Page 48 of Accidentally Forever

Puma and Gray flank me, their heat pressing into my sides. Lips brush against my temple, my jaw, the shell of my ear, and it’s so fucking easy to melt between them, a little dazed, a little too comfortable in how effortlessly I fit here.

“Think we can keep her all to ourselves, Puma?” Gray murmurs against my skin, voice curling around the words. I elbow him in the ribs just to wipe that smug grin off his face.

Puma chuckles, his fingers tracing lazy circles at the small of my back. “Not a chance.”

Before Gray can respond, a delighted squeal cuts through the air, and Sofie steals him, fingers curling around his wrist as she tugs him toward the water, breathless laughs falling from her lips.

Lance is right behind them, running at full speed, grinning ear to ear. His movements are all reckless joy, broad shoulders shifting as he swoops Sofie up into his arms before she can tumble, spinning her once before setting her back on her feet. She shrieks, slapping at his arm, but the way she clings to him says she doesn’t mind one bit. Watching them, something deep in my chest settles. It’s such a different dynamic from when we first met.

It felt like I was trying to keep myself from falling apart, hoping and praying that Sofie would have the help she needed. And now, I’m slowly falling in love with the men around me. I look around, searching for the missing Alpha, Hawk sitting on one of the benches a few feet away. His arms are stuffed into his pockets, a tight smile on his face, his gaze focused on the three playing at the edge of the water.

Something calls to me, a need to sit beside him, to explore this growing thing between us. It feels both awkward and comfortable as my knee grazes his thigh, my hands twisting in my lap for several seconds before I manage to say something. “You good?”

His lips twitch, barely there. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Feels like you’re thinking real hard about something.”

He manages a shrug, his scent wrapping around me, providing that same comfort from before. “I’m the quiet twin, Vi. Doesn’t mean I don’t see everything.”

I shift, turning fully toward him. “And what exactly do you see?”

“I see Sofie falling harder for us than she realizes. I see Lance already gone for her, in a way I don’t think he’s ever been for anyone.” His gaze flicks toward me, something unspoken moving behind it. “And I see you, sitting here, trying to figure out where you fit into all of it.”

It’s like he cracked me open, dug through all the shit I wasn’t sure how to put into words, and laid it bare in the salt-stained air between us.

“You’re thinking too much about it,” Hawk says. “Trying to figure out where we go from here, what the next steps are. You’re worried about Sofie, about yourself, about the pack—when all you really need to do is just be here.”

My throat tightens, something thick lodging itself behind my ribs. “That easy, huh?”

A flicker of amusement passes over his face, gone just as quickly. “Nothing about this is easy. But it’s not meant to be a goddamn war, either.”

He’s right. I don’t know why I thought it had to be complicated. Why I thought I had to plan every step like I was bracing for a fallout that might never come. Maybe it’s just instinct. Maybe it’s just me. I really look at him this time, and for the first time since meeting him, I realize—Hawk isn’t just the quiet twin. He isn’t just the one who lets Lance do all the talking, lets him play buffer between the world and whatever sharp edges he’s keeping tucked away.

He seesme. Like he’s stripping me bare with nothing but his words.

He leans forward, elbows resting on his knees, fingers laced together, the muscles in his shoulders tight. “I let Lance do all the talking,” he muses. “He’s the charmer, always has been. People love him. He makes friends in an instant, gets into their good graces without even trying.” His exhale is sharp, his head shaking slightly. “Me?” A humorless chuckle under his breath. “I like the work. The hunt. Finding the pieces no one else sees.” His gaze flicks to mine, steady, searching. “I don’t do well with people.”

I raise a brow, watching the way his jaw flexes. “You seem fine to me.”

His lips twitch, but it doesn’t stick. “You don’t count.”

A soft breath of laughter pushes past my lips. “Why’s that?”

“Because you don’t expect me to be something I’m not.”

I study him, my gaze tracing the sharp cut of his features, the way the moonlight catches the angles of his face. His expression is unreadable, carefully blank, but his posture isn’t. His body is tense, wound up tight, like there’s something inside of him coiled and waiting.

Hawk exhales through his nose, like he’s coming to terms with something. “I don’t do well with emotions either. Lance says it’s because I don’t let people in. That I let myself care, but not in a way people understand.” His fingers twitch, brushing against my knee. “But I do care, Vi. And I don’t want to do this half-assed. I don’t want to be good at this in a way that makes sense to anyone else.” A pause. Then—“I want to be selfish.”

Something tightens in my chest. “Selfish?”

His jaw ticks, his eyes locked on mine. “With you. With Sofie.”

“Hawk…”

He shakes his head once, like I don’t need to say whatever it is I think I should. “Sofie’s easy,” he says, quieter now, like he’s treading into unfamiliar territory. “She’s already madly in love with you.”

That makes me smile, because yeah. She is. Sofie is love in its purest, wildest form, throwing herself headfirst into the people she wants without hesitation. But Hawk looks at me like I matter in a way I don’t think I’ve ever let myself believe. I try to joke, try to ease the weight of whatever this moment is. “You think Sofie’s already madly in love with you too?”

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