Page 77 of Rise By Sin

“Good of you to join us, sleepyhead,” Jack joked as he got to his feet and came over to me, kissing me softly on the cheek before he wrapped his arm around me and helped me over to where Mace sat.

“It’s not that late,” I defended myself.

“Don’t even joke, Jack. I’m just glad she’s actually getting some rest for once,” Mason said as he leaned back on his stool and reached his arm back to wrap around me. I placed my hand on his shoulder and moved close enough to kiss him chastely on the lips.

“Shecan hear you, and doesn’t need you worrying about whether or notsheis resting enough,” I told him with a raise of my eyebrows. “What are you both doing here?” I asked as I looked between them. I took the seat in the middle and dropped my stick to the floor beneath me.

“I called them. Jack was complaining he’d barely seen you when we were at the club yesterday. I thought we could all have breakfast together,” Deak explained, and for the first time I realized he was cooking bacon and pancakes.

I blushed a little as I realized what he was up to. He was keeping his promise to me the previous night, that we’d make things work. In order to make a relationship between all of us work, we needed to spend time together.

I looked to him with a small smile and tried hard not to worry about the fact the guys had to known something had goneon between Deak and I the night before, seeing as they knew I stayed over. I had nothing to be embarrassed or concerned about. Jack and Mason had agreed to me seeing where things went with Deak. They knew I loved them too.

Surprisingly, they both seemed pretty relaxed as they sat there chatting to Deacon and laughing at a joke he made. Mason had even removed his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt. He turned to me, not for the first time in the last few minutes and smiled softly. He was trying. He and Jack both were. For my sake they were giving Deacon a shot and that meant everything to me.

“Any news on our religious psycho killer?” I asked as the conversation lulled. I leaned forward and pressed one hand on Mason’s thigh and the other on Jack’s.

“No updates from the FBI so far, but they have been requesting information on the missing people from local PD, so they are working the case,” Mason explained. He placed his warm hand over mine on his lag and gave it a squeeze. “We came to a dead end at th attempted break in at Jack’s place too. Whoever was trying to get in was wearing a black hoody with he hood up. Any street cams that caught a glimpse in the city, only got the back or side of his or her head.”

“But there’s been no other attempts?” I asked as I turned to Jack.

“Nothing. I updated my locks and security system though, so they’d be stupid to try anything now,” Jack answered, and I nodded.

“It’s weird they haven’t tried anything since. Maybe it was just a coincidence? Some criminal trying his luck?”

“Maybe,” Mace agreed.

Deacon started handing out plates for us all, then sat kitty corner to Jack with his own. The food was good and we all dove in with gusto. For several minutes there was no sound but the clicking of cutlery against our plates.

“So,” Jack broke the quiet. “I’m guessing you guys hate a good time together last night?” he looked between Deak and I, and I smiled brightly, unable to stop myself as I thought about everything we’d done the night before, from the moment Deak picked me up at Colt’s place. It had been wonderful.

“We did,” I confirmed.

“You look happy, baby,” Mason said, and I turned to him, surprised not to hear any annoyance, or jealousy in his tone.

“I am. Colt’s safe and happy with Ky, and I…I get to eat breakfast with all of you. I feel better than I have in the longest time.”

“That’s what we want for you, love. To be happy,” Jack told me.

“We all had a talk before you got up this morning,” Deacon added and I looked to him with worry. “It was a good talk,” he assured me with a soft smile.

“Deacon doesn’t want to let you go, and we don’t want that either now we see how happy you are,” Jack chimed in.

“And we sure as hell don’t want to lose you, or even miss another day with you ever again,” Mason said.

“We decided, if you agree with it, that it might be good for us all to spend some time together,” Deacon concluded.

“Okay,” I nodded. “You mean like days out together? Dates? That type of thing?”

“We can do that if that’s what you want, Ave, but we’re all a little keener to get things moving faster. Mace and I already wasted so much time we could have been with you, and we need to get used to Deacon fast if this is going to work. What we were thinking was that we’d all try moving in together,” Jack explained.

“What?” I gasped.

“We get that it’s fast, and it’s all good if it’s too fast for you. We were just thinking if we spent some intense time together, we could move things along to where we’re all already pretty sure they’re headed,” Deacon told me.

“We love you, Ava. I hate being apart from you for more than a few hours. I want you to finally be ours – mine, Jack’s, and Deacon’s, if that’s what you want too,” Mason added.

“It is what I want,” I agreed easily. “But I just moved back in with Colt and this is so fast.”

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