I should be happy.
I should feel like I won.
But hell if I don’t want to wipe that look off his face.
If she’d chosen him and not me…
That’s not something I could come back from.
Callie inhales sharply.
Her eyes go wide, frantic as she looks between us.
There’s a desperate way she’s clinging to me, like she’s terrified to let go.
I draw a half-moon on her lower back with my thumb.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t want…” Callie chokes out, tears spilling into her lashes.
Dread sinks in my stomach.
Whatever this is…It’s bigger than I thought.
“We can figure it out together,” I promise.
“It’s alright, Callie,” Maverick says, softer.
He’s studying her every twitch, every flicker of emotion.
His voice drops into something raw, something real.
“He’s right. We’ll figure it out.”
I don’t have time to ask what the fuck that means because Callie’s already pulling herself off my lap and climbing out of the hot tub.
“I… I don’t know what to do,” she says, voice shaking. “Because I… I want you both.”
Realization slams into me.
I should be raging.
Should be pissed that she kissed me that she’s mine and now she’s asking for both.
That’s what any sane person would do.
But she looks gutted.
Like she’s already bracing for us to say no.
Like she’s about to lose something she loves.
The words claw up my throat, and I shove them into a chokehold.
Instead, I force a smile that feels like it’s tearing something loose inside me.
“Alright, Sunshine,” I murmur, voice soft but steady. “We’ll figure it out.”