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“Why?” I ask. “Why watch me for years. Why not just tell me you were back. Tell me why you left.”

The three of them look at one another. Maverick runs a hand through his hair. “I think it’s time we had a talk,” he sighs, looking at his brothers. “A real talk.”

“I want to know everything,” I demand. “I think I at least deserve that after everything that’s happened.”

“I think you’re right.” Saint nods, holding out his hand. “Come on, Bunny. Guess it’s time we catch up on life, huh?” He winks, and fuck if it doesn’t remind me of that boy who stole a piece of my heart.

As I put my hand in his, I know I’m fucked. Because this is what I wanted all along.

For the three boys who managed to alter my life in the course of one summer to come back and save me, sweep me off my feet, and be my forever.

Was that what their plan was all along?

I guess I’m about to find out.

Chapter Fifteen

Cove

“Sooo...” I hedge when no one rushes to speak. “You wanna start, or?”

Saint looks to his brothers before nodding. “Ten years ago, we met a girl. A pretty little thing with long brown hair and eyes filled with sorrow. She stumbled upon three boys enjoying their last summer of freedom before their lives were no longer their own.”

My brows furrow as I lean back in my seat on the couch, pulling my feet up and tucking them beneath me.

“He means you,” Shepherd clarifies.

My eyes flick over to him, and I give him a blank look. “I’ve gathered that much.”

He just shrugs. “I want to make sure. Sometimes the way he talks confuses me. All profound and shit.”

Saint rolls his eyes but ignores his brother. “Anyways, we didn’t expect to meet someone like you.”

“Like me?” I raise a brow. “What does that mean?”

“You were all sad and shit,” Shepherd says. “But instead of turning and running the moment you saw three guys covered in tattoos and piercings, drinking and roughhousing in the middle of the woods on the train tracks, you stopped. You stayed.”

I remember the first time I saw the guys. It was right after my parents died, the day of their funeral, to be exact. I remember crying the whole time, but as soon as their bodies were lowered into the ground, it’s like everything in me shut off. I felt numb, that moment felt more final than anything up until that point.

We were supposed to go back to my grandparents for food, to meet and talk with other people.

The last thing I wanted to do was socialize. I knew if I tried to stay in my room, my grandpa would try to get me to come down, so as soon as we got back, I went outside, took the path behind the house, and walked.

I walked for what felt like hours, lost inside my own mind, when in reality it wasn’t more than a half hour.

The only thing that brought me out of that haze, that snapped me back to reality, was the sound of boyish laughter.

That's when I saw them. Three guys. The oldest was bigger and taller than the other two, watching his brother’s roughhousing. He didn’t say a word, letting them do their own thing, but he had this look of amusement on his face.

While I immediately thought the other two were attractive, it was the bright smile of the youngest one that really caught my attention.

His laugh lit up his whole face, shining almost as bright as his golden hair.

The moment they saw me standing there, watching, they paused.

The rush of fear that hit me was unlike anything I felt before, but it was laced with something I wasn’t familiar with. Excitement. Interest. Lust.

They looked at me like I was their next meal.