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Rilee

I stare at the job offer on my laptop screen for the hundredth time.

Competitive pay. Amazing training program. A beach literally down the street. The kind of opportunity I fought tooth and nail to earn.

But my chest is tight.

I hit Call on Fletcher’s contact before I can second-guess it.

He answers on the second ring. “Hey, Ri. You okay?”

I laugh, but it’s wobbly. “Define okay.”

He hears it. The crack in my voice.

“You need to talk?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “Yeah, I think I do.”

I sit down on the edge of my bed, tucking one leg under me.

“Remember the job I told you about?”

“San Diego?” he asks, already knowing.

“Yep. Full-time. Starts in two weeks.”

Silence.

I wait for him to tell me to take it. Or tell me it’s okay if I don’t. I’m not sure which I want more.

Instead, he says, “What’s stopping you?”

I close my eyes. “Everything. My life here. What if… what if I’m walking away from something I can’t ever get back?”

“Rilee.”

His voice is calm. Steady. Big-brother strong.

“This is your dream . You worked your ass off to get here. Every late night, every exam, every clinical that nearly broke you? This is what it was for.”

A tear slides down my cheek.

“You don’t get it,” I say softly.

“I get it more than you think,” Fletcher says. “You’re scared. And that’s okay. But staying because you’re scared isn’t the same as staying because it’s right.”

My breath hitches.

More tears fall.

Silent and steady.

“This is your future, Ri. And I’ll come visit every chance I get.”

I wipe my face on my sleeve.

“Thanks,” I murmur.

“For what?”

“For always knowing what to say. Even when I don’t want to hear it.”

Fletcher lets out a quiet laugh. “That’s what big brothers are for. Now go pack. You’ve got a future to start.”

I smile through the ache. “Okay. Yeah. I will.”

* * *

I pass my last final with shaking hands and red-rimmed eyes. My brain’s barely functioning, but I did it.

Four years. Four years of blood, sweat, caffeine, and tears.

I’m a nurse.

I should feel proud.

I should feel everything.

Instead, all I feel is numb .

Because I know what has to come next.

California. The position I fought for, the one with a start date I can’t push, and a relocation package already processed.

I have to go.

I have to go .

Because how can I justify to anyone—let alone myself—that I’ve fallen in love with three men?

Sex with Caleb? Incredible.

Sex with Grayson? Intense.

But sex with Hunter? It wrecked me.

Because I knew how much it cost him. Knew exactly what he had to give up by letting himself have this. He had to swallow all his pride and humility and open himself up completely. He had to share something—possibly for the first time in his entire life—but he did it all willingly.

Just so he could have me.

It was too much.

It scared the hell out of me.

And Lexi was right; it will never work.

Because Hunter’s going to be drafted. Grayson will most likely move back to Canada. And Caleb? I get the sense he’d be just as lost without them as without me.

Better to leave now. Better to save myself the destruction of the fallout.

So I pack in secret.

Late nights, when the guys are asleep or distracted, I fold shirts into a suitcase and pretend it’s just laundry. I write letters instead of saying things out loud—because if I look at them when I say goodbye, I won’t be able to walk out the door.

But the day comes anyway.

And maybe that’s the part that breaks me most.

Because I know they love me.

And I love them too.

But sometimes love isn’t enough.

And so I leave.

One step. Then another.

Until the door shuts behind me—and I’m gone.