“So, you just camerunning?”
Marv blinked, surprised. Actually, they all looked pretty surprised. Wow, I was really getting good at shocking them. Even Grayson frowned with confusion. He was the one that stepped closer to the end of the bed—right next to Marv, I noticed. “Of course we came running,” he said gruffly. “You were hurt. You’re important tous.”
“Individually?” I asked. “Or alltogether?”
“What?”
“I’m important to you individually or I’m important to you all the same way?” Iasked.
“Little Bit, that doesn’t make any sense,” Knix said, leaning down. “What are you trying tosay?”
I shook my head hard, feeling like my brain was still rattling around up there. “You.” I nodded at Knix then turned my head to Bellamy. “You.” I turned to Texas. “And you.” And finally, to Marv and Grayson. “And definitely you two.” I twisted my neck to look back at Knix again. “You want me to choose, but you all care about me—you just said so—so how fair is that? How should I choose when only one of you won’t get hurt? Me too—I’ll get hurt, no matter who I choose. Why should I choose? It’s not fair. You don’t just love one person for the rest of your life,right?”
I nodded to myself, assured in my logic. “No,” I continued, “sometimes, you love someone, get married, get divorced, fall in love again. Wouldn’t it make sense that sometimes you can fall in love at the sametime?”
“With two people?” Bellamy was the one asking, so I flipped my gaze tohim.
“With five,” Isaid.
Silence reigned. And this time, it wasn’t the beautiful, blissfulkind.
“Harlow, are you saying…that you loveallof us?” Marv soundedshocked.
I whipped my head around so fast, I almost careened out of the bed. Bellamy and Texas saved me from toppling over onto them by reaching out and catching me, pushing me back upright. “Is that so hard to believe?” I asked. “You’re all freaking amazing. I mean, you have your downsides—you’re so freaking stubborn and you boss me around and keep things from me sometimes.” I paused and frowned, remembering how we first met. When I raised my head to glare at them, Texas backed up, handsout.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that, we eventually opened up!” hesaid.
“Yeah,” I snapped, perturbed. “Eventually.” But it was nearly impossible to stay angry at that face of his forever—or any of theirs really. I sighed. “But y’all are amazing. You’re nice and you care about me and you protect me and even though some of you are assholes—” I glanced pointedly between Marv and Grayson who both had the nerve to look sheepish. “You look out for me and I mean, what girl wouldn’t be attracted tothat?”
“Attracted?” Texas moved back in, leaning over the side of the bed oncemore.
I rolled my eyes and my head lolled to the side as I did. “Well, duh.” Reaching up, my hand smacked my forehead. “Big red truck—of course I’m attracted to you!” Knix snagged my hand and gently lowered it to my lap. “Do you think I kissed you all because I was trying you guys out? What? Do I look like the kinda girl who takes Ferrari’s for a testdrive?”
“Why is she talking about cars?” I wasn’t sure which one had whispered it, but it didn’t matter. I was on aroll.
My neck was hurting so I leaned back. The bed was raised up slightly, so I didn’t have to go very far. But still, it felt like I was stretched out on a cushy table with all of the guys surrounding me, watching me. I sniffled. “It’s just not fair,” I said, looking up at them. “You want me to choose, but I can’t.” I turned to Knix as tears flooded my eyes. “Ican’t,Knix.” His face was strained, his lips tightening into a slant. He leaned down and brushed tendrils of hair out of myeyes.
“I’m sorry, Little Bit,” he whispered. “I didn’t realize we were pressuring you so hard—or that you took it thatway.”
“What other way could I take it?” I asked, snifflingharder.
“We’ll make it better, Sweetheart.” Bellamy leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. I liked that. It made me feel warm and gooeyinside.
“How?” I pushed despite my meltymiddle.
Several eyes looked up and glanced around. Surprisingly, though, it was Grayson who leaned over the end of the bed and placed his hands on my legs over the blankets. “We’ll figure it out, Babydoll,” he assured me—blue eyes locked withmine.
“Promise?” My head was swimming and exhaustion was tugging at me oncemore.
The same as before, they all looked at each other before Grayson spoke again. Quietly, almost too low for me to hear as my eyelids slid shut. “We promise,” hesaid.
I was drifting. Almost, but not quite asleep when I heard them. “How much medication did they give her?” someoneasked.
“They just came in before she woke up,” someone replied. “I thought that was supposed to make her sleep harder, not…well, notthat.”
“Do you think she meant it?” I recognized that voice. Texas. He sounded unsure, worried, but not angry. Were the others angry withme?
“Of course she meant it. That stuff is like alcohol—truth juice,” Grayson’s low tone replied. “She meantit.”