Chapter 48 #2
“This way to your table.” Blinking at his back, we have no choice but to follow.
We wind through the partially filled restaurant then up a wide staircase to a smaller dining area where booths line the walls, looking out at the bay.
What surprises me most, however, is that he leads us directly to a booth where Bexley sits.
She wears a smirk on her lips as we hesitate at the end.
When the server leaves, I finally slide in.
My exit is blocked, which is why Kane hesitated, but honestly, I don’t care.
I’m across from her, and it’s the closest we’ve been in weeks.
Zayn slides in next with Kane taking the end.
“I heard you mention this place once.” She nods at me. “Figured you might like it.”
“Are you going to poison us?” Zayn asks, but he doesn’t seem upset by the idea.
“Not today. Besides, if I was going to kill you, I would make it more spectacular than that.” She shrugs.
“Okay.” Splaying my hands on the table, I lean forward, and she looks at me, capturing me and not letting go. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” she asks too innocently, and that’s when I notice her eyelashes. They are tinged pink toward the outside, like her hair. The effect leaves me speechless, and she arches a brow. “Problem?” she purrs.
“You’re too beautiful,” I whisper.
“Yes, I know, now back to your question,” she taunts.
“What’s going on? You knew we were following you at the aquarium, the movie, and now here.”
“I wanted to watch the movie,” Zayn says, and she grins like he said the right thing. “Wait, I think I told you about it coming out and how I wanted to go with you.”
Her grin widens.
“I mentioned I used to go to the aquarium all the time with my mother,” Kane says slowly. “All these places . . . are for us?”
“Like a last meal before you kill us?” I grin, unable to help it.
“More like a date,” she replies just as the server arrives. We stare in shocked silence as she orders, and we scramble to do the same. When he leaves again, I lean forward.
“A . . . date. Today was a date with all three of us?”
“Yup.” She leans forward and sucks on the straw in her drink. For a moment, I get caught up looking at her lips, and she grins.
“Hellion, most people ask someone on a date,” Kane says.
“I’m not most people,” she responds.
“So that means you’re not ignoring us and pushing us away. You took us on a date,” Zayn concludes, sounding happy.
“I might go back to ignoring you. I haven’t decided yet, but I might be considering giving you a chance, hence the date.”
“A date,” Kane repeats, shaking his head. “Only you would date us like this.”
Sighing, she pulls her phone out and turns it to us.
“See? I even took pictures like it’s a real date.
” She turns her phone around, scrolling through the photos.
She’s posing at the front, grinning, and we are in the background.
There’s one of Kane arguing with the child at the aquarium, us pretending to look at the fish, one of us standing opposite her across the seal exhibit, and another with us behind her at the movie.
“I didn’t even see you take these,” I admit.
“I’m sneaky.” She shrugs.
“Hellion,” Kane states seriously, “don’t do this if you don’t mean it. You know how we feel about you. We’ve made it very clear. All three of us are in love with you and want to be with you. You can’t play with us when it suits you then drop us.”
“We’d let you,” I admit, and Zayn nods.
“But it would hurt,” Kane finishes. “So what is this?”
“Maybe I’ve decided to give you a chance,” she repeats.
“I’m not saying it will last forever or will even work out, but maybe you’re right.
Maybe I don’t want to go back to being nothing.
Maybe I like spending time with you and playing with you.
I won’t say . . . that L-word you seem to throw at me a lot, but I like all of you.
It just took me some time to realize it.
I hate myself for it, but there you go, so I’m here. Isn’t that enough? Or is it too late?”
“We’d wait a lifetime for you,” I reply seriously. She is the only one for us.
“We were waiting for you to come back through that door yourself. I would have let you go if that’s what you wanted.
We never wanted to take your choices away from you.
We wanted you to choose us, choose this.
We can be patient, but now that you have walked back through this door, we aren’t letting you go again,” Kane warns her.
She swallows hard, looking between us before shaking off the serious thought, her lips tilting in a cunning smile. “What if I’m only with you for your money?”
“I don’t care as long as you’re with me,” Kane responds, and my brother stares dreamily at her, so happy he’s almost bursting with joy.
“You hate gold diggers,” she retorts, looking between us. I simply grin, letting Kane handle this, so does Zayn.
“I could never hate you. Here.” He hands over a stack of cards. “The pin is your birthday. Buy anything you want, it’s yours.”
“What if I want an island?” she jokes, no doubt testing him, or maybe she really wants an island. It’s hard to tell with Bexley.
“Then buy it.” He shrugs. “I have enough money to take care of you for a million lifetimes, and even if you somehow manage to spend it all, I can always earn more.”
“And if that isn’t enough . . .” I hand over my wallet, and Zayn does the same. “Take our money. We don’t give a shit, baby. All we care about is that you stay with us. No contracts, no games, just us.”
“You know, you’re all a lot cheesier than I expected,” she says, looking at the wallets, which she pockets. “I expected the big scary Sai brothers to fuck me and then drop me as fast as you could, yet here you are, chasing after me. Your father was right. You’re romantics.”
“You’ve been speaking to our father?” Zayn asks curiously.
“Hedging my bets. I want a sugar daddy,” she teases. “He kept telling me how you were all moping and how I should come back and kick or fuck your asses because if he had to deal with one more sad-eyed ‘I miss her at breakfast,’ he was going to murder someone.”
“We did miss you,” I tell her as the food arrives.
I won’t be ashamed of moping around. The house was empty without her.
Zayn’s always enjoyed life, but even he seemed tired without her, and Kane?
He’s always so serious, yet she brought him laughter.
She’s good for us, but it’s more than that.
She fits with us, and I’ll do whatever it takes to tie her to us for life.
While Kane and Zayn were bribing her sister, I was being smarter.
Grabbing my phone, I turn it around and show her the document. “This was my backup plan in case you took too long to come back to us.” She scans it, her eyebrow rising.
“Is this a lawsuit against me?” she asks dangerously.
“For services rendered.” I smirk.
“You claim I blackmailed you, harassed you, and injured you? This is ridiculous,” she scoffs. “You know I would never pay damages for that.”
“Exactly. Read the settlement.”
She does, and her eyes light up. “If the defendant is unable to pay back the Sai family, she can work off her debt by living with them.”
I expect anger, but she bursts into laughter, pride in her eyes. “I’m impressed,” she admits. “Smart boys get rewards. I like it when you play dirty.”
“That would never stick in court.” Zayn chuckles.
“I didn’t need it to, just kick up enough fuss to get her attention.” I wink as I take my phone back. “Can you send me the pictures from today? I want to change my lockscreen.”
Grabbing my phone, she turns it, takes a picture, and hands it back.
I can’t look away. She is so fucking cute.
Her fingers are pressed to her cheek in a peace sign as she blows a kiss.
Hunching around the phone, I grin down at it as I set it as my lock and phone screen, then I go one further and log into my work socials and upload it there.
I don’t have a personal one. Zayn does, but Kane and I felt like it was asking for trouble, but I still want the whole world to know I’m hers.
“What about mine?” Zayn grouses, handing her his phone.
She rolls her eyes once more. “You know, you’re making my eyes roll a lot on this date, and not in the way you should be, like into the back of my head.”
I choke on my drink as she continues eating innocently.
“This is quite tame for you. I expected gladiators or death,” Kane remarks as I continue to choke and splutter. Zayn hits me on the back a couple of times.
“That comes later.” She shrugs. “Besides, I wanted to show you I care.” She shudders in horror. “And if you ever repeat this, I’ll cut out your tongues and stuff them into a dildo.”
“I’d gladly welcome it,” I rasp, taking a drink to soothe my sore throat.
The rest of our meal is uneventful and so fucking amazing, I don’t want it to end. She talks with us just like before, making Kane light up with laughter. Zayn and Bexley lean together mischievously, and when she grins at me, including me, it’s like my world is whole again.
The burger is really good. She demolishes hers and then finishes mine as well, and when it comes to the bill, Kane puts his card down.
“I’m not against you using your own money, but not when you’re with us,” he says as the server goes to run it.
“You’re so sweet. That’s why I like you, and because you’re filthy rich.”
“Mainly the sweet thing though, right?” I ask with a grin.
“Sure, let’s go with that,” she says, patting my cheek condescendingly as she gets up. We hurry after her, Kane grabbing his card, and once we’re outside, he heads to her bike.
Do I ask when our next date is? Do I follow her home? I have no idea, other than I don’t want to watch her walk away from me again
“Now for the final part.” She grins at us, oblivious to our worries. “If you catch me, you can have me. I’m a lady like that.” She’s straddling her bike, and the engine roars to life.
“I think our girl forgets who we are,” I say.
Zayn chuckles as he twirls his keys.
“I agree. Let’s remind her, shall we?” Kane suggests as he heads to his car.