“We’re sorry,” Jacob said. “For how we acted.”
“And for walking out after you insinuated we were just using you. We should have told you how wrong you were,” Tanner said.
I shook my head as I bit the inside of my cheek. That was what I wanted. An apology. Something to show me that they knew what they did was wrong. But it wasn’t a permanent fix. Only a temporary band-aid that was ripped off the moment I looked up into Jacob’s eyes.
“What you have to understand is that we keep from you what we do to keep you safe,” Adam said. “We have enemies. This lifestyle breeds it.”
“Is that what happened? An enemy came after you?” I asked.
The brothers looked around at each other but stayed silent. Their walls were going up again. I could see it. They were building them faster than I could plow through them, and I was growing tired. The sex was fun, sure. And the money was nice. But there was something deeper with them. At least on my end, there was.
“We need to keep you safe,” Tanner said. “If something ever happened to you, we’d never forgive ourselves.”
“No one’s coming after me if you guys don’t care about me,” I said.
“You’re an idiot if you think we don’t care.”
Jacob’s voice hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked over at him and focused on what I saw beyond the bruising and the swelling. Beyond the yellow-tinted skin of his fading bruise, there was sincerity behind his eyes. A vulnerability I’d never seen in any man that lived this sort of life. I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest as someone reached for my hand.
And when I looked down, I saw it was Adam’s hand.
Only it was bruised and bloodied and scabbed over.
“Holy fuck,” I said in a whisper. “Adam.”
“The money we’ve been giving you was stolen from us,” Adam said. “A rival club decided to raid our shops and took it for their own use. We had to go after it.”
“We’ve been hunting them down ever since the shootout,” Tanner said.
I lifted my gaze to meet Tanner’s eyes as I swallowed hard.
“The same crew that took your money were the ones that shot you guys up?” I asked.
“They are,” Jacob said. “They’re ruthless, and the club’s trying to take them down and put them in their place, but it’s taking a while. And everyone’s a target until it’s finished. Even you.”
“Why me?” I asked.
“Because you’re our weakness, Emma,” Tanner said. “You have been since we laid eyes on you.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I felt a tear cascade down my cheek as Adam released my hand. He brought his fingers up to my skin and wiped my tear away, causing me to nuzzle into his hand. He opened himself up to me, just for a second, and brought my lips to his as he kissed me softly.
“This is all I wanted,” I said breathlessly. “All I wanted was for you guys to open up. I’ve never had that before.”
“We know,” Jacob said.
“Not from my mother, or my father, or any of the fucking assholes I dated before.”
“We know, sweetheart,” Tanner said.
“And I know that’s only a fraction of what’s going on. But thank you for at least telling me what you just did.”
“It’s the least we could do after everything you do for us,” Adam said.
“What do I do for you?” I asked, honestly confused. They gave me endless orgasms and large sums of money. What did I give them?
“Are you kidding me?” Adam asked. “You are incredible. You give us you, all of you. You tell us your dreams, and you give a damn about us.”
Adam dropped his hand from my face, and I already missed his touch. I drew in a deep breath as my eyes danced from brother to brother. I felt a bit of relief coursing through my veins. Relief at the idea that they had talked and that they weren’t walking away. I didn’t care if they had only told me a fraction of what was going on. The point was that they opened up to me. They showed me that they were willing to make this a serious thing.