen and pregnant.
And my injuries meant I wouldn’t be working at the café for a while.
Macy waved her hand at me. “You cook me dinner when you’re better, we’re square.”
I shook my head. “No, I cannot pay rent by cooking you dinner.”
She returned the brow raise. “Uh, have you tried your beef Wellington? You could buy a lot with that. You could buy our house.”
I stared at Macy, then Caroline and Freya. Three women who hadn’t hesitated to welcome me into the fold, who’d stepped up when I needed them. Three incredibly strong, badass women who didn’t seem to be afraid of anything.
“Do you think differently of me?” It took a lot of strength to push out the words, my voice low, full of shame.
Macy blinked.
Caroline stopped arranging flowers on the breakfast bar to turn her eyes to me. “What do you mean?”
“Now that you know about who I am. Who I truly am.”
Caroline kept watching me intently but didn’t say anything, didn’t ask another follow up question. She had a way about her that seemed to communicate she was comfortable in that silence. That she was happy to bathe in it for as long as it took me to be uncomfortable and blurt out more words.
A journalistic trait, I assumed. A really fricking good one.
“Your job had you working in warzones,” I addressed Caroline. “You were one of the only women reporters in a dangerous, high stress job. One most men wouldn’t be able to handle. Yet you handled it. All while mourning the man you’d thought you lost.”
My eyes moved to Macy. “You have a past that breaks my heart. One that could’ve easily turned you into a bitter, angry person. Instead, you created a family. You are the head of that family.”
Now it was Freya’s turn. “The world tried to break you in the worst of ways. Many times. Yet you found a family. Created a home. A fricking empire, all on your own.”
“You are three of the strongest women I’ve ever met in my life. Three of the strongest people,” I corrected.
