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Hmm…

If I said okay, then I would be forced to let him go. If I let him go, he might run away and not come back again.

Decisions, decisions…

I let him go and stepped back.

He was mine. Both Addison and Abel were mine in whatever way I wanted them.

He’d come back to me. Even if he didn’t, I knew Abel wouldn’t leave me and Addison wouldn’t leave his brother for very long. He’d be forced to return.

I wasn’t left with much of a choice.

“Okay,” I agreed in a quiet, defeated voice.

I backed up a step, then two. My shoulders slumped, and without looking at him, I turned and walked back into my bedroom. I closed the door behind me, locking it for good measure. If Addison came back, he would be forced to knock on the door. I wasn’t trying to lock him out, promise. I simply did not like being in my bedroom with the door unlocked anymore.

“What’s going on?” Abel asked me in a guttural voice. “Where did Addison go? Ariel, tell me what in the fuck is going on. Right now.”

He looked agitated, upset and angry all at the same time. And he usually never talked to me like that.

“He told me he was coming back,” I whispered in a broken voice.

“Come here, Ariel,” Abel ordered.

He held his arms open to me and I ran into them. I crawled into his lap and he wrapped his arms around me.

One of his arms rested low around my hips, above my butt. His other hand ran up and down my spine, in a soothing gesture.

His forehead rested against mine and he murmured, “If he said he was coming back then he will come back. Have some faith. My twin isn’t a liar. If he said he’d do something, then he will come through.”

I nodded my head against his, letting him know that I believed him. No one knew his brother better than he did, if Abel said Addison would be coming back then I believed him.

With me still seated in his lap, he scooted back until his back met with the headboard.

He shifted around, grabbing hold of my thighs and moved me where he wanted me to be. I ended up facing him with my legs on the outside of his, straddling him. My chest was mere inches from his own.

This had not been what I was expecting. He’d taken advantage of the situation, not that I blamed him. I couldn’t blame him; the twins were playful and had no problem being touchy feely. I couldn’t harp on him for being who he was.

“Thank you,” he murmured appreciatively. “Thank you for going after my brother and trying to stop him. I feel like he needed that from you. Like he needed you to reach out to him, to let him know you actually cared about whether or not he left. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with you, you’re very closed off and sometimes I think that gets to him. But, don’t worry, he’ll come back to us. Please, don’t worry. And, stop looking so sad.”

Don’t worry.

Easy for him to say.

I worried about everything. Every stupid, little thing.

I snuggled into him, pressing my front to his. Abel was so easy to be around that I felt comfortable touching him.

“What do you want to do today?” He asked me.

I had no idea and didn’t think I was going to figure it out while sitting on his lap like this. I couldn’t think.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled.

“Do you have a hair dryer?” He asked me.

I nodded my head against his.