Chapter Six

Blair

I listened as they argued. I heard every word they said and even though every instinct I had was screaming at me not to believe them, they all sounded so miserable that I couldn't just believe they were lying.

Moving out of Holden's lap, I take a seat on the far side of the sofa before looking at each of them. I need to know the truth and my thoughts are muddled as long as one of them is touching me. I draw my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them. It feels like some kind of armor that I can protect myself with.

"Tell me the truth," I say while facing Dax.

"You were sixteen when I realized I was in love with you," Dax says without missing a beat. "I was eighteen and almost done with school. You were so young. I couldn't do that to you."

"But…" I try to say.

"No, Beautiful." He smiles sadly. "I already knew I was going to enlist. It's what I have been groomed for all my life. Every man in my family has joined up and I would be the first to stay home. I also wasn't going to take a chance that something could happen to me and break your heart. So, I just stayed away."

"Dax…" I breathe out his name, my heart hurting for him.

"It was about a month after that. I finally gathered the courage to tell Dax how I felt about you. He is my best friend and I needed to tell someone," Holden says from beside me drawing my attention. "We talked and he told me how he felt before we agreed it would be best for you if we stayed away. We needed to give you a chance to live your life and find love with someone else. To find a Partner that was here and safe instead of in the middle of some ridiculous war."

My heart was beating a mile a minute and breaking for the boys that once loved me and sacrificed so much for me. How did I never know this? If only they had known I felt the same way.

"For me, it was the year before that. The first time I saw you reading in the town square under the big oak tree," Ford says with a little smile. "I became obsessed with you. But I couldn't gather the courage to do something about it. When Dax and Holden finally figured it out, I was already acting like an asshole so it was just easier to continue. Acting like you didn't matter was a way to stay away from you because I knew. I knew if I ever had you in my life and in my arms, I wouldn't be able to let you go. They convinced me their plan was for the best and I enlisted with them."

I nod and drop my forehead to my knees as I try to take in everything they've just said to me. For long moments silence reigns, the atmosphere stifling around us. The three of them have laid everything on the line, baring their hearts to me. Do I take the chance? Can I love all three of them together? Can I choose just one?

I may not have all the answers but I know I am tired of living my life alone, always in the background.

"What happens now?"

****

Holden

"That depends on you, Little Dove," I say cautiously. "We all want you, as our Partner, but it's your choice. You can decide to take a chance. Hell, you can even choose to walk away right now. But know that nothing you say or do can make any of us love you any less."

"You want me to choose?"

I can hear the slight panic in her voice.

"That's up to you," Dax replies.

"What if I can't choose?" She looks devastated as the words leave her lips. "What if I don't want to? Have you ever considered that I might be in love with all three of you?"

I can feel the joy in my heart as her words sink in. Maybe this isn't too fast. What if we can really have what we all want? I never allowed myself the luxury to dream that Blair could love me … us. But her words give me hope that she could. I cast a glance at my friends to see them smiling.

"Then don't choose," Ford says as he leans forward.

Laughter bursts out of Blair as she releases her legs and pops up from the couch. She starts pacing the length of the living room as she speaks.

"And how will that work, Ford?" She doesn't wait for an answer before she continues. "You've already proven to be possessive. Will you be able to see me with someone else?" She hits the nail on the head with her words and I watch my friend flinch. "Are you going to share me like a lawn mower? Mondays and Thursdays with Dax and so on with one day for me to relax."

Standing up, I grab her by the shoulders and bring her pacing to a stop. I wait for her to focus on me before I speak.

"Sharing you is exactly what we want to do," I say huskily. The thought of the three of us all having her is enough to send my arousal soaring. "But not the way you're thinking. We will all be together. The four of us will share a house, a life, everything."

Her cheeks flush red as she blushes. "Oh, my."