Page 91 of My Three Hometown Alphas

Lyla does a little happy dance, seeing she’s won.Not that she had to worry about it.

She taps her index finger against her chin like she’s thinking about it for the first time and didn’t explain her whole thought process to me on the drive over.

“So, I guess I don’t really want to paint my entire room. I just want to paint one of the walls with chalkboard paint, so I have a big place to draw.”

Will nods, reaching for her hand. “Let’s go get your paint,” he tells her as they walk toward the paint aisle.

I fall in step between Miles and Owen, following the duo in front of us.

“You sure this is what you want to do on your last day with her?” Owen asks.

“I’d do anything she wanted to do. Well, maybe not anything,” I say, shaking my head. “If painting a wall so she can draw on it is what she wants to do, then I’ll be her faithful assistant all day until the job is done.”

Both brothers stop walking at the same time. “What’s wrong?” I ask, turning around to face them.

They’re staring at me with a soft intensity that sends a wave of warmth through me.

“Thank you for being so good to her,” Owen says.

Oh…I didn’t think that was what he was going to say.

“Of course,” I say, slightly surprised because how else would I be? She’s hands-down the coolest kid I’ve ever been around and one of my favorite people in the whole world.

It was never a question in my mind what I would do for her.

“You’ve helped her this summer, even if you haven’t realized it,” Miles says.

I blink several times, trying to keep the tears at bay. “I think she helped me, too,” I say quietly, then shake my head. “No, Iknowshe did.”

Try as I might, I can’t keep a few tears from escaping.

“Fuck,” Owen mutters before using his thumbs to wipe the tears away. He kisses my forehead.

My eyes scan around, but Will and Lyla are long gone.

“I’m sorry, gorgeous. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Miles says.

I give them both a small smile. “Sometimes crying isn’t a bad thing. It just means you love someone enough to know you’re going to miss them, and I do love that little girl.”

They both nod, knowing I mean it.

“Let’s go get all the other stuff you guys will need, while they get the paint,” Owen says. His hand goes to the base of my spine as he guides me toward the aisle where we need to go.

I can’t help but laugh when Lyla comes into view. She’s talking a million miles a minute to the guy who’s mixing up our paint we will be using. He looks rather confused, trying to keep up with her excited chatter.

Will is standing beside her with nothing but pride and unconditional love in his gaze—and when he turns to look at me, the emotion in his eyes stays exactly the same.

“I love it,” Lyla screeches. We are sitting on her plastic-covered carpet, staring up at the wall we labored over for the last few hours.

I say labored, but it wasn’t work at all. My cheeks hurt from how much I laughed. I’m in desperate need of a shower because I’m pretty sure more places on my body are covered in paint than not.

The gleam in her eyes as she stares up at the black wall is all the confirmation I need to know it was well worth it.

“You are going to make some masterpieces on there,” I tell her. “I’m bummed I won’t get to see any of them.”

She looks down at her lap. “I guess I could have my uncles send you pictures.”

“I would love that,” I say, clinging to any hope of being a part of their lives, even if it’s in the smallest of ways.