Chapter 17 #3
Reis slowly cups my face as he leans in, giving me the chance to pull away if I need to. When his hands rest on my skin, my eyes close of their own will. I can’t control it, I lean into it . His breathing is soft, but catches when I relax into his hold.
“No, Melody,” he whispers, the space between us charged with electricity and need, sparks just waiting to catch fire. “I love you,” he says softly, his breath kissing my lips.
He starts to lean down, and I watch through hooded-lids as he gets closer. He’s a breath away from finally giving me our first kiss and I swipe my tongue over my bottom lip.
“Wait,” I whisper suddenly, putting my hand on his chest. Reis stops moving right away, the string of rejection and disappointment clouding his eyes and making him move back quickly.
“Sorry, sorry.” He shakes his head, pulling his hands from my skin, and stepping back. My hand darts out to grab his shirt so he can’t move away from me anymore.
“Wait,” I repeat, softer now. “How do you know you love me now? You’ve spent the last day telling and showing me the opposite.”
“I know you, Mel. I know who you are as a person. I know how you love with everything in you, and how you make us all better. I know how you’re fiercely independent, but you let us help you.
You’re amazing, you always were, and that’s never going to change.
” With every word he says, we draw closer together.
Involuntarily. Like our bodies are tired of fighting to be apart.
“Reis,” I gently sigh his name, my voice edged with nerves. “I’m not the girl that you loved before. These years have been hard, and I’ve fallen, over and over.”
I can’t pretend to be this pristine person. The shy, innocent girl that they all loved before. Through the trauma, some hard lines have formed. Some shitty experiences produced some shitty coping mechanisms.
I don’t want any of them blind-sided or thinking I’m someone I’m not.
Watching them fall out of love with me because they were in love with someone else. Someone who no longer existed instead of me. That would kill me.
“You couldn’t have fallen further than me,” he says softly, putting a finger under my chin and tipping my face up to his.
“I fell quickly and haven’t really stopped falling until the night I saw you again.
It took me a moment. It took the guys smacking some sense into me, it took you crying in front of me with no interest for comfort from me, for me to realize how cruel I’d become.
So whatever you’ve done, whatever you’ve gone through, whatever you’re worried about, I can promise you that we’ll get through it together. ”
“What if you change your mind?” I can’t live through this again. I can’t give him my heart–give all of them a piece of my heart–and have them leave just because I disappoint them.
Reis chuckles, and I marvel at the sound. At how he looks while he laughs. The darkness I’ve associated with him since we’ve been back, vanishes. His dark eyes sparkle, his smirk is playful. He looks lighter, more like the Reis I remember. The Reisyn I love.
“I’ve spent seven years trying to not love you, Melody, and it didn’t work. The moment I saw you again, I realized I spent those years in vain. Nothing; not time, not space, or anything else, will keep me from loving you.”
My breath catches softly, and I can’t help it, tears line my eyes again.
“I-I love you, too.”
I know I do. I know it with every fiber of my being that I’m in love with this man.
His eyes light up as a slow smile grows on his face. Reis is breath-taking when he smiles. He hasn’t smiled in my presence in so long, and now that I get to witness it, I wish I could take a photo. One I can have in my back pocket for days when the storms feel too dark.
I want to keep him happy all the time so I can see that smile on his face.
“You’re sure?” He asks.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’ve got some more groveling to do, but yes. I’m sure I love you,” I say with a soft grin, our eyes meeting over the small space. Reis' eyes dip to my lips, want and promise darkening his eyes.
“I’ll grovel every day for the rest of my life as long as you’re by my side,” he vows, and closes the gap between us in an explosive kiss. His hands on my face and my hands grab his shirt, pulling him closer.
Kissing Reis, fuck , it’s like everything I’d ever imagined it would be. He’s giving and gentle, but the longer the kiss goes on the harder and more desperate it becomes. Reis' hand cups the back of my neck, holding me very willingly in place.
His lips press harder against me, our lips and tongues fighting for dominance as I open in a moan. Reis doesn’t waste the opportunity to invade my mouth and take this further. I think I’d smack him if he didn’t because I need him.
“Oh god,” I pull back, dizzy with the need for air, but his lips just move to my neck. “Reis,” I moan, slipping my hands into his hair and pulling at the thick strands.
“Are you guys done yet?” Kai–it’s always Kai–calls through the room, breaking our bubble, but Reis doesn’t stop dragging his teeth softly over my skin. “We still need to talk things through!” Reis freezes, but his hands grip me tighter.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” he growls, pulling away from my neck. God, he’s handsome. His lips are all red and bitten from our deep kisses. His skin is marked by me.
“Don’t do that.” Smacking his arm playfully, I try to detach as gently from him as I can, even if I really don’t want to. And judging by the hardness against my hip, neither does he.
“Come on, I know you all are listening!” I call out to the guys.
Like we’re in a freaking sitcom, each of their heads pop out from around the corner, one by one.
They’re all so cute, I have to giggle.
Kai comes out first, running towards me and picking me up. He swings me around, excitedly kissing my face all over.
“I told you so,” he whispers in my ear before kissing my swollen lips.
“You did,” I say, smiling at him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.
Markus and Adam walk in; Markus with a knowing smile on his face before opening his arms to me right as Kai lets me down and I’m given to Markus. He hugs me tightly, kissing my forehead and resting his forehead against mine. It feels significant, this step. All our cards are on the table.
Adam walks over, hands in his pockets and takes a deep breath, all while looking at me meaningfully.
“Are we doing this then? Officially?” He asks, messing with his lip ring nervously. “You’re ours?” He’s trying to play it cool, but I see the tension in his jaw, the way his breathing is just a little too controlled. His eyes, though… they give him away.
A mix of worry and fierce hope in his eyes, burning quietly beneath the surface, but it’s laced with something else—fear. Like he’s bracing for the worst, like he’s already preparing himself for the moment I might say no .
But the way they all look at me—like I’m the most important thing in the world, like my answer could either break them or make them whole—I feel it like a weight in my chest.
Adam swallows hard, and for a second, his mask slips. He’s vulnerable now, standing in front of me with his heart in his hands, waiting.
“I’ve always been yours,” I whisper, tears lining my eyes. “But the question I need to know before we go forward with this is, are you all okay with this? I can’t… I can’t be with one of you, and not all of you. I love you all too much to do that, to tear you guys apart.”
They all look at each other, looking from side to side to see the others' reactions.
“There’s no choice for me, baby,” Markus speaks up first, his words resolute. “I won’t live without you. Not again.”
“Same here.” Kai nods, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve spent the last six years in a fuzzy hell.
You, Melody, are everything I want and more.
Sharing one girl with my brothers? Just crazy enough for me.
” He smacks Markus on the shoulder. I chuckle through the watery sobs, a barking laugh that Kai pulls from me so easily, even when I’m terrified out of my brain.
Reis clears his throat, and my eyes are drawn to him.
He looks confused with his eyebrows pinched together, and a grumpy kind of look on his face. Stuffing one of his hands into his pocket, he rubs his eyes roughly as if he’s trying to block out something before looking around at the other guys.
“While I love Melody with everything I have ,” he says, staring directly into my eyes, the amber brown orbs leaving no room for any doubt in his words.
“Before we sign on to try this… reverse harem?” He asks in question.
“We need to put down some boundaries, answer some questions and decide what we want,” Reis says, holding his hand out to the side.
“Like what?” Adam asks.
“Like, is this serious? For everyone? What if someone gets jealous, or wants to take you out on a date, but everyone else wants to go too? What are we going to do about… private alone time?” Reis asks, looking right at me.
I knew Reis would be the one that had the hardest time with this. He’s more possessive than the rest of them, wants to make sure he gets his share, but is no nonsense. He used to have a hard time sharing a candy bar, and now we’re asking him to share his woman?
“What are you asking me?” I question, needing the clarity before I jump in with answers.
The four of them surround me from all sides, standing close enough to me that I can feel their body heat warming me up to the point that I might start sweating soon.
Although, it could be because I’m really fucking nervous.
It feels like everything I’ve ever wanted is right on the line.
“I think what he’s asking is if you’re going to go steady with us, Songbird,” Markus smirks off to my side, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at me with a one-sided smirk. “The rest, we can figure out and discuss. But none of it matters if you don’t want this too.”