Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Vander
Two weeks Later
My phone buzzes with a text from the security detail hired to watch Maddie while she was on tour with Broken Crown.
Temp
Five minutes out
Shit. She’s supposed to be back tomorrow.
We had everything planned out. We were going to make her dinner and then spend the night convincing her to be ours.
Racing over to Ace’s apartment, I let myself in with my key. I hear the shower running in his en suite, which he never bothers to lock. I rush in without knocking because we have more important matters than privacy.
The sight of Rhodes on his knees greets me, Ace’s hand in his hair. Rhodes is sucking his cock, and I’m so horny I almost get hard at the sight.
“Enough of the fucking already,” I say. “It’s great that you can fuck each other whenever you want, but I have been waiting for two long fucking weeks for Maddie to get back, and now she’s five minutes away.”
Rhodes pulls back with a grin, water dripping off his jaw. “Hey, I’ll get on my knees for you anytime, big man.”
Ace belts out a surprised laugh, pulling Rhodes to his feet by his hair. Rhodes yelps at the motion, then laughs too.
“Wait, you’re fucking joking, right?” Ace says sharply, then shakes his head as water streams down his face.
“Obviously I’m joking.” Rhodes grins. “You know I only like your cock.”
“She’s early,” I say, before turning to leave the bathroom.
Rhodes whoops like a freaking teenager, and I shake my head as I hurry back to my apartment to get dressed.
Five minutes later, we’re all dressed and waiting in my apartment when we hear the elevator ding down the hall.
It’s been two weeks since Maddie left for the tour with her brother. Kade asked her to go, since her stalker had been delt with, and she jumped at the chance. We all stayed behind to give her some space to process and think about what she wanted without the pressure of us being around.
It was the right call. It was also fucking torture.
We hear her apartment door open and close.
After giving her all of five seconds to put her stuff down, we exit my apartment and knock on her door. I can hear her moving around on the other side before she pulls her door open.
“Hey,” she says with a smile.
“We need to talk,” Ace says. “Can we come in?”
I want to slap him upside his head. Sometimes Ace forgets you don’t need to be so direct all the time.
“Yeah . . . okay,” she says, taking a step back to let us in. “Give me a minute to freshen up?”
“Take your time,” Ace replies.
We wait in her living room. It’s strange being here without doing a security sweep or checking the cameras. It’s just us in her space, waiting to potentially change everything.
When Maddie comes back out, she’s changed into leggings and an oversized sweater. Her hair is down, falling in waves past her shoulders. She looks tired but beautiful, and I have to force myself to focus on why we’re here instead of how much I’ve missed her.
She sits on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest in that protective posture she does when she’s waiting for bad news.
“Okay,” she says. “You’re all very serious. What’s going on?”
We all move to sit around her.
“We’ve made a decision,” Ace starts carefully. “About our arrangement. About our contracts.”
Maddie’s shoulders tense—she’s already jumping to conclusions, even though we made her a promise we’re sticking around.
“We have been doing a lot of thinking,” Rhodes adds. “About what happened.”
“And we came to the conclusion,” I say, because this part needs to come from me, “that we can’t keep doing this job.”
There it is—the fear in her eyes. This is the moment Maddie thinks she’s been right about all along.
“We spoke to your father, and we explained the situation,” Ace continues before she can spiral.
“We told him we all have feelings for you that go beyond professional, and continuing as your security detail would compromise our ability to be objective. But more importantly, it would compromise what we actually want.”
“Which is?” Maddie asks.
“You,” Rhodes says simply. “Not as a client. As . . . well, we’re not entirely sure what the word is yet, but not as your bodyguards.”
“So you’re quitting?” Maddie whispers. “You’re leaving?”
“No, we’re not leaving you,” I say firmly. “Your father negotiated. We’ll stay here in our apartments, but our roles will change. We’ll still manage your security, because he still wants you protected, but not at the suffocating level we’ve been doing. And we’ll also handle other projects for him.”
“And the rest of it?” Maddie asks. “The feelings . . . wanting me . . . what happens with that?”
“That’s up to you,” Ace says. “We’re hoping you would like to try something real with us. If you want to.”
The room goes silent as she processes what he said.
“So what I’m hearing,” she says slowly, “is that you all like me so much you would give up following me around twenty-four seven. That seems counterproductive.”
I almost smile at her words, liking that she still feels able to be herself around us.
“I know it seems backward,” Rhodes says, “but the thing is, we realized if we were to stay on, we would be using the security detail as an excuse. As a reason to be close to you without actually risking anything.”
“So now you’re putting yourselves out there?” Maddie asks with a hint of amusement in her voice.
“Yeah,” Ace says. “We are. We even talked to your father about it.”
Maddie giggles, and it quickly turns into a full belly laugh that fills the apartment. “Wait,” she gasps out around her mirth. “You talked to my father about wanting to date me? How did that even go?”
“It was . . .” Rhodes pauses, searching for the right word. “Interesting.”
“He said he was hip and down with the times,” I offer.
Maddie’s laugh gets louder. “Oh, my god! Did he really say that? My father said he was hip?”
“Exact words,” Ace confirms.
“That’s so embarrassing,” Maddie says, still laughing. “If anyone says they are hip, they’re old. That’s like the fundamental rule of being hip. The moment you think you’re hip, you’re not anymore.”
“Your father is aware he’s old,” Rhodes says with a grin. “He just wanted to make sure we knew he wouldn’t have a problem with what we’re proposing.”
“Which is?” Maddie prompts.
“All of us dating you,” I simply say. “If you want to, that is.”
She bites her lip, and I can see her working through it. The anger at our betrayal is still there. It’s going to take time to fully move past that, which we understand.
“I need to know something. Is this because you feel guilty or do you really have feelings for me?”
“It’s real,” Ace answers without hesitation. “The guilt is there, and we will apologize over and over until you believe we mean it. But what we feel for you—it’s separate from all of that. We each fell for you before we decided on doing the masked men thing.”
“I don’t know if I can just jump into this,” Maddie says, but she’s not saying no. She’s saying she needs time, and that’s something we can work with.
“We don’t expect you to,” Rhodes says. “We know we fucked up and that you need to trust us again. Maddie, we’re willing to do whatever it takes to earn that.”
“Even if it means moving slowly?” she asks.
“Even if it means moving slowly,” I confirm.
She pulls her knees up tighter. “I went on tour thinking I needed space from you,” she says. “And I did—at first. But by the end, I missed you. That’s why I came back early.”
“Yeah?” Rhodes asks.
“Yeah,” she confirms. “I don’t know what that means yet or if I’m ready to jump into this completely with you. But I’m willing to try.”
Ace nods, respecting the boundaries she’s setting even as relief washes across his face. “That’s all we’re asking for,” he says.
“But I have conditions,” Maddie adds. “I need you to understand that trust isn’t something you earn back all at once; it’s something you rebuild day by day. I need you to be patient with me when I have doubts.”
“We’ll earn it back however we need to,” Rhodes says.
“And I need you to forgive yourselves,” she continues. “I can see how much guilt you carry, and I can’t move forward if you’re drowning in it. We need to heal and move on from this.”
“That’s the hardest part,” I admit.
“I also need you to understand that me saying yes to this doesn’t mean everything is fixed,” she adds. “It just means we’re willing to try. Are you ready to try with me?”
“Yes,” we all say in unison.
Maddie unwinds from her protective curl, her legs extending as she settles back onto the couch.
“Okay then,” she says with a smile. “Let’s try this. No promises, no guarantees. Just . . . let’s see what happens.”
“Fuck yes!” Rhodes cheers.
“But I’m serious about the slow thing,” Maddie reiterates. “I’m not jumping into anything physical. We need to actually talk, to get to know each other without the bodyguard aspect.”
“We can do that,” Ace says, answering for all of us.
“Good,” she says. “So what does this look like in reality? Do you just show up and we hang out? Do we date individually or as a group?”
“That’s up to you,” I say. “We can figure it out as we go.”
“That’s very diplomatic,” she says with a smile. “Are you always going to be this easy to deal with?”
“Probably not,” Rhodes admits, which makes her laugh again. “Honestly, we’re trying really hard not to fuck this up a second time.”
“You will, though,” Maddie says matter-of-factly. “Fuck it up, I mean. Nobody’s perfect, so you’re going to mess up, and I’m going to mess up. We’re all going to need to figure out how to deal with that.”
“Are you setting us up for failure?” Ace asks, but there’s amusement in his voice.
“I’m being realistic,” she counters. “I’m also saying I’m willing to work through it if you are.”
The weight of her words hangs in the air.
She’s not saying she loves us, nor that she forgives us completely. Yet she is saying she’s willing to try, and right now, that’s everything.
“I’m glad you all came and talked to me instead of disappearing.”
“We promised we wouldn’t leave,” Ace reminds her. “And we meant it.”
“Okay,” she says. “Well, I’m exhausted from the tour. I’m going to take a shower and sleep for about twelve hours. But if you want to hang out tomorrow, I think I’d like that.”
“What did you have in mind?” Rhodes asks.
“I don’t know. Coffee . . . or breakfast? Or just hanging out?”
“We can do that,” Ace says.
She moves toward her bedroom, then stops.
“Oh, and one more thing,” she adds, turning back with a smirk.
“When we move past the slow thing, all three of you better be ready. I’ve had two weeks to think about what I want, and let’s just say, the idea of the three of you has my imagination working overtime. ”
Rhodes’s jaw literally drops. “Did you just—”
“Goodnight, boys,” she says sweetly, disappearing into her room.
The three of us freeze for a moment.
“She was talking about sex, right?” Rhodes asks.
“She certainly was,” Ace says.
I don’t say anything. I simply nod, absorbing the weight of what happened. We took a risk, put ourselves out there, and instead of getting shut out, we’ve been given a chance.