Page 42 of Puck Me Thrice
"You wouldn't owe us anything," Nolan said firmly. "This is us choosing to help someone we—" He paused. "Someone we care about."
"But Sam used to help me financially and then he'd hold it over my head, remind me how much I owed him, how I couldn't leave because—"
Logan kissed me.
Just kissed me, mid-sentence, his hands cupping my face, his lips firm and sure against mine. Kissing me to stop my protests, to interrupt my panic, to make me focus on the present instead of past trauma.
When he pulled back, I was breathing hard and slightly dazed.
"We're not Sam," Logan said quietly. "We will never be Sam. We're offering help because we want to, not because we want power over you."
Then Nolan kissed me. Softer than Logan, but no less certain. His hand tangled in my hair, his lips gentle but insistent, communicating without words that I was valued, wanted, chosen.
When he pulled back, Blake was watching with an expression I couldn't read.
"Can I—" Blake started hesitantly.
"Yes," I whispered.
Blake's kiss was different from the others—careful, reverent, like he was afraid I might break or disappear. His large hands cradled my face with surprising gentleness, his lips moving against mine with an intensity that made my chest tight.
When we finally broke apart, all four of us were breathing hard, the air in the living room charged with the terrifying reality of what was happening between us.
"So," Logan said eventually. "Are we doing this?"
"Doing what, exactly?" I asked.
"This. Us. Whatever this is."
I looked at three faces watching me with hope and fear and want.
"I don't know how this works," I admitted. "I don't know the rules or the expectations or how to—"
"We'll figure it out together," Nolan said.
"But what if I mess it up? What if I can't be what you all need? What if—"
"Then we'll deal with it together," Blake interrupted quietly. "But you don't get to make that decision alone. We're already in this, Mira. All of us. The question is whether you're willing to take the risk with us."
I thought about the ice show offer sitting in my inbox. About the safe, predictable path that would solve my financial problems but leave me alone.
Then I thought about three men who'd kissed me to stop my panic, who wanted to help my parents without expectation of return, who saw me as something other than useful.
"Okay," I whispered. "Let's figure it out together."
The relief on their faces made my chest tight with emotion I didn't know how to name.
Chapter 15: Nolan
I called a house meeting at 8 AM the morning after we'd all kissed Mira, because if there was one thing my years as captain had taught me, it was that avoidance made everything worse.
Logan and Blake appeared in the living room with varying degrees of consciousness. Logan looked like death warmed over, his hair sticking up at odd angles, his eyes barely open. Blake was already fully dressed but moving slowly, like his brain hadn't quite caught up with his body.
"This better be important," Logan muttered, collapsing onto the couch. "I had a dream I was being chased by extremely aggressive swans and I'd like to get back to it."
"Why swans?" Blake asked.
"I don't know, man. Dream logic."
