We sat there for the longest time, holding each other through the pain, and I was thankful the world hadn’t lost him all those years before. He was more than a beautiful man; he was a soul meant to brighten the world. He may have sealed himself off with work, but there was so much he offered. Friendship. Wisdom. Humor. Love. I was as sure of it as I was sure his eyes were blue.
Eventually, we crawled into bed, wrapped in one another while I stroked his hair, soft snores soon escaping his lips. I disentangled our limbs, desperate to freshen up, not wanting to leave streaks of black across the sheets from my eyes. It took time for the involuntary sobs to cease, but once they did, I felt confident enough to venture out of the room.
Tally was lying in the hall outside our door, her eyes warming my heart at a glance. I reached down and stroked her, her tail smacking against the floor as she rolled to her back for some belly rubs.
“Everything good?” a deep voice asked.
I turned my head to see Ethan leaning against the wall at the far end of the hall, a tumbler in his hand. “Yes,” I replied, standing and straightening. “Just coming to rinse my face before bed.”
“Can you talk to Luke and me in the living room when you’re done?” he asked, his rumbling voice making my skin prickle.
I nodded before hurrying to the bathroom, my nerves roaring to life. I understood why he was so cautious about me. They were protective of their older brother, and I had to earn their trust. I couldn’t imagine the pain they’d went through watching their older brother suffer.
When I flicked on the light, a raccoon greeted in the mirror, my eyes smeared to hell and back with eye makeup. Likewise, my thumbs were marred, streaks lining them. I made quick work of the makeup fiasco with a washcloth before going to face the brothers.
They were sitting on opposite sofas, so I took the space next to Luke, the more welcoming of the two. He was nursing a beer, his face worn with worry, while Ethan kept his eyes on mine, harsher than Jason’s could ever be.
“He asleep?” Ethan asked.
I nodded, sinking back into the pillows, feeling hopelessly small in the room of massive men. While Jason was built, his brothers were jacked, looking lethal when they weren’t smiling.
“He told you, I assume,” he continued, raising a brow.
I nodded again before a tiny sob came crawling out of hiding, my hands flying up to stifle it. Luke’s arm reached out to stroke my shoulder gently, his hand enormous.
“We love him more than anything, and we’ll do anything to make sure nothing happens to him. We almost lost him.” Ethan’s words were meant as fact, but they came across menacing when paired with the hard glint in his eyes. “What are your intentions with him?”
Luke spun his attention from me to Ethan, dropping his hand from me. “Seriously?”
I ignored their quarrel, locking eyes with Ethan. “I love him,” I declared. “I don’t have any intentions other than making him the happiest man alive.”
Ethan nodded, his jaw still hard, the force of his gaze unyielding. “He loves you too. He may not say it, but he does. Give him time. That’s all I ask.”
My eyes welled with fresh ears, relieved to hear the words finally. They might not have fallen from Jason’s lips, but his brothers knew him better than anyone. “I’ll give him all the time he needs,” I assured.
A faint smile touched Ethan’s lips, his eyes softening. “I knew the moment I saw you two together that he was happy. Truly happy – not puppy love.”
I brushed a fallen tear, my composure collapsing brick by brick. “This isn’t puppy love,” I replied, forcing down a sob. “This is it. The real deal.”
“So, you two met at work?” Luke asked. “I never thought I’d see the day that the king of rules would break them.”
I shook my head with a smile. “We chatted on an app back in June, a month before he showed up in Ithaca.”
“And you knew you worked together?” he laughed, eyes wide.
I thought back to that first day in the office, our less than stellar meeting front and center. “Not at all. We didn’t find out who one another were until we met in September.”
Both brothers cackled, Ethan’s eyes drifting to the doorway as they did. “Brother!” he greeted, waving.
I turned to see Jason leaning against the doorjamb, his hair messy from sleep. “You abandoned cuddles for my brothers?” he asked, a lopsided grin lighting up his face.
I smiled, my heart bursting with love for the man across the room. “I was just telling them how much you hated me when we met.”
“Did you tell them how you and Lee were talking about how much I must have sucked in the sack?” he asked, a dangerous spark flashing in his eyes.
I patted the seat beside me, beckoning him forth as his brothers howled. “No, but we were just getting to that.”
Elena
After that somber night, the weekend went without a hitch, his brothers filling the roles of ones I never had. The mood turned — Ethan’s aloofness now a warmth that rivaled Luke’s, though he kept his clothes on thankfully. We ate, drank, laughed, and explored, taking on Boston with everything we had from the bars North End to the shops of Newbury Street.
By the time we hugged them goodbye and boarded our flight, I was running on fumes. Our time in the city was a rollercoaster, but we came out stronger as a couple, and I was confident it was just the beginning. And best of all, Dad was feeling better, and we already made plans
