Page 91 of Fighting Shadows

“She hasn’t.”

“Autumn has five men fighting for her attention; she barely has the time to acknowledge us, never mind you,” Zander says.

“And if I was to try to date her? Wouldn’t that cut into your time with her?”

“Nah. We get enough time with her, but we’re selfish bastards who want her time all to ourselves,” Dominic says.

“Do you find it weird, sharing her, I mean?” I ask them.

They all look at one another and then shake their heads. Sebastian is the first to speak: “At first, maybe, but she was everything I wanted, and if the price of having her was to share her with the men I call my brothers, then I didn’t care.”

“I was in love with her my entire life, and I only ever want her to be happy. After everything she went through with Jane, she deserved to feel loved, and I trust these guys to make sure she knows she is,” Atlas says, his voice cracking.

I look at Dominic and see him staring at me with a smug look on his face, “I claimed her as mine.” He shrugs, “I knew you would fall for her.”

Shaking my head at him, I can’t help but laugh at how he’s so nonchalant about claiming her, “What about you two?” I ask Zander and Tobias.

They share a look again, and Tobias seems almost resistant to tell me.

“She’s my other half. We share a bond from trauma, and I get her just like she gets me.” Tobias murmurs, then swallows half his beer in one go.

Zander coughs, peeling my attention from Tobias, “Do you remember how you felt when you walked into that room and saw her in that room?” he asks me.

“I couldn’t forget.”

“Imagine hearing stories about her for years, being told that this girl is missing, and watching your friend and her brother be distraught every year on her birthday and Christmas. Then, one day, getting a call saying she’d been found. Everyone’s happy because she’s finally coming home, and then you find out it’s not that at all but that she’s in a coma in hospital, half dead, and you walk in and find this beautiful girl with tubes coming out of her and her body covered in bruises and burns.”

“I could never,” I mutter, absolute devastation rocking me to my core at the mere idea of that image, “The image of her in that room haunts me; I couldn’t imagine how bad it was for you all.”

“I still see it. It’s why we follow her like shadows and watch her every move. It’s a compulsion now…” Zander swallows heavily, his throat bobbing as he attempts to control his emotions, “I fell in love with her because she was strong. She lost Chlo, and she was devastated, but she still got up every morning, and she still pushed herself to try to live. Then we nearly lost her again, andour whole world shifted on its axis. She’s my girl just as she is theirs, but I’m hers until the day I die, even if she doesn’t want me.”

“I don’t see how she’ll want me when she has all of you,” I mutter, more to myself than them.

“She watches you too. I think she feels bad for wanting you, and there’s a part of her that feels guilty about it, but she wants you. You’ve become her protector, her knight as she calls you, and that means something to someone who only ever wished to be saved,” Tobias says, his voice sincere, and it settles something inside of me.

“When everything with Charlie is over, I need you all to help me with something…”

Chapter 46

Autumn

Ifeel like I’m going to be sick.

I watch them all gear up for this, and I wrap my arms around my midsection, desperately trying to hide my shaking hands. I don’t want to give them any reason to worry.

Dominic flicks his eyes to mine, and I give him a shaky smile. It’s all I can give him right now, and I hope he doesn’t catch on to how I’m really feeling.

I want this over with, to be able to move on with my life, but there’s a part of me that wants to bury it all and pretend it never happened. I know that I’ll be able to live an everyday life once Charlie is dealt with. He’s never going to stop if we don’t, but I’m so tired of fighting.

Aidan comes over, pressing his arm to mine, and wiggles his eyebrows, “They’re hot when they’re all suited up like that.”

Barking out a laugh, I nod my head in agreement, flicking my eyes over the men who have captured my heart, making it do a little flip in my chest, “They really are,” I agree.

“Think if I asked your brother to switch places, he’d stay here, and I could go in his place?” Aidan asks me.

“Why?” I ask, looking up at him.

“The idea of him being hurt is making me feel sick,” he mutters, scowling at the thought, “I’d much rather go instead of sitting here and worrying.”

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