Page 284 of Iced Up Love: Part Two
The question slips out before I can stop it. They both smile. Zach takes my hands, helping me stand.
“Then there’s more of you to love.”
Jackson grins.
“And more to grab onto when you’re riding me.”
A laugh breaks out of me before I can stop it. It twists into something else. Tears.
“You’re too good for me,” I say, my voice breaking. “I don’t deserve you.”
I shake my head quickly.
“I’m sorry.”
Zach’s hand comes up immediately, brushing my cheek.
“Don’t apologise, baby.”
Jackson presses a kiss to my temple.
“Not for feeling.”
I brush my teeth slowly, grounding myself again, the familiar motion settling something inside me.
When I come back out, they’re waiting. Of course they are. Zach takes my hand.
“Come on.”
Jackson’s hand returns to my back.
They guide me to bed, no rush, no pressure, just quiet care. I curl between them instantly, my body fitting into theirs like it belongs there, warmth on both sides, their arms wrapping around me, steady and sure.
“Don’t apologise, sweetheart,” Jackson murmurs into my hair.
“It’s just that little baby princess,” Zach adds softly, his hand resting lightly over my stomach, “keeping you on your toes.”
A tired smile touches my lips. I let myself sink into them. Let myself feel safe here. Even with the worry still sitting quietly underneath everything. Even with him still out there. I don’t chase it. I don’t let it take over.
I just breathe.
And slowly, held between them, I drift to sleep, hoping that when I wake up he’ll be home.
sixty-one
Elijah
The safehouse sits in the dark like it’s pretending to be nothing.
Just another structure tucked away from everything else, quiet, still, unremarkable if you didn’t know what was inside it. But I feel it before we even step out of the cars, that same pressure that’s followed this entire situation from the moment it started, the sense that something is waiting just beneath the surface, coiled and ready.
This is it.
The last piece.
Christian doesn’t rush.
None of them do.
