Chapter Twenty-Seven Lila
Even people who aren’t on duty have stuck around to wait for their captain’s return. I try to stay out of the way. Even though I’ve played a significant role in this, whatever victory or defeat that is about to be delivered is something that they share.
My company’s future depends on this success, but their entire livelihood hinges on it.
Still, despite my insistence to hover at the periphery once we wrap up the livestream, Evan and Noah keep tugging me into the fray.
That’s how I end up at the front of the crowd, face to face with Hale. Even in his immaculate suit, he looks like he hasn’t slept in at least twenty-four hours.
And he probably hasn’t.
Before I can voice my concern for his well-being, Hale lifts his hands in a universal signal for the dozens gathered to quiet down.
“They saw your livestream,” he says, eyeing me with dark, glittering eyes. “They saw that over one hundred thousand people tuned in—”
“Woo!” shouts one of the rookies at the back.
Hale doesn’t even bother shooting a stern look in their direction. That must mean he’s in a good enough mood. Which has to mean…
“They also saw the surge of support from people all over the country, because it had already started to blow up their phones by the time Banks called a vote.”
Noah shifts beside me. On my other side, Evan is close enough that his elbow brushes against my waist. I want to lean into them, or even walk right into Hale’s arms, but I have to be good. After what happened upstairs mere hours ago, I can’t risk anything else going wrong.
“So, they voted,” Noah says, prompting his captain to continue.
Hale’s expression is unreadable. The station falls so quiet that I can hear the fridge whirring to life all the way back in the kitchen. Finally, Hale clears his throat.
“The motion to defund and dissolve Station 47 has been dismissed.”
Then, Hale does something that surprises me.
He smiles. A real, genuine smile.
“However,” he adds, speaking loudly as excited murmurs break out, “there is a chance that Banks will be reelected in November and renew his plight against us, but for now… we’re not going anywhere!”
Cheers bounce off the walls. One of the guys climbs onto a folding chair and blows an air horn in celebration. Old Bill lifts Rita onto his back and does a victory lap with her around the bay.
I beam at Hale, and he smiles back at me.
We did it.
The whole crew is high on adrenaline and vindication, and unless an alarm starts blaring, it doesn’t show any sign of stopping.
Before I can figure out whether it’s okay for me to hug Hale in front of everything, my phone starts buzzing with an incoming call.
“Lila!” Lou shouts the moment I answer, not even waiting for a hello. I slip away from the others, ducking into an empty conference room for relative quiet. “You need to see the GoFundMe page. Right now.”
“What? Why?”
“Just look! Now!”
Without any further explanation, she hangs up.
Frowning, I open up the donation page… and nearly drop my phone as soon as it loads.
It’s increased. By a lot.
$1,408,233 raised so far, reads the donation counter.
I blink.
“That can’t be right,” I whisper.
We had a fifty-thousand-dollar goal. Maybe too ambitious, I’d originally thought, but enough to support new initiatives that their current budget didn’t have room for. Or, at the very least, to provide extra financial support if we failed and everyone had to find positions in other stations.
But one-point-four million dollars is far beyond what I ever thought possible. Shared with other stations, this would be enough for more recruitment campaigns, community outreach, and so much else that my spinning mind can hardly fathom right now.
And I’ve helped it happen. Somehow, I brought enough positive attention to these wonderful people that countless other equally wonderful people from all over the country—and maybe even from other countries—cared enough to donate out of their own pockets.
A bit numbly, I emerge from the conference room.
Someone has turned on music. Lights flicker as if the station itself is celebrating. A bunch of people are already planning a proper celebration once they’re off duty and can crack open a few cold ones.
Noah appears beside me instantly, cheeks flushed.
“Hey.” His smile breaks open, charming and boyish. “We did it.”
I can’t hold myself back anymore. Plus, everyone else is hugging.
So, I walk into his open arms. He wraps them around me, holding tight for a bit longer than what would be considered platonic.
When he releases me, Evan is suddenly here as well, leaning against the wall, his eyes soft and bright as he watches us.
“You did this,” he says to me. “It’s all thanks to you.”
The words wash over me, making my throat go tight. I really don’t want to get weepy right now.
At last, Hale makes his way across the space, nodding and smiling at people as they clap him on the shoulder, but his focus is on me. On the three of us, gathered here on the outskirts of the celebration.
Something in my pit of my stomach tugs, pulling me toward him. At the same time, however, there are equally insistent tugs keeping close to Noah and Evan.
Hale halts before us. He shares long looks with them, then turns his gaze to me.
“We need to talk,” I tell him. “All three of us.”
There’s no point in wasting time, after all. With the station no longer immediately at risk, and therefore no longer in need of my services, I’ll be moving out right away.
Just like that, I won’t see them every day anymore.
Not unless I do something about it.
Hale nods. “Yes, I think we do.”
He gestures down the hall toward his office. If anyone notices us slipping away from the celebration, they’ll probably think that we’re discussing the finer details of the campaign.
Or maybe we’re not as slick as we think. Maybe Station 47 already knows what has blossomed in my heart. Maybe they’ve simply been kind enough not to tip off Kate Branson.
We slip inside his office and the door clicks shut behind me. The noise of celebration fades into a muted hum.
I face them, my heart thudding with three pairs of eyes on me.
There’s no fear inside me, though. No urge to back down. No instinct to quell my true desire, to smother what is burning inside me.
I know what I want, and I’m not afraid to ask for it. Whether they’ll be willing to actually give it to me is another question entirely.
“So, the campaign was a success,” I begin, taking in Noah’s joy, Evan’s content calm, and Hale’s steady strength. “And that means I’ll be leaving the mezzanine. Which means I won’t be living in the station anymore… and whatever rules apply to employees under this roof won’t be hanging over us.”
Hale leans against the front of his desk, crossing his arms. “That’s true. Does this mean that you intend to pursue your fondness for one of us further?”
Noah smirks at his formal wording. “Lila, you know how we feel about you.”
“I do,” I answer. “And the truth is… I feel the same way. About all of you.”
All of them are quiet. I can tell that it’s not because they don’t know what to say, but rather because they are giving me time to collect my thoughts. Giving me the chance to direct this conversation.
“I care for all three of you,” I repeat. “Deeply. Which is a little overwhelming, considering that I haven’t known you for long, but sometimes that’s just how life is.”
After all, Lou knew Gina was the one for her after their second date. I even tried to curb her expectations back then, tried to remind her that infatuation is not the same thing as true love. She’d agreed, of course, but all of my warnings were pointless in the end.
Gina really was the one for her, and they’ve been living happily ever after since then.
Still, nobody really prepares you for what to say when you’re pretty sure you have more than one the one.
I take a deep breath. “I’m not interested in pretending that I only want one of you. I don’t want to choose. I don’t want to limit my heart, and then leave two of you behind. In fact, I refuse to.”
They exchange a glance, loaded with something I can’t discern, then turn their attention back to me.
“You all saw what they were saying online,” I continue.
“The hashtag. All three. People joked about it, but they obviously weren’t wrong.
I want all three of you in my life. I know it’s a strange thing to ask for, and that it’s both a weirdly ancient and also very contemporary concept for someone to have more than one romantic partner.
But you three already have so much love and respect for each other that I’m hoping maybe we could work something out. ”
I fall quiet. Hale is nodding thoughtfully. Noah is leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, looking completely unbothered.
Evan, standing closest to me, speaks first. “I never wanted to compete with either of them. It’s not in my nature to be competitive and jealous, but like you said, I also respect Hargrove and Trent too much to have a toxic response to something like this.”
“Same,” Noah chimes in. “We’re a team. Always have been.”
Hale steps toward me, slow but confident
“I suppose it’s true that you’re asking a lot of us,” he says.
“But we have also asked a lot of you. I don’t want to lose you, Lila.
And I also know that there is more than one kind of love in this world.
I think you deserve all of it, but I know that I can only offer you one kind.
So, really, I’m grateful that Reyes and Trent have love for you, too. ”
Love.
“Totally,” Noah agrees.
Evan chuckles. I crack a smile.
“So, yes, Lila,” Hale finishes. “We’re willing to try. All of us. If this is what you want, then we’re yours.”
The air in the room suddenly feels electric.
I step closer to Hale. “Good, because I’m yours, too.”
As soon as my hand lifts to his chest, he closes the distance.
His mouth meets mine, firm and certain and claiming. The kiss is slow but powerful, like he’s holding us down while a reckless tide washes over us. When he finally releases me, my knees threaten to give. But Noah is already there, fingertips brushing at the small of my back when Hale steps back.
His hands are slightly warmer as he spins me around. His kiss is deeper, too, more eager, like a taste of the joy he carries around with him. He smiles against my mouth when I melt into him a little.
Then, a gentle caress on my shoulder. Noah breaks away, nudging me into Evan’s embrace. He cups my face, brushing his thumb along my cheekbone. His kiss is soft heat and aching tenderness.
When he breaks away, he presses his forehead to mine for a long second.
I am surrounded. Chosen, intentionally, for the first time in my life. And claiming them right back with every fiber of my being.
They hover around me like a protective cocoon. I beam at them.
“So… now what?” I whisper.
Hale gives me a crooked grin, reaching out to brush away a lock of hair that’s escaped my clip. “Now, we go join the rest of the celebration, and then we rest. We’re all exhausted.”
I pout at him. Noah snorts quietly.
But I suppose he has a point. Just last night, I had a panic attack over the fear that he might have died in that terrible fire.
Shortly afterward, in the blissful calm that Evan brought to me, I slept with him.
Then, that same morning, just a few hours ago, both he and Noah made a gloriously indecent woman out of me on the floor of that little dorm room.
I am tired in more ways than one. But there’s still enough adrenaline in me that I would happily keep going for a little while longer.
Except Hale was in a hospital this morning. Noah dragged multiple adult bodies out of a fire. Evan saved dozens of lives with his own hands.
They’re more exhausted than I am, I’m willing to bet. It’s just that they’re better at hiding it. And, because I love them, I want to care for them.
“Alright,” I sigh. “Rest is important.”
Hale, giving off a slightly giddy energy that I didn’t know he was capable of, winks at me. “Friday night, let’s all meet at my place for dinner. We can discuss the finer details and seal the deal then. How about that?”
“Seal the deal,” I echo a little breathlessly.
The others’ imaginations must be running off to downright raunchy territory, as well, because Evan clears his throat pointedly and Noah shifts impatiently on his feet.
“Friday night,” Hale repeats. “Two days from now. In the meantime, we’ll rest and recharge. And, with clearer heads, if one of us decides that they would rather not continue down this path, they also have the chance to step aside.”
My heart sinks at the thought that one of them might decide to bow out. Without all three of them, there would be an undeniable sense of imbalance.
But it’s their choice, and I have to let them make it. I can’t be that greedy.
“Okay,” I answer.
“Sounds good to me,” Noah adds.
“Looking forward to it,” Evan says.
“Good,” Hale murmurs. “It’s a date.”