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“Don’t say that.” I shake my head, brows furrowing.

“It’s true,” Saint agrees, stepping forward. “We already talked about it. Cove, you don’t understand. A world where you don’t exist is a world we won’t exist in.”

“The moment you stop breathing, so do we,” Shepherd says, joining his brothers. “We’re not joking. We have a whole plan in place.”

“What?” I look between the two of them.

“Three-way standoff.” Saint grins. “At the same time, bullet to the head.” He shrugs.

“What the fuck?” I gape at them in horror. “That’s fucked up!”

“That’s just us,” Shepherd chuckles.

And just like that, I’m fucking swooning. They have a suicide pact if I die? Who does that? That’s so messed up. So fucking crazy. And so damn romantic I literally can’t handle it.

“I fucked up.” I close my eyes, horror and humiliation settling over me. “I went full-on psychopath.”

“I know,” Shepherd groans. “I’m so fucking hard.”

Saint snorts. “Of course you are. A breeze would get you up.”

“Not true,” Shepherd scoffs. “Unless it’s Cove blowing on it.” He wiggles his brows.

“I just went full-on batshit crazy bitch, and you’re not even affected.”

“Baby, if we thought you were with another man, we would have killed him and his whole fucking family. So no, you didn’t overreact. You did what you did because you love us.” Maverick’s thumb brushes the tears away.

“I do,” I whisper. “I do love you. I love you all so fucking much I feel like I’m going out of my mind.”

“Now you know how we feel,” he chuckles.

“I love you.” Saint grips my chin, turning my head to face him.

“I love you too,” I whimper.

“But I love you more,” Shepherd chimes in, making me huff out a laugh. “You love me more too, don’t you, Bunny?”

“I love you all the same?” I reply, unable to keep the smile off my face.

He leans forward and kisses me. “It’s okay,” he whispers against my lips. “I get it. They can he—ouch!” Shepherd growls when Saint slaps him upside the head.

“Shut the fuck up before the next person to get shot in the foot is you.”

“Oh fuck.” My eyes widen, and I search for the guard. I find Ren kneeling down on the ground a few feet away, helping the guard deal with the bullet wound. “I’m so sorry. Shit. Why didn’t you defend yourself?" I ask him, as if that makes what I did any better.

“Because he knew if he so much as laid a finger on you, he’d get a bullet in the head,” Saint explains.

“Wait...” I look back over to him. “So, because they weren’t allowed to touch me, if I really tried, I could have been able to escape while you three were gone.”

“It’s a small possibility,” Maverick confirms. “But you never actually wanted to leave, did you?”

I lick my lips, knowing the answer right away. “No.”

He smiles and fuck, it steals my whole damn heart.

“Let’s get you back inside, yeah?” Maverick asks, brushing my hair out of my face.

I feel so stupid. So damn stupid. And I want to keep arguing with them about it, but they won’t listen, they won’t hear it because, while I have my trauma from the past, it doesn’t affect how they feel about me.