“And Andre?”
“Alive.” Hunter rolls his eyes. “I guess we can’t kill him since his father is friends with ours. But he no longer has our protection.”
“What do you mean?”
Hunter rubs the back of his neck. “Bad people need worse people to protect them. But it’s all favors and handshakes, nothing in paper. Andre burned the bridge of civility by outing us, so ... his family and the business is cut off. We won’t be buying anything from them and they won’t get anything from us.”
“Oh.”
“It got the others to rethink things,” Hunter says with a dark tone.
“You didn’t have to do all that for me. Like I told Lief, it’s nothing worse than I got in high school, even though they were just rumors because people couldn’t stand the idea that girls and boys could just be friends.”
The door opens and closes. “Lief, your parents would like to speak to you.”
In he goes, leaving me with Chase and Hunter. Chase sits down, pulls out a cigar, and smokes it. I’ve noticed it’s something he only does when he’s really stressed. None of them smoke around me when they can help it.
“I’m sorry, Chase. I just should have left when you pointed out Andre. I got a bad feeling and everything, but I really wanted to support you and get to be with you.” I suck my bottom lip. “I guess your dad was right about being in my place or me being a liability.”
“I love you,” He says instead. “I do, baby doll. The fact that you didn’t take his offer at all, that you refused to even play nice about it and give him hope is a good thing. You’re direct and clear. No room for misunderstandings.”
I swallow. “But?”
“But tonight was a bit of a mess. I made it clear to everyone about Andre. He’s too young and doesn’t understand the importance of timing, grace, and propriety.”
“Big words.” I lean towards Chase a little, then kiss his shoulder. He sighs. I hug him, trying to give him some comfort. “I’m still sorry. I never want to add stress to any of you. I want to be the comfort you come home to. I want to be the one who takes all the worries away, the one that doesn’t add more hardship to your life.”
“You are.” Chase kisses the top of my head and Hunter rubs my knee.
“Dorogaya, our relationship isn’t what’s expected, especially not in this world. We knew that this could happen,” Hunter assures us.
“We’re with you because we know you make us better people, because you’re fierce and wonderful. You are protective and strong,” Chase lists. “and yet, you’re still nurturing and loving.”
“You can admit when you’re wrong, you’re just as genuine at being sweet and cuddly as you are when you’re sharp and sassy. We love you, which makes nights like this easier to tolerate.”
I scuff my feet on the deck. “You aren’t angry with me?”
“No.” They say together.
“You still want to be with me after all this?”
“That’s my question to you,” Chase says on an exhale. “This is a lot to take in and I’d rather you tell us now that this isn’t something you want to deal with.”
I shake my head. “No, no. Baby boy, I will take the good with the bad. The light with the dark. That’s life.” I kiss his cheek. “As long as the good outweighs the bad, as long as we support each other, empower each other, I’m right here.”
Hunter hugs me from the side. “I love you, dorogaya.”
“I love you both so much. But I think we really need to get a break from all this publicity shit.”
“We can stay inside all weekend. Next weekend, we’ll go see Sophie.” Chase decides. “I have that all setup.”
“Which means tonight we can finish a gallon of ice cream together to calm our stress and cuddle in front of the TV.”
“Or we could redo some of those dances,” I offer. “so that way it’s just the four of us, really enjoying each other without worrying about an audience.”
“As if you worried.” Chase shakes his head. “You are the most fearless and astounding person ...”
“I was worried.” I huff. “From the second Lief fucked some sense into me.”