Chapter Seventeen
The men watched her pack away the last of her things in the suitcase.
Beau reached for it while Diego took her hand.
The men walked out of the hotel and got her settled in the front seat between the two in a large black truck she hadn’t seen before.
“Whose truck is this?” she asked as she looked around at all the high-tech dials.
“It’s mine,” Diego said and grinned over her shoulder at Beau.
“Fuck off.”
Jayla looked back and forth. “What am I missing here?”
“Beau totaled his a few months back.”
Beau said several curses under his breath.
“Was it your fault?” Jayla asked Beau.
Beau sent his friend a look that would terrify most people, but Diego just snickered. “Yeah, it was in a way. I should have slowed down because the roads were a bit slick from the rain. I slid through a stop sign and got T-boned by an old guy.”
“Were either of you hurt?” she asked.
“No. And the guy should be happy. He came out ahead with a new vehicle.”
Diego and Jayla bit back their smiles at the disgust in Beau’s tone.
“I’m just glad no one was hurt,” Jayla said and patted his knee.
Beau grumbled something under his breath and looked out his window.
Jayla turned to Diego and bit her lip. Diego grinned and turned his attention back to the road.
Jayla looked around as they drove back into the city. “Where are we going?”
The guys exchanged a look that made her stiffen.
“What?”
“We’re going to stop by the director’s office...”
Jayla’s brows pinched together, and she shook her head at Beau. “No, I don’t have anything to say to that man.”
Diego turned to her at a stop sign. “Do it for us. Just listen to the man.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. “Fine.”
Diego nodded and drove them toward the offices.
They rode up the elevator in silence. Once they stepped out, Diego took her hand, and Beau placed his on her lower back. They stopped in front of the secretary’s desk.
“We’re here to see Joseph,” Beau said.
The woman nodded. “He’s expecting you. Follow me,” she said, and led them to the door and opened it.
The three entered and heard the door close behind them.
Joseph stood and stared at Jayla. The guys tightened their grip on Jayla when they felt her tremble.
Joseph waved at them. “Come in and sit.”
Beau put Jayla in a chair, and then he and Diego pushed their chairs as close as they could and took her hands.
Joseph’s mouth twitched as he sat back down.
Jayla cleared her throat. “Why do you want to talk to me?”
Joseph ran his hand down his face, showing his anxiety and nervousness. “There are some things I need to tell you because the last thing I want is for you to think I don’t love you.”
Jayla gritted her teeth but kept quiet.
“I loved your mother and father very much. They were the center of my world for many years. When you came along, our family felt complete.”
Jayla frowned in confusion.
Joseph held up a hand. “Your parents and I were in a relationship much like you three. Your father was her husband on paper, but in our lives, she was both of our wives.” He stood suddenly, turned his back to them, and looked out the window.
“When they died, it felt like I died with them. I started drinking heavily, and I stayed drunk for months. That’s why I sent you away.
I couldn’t take care of you, and you were the only thing in my life that I cherished.
I had to protect you, even if it was from myself.
You were the only thing that kept me going. ” He turned back to them.
Jayla swallowed her tears at the unbearable, stricken look on Joseph’s face. She remembered the four of them living in the same house. She just hadn’t realized the three adults were in a relationship. She’d been too young to understand.
“When I finally got my head out of my ass enough to stop trying to kill myself in a bottle, they sent me out of the country. I was gone more than I was in the States, but it kept me from going crazy.”
“Why did you never come to visit?”
Joseph looked shocked. “I did. Every time I came back, I went to your school first.”
Jayla frowned. “I never saw you.”
Joseph sighed. “You seemed content every time I saw you.”
“Content?” she burst out and then laughed. “I was miserable.”
Joseph frowned. “I talked to Finn every week to check on you, and he said you were doing fine.”
Jayla’s shoulders slumped. She would pretend to be okay when she noticed Finn’s concern. She was afraid of him leaving her for some reason. “I didn’t tell him a lot of things.”
“What about holidays?” Jayla asked.
“I was gone, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. I know I was a selfish bastard. I was just trying to keep my head above water. I felt you were better off away from my messed-up world.”
“Well, I wasn’t. Think of it from my point of view,” Jayla murmured in a stricken tone. “I was a nine-year-old who lost my world. I lost my parents, my home, and you, who I thought was the only other person in the world that loved me.”
Joseph pinched the bridge of his nose. “I fucked up, sweetheart. I know that now. I thought I was protecting you, but I wasn’t seeing the world through your eyes, just my own.” He looked up at her. “Do you think you’ll be able to forgive me someday?”
Jayla looked down at her lap. She didn’t know what to tell him. So many years of loneliness, disappointments, and fears had to be let go of for her to move on.
“I-I just don’t know,” she said and shrugged.
“I have a question, Sir,” Beau said.
Joseph tore his gaze from Jayla. “What is it?”
“Who packed her bag when we took her to the cabin?”
The three were amazed to see a flush cover the older man’s face.
“Well...” he stammered.
Jayla looked confused as she glanced at all three. “What’s going on?”
Diego reached for her hand. “We suspect he told whoever packed your bag to add certain things and leave others out.”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“We thought it was weird how her bras, panties, and socks were forgotten.”
Jayla narrowed her eyes on Joseph. “What were you trying to do?”
“I wanted the three of you together.”
“What!” she burst out and stood suddenly, sidestepping the men as they tried to reach for her when she walked across the room.
“That’s why my jeans didn’t fit.” By the guilty look on his face, she knew it was the truth.
“Why? Did you think they’d take me away so you wouldn’t have to deal with me again?
I’ve got a news flash. I was walking away anyway.
You didn’t have to throw me on their laps. ” She paced back and forth.
Beau tried reaching for her, and she flinched away.
She held her hands up. “Don’t.” She looked down with her hands covering her face. “God, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Why?” Diego said as he stood.
“Jesus, don’t you get it? You never had a choice. What red-blooded man out there would be able to keep his hands off any woman he was living with for so long?”
“Now wait a goddamn minute,” Beau burst out.
She shook her head. “No, you were manipulated. All three of us were manipulated.”
“He might have made it happen quicker,” Beau said. “But it would have happened eventually.”
She shook her head. “I want an honest answer. No, I deserve one. If you two had seen me out in a bar, would you have been attracted to me?”
“Fuck, yes,” Diego burst out. He stalked her across the room until he had her pinned to the wall. “Don’t you dare try to put this shit between us and think you’re getting away, because it’s not going to fucking happen.”
Jayla blinked several times to hold back her tears as she pushed against his chest. “I don’t know what to think anymore,” she cried out.
“You all listen right now,” Joseph’s voice boomed around the room as he stood.
“I did not try to manipulate them to get you off my hands. I’ve known these men for years and have always respected them.
They were the only men I would trust you with.
I knew they were into the type of relationship your parents and I were in, and I wanted that for you so bad.
You deserve double the love and protection. I know that now more than ever.”
“Listen to him, baby,” Beau said when he came to her side. “You were meant to be ours no matter what. We all felt it from the first.”
“I...”
Diego touched his nose to hers. “Right now, I don’t fucking care what stupid thoughts are going through your crazy head.”
Jayla gasped, and Beau cursed.
Diego continued. “We’re going to leave here today together. We’ll go somewhere we can make plans for our future. You got that?”
Jayla growled and pushed him away from her. She hit his chest when he didn’t budge. “Don’t you take that tone with me, you asshole...”
Beau snorted and shook his head. He walked over to Joseph. “This may take a while.”
Joseph chuckled. “You guys are perfect for her.” His eyes misted over. “She’s so much like her mother. She’ll keep you on your toes, and she’ll need both of you to keep her in line.”
Joseph and Beau flinched when the other two raised their voices as they yelled at each other.
“How about I get the two out of here? We’ll plan on getting together in the next few days.”
Joseph nodded. “It will give her some time to calm down.”
Beau chuckled. “We’ll see about that.” He walked over to the fighting couple. He wrapped an arm around Jayla’s waist and pulled her away from Diego. “We need to head out. You guys can fight in the truck.”
****
Joseph smiled as he heard their arguing fade as they walked away.
He sat down heavily in his chair and stared at the picture of him and his best friend, her father, standing on either side of her mother as she held Jayla in her arms. The pain had lessened a bit over the years, but he knew it would never go away.
They had been a part of his soul, and that was something he’d never get back.
The only thing he had left was Jayla. He prayed she would be able to forgive him and let him into her life because to lose her, too, would forever break him beyond anything he could come back from.
****
Beau got the other two in the car and grinned when they continued to bicker.
“I’m hungry.”
Diego and Jayla stopped suddenly and turned to stare at him. They looked at each other and then nodded.
“I could eat,” Diego said and relaxed back in his seat.
“Me, too. I’m hungry.”
Beau hid his grin and pulled out in traffic. “What sounds good?”
“Chinese,” Diego said at the same time Jayla said, “Italian.”
Beau rolled his eyes when they started in again. Jesus, he wondered if it would always be like that with them, and then grinned. He hoped so. They were extremely entertaining to watch. Yeah, he could see his life in the years ahead. It would never be dull in their household.