Page 84 of The Triple Play

They were okay with this.

They were…

They were happy.

It hit me in a rush, flooding me, overwhelming me, threatening to drown me. I choked on whatever my mind wanted to say, nothing coming out, and reached up instead to grasp the back of Colton’s neck, burying the sound against his mouth.

I kissed him like I needed him. Like I was going to fucking die withoutthem.

Part of me felt like I might. I had no idea how long I’d have lasted if Cole hadn’t shown up when he had.

Colton responded to my shift immediately, his hands wrapping around my waist, his mouth opening against mine with a low groan like he’d been just as desperate for this as I was. The kiss turned urgent, messy,real, and I didn’t care that I was sniffling, didn’t care that my fingers were shaking against his neck. I just needed him, needed all of them, and I needed to admit that to myself.

I could hear Xavi muttering something to Cole, his voice breaking a little, but I couldn’t quite catch what it was.

Colton pulled me flush to him, like he couldn’t stand the distance anymore. “Missed you,” he muttered against my lips, clinging to me as if the world would drop from under him if he didn’t. “Missed you so fucking much, sweetheart.”

His tongue swept against mine, rougher, more insistent, and I whimpered into it, pouring weeks of bottled-up fear and depression and anxiety and love into the way I kissed him back. My whole body shook with it, my lungs trying to pull in air that just couldn’t seem to find room, my sobs breaking through the kiss.

He tried to pull back, tried to comfort me, but I couldn’t let him. I needed more. Needed another second, another minute, another lifetime of the certainty they brought me.

They were okay. They wanted this. Wanted me.

And for the first time after weeks of feeling like a teenager back under the control of a man who was supposed to love me unconditionally and seemed to do anything but, I didn’t feel like a mistake. I felt like somethingchosen.

Colton let out a strangled sound when I pulled him back in, something between a gasp and a broken breath, like I’d hit a nerve. There was no teasing now, no smirk, no clever comment. No joke to mask what he was feeling. His mouth moved over mine with a desperation that seemed to crack him open, both of us moving like neither of us knew how to stop.

And then I felt it, heard it — a shudder that rippled through his chest, a hitch in his breath.

He broke the kiss to press his forehead to mine, his eyes squeezing shut like he was trying to hold it together. But his body betrayed him. His shoulders shook, his hands trembling against my back, and when his mouth found mine again, there was salt on his lips, and I had no idea if they were my tears or his.

“I need you,” he croaked. “We need you.”

He pulled me tight enough against him to lift me back up off the counter, taking every bit of my weight. Colton actuallystumbledas he took one step toward the hall.

“Please tell me one of you put sheets on the new bed,” he said, his voice still cracking, one arm holding me up and the other gripping onto the wall for stability.

“I did,” Cole said. “You want her alone?”

I looked at them over Colton’s shoulder, saw the way Xavi’s eyes were already tearing up as he looked away from us, saw Cole’s unreadable expression. I knew Colton probably wanted me to himself right now, but I couldn’t bear the idea of leaving them out when it meant putting one above the others after weeks.

Colton didn’t answer. Just started moving.

I reached out over his shoulder toward them, my eyes burning, and they followed immediately.

We moved through the house in a blur, Xavi practically jogging to catch up, taking my outstretched hand in his. Cole moved casually, letting them have a moment when we’d already had a bit of alone time already.

Colton pushed open the door, his chest still shaking, his breathing ragged. He set me down on the mattress, a little springier than I remembered and alotwider, but I didn’t have time to focus on it before Xavi was climbing on behind me as Colton ripped off his hoodie.

Arms wrapped around my waist, tugging me into Xavi’s chest, one hand flat and gentle on my stomach and the other around my chest. He didn’t kiss my skin, didn’t try to take off my clothes. Xavi just buried his head in the crook of my neck, breathing deeply like he might forget how to.

Cole appeared in the doorway a second later, his lips slightly quirked in a soft grin as he leaned back against the wall. “We about to fight over who gets to be inside of her first, or…?”

“Don’t care,” Xavi muttered, his grip tightening around me. “She’s here, that’s what matters.”

My chest cracked at that. For Xavi specifically to not insist thathewas first, thatheneeded it, needed me, even after weeks — that was massive.

“I’m not stopping unless she asks, so good luck fighting me off if you want that,” Colton said to Cole, pulling his sweatpants off his ankles and crawling onto the bed in just his boxers, his face still damp. His mouth met mine again, softer this time, pushing me back into Xavi’s chest.

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