Chapter 49
***Aggie***
The ride up to the executive floor felt like it took a hundred years.
I fidgeted, staring at my reflection in the mirrored walls.
Cupping my belly, I looked at it from the side and winced.
It wasn’t huge, but it seemed bigger than it should’ve been.
I added it to my mental list of questions to ask Sarah.
I tugged at my bun to make sure it looked okay and glanced down the full length of my body, just to see I’d left my Crocs on. I groaned and gave myself a moment to throw a bit of a tantrum. The bright pink Crocs didn’t exactly match the button-front navy blue dress I had on.
The doors opened to the executive floor and I had to pretend like I wasn’t freaking out. Too aware of my body, I stepped out of the elevator and looked at the receptionist. I knew I owed her an apology when I could think clearly, from my last run through.
Her bright smile when she saw me was unexpected. Her eyes caught on my stomach and she covered her mouth with her manicured hand. “Oh, this is so amazing!”
I resisted the urge to tell her that it wasn’t, that having strangers staring at me and talking about me sucked, but I couldn’t be mean to her when she was smiling like a maniac at me. “Are they here?”
She nodded eagerly and pointed down the hallway. “Same conference room.”
Gulping down a wave of nausea, I slowly made my way down the hall.
I still had a lot of anger and frustration, but my nerves were killing me.
Shaking like a leaf didn’t scream in control, but I kept walking.
My Crocs had charms that jingled as I walked and the sound was especially loud to me in those seconds before I reached the glass wall outside of the conference room.
Time stood still as I lifted my eyes and saw them. My heart felt too big for my body and I felt like I was breathing...wrong.
Knight’s eyes lifted first and when they locked on me, he stood up fast enough to send his chair crashing backwards. The sound made me flinch, even from outside the room. He looked bigger than I remembered, which was silly, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how tall he was.
I stepped into the room and locked gazed with Kyrin next.
He stood up slower, his hands braced on the table as he studied me.
His eyes caught on my middle and I rested my hand there without thinking.
Seeing the way his eyes grew red at the simple gesture, I sucked in a sharp breath.
His pain was all over his face and seeing it, seeing the way he didn’t hide it, it dragged me forward a foot.
Zander stood up silently and put his chair between us. His knuckles were white as he gripped the back of it. His body radiated with a predatory energy as he stared at me. “Did you come to yell?”
I nodded and forced my hands to my sides, forced myself to do what I hadn’t been able to do for anyone but them. I let them see me, let them see the way I trembled, let them see the wobble of my lip, and let them see the way I lifted my chin to spite the wobble of my lip. “Did you mean it?”
“When we said we want you home? Or when we said we love you?” Kyrin’s voice was husky as he spoke. “The answer is yes to both.”
I sank my teeth into my lip to stop the impending tears and looked to Knight. My stomach fluttered as he let out a dark laugh.
“We mean it, Aggie.” He glared down at the men sitting between us, but stayed where he was.
“You’re not yelling, baby.” Zander’s gaze was scorching. “It doesn’t feel like you’re very mad at us.”
My stupid mouth twitched with what might’ve been a smile, but I wasn’t finished. “Did you mean it?”
He swore. “More than I’ve ever meant a single fucking thing I’ve uttered, Aggie.
I love you. I want you home with us. It’s where you’re supposed to be.
I’ve been patient. Tell me what else you need right now.
There’s only so long I can pretend like I’m not dying inside with every second I’m not touching you. ”
“Trust.” I raised my hand to my throat, the gesture meant to self-soothe. When I saw Zander’s face tighten, I gasped and dropped my hand. “Um...I want you to trust me. The way I trust you.”
“Done.” The leather chair under his hands groaned. “What else?”
“I’m going to work. I can’t be a stay-at-home mom. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I need to work. I’m not a trophy for the country club members to poke and prod at.”
Kyrin growled. “Never been a member of a country club before now and I don’t plan on joining, baby. What else?”
“I want a real interview. I want a chance here. Pick someone else to do the interview and if they say no, I’ll accept it and look somewhere else.
” I rushed the words out, feeling myself unraveling under their gazes.
I hadn’t planned any demands, I was coming up with them on the spot.
Being so close to risking my heart again, I suddenly couldn’t stop babbling. “I don’t like Olivia.”
“She quit the day you left, baby.” Knight nodded, looking every bit an impatient billionaire right then. “And?”
“Never keep Gracie from me again. I love her.”
Zander shifted his chair to the side. “She loves you, too. Fine. We’re going to agree to whatever you want, Aggie. Nothing you could ask for would change a single thing about the way we feel about you. Write up a list of demands, we’ll sign off on whatever. We don’t care. We just want you.”
I gripped my hands in front of my stomach. “If you decide you don’t want me, I—”
“Never happening.” Knight slowly moved towards me, his movement hindered by the men in his way. “I love you. I love you, Aggie. Tell me you understand that.”
“But if you don’t one day, just—”
Kyrin moved towards me from his side of the table. “I love you. Today, tomorrow, and fifty years from now.”
“Are you done delaying the inevitable?” Zander pushed his chair behind him. “Tell us how you feel, Aggie. You know our hearts now. You own them. Stop torturing us and tell us.”
“I...I was going to yell...”
Knight inched closer. “There’s time for that later.”
“I was mad and I had reasons”
Kyrin was just feet away. “No one is saying you can’t still be mad. You’re just going to be ours when you’re mad now.”
Zander leaned forward and planted one big hand on the table. “Give us what we need, Aggie.”
“I love you.” The chokehold on my chest loosened. “I love each of you. I might have more to say later, but I just...I love you.”
Zander slammed his other hand down on the table and didn’t look away from me as he yelled at the men who’d been watching us the whole time. “Out!”
Kyrin grabbed me before the first person could clear the room. His hands gripped my ass as he lifted me into his arms. “You know what else we need to hear, baby.”
Knight pressed into my back and inhaled deeply against my neck. “The thing you said you’d never be.”
Zander slammed the door shut and growled. “Tell us.”
I moaned desperately as my body came alive between them. Fire ignited in my core and I rocked against Kyrin’s hard length. “Yours.”
Zander slid his hand over my throat and turned my face to his. “Goddamn right, Aggie. You’re ours. You belong to us.”
I stared up at him, nearly lost in my need. “Mine?”
His eyes softened before he leaned in and kissed me. “Yours.”