Chapter 27
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Bow
I got a text from Wells that said he wanted to talk.
I didn’t know what to think.
After what happened at the pool, he was pretty quiet, and helped me dress.
“We should get back out there,” he said, then proceeded to take me back to Dorian’s gala.
He took me home after the evening wrapped, and he was mostly silent on the drive home. I was sure that had to do with the fact that my brother was in the car talking his ear off about Bru.
Apparently, the guys had danced together, and my brother wanted to know if that was a declaration about their relationship.
“It all makes sense now,” Thatcher said, appearing more than thrilled.
“Things have been so tense between you two. The fight even makes sense now.” Thatcher squeezed Wells’s arm.
“I’m glad. You two deserve to be happy.”
I felt gut punched. That I’d somehow been left out of something, but the text that came from Wells after I got inside my house later that night was followed up quickly.
Wells: Bru’s going to be there.
That was when I realized someone else was in the group chat with Wells and me.
And I swallowed upon seeing the message.
Bru: We both want to talk to you. Let us know when’s a good time.
I didn’t know what was happening between us. I just knew something was and whatever it was made my heart race.
“I don’t deserve either one of you guys,” Wells had said. Like there was an us, and it went beyond just Wells and me. I’d never experienced something like this. I just knew I’d loved Wells for a really long time.
But I also loved Bru.
It was crazy to admit that. To have feelings for two guys at the same time.
Me: Sure. Anytime.
Me: At my parents’ summer house just off campus?
Were the guys really going to address what happened between the three of us?
It was weird to think about there being a three of us. I mean, I was still trying to wrap my head around what happened with Wells and me in the pool.
“I don’t hate you, Bow. I hate me. I hate what I did.”
The fact that Wells hated himself made me sad, but it made sense.
He’d been channeling all that aggression toward me when, the whole time, he actually held guilt.
He held guilt because he’d been watching me that day at the pool, and even though I had a crush on him for longer than I remembered back then, I never thought in any reality that’d been reciprocated.
And then there was Bru.
My heart surged thinking about being with either one of them, let alone both of them.
The three of us decided to meet up the following weekend at one of my parents’ cabins.
My parents had several around the country since my dad was in real estate amongst other things.
Things with school had basically wrapped but there was still a lot of traffic around campus with people moving out and everything.
Normally, I’d be focusing on my move-out too.
I’d be focusing on that or something else.
The frequent calls to my phone had stopped.
The texts too. It was like things had started over in my life just in time for something else to happen.
I never anticipated what Wells had told me.
I’d always wanted his forgiveness, and it was a crazy spin that he needed mine.
It was like he needed my love too, and to wrap my head around that…
My friends and I spent many summers and even a few holidays at the cabin with our families. The dads would take the sons fishing while the moms and daughters would bake or go shopping. It was just a fun time with family and friends.
I wanted some time to myself at the cabin.
I just needed to breathe and think about whatever was going to happen, so I told the guys I’d meet them up there.
I gave them the code to get in, but I didn’t think that would be necessary in the end since I planned to get there early. Again, I’d just wanted to think.
Apparently, the guys had the same idea.
Bru’s Audi was already there, and I wondered if they arrived together since I didn’t see Wells’s car.
I decided to take my breaths in the ride share I pulled up in.
Bru had texted me several times on my way up.
He’d wanted to drive me himself, but I made up some excuses about needing to do a few things on campus.
In reality, I’d just wanted the time alone and I’d also felt sick again that morning.
I’d more so felt nauseous. I’d never had a strong stomach when it came to my nerves.
And I was nervous.
I’d never had anything like this happen to me before. In fact, being alone had been my religion for so long that I’d just kind of gotten used to it.
You weren’t always alone.
I supposed I wasn’t, but my stomach turned if I thought about that. When I’d helped one of my professors last year, it was supposed to be for extra credit. I hadn’t needed the extra credit but burying myself in schoolwork was just what I did. It was how I dealt with my loneliness.
“Come back to me, Bow. It’ll be different this time.”
This time, it would be different. This time, it wasn’t my loneliness that was guiding my actions. I was doing something because I wanted something. There was no desperation, and that was what settled my stomach when I ultimately got out of the ride share.
Bru was waiting for me at the door. He had a smile on, his hands in the pockets of his well-worn jeans. Those were my favorite jeans on him, and I didn’t know I liked jeans like that until, well, him.
“Hey.” He brought his long wingspan around me at the door, and I sucked in a breath. I sucked in the smell of him, the essence of him. His masculine scent was like being surrounded by a warm breeze in nature, when the sun peeks through the canopy of large trees and makes you feel good, safe.
I always felt safe with Bru, and maybe that was why kissing him in his car had felt natural. He noticed I had a bag with me but didn’t say anything about it when he took it.
Again, I didn’t know what this was.
I didn’t know if it was presumptuous of me, but I packed, um, stuff. I was prepared to stay the weekend, stay with them.
Wells sat in my dad’s armchair.
He had on jeans too, the ones that hugged his long legs, but he had holes in his whereas Bru never wore jeans like that. Bru was like the boy next door, and Wells was always the local bad boy.
Wells’s head lifted when I came in, and he smiled. Wells got up, but he didn’t hug me.
If anything, he kept his distance.
“Hey, Squeak,” Wells said. His green eyes were warm, but his expression was tight, serious. I didn’t know what that meant. Things were so different at the pool. Until it was over. It was like reality had hit him with the way he helped me put on my clothes, then later took me home.
Maybe Wells was going to tell me what happened between us at the pool had been a mistake. Maybe he didn’t like me, let alone love me like he said.
“Hi,” I said, feeling ashamed that I wore makeup. I even pulled out a dress. It showed off my legs and made me feel sexy, pretty.
My face hot, I fought myself from tugging at the hem. I suddenly felt exposed and foolish.
I also noticed what Wells had called me. I was still squeak. I was the little sister who had a crush on her brother’s best friends.
Wells gestured toward the couch. He wanted me to sit, so I did, but he made sure to return to my dad’s armchair. Bru sat on the couch with me, but he kept his own distance and stayed on the opposite side.
Anxiety unfurled in my chest like an intricate forest of spiny pricker bushes. I wriggled in my seat. Especially when I noticed Wells suddenly not making eye contact with me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, scared, terrified. I’d been scared recently, but this was a different kind of fear. This wasn’t fear for my physical self.
Bru’s hands came together. He still wore his smile, but it wasn’t like one of his normal Bru smiles. This one felt put on. Like he was trying to keep me calm, but I didn’t feel calm. I felt tense, worried. Bru leaned forward. “Wells and I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Like Wells was his right-hand man, Bru looked at him. Wells returned the look and I found the shift of power weird. Wells Ambrose never let anyone in his life take the wheel on anything unless it was Dorian. Dorian was like their leader, but Dorian wasn’t here.
I swallowed. “Okay.”
Bru didn’t speak right away. He just kept looking at Wells. Bru wet his lips. “Wells told me what happened between you two at the pool. I actually saw some of it. I followed you guys, but left when things got intense. I didn’t want to intrude on you guys.”
I didn’t know what to say, my face a furnace now. “Bru…”
His smile changed then, but it didn’t falter. It actually warmed as he stared at me, but it didn’t feel put on. It also didn’t feel like a reaction of anger or jealousy. He had told me he shared women with Wells before at parties.
My lungs tight, I didn’t know what to say.
“I also heard why Wells came to you initially, and, though I don’t feel like any of that is my business, Wells shared some concerns.
” Bru’s gaze clashed with Wells before Wells’s attention shifted to the floor.
Wells’s expression was tight, terse, and that confused me.
Bru faced me. “And I do too after we talked about it for a minute.”
I didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Bru leaned in. “I’m aware of the history between you and Wells, Bow. I know what he did to you.” He said this, and Wells cringed. Bru sighed. “He made it hard for you to have any type of relationships outside of Legacy for years, and that included intimate relationships.”
Intimate relationships.
“And like I said, your personal life is none of my business. As far as I’m concerned, you have a right to be with anyone you please, but from what I understand, that would have been difficult considering what Wells did to you.”
I really didn’t understand now, sitting back. “What are you trying to say?”