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With all five of these big men crowding it, though, the entryway feels positively claustrophobic.

It doesn't get any better as they pile into my living room. They drape themselves over my little couch and squeeze into a couple of armchairs. Deandre has to stand, and I swear his head nearly scrapes the ceiling.

The place is clearly too small for them, but my life suddenly feels too small, too. My confidence from my showdown with Richard is fading fast, leaving me there ringing my hands, apologies on my lips.

"I'm so sorry you guys felt like you had to come all the way out here," I start.

Cayden shakes his head. "Don't be."

"And we didn'tfeellike we needed to come here," Adam says. "Clearly we did."

I shake my head. "That doesn't make any sense."

Adam leans forward in his chair. "If you needed us to show you that we care enough to cross the globe—much less a couple of state lines—for you, then we're here. We did it."

"We'd do it again," Jax says, gaze hard.

A part of me wants to argue with them, tell them I'm not worth it. But one look from Deandre, his brows raised, and I shut my mouth up tight.

That's my past talking. This is my future, and I already came so close to fucking it up. I'm not going to chance losing it again.

"Thank you," I say instead. "I'm still sorry, but—thank you."

"You're welcome," Deandre says.

I feel caged in my by all their stares, but not in a bad way, somehow. They have me surrounded, and it's like the time they all took me, one after another after another—some of them at the same time. I'm penned in by their bodies, but it's not a cage atall. It's a fortress. These guys are here forme.To makemefeel good and supported and safe.

And I do. My knees sag with the relief.

I sink to sit on a little ottoman. I glance around at all of them. "How did you even find me. Coming to my school—?"

Sergio digs into the inner pocket of his leather jacket and pulls out a book. He turns it on its side, exposing the name of my school stamped along its edge. I recognize it then as one I took out of the library here. I'd been reading it this week. I must have left it on Deandre's nightstand.

"Wasn't hard from there," Adam says. "Quick Google search showed you were on the faculty. Couldn't find your home address, but we figured…"

Deandre nods. "Didn't know if much else from that note you left us was true. But figured if you really were worried about your job, you'd show up there eventually."

"And if I hadn't?" I'm testing, I know.

Jax says, "We would have waited."

"Or sweet talked the school secretary into giving us more of your information," Cayden says.

"Or stolen it," Jax adds.

Adam rolls his eyes. "Hacking is barely stealing."

"You know it is," Deandre says.

Their banter washes over me, only the meat of the discussion sinking in and taking root. They came for me, and they would have stayed. They would have done anything to find me.

Sparks fire off inside my chest.

Still, there are mysteries that need to be solved. "How did you know to come?"

Jax frowns. "You're still acting like we would've just let you go."

"Not that we wouldn't respect your choice to leave," Cayden says, shooting a glare.