52. Maeve
MAEVE
When I wake up, Hayden is watching me.
I stretch slowly, my eyelids falling shut as I luxuriate in the sweet ache that radiates throughout my entire body—a vivid reminder of everything that the men did to me last night.
When I crack open my eyes again, Hayden is wearing an amused, fond expression that I never would have expected to see on his face just a couple of months ago.
He reaches out, stroking his fingertips lightly along the curve of my jaw.
“How are you feeling?” he murmurs, his voice a bit rough from sleep.
“Much better,” I admit, and it’s true. “Last night really helped.”
He makes a soft growling sound at that, like it’s involuntary, and leans in to kiss me with a combination of softness and possessiveness that makes my heart trip in my chest.
“Does this mean you’ll tell us what had you so upset last night?” he asks when we separate, pulling back just enough to study my face.
I feel Ford and Gabriel stirring on either side of me, gradually waking from our voices. I prop myself up a little more against the pillows. “It’s nothing, really.”
“It wasn’t nothing.” Hayden frowns. “You didn’t see yourself when you came home. You wouldn’t call it ‘nothing’ if you had.”
“He’s right,” Ford rumbles from my other side.
Gabriel sits up properly, yawning and stretching before focusing on me with a serious expression. “Talk to us, petit oiseau doux .”
I bite my lip, my stomach tightening with dread. I can’t avoid this conversation forever, and it’s important that they know what happened, as much as I don’t want to tell them.
I describe the encounter with Liam, trying to keep my voice steady. I don’t go into too much detail about my big speech telling him off—just that I made it clear I wasn’t ever going to get back with him. That’s not the important part. What matters is what he knows now.
“He thought I was cheating on Ford with you two,” I explain, my stomach churning. “And I told him that I wasn’t—but I had meant to maybe convince him that he misunderstood anything he saw. I don’t think that’s going to be possible, though.”
“Jesus. The little shit probably watched the whole fucking time,” Hayden grunts. “Like the disrespectful pervert he is.”
“I’m so sorry he knows about us. I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve known that he’d be up to something.” I look at Ford, who looks furious, which isn’t surprising. I knew that all three of them would be angry about this development.
But then Ford says, “He cheated on you?”
My brain freezes, and I replay everything I just said. “Yes,” I say, my voice rising in confusion.
“You never told us that.” Gabriel’s voice is low, and something dangerous flickers in his eyes.
I feel a jolt of realization—it’s true. I never explicitly told them about the cheating.
“When I first started working for you, when you offered me the job,” I tell Ford, feeling embarrassed, “I didn’t know how close you and Liam were. I didn’t want to turn you against him or badmouth him to his own brother. And I wasn’t even sure—if you two were close—whether you would believe me.”
Ford nods slowly, his jaw clenched so tight I can see the muscles spasming. “He should never have treated you like that.”
“Honestly, it was kind of a good thing in the end. I even told him that last night. It was like it broke the spell. It made me realize how awful he was and that I deserved to leave him.”
“That doesn’t mean he gets a pass,” Ford says grimly, getting up and out of bed with sudden purpose, grabbing clothes from the floor. “That fucking brat has gone on for far too long without experiencing any real consequences.”
My stomach churns with new anxiety. “Ford?” I ask, my voice smaller than I’d like.
He strides determinedly out of the bedroom before I can say anything else. I grab my robe and follow quickly. Behind me I hear Gabriel and Hayden scrambling for their own clothes, clearly sensing trouble.
Ford moves too fast for me to properly catch up, heading downstairs and straight into the dining area where his family is eating breakfast. “Liam.”
Liam stands up from the table automatically, clearly confused by Ford’s tone. “Hey, what’s?—”
Before he can finish, Ford’s fist connects with his jaw with a satisfying crack. Liam’s head snaps back as Elaine shrieks in shock.
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Charles yells, half-rising from his chair.
I reach the doorway just in time to see the aftermath. “Ford! Stop!”
Gabriel and Hayden enter behind me, but instead of trying to stop what’s going on, Hayden just growls, “Let me know if you want a break, Ford. I’d be happy to take a turn.”
“What has gotten into all of you?” Lydia yells, looking between her two brothers in shock.
“Ask him,” Ford snaps, gesturing at Liam, who’s holding his jaw.
“His whole life, Mom and Dad spoiled him and let him get away with everything. Nobody questioned it when a woman broke off her engagement to him. Just sympathetic noises, no questions, nothing. Nobody ever questioned why she’d leave such a supposed catch.
Did you all think she was just stupid or crazy? ”
None of his family seems to know what to say to that. Liam’s eyes blaze with fury. “I’d be very careful, Ford,” he snaps. “Very careful.”
“You should’ve been careful,” Ford snaps right back. “And not cheated on her left, right, and center.”
Elaine looks sharply at her younger son, her face pale. “Is this true, Liam?”
“I had no idea,” Ford continues, his voice hard. “Or I would’ve kicked your ass ages ago.”
“Like you even could,” Liam says, but it’s clearly all bluster. I can see the fear flickering in his eyes. Between himself and Ford, it’s no contest who would win in an actual fight. “And you don’t get to be so high and mighty. You don’t treat her any better than I did. You whore her out.”
Lydia’s jaw drops and Charles says sharply, “Could we please watch our language?”
Liam points directly at me, and my stomach twists violently.
I feel like I might actually throw up. “She’s been getting passed around between Ford, Hayden, and Gabriel this entire time.
Just letting them use her however they want.
I bet that’s why she’s been working for them so long.
She’s the office slut, just taking their cocks whenever they need to blow off steam. ”
Elaine looks like she might faint. I can’t tell if it’s because she believes Liam or just from the awful, shocking way he’s describing everything. I want to burst into tears or disappear into the floor.
Ford’s phone starts ringing and he glances down at it. His jaw clenches even tighter. “It’s George.”
“Oh, good old George,” Liam says with gleeful malice.
“He was very interested in what I had to tell him about what you three are really like. Traditional family values?” He scoffs and rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, right. You three couldn’t manage a serious relationship if it hit you in the face.
You just want to have a regular fuck toy to share. ”
I might actually be sick. It must show on my face because Lydia jumps up immediately and grabs a glass, filling it with water from the fridge dispenser and pressing it into my hands.
“Sip slowly,” she says gently.
I grip the glass like it’s a lifeline, but I can’t bring myself to actually take a sip.
“You obviously couldn’t handle a serious relationship,” Hayden points out coldly as Ford’s phone rings again. “You’re the one who cheated on your only girlfriend who was able to stand you for longer than a few weeks.”
“God knows why she put up with you at all,” Gabriel adds with cutting precision. “I certainly couldn’t tolerate dating you for more than a day, tops.”
The ringing of Ford’s phone cuts through the air, each trill grating against my raw nerves. He glances at it again, then back at me, his jaw clenched, and I somehow find my voice for long enough to say, “You should answer it.”
“But you?—”
“I’ll be okay.”
Something passes across Ford’s face, his grip tightening on his phone. But then he swipes to answer, glancing at Hayden and Gabriel. “Mr. Watterson, hello.”
I can hear George’s voice through the phone immediately, and although I can’t quite make out what he’s saying, his tone is unmistakably furious. I’m too nauseous to bother shooting Liam a glare, but his ugly triumph is so obnoxious that I do wonder if I should also punch him in his smug face.
Ford strides toward the doorway as he speaks into the phone in a low voice, and Hayden and Gabriel each shoot looks my way before reluctantly following after him. “That is not true,” I hear Ford saying as they leave the room.
Of course it’s not true. I mean, it is true that we’ve been together sexually, but not in the way Liam has presented it. Ford, Hayden, and Gabriel were nothing but professional toward me the entire time I was working for them.
It was only after I stopped being their assistant that anything became sexual.
And the way Liam spoke about me like I was some kind of object for their use…
they might not be in love with me, but those three men have shown me more consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness and genuine respect than Liam ever did during our entire relationship, which was supposed to be romantic. He was supposed to be in love with me.
I glance back at Ford’s family, trying to gauge their reactions. Lydia looks sympathetic and worried. Elaine and Charles seem shocked and scandalized, and just generally upset by the whole scene. Liam looks so smugly satisfied it’s unbearable.
Part of me wants to say something—to defend myself, to explain—but why would these people believe me over their own son and brother?
What’s the point? And I don’t want to deny what I’ve done, because there’s nothing wrong with it.
I just want them to understand that we’re all adults who can have whatever sexual relationship we choose.
What upsets me is that they now think these incredible men were callous and hurtful to me, treating me like an object.
But if I try to explain all of that—I don’t think someone like Charles would understand. Maybe not even Elaine. They won’t be able to see that it’s all consensual and wonderful, they’ll only see it as scandalous. It’s not worth trying to convince them.
I set the water down on the counter, untouched, and slip quietly out of the room. My heart feels like it’s cracking into pieces.
Somehow, between the most incredible night of my life and this morning, everything has fallen apart.