Chapter Nine
She looked down at her hands to take it all in. Ten different thoughts and worries flew through her mind, spiking her anxiety.
“What are you thinking?”
She raised her head to answer Jon. “I’m sorry. I just have a lot of thinking to do. I’m trying to figure out what my next move is.”
“What do you mean?” Jon asked.
“I have to find a job in the next few days, or I’ll be in trouble. I’m not worried. There are always waitress jobs available.”
She felt the tension in the room rise and didn’t understand it. “Can you guys give me my clothes back, please, and call for a taxi?”
“No and no,” Koa growled.
She felt a ball of misery stick in her throat. Mina stood and took a few steps away from them and turned. “If I could borrow this shirt until I get home, I promise to wash and iron it.”
The men looked a bit uneasy.
Her hands fisted when they didn’t say anything. “Can I at least have my purse?” she asked roughly as tears clogged her throat.
Jon stood and took steps to get to her. He held onto her arm when she flinched and tried to back away from him.
“Easy, baby.” He pulled her back to the bed and sat her down next to Koa and then crouched in front of her and laid a hand on her thigh.
She stiffened and tried to push his hand away.
“Mina, listen to us for a second.” Jon waited until he had her full attention. “You are never going back to that apartment, you are never getting a job outside this place, and you’re never going to be without people who care about you.”
Her gaze went back and forth as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. “I don’t understand. I have to go back to my home. All my things are...” She paused when he shook his head.
“No, baby. We had all your things packed up and brought here. They are being stored in a spare bedroom we don’t use until you figure out what you want to do with everything.”
She shook her head in confusion. Why were they doing this? They’d taken over her whole life, and she wasn’t sure she cared. It felt good to have someone take care of her. That hadn’t happened since before her mom died. “But a job?”
Koa cleared his throat. “I know this is a lot to take in. We’re throwing a lot at you at once. We prefer you not to have a job, period, but if you feel you need to work, there’s always something around here to do.”
Her brows pinched together in bewilderment. “My clothes from yesterday...”
“Are in the fireplace. We never wanted to see them again.”
She stood and moved around Koa, took a few steps, and then turned. Her hand flattened against her upper chest, feeling her heartbeat rise as her stomach twisted with anxiety. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you want from me?”
Jon stood but kept a few feet between them for the time being. “Answer a question for me.”
“All right,” she said and nodded.
“Do you feel anything for us?”
A blush spread across her cheeks. She nervously pinched the fabric of the shirt with her fingers. “I ... I don’t know what to say.”
Koa stood and came even with Jon. “Just the truth, pet. Do you feel anything?”
She nodded and bit her lip. “I...” She paused. “Yes.”
Koa nodded. “That’s good. We both feel deeply for you, and we want to be with you.”
“What?” Jon asked when he noticed her confusion.
Her wide eyes went back and forth between the men. “Are you both talking about a ... sexual type of relationship?”
The men nodded and crossed their arms.
“It wouldn’t just be about sex, though. It would be long-term,” Koa told her.
The thought of being in one of their arms, letting him touch her and make love to her, was beyond her dreams. But she couldn’t.
She wished so many things were different.
But she knew better than most that life was not fair.
Mina felt like her heart was being torn into little pieces. “I don’t think I can.”
A frown puckered Koa’s brow. “Why?”
She felt another blush cover her face. “Because I wouldn’t be able to choose between you.”
The men visibly relaxed.
Jon got to her first and wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against his chest. “We don’t want you to choose.”
She tilted her head back to see his face. “What do you mean?”
Koa fit his body tightly against her back and put his hands on her hips. “He means you get both of us. We come as a team,” he said and grinned.
She gasped, and her hands tightened on Jon’s arms. “Both of you. How can I have a relationship with two men?”
“Easily. The same as one but doubled,” Koa joked.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” she stammered.
“Just say yes,” Koa said, pulled her heavy hair to the side, and nuzzled her neck. She moaned and trembled against him.