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“ K ai, you okay?” Fintan says as he steps outside. I am hunched over in a lawn chair, teetering on the edge of hyperventilation.

Without looking at him, I raise my hand as I hear him move closer. I can’t do this right now. I need a fucking minute.

Fintan crouches in front of me and I am grateful he doesn’t touch me or ask that godforsaken question we have been asking each other far too much since this shit started.

I don’t need to look at him to know his eyes are full of concern and that “I told you so” look he has given me so many times.

A few minutes pass. My erratic breaths and pounding heartbeat are the only things I hear until he places a hand on my knee, demanding eye contact.

Fintan tilts one corner of his mouth up in a smirk that doesn’t match the emotion in his eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that!” I growl, jerking my knee from his hand.

“What can I do, darlin’?” he asks smoothly, ignoring my irritation. Seems like the roles have reversed again. I was comforting his ass less than two hours ago. Fuuuck!

“I just need to get over it. How the fuck did Alex get over what we did to her?” My voice cracks before I steady myself.

“That is a good question… I think you just watched her way of getting over it,” Fintan says, chewing on the words.

Taking a few deep breaths, I start again. “We can’t just take revenge. The cycle will never end, and we’ll destroy all of this in the process. I know you’re not over it either… Should we—”

“What? Don’t tell me you want to ask Alex how we’re supposed to forgive her?” Fintan cuts me off, his voice bitter and sharp.

“Why not?!” I straighten in the chair, nearly knocking Fintan on his ass as he stumbles back.

“If we really are in this together, we can’t keep avoiding this shit, Fin.

We need to talk through this before things go too far.

” Feeling a renewed sense of determination, I explain, “I want this. You want this. She wants this… This is going to take work.”

Fintan stands but remains silent as he mulls over my words.

As if summoned, Alex slides open the door. “You’ve been out here for a while… I got worried,” she says sheepishly as she walks closer to us. She looks at me, her face full of unspoken apologies.

“Fuck it,” I mutter.

“I’m having trouble with getting over that day and the footage is definitely not helping. I know this was my idea, but honestly, Alex, how did you go from the vengeful bitch in that video to this?” I ask, gesturing at her.

She takes a deep breath, her eyes flicking between us. “You’re both not okay with this, are you?” she asks, rubbing her arms.

“How observant,” Fintan barks.

I shake my head before staring daggers at him. “We’d like to know what you did to get here. We are in this shit, and we all need to be fine for this to work.”

Fintan may refuse to ask for help, but I won’t.

“I guess I felt like I had to take back what I lost that night. What you took— my control and my choice. I wanted to recreate what you did to me, give you a taste of your own medicine, but I had to get creative since I was obviously outnumbered,” I say, breathing heavier with each word.

“I may have taken it too far, and for that, I am sorry.”

The guys stare at the ground, silent and reflective.

“Hey, please stop that,” I say as I step closer to them. “I may have apologized for that day but I sure as hell will never apologize for what happened because of it.”

I take their hands in mine. “We are here. We are… us because of what we did, and honestly, I don’t care how our story began, but I want this to be good.

For all of us.” Without giving them a chance to respond, I pull them close and wrap my arms around them.

It doesn’t take them long to reciprocate, and we stand here like this for long moments before Fintan lets out a sigh.

“Should we get back to it?” he asks, both of us eyeing Kieran for his reaction. Kieran’s lips tilt into a smile, and he nods, although I don’t miss the glint in his eyes.