I opened my mouth to argue, but this time he covered my mouth. “I’d go in that house with you.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“All of us would. Don’t take that decision from us,” he said.
One tear escaped, then two, both rolling down my cheeks.
He removed his hand from my mouth to wipe them away. “If that fucker ever shows up, we run together or we fight together, but more importantly, we protect each other together. Promise me, Shi.”
“I promise.”
17
Around noon, after my second therapy session with Dr. Bolton, there was a knock on my door. I winced as I got up from the couch. Colt hadn’t joked about me being a little sore. My whole pelvis felt like it had gone to the gym for the first time after being a couch potato its whole life.
I peeked through the peephole and opened the door to Keelan standing on my porch.
The emotion in his eyes told me that whatever he was here for was serious, but he still gave me a small smile. “Can we talk?”
I opened my door wider for him to come in. “No work today?”
He walked inside and stood in the center of my living room. “That’s the thing about being the owner and boss. I sometimes work every day of the week and I sometimes take a random day off if I want.”
I shut the door and leaned against it. “What made you take today off?”
“You.”
My brows rose. “Me?”
“I want to apologize,” he said and the seriousness in his eyes radiated through the rest of him. “I was the one who suggested no sex until you were better. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. I based the decision on my own past and the shitty choices I made. I saw you hurting and struggling and I saw myself.”
I’d known that already, but I was glad that he’d realized what he had done. “Do you know the main reason I kissed you the other day?”
He shook his head. “No, but I’d like to know.”
“I kissed you because I wanted to take your worry away,” I said. “At the time, I couldn’t verbally reassure you because I knew everything wasn’t alright. So I kissed you, and when I did, I discovered I could escape with you. But you stopped me and you explained that I could lose the four of you. That scared me.” I tucked my hair behind my ears. “I know this is going to sound bad, but I was alright with hurting myself. I wasn’t alright hurting any of you.” I held my hand out before he could say anything. “Like I said, I know that it’s terrible. I’m working on it.”
He nodded. “Colt told us you started therapy.”
“Yeah, I had my second session today. She wants to see me twice a week moving forward.”
“I’m sorry for not talking to you about what I feel for you and to see if you were comfortable pursuing a relationship with me as well. I meant to talk to you one-on-one…” He trailed off. It was clear that he was mulling over his words. “I should have tried harder and I’m truly sorry for that.” He sounded so guilt-ridden.
“You can talk to me now,” I said.
He didn’t hesitate to take the second chance I was offering him. He took my hand in his. “Shiloh, I think you’re the most amazing person I have ever met and I have feelings for you.”
I kept my cool. “What kind of feelings?” I had to make him work for it a little.
His mouth stretched into a smile. “The romantic kind.”
“Oh, wow.” I pretended to sound surprised. “What happens now?”
His smile didn’t waver as he shook his head at me. He pulled me closer until our bodies were touching and hooked an arm around my lower back. “You could let me take you to lunch and, if you’re up for it, we’ll go see the new Marvel movie after?”
I couldn’t have kept myself from smiling if I’d wanted to. “Are you asking me on a date?”
“I am.”
I felt a little nervous. “I’ve never been on a date before.”
“Yes, you have,” he said, staring down at me with what looked like devotion in his eyes, as if I were the most precious thing he had ever held in his arms. “We’ve gone out on many of them. The only difference with this date is that there are only two of us when all the other times there were five.”
Just like that, my nervousness evaporated. “Okay.”
Keelan took me to a French bistro called Zoe’s for lunch.
“Keelan, this place looks closed,” I said as we parked in front. The parking lot was empty and I didn’t see a soul sitting inside through the restaurant’s windows.