Page 34 of Beyond Repair, Part One (Damaged Duet #1)

Nina

" W here do you work?" Ridge jumps and I suppress a laugh. I've been awake for a bit just watching him as he types away on his phone. Feeling bad for startling him, I say, "Sorry."

"Christ. Why are you awake? You only slept for an hour and a half, Nina."

I won't tell him it was much less than that, so I only shrug.

Frowning at me with the light from the hallway lighting his way to my bedside, he strides to me and sits by my knees. "You should try to sleep more," he murmurs, slowly placing his hand on my thigh.

The weight feels nice on my leg, but I'm too wrapped up in everything that I don't know about the man who kissed me earlier. "Tell me about you, Ridgie. Please."

I'm the worst person ever. I've strategically avoided asking any questions about the four of them out of fear that I would find myself unworthy of their attention.

Connecting with people is hard in general, plus I know what happens when I make meaningful connections only for them to die in a shallow grave of decaying hope.

Ridge watches me for a moment before gently reclining over my legs with his elbow propping him up behind my knees. "What do you want to know?"

My eyes burn with so much sadness for all the time we lost. "Everything. Please."

"Well, Trev and I own Neen Resorts." My eyes widen at the name and the sheer accomplishments they've made.

"It was a lot of fucking work, I tell ya.

But our recruitment team has been a lifesaver.

We have some amazing managers and people capable of running everything when we're busy.

Trev likes to go to meetings I say they're boring as fuck, but I like to go to the design ones. "

"Ridge, that's amazing. The name..."

He gives me a gentle nod and smile. "You, Nina. We named it after you. When we were at BYU getting our business degrees, our main goal was to form a business with your name as the headline. You were never far from our thoughts."

"I—" My tears are unstoppable as it finally hits me just how much I've missed out on. "Gosh, I'm sorry." I groan and wipe my face as I wiggle out from under him.

"Please don't apologize, Nina girl. I want all of you, so don't hold back those feelings on my account, please."

Groaning, I rub the heels of my palms into my burning eyes. "You guys keep saying stuff like that and I don't get it."

The bed moves, and heat suddenly engulfs my wrists before my hands are tugged away from my face. "You really won't go back to sleep, huh?" Ridge asks seriously. I shake my head. Not a chance. "Then let’s go see if the other three are awake and willing to make us omelets."

" D id all of you go to BYU?" Asking the question that burns a hole in my heart is hard, but I have to make myself ask the heartbreaking questions if we're going to move forward.

Brigham Young University was where the four of us promised we would go to college together. I broke my promise...

"No," Kai admits and takes a big gulp of his coffee. "I lived with Henry, Ridge, and Trevor, but I never went to college. I have a traveling blog that does really damn well."

Henry beams at Kai with far more energy than Kai could ever gather before six in the morning. "He's living his dream," Henry gushes.

That familiar ache in my chest whenever I see their love for one another is back. I feel so dang guilty that it hurts to have lost them to each other.

"Henry got an art degree and graduated a year before us," Trevor announces with pride in his voice. "He restores old books. And he creates amazing special edition covers for authors."

"Wow! Really?!" The excitement buzzing through my veins is like a drug. "Oh! I wonder if I've seen any of your work. What authors do you work with?!"

The silence doesn't deter me. Feeling invigorated for the first time since, who knows, I leap from the couch and bolt for the stairs. "I'm gonna grab my e-reader!"

With my e-reader in my hand, I run down the stairs only to be swept off my feet as soon as I reach the bottom. "Hey!" I squeal and I swear my heart yelps.

"Naughty Nina," Trevor growls in my ear. He releases me a moment after my panties dampen. "Don't ever run down the stairs like that again. You could have gotten seriously hurt."

Trevor standing in front of me with a scowl etched into his hard features makes me gulp. His straight and styled dirty blond hair and perfectly trimmed beard give him an aura of authority that I am helpless to ignore.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I was just so excited."

His blue eyes soften. "I know, baby. I don't want you to get hurt ever again, so I need you to be careful."

"Okay." Shoot, I feel bad for scaring him. I debate my next move for half a second before I grab his hand. "I'll be more careful."

His hand shifts and something cold brushes my skin. Curious, I look down and the world stops moving.

"T-Trevor...my ring," I gasp and yank his pinky up to my face. "You're wearing my ring."

"Yeah, Nina. I've worn it since your sixteenth birthday and haven't taken it off since," he confirms.

"I left it in your truck when we went to the beach the day before," I murmur, remembering the last time I wore my silver band.

Memories flash through my head of our beautiful day in the sun.

I can still feel the way his big hands held my waist and the brush of Ridge's fingers along my thigh. Kai had kissed my shoulder, and Henry heated my bare skin with his heavy gaze. Their attention made me spacey, and for the first time in many, many years, I left my ring behind in Trevor’s truck.

"I wore it on my thumb." Absentmindedly, I notice he wears it on his smallest finger; a clear representation of our size differences. "I can't believe you've kept it all this time."

Looking up, I startle and suck in a breath at the intense look in his eyes. "We've all kept you close, baby girl."

"A-all of you?" I stutter, just now noticing the other guys standing around me and Trevor.

"I have your first initial tatted on my right hip bone where you hit me with a baseball in high school." Ridge lifts his shirt and tugs his shorts down a little, showing off the dainty N inked into his skin.

My mouth goes dry and my soul feels like it opens wide to accept him into my life for good.

"I have a rock collection like you used to have," Henry admits next. "And Kai has air fresheners, candles, diffusers, and scent rollers that all smell like roses."

Roses...My scent of choice.

"I—" My voice catches as I look at each of the men opening their hearts to me. "I don't know what to say."

"Then you really aren't gonna know how to respond to this next part," Ridge teases and looks at Henry. Was this planned? I just wanted to talk about books.

"Nina, we love you. And before you brush that off, we're in love with you. All four of us. We are hoping you still feel the same way we do after getting to know us again this past month." Henry makes it sound so...normal.

"I don't?—"

Ridge cuts me off and leans against the banister. "That dirty book you were reading a few weeks ago, I looked it up. Learned a lot about why choose romance. That's what this is. That's what we're talking about."

"That's fiction," I say, aghast and feeling like I'm in some warped wet dream. Because believe me, my heart and vagina definitely love the sound of this.

"Pretty sure it's called polyamory," he fires back.

I open my mouth to tell him he's crazy, but the alarm on my phone blares in the pouch of my sweatshirt. My ears cringe and Ridge's frown turns into one of disgust as he steals my phone out of my hand and shuts the godawful noise off.

"Why in the hell is that your alarm? And why the fuck do you have an alarm at six am when you don't get enough sleep to begin with?"

My lips purse with annoyance. Snatching my phone back, I fold my arms. "Pretty sure it's called being an adult." Gosh, he pushes my dang buttons!

"We'll revisit this discussion," Trevor announces.

My glare travels from one man to the next. "My alarm isn't a problem."

Trev's lips twitch. "I wasn't talking about your horrendous choice of an alarm. I mean we will talk about our relationships later once we've all had some rest."

"Come," Henry says softly as he wraps an arm around my waist. "Snuggle with me while we figure out who turns into a vampire next."

We both know who it's going to be, but rewatching my favorite show with Henry is like watching it for the first time again. It makes me wonder how many firsts we can recreate.

Plus, it's the perfect distraction from the building tension between the four of us. But how long until it snaps?