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“We’ll take my car.” Brock went to toss Hunter the keys, but Jamie caught them mid air. “Go downstairs and start it up and I’ll look after payment.”

We thanked Mac for her time, but when Jamie went to ask about the details, I stepped forward.

“Brock’s got this.”

“And we’ve got you.”

Hunter kept his voice low and he smiled as he took her hand, tugging her down the stairs. Jamie tried to say goodbye to Millie and Mac, but she was gone before she could get a reply. Down the steps and towards the gleaming beast that was Brock’s car, we were like sharks in a feeding frenzy as we drew closer. Jamie unlocked the car, but our focus was on her.

“Tell me you’ve got no regrets,” I said, pressing her against the car, needing to feel her beneath me. “Tell me that nothing has changed from the other night.”

I went to kiss her but she froze, staring up at me.

“I can’t,” she said. My heart stopped beating, the world no longer spinning on its axis as I stared down at her. “Things have changed.” I watched her hand move slowly to caress my cheek, hoping, praying that this wasn’t the big brush off I’d feared was coming. “We’re different.” Her fingers were tentative as she traced the shape of my lips, but when I nipped her fingertips she let out a little hiss. “I…” I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a cliff, waiting to jump off. “I feel different.”

“How different?” Hunter settled down beside her, staring into her eyes and I cursed him silently. We were crowding Jamie right as she was about to take a major step. I read things wrong, though, because rather than stiffen and clam up, she let out a long breath. “How different, Jamie?”

“You guys have been so good to me and I think in some ways I was holding back, not sure how this would work.” She was speaking faster and faster now. “Like I liked Brock, and then Hayden, then Hunter.”

“Please tell me not in order of importance,” Hunter prompted.

“No, in response to your dates.” She looked up at him then me, pleading for us to understand. “You were just so perfect and I… It stopped being fake days and days ago, so what did this become if we aren’t pretending anymore?”

I knew. I always knew, and I shot Hunter a dark look, warning him to shut his mouth, but he didn’t spare me a glance. Instead, he stared at her intently, unable to look away. My heart was beating too fast, my chest feeling tight, but I would’ve done anything right now to prolong that feeling. It was like that short moment when you were riding the crest of a wave, like you could just go on and on. I didn’t want to wipe out, fall from my board and into the water. I just wanted to be right here. Her hand grabbed mine, her thumb moving restively across my knuckles, as if in recognition of that.

“It becomes real, doesn’t it?”

“You know it is.” We all turned to see Brock standing there staring at our girl as if his heart would break, and I knew how he felt. She just needed to make the jump with us, because we were already there. “You know exactly what this is, Jamie, don’t you? What we feel for you, but more than that.” Hunter and I pulled back slightly to let him get closer. He pressed her into the side of the car, stroking her hair back from her face. “What you feel for us.”

My grip tightened as I saw her frown, felt her hand trying to jerk free, but I couldn’t allow that to happen. She had to know. What this was, what she was to us, but more importantly, what we were to her.

“There’s nothing to be scared of.” My attempt at soothing her was ruined by the shake in my voice. “It’s just us. We’ve been moving towards this moment since we were all kids.”

“Kids?” she squeaked.

“Not romantically, not back then, but there was a need to protect you,” I replied.

“To look after you,” Hunter added.

“To make sure you have everything you need, back then and…” Brock’s brows creased slightly, as if this hurt to say. “Going forward. Forever and ever, Jamie. Love doesn’t have to hurt?—”

That one word triggered her: love. Her body bucked up and off the car and her hands pressed down on our chests, trying to shove us away. Running was always her first instinct, but she couldn’t push us off. We knew that, knew her, and we were ready to catch her if she started to fall.

Or to run.

Our arms locked around her, and for a moment Jamie fought this, an animal sound squeaking past her lips.

“Love,” I said, injecting everything I felt in that word.

“Love,” Hunter repeated, pressing his forehead to hers.

“No, no…”

If she hadn’t started this, if she hadn’t brought this up, I’d have let her go, given her time to process, but she knew. She always knew, just as we did, how we felt about her.

“Yes, love.” Brock’s hands went to her jaw and that had her stilling, staring wild eyed into his, then mine and Hunter’s in turn. There was a mute plea there, to follow through and back off, all at the same time, but we could only give her one of those things. “Always love. I…” I could count on one hand the amount of times I’d heard my big brother’s voice shake and still have fingers to spare. “I don’t know when it started, but all I know is I can’t fucking stop.” He darted closer, his mouth seeking hers I knew, because mine longed to do the same. “I can’t stop. I can’t.”

“Don’t want to stop.” Her eyes jerked sideways to take me in, and I met her gaze with a feeling of defiance. I’d been hiding what I felt, who I was for so damn long, and I just couldn’t anymore. “If you asked me to, I’d pretend, but I don’t want you to. God, how I don’t want you to.” My spare hand went to my chest, clawing at the skin there. “It aches so damn much. Every time I see you the breath is driven from my lungs, my heart feels like it's going to leap out of my chest, and if it was anything else, I’d seek medical help, but…” I shook my head. “I don’t want a cure for whatever this is. I love you, Jamie. I have since high school, and I don’t think I’m ever going to stop.”