Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Chapter 169

They settled onto the couch in the living room, leaving Amelia standing awkwardly in front of them. She glanced toward the kitchen, then at the gift basket Dean had brought, as though either might offer her an excuse to do something with her hands.

She should probably offer them something to drink. Or ask if they wanted to eat. Was that what people did when they had guests?

Unfortunately, most people didn’t have all three of their longtime crushes sitting in their living room, looking as though they had stepped straight out of a magazine.

Amelia tugged at the hem of her oversized T-shirt, suddenly conscious of her bare legs. Her heart was beating so hard that she wondered if the three men could somehow hear it.

Enzo noticed her discomfort and gestured toward the empty space beside Reid.

"You can sit down, Amelia. We’re not going to bite you."

Reid glanced at him with an amused smile. "Speak for yourself. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet."

"Reid," Dean muttered.

"What? I’m trying to make her feel comfortable."

"You’re doing a terrible job."

Amelia let out a nervous laugh, grateful for the brief exchange. At least they were acting like themselves. She walked over and sat in the armchair opposite them, folding her legs beneath her.

Enzo’s expression grew serious as he looked at her.

"There’s something we’ve been wanting to ask you," he began. "How did you do all of that yesterday?"

Amelia’s smile faded slightly.

She hadn’t had much time to process what happened herself.

Did she really want to tell three men she barely knew about all of that? Before she could decide what to say, Dean leaned forward slightly.

"You don’t have to answer that," he said, his blue-grey eyes resting on her face. "We know what happened yesterday was personal. We’re curious, obviously, but you don’t owe us an explanation."

Amelia looked at him, surprised by the consideration in his voice.

"It’s fine." She rubbed her palms against her shorts before looking back at them. "I don’t know everything myself. I only found out about my powers yesterday. My parents had kept them a secret from me because they wanted to protect me."

"Protect you from what?" Reid asked, his teasing expression disappearing.

Amelia hesitated.

"From the truth, I suppose."

Enzo’s eyebrows drew together, but he didn’t press her. Instead, he leaned back slightly, giving her room to decide how much she wanted to share.

"There’s something else I’m curious about," he said after a moment. "When the rogues attacked, everyone was trying to get away. You could have left with them. You didn’t know you had powers, and yet you stayed behind to help us." His grey eyes held hers. "Why?"

The question caught Amelia off guard.

She remembered the terrible feeling that had settled in her chest when she realized that the three men she had admired from a distance for so long might die before she ever got the chance to speak to them.

She had acted without thinking. There had been no time to consider the consequences or question whether she was strong enough.

Even now, remembering it made her chest tighten. What if something like that happened again?

Her parents had warned her about the danger waiting for her, about the possibility that she might never return from the fight she was apparently destined to face.

But sitting here, looking at the three men who had occupied her thoughts for years, Amelia realized something else.

She had spent so much time being afraid of what might happen tomorrow that she had almost forgotten she was still living today. She didn’t want to keep hiding everything she felt, waiting for the perfect moment that might never come. If she had learned anything from yesterday, it was that life could change in the blink of an eye.

She drew a steadying breath, straightened her shoulders, and looked directly at them.

"Because I like you."

All three men went still.

Amelia swallowed, her fingers tightening around the edge of the armchair. "I mean, I really like you. All three of you."

For a moment, nobody said anything.

Oh, Goddess. She had actually said it.

Panic rose through her so quickly that she nearly stood up and ran into the kitchen.

"Please, let me finish before you say anything," she rushed out, raising one hand when Reid seemed about to speak. "I know this is sudden, and I know you probably weren’t expecting me to say something like this, but if I stop now, I’m never going to get the rest of it out."

Reid slowly closed his mouth, though the corners of his lips twitched.

"All right," he said gently. "We’re listening."

Amelia took another breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

"I’ve had a huge crush on all three of you for a very long time. I know that probably sounds ridiculous because we’ve barely spoken before, but I’ve admired you from a distance for years. I never thought I’d actually get the chance to sit in the same room with you, let alone have you come to my house."

She gave an embarrassed little laugh and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"And I’ve dreamed about you. All three of you. More times than I’d like to admit."

The tension in her shoulders eased a little, but the words she still needed to say weighed heavily on her chest.

"When I saw you all in danger yesterday, I was terrified. I didn’t know what I could do to help you. I didn’t even know I had powers. All I could think about was that I might lose you before I ever had the chance to tell you how I felt."

Her smile faded as she looked down at her hands.

"I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering what might have happened if I’d said something. So I decided that even if you rejected me, at least I’d have been honest with you."

She paused, pressing her lips together as she gathered the courage to finish.

"And attacks like that could happen again. I might not be there next time, or I might not get another chance to tell you any of this." Her fingers twisted together in her lap. "I’m not asking you to feel the same way. I just wanted you to know. Maybe you’ll remember me as the girl who saved your lives and confessed to all three of you in her pajamas."

A nervous laugh escaped her, but it quickly faded.

"There. That’s everything."

She lowered her head, suddenly unable to look at them.

The moment the words left her mouth, embarrassment washed over her. She had just confessed to three men who were practically the definition of unattainable.

She wanted the floor to open beneath her. Worse, she couldn’t bring herself to look up and see the pity or awkwardness she was certain would be written across their faces.

What if they had only come to thank her, and now she had made everything uncomfortable?

She curled her toes against the floor and waited. For several seconds, the brothers remained silent.

Then Reid let out a slow breath.

"Well," he said, rubbing a hand over his face, "I was prepared for a lot of things when we came here today. That wasn’t one of them."

Amelia’s stomach sank.

"Oh."

"No, no. That’s not what I mean." He leaned forward immediately, his expression changing when he noticed her shoulders draw inward. "Amelia, look at me."

She hesitated before lifting her eyes.

Reid was smiling, but there was something different about it now. His usual playful confidence had given way to an openness that made him look almost as nervous as she felt.

"My heart actually skipped a beat when you said that," he admitted. "And I don’t think it’s started behaving normally again."

Amelia stared at him. "What?"

"We came here to confess too," he said. "We just hadn’t agreed on which one of us would go first."

Her head snapped toward him so quickly that she nearly hurt her neck.

"You came here to... what?"

"Confess," Dean answered quietly, a faint smile appearing on his face."

Amelia looked from Dean to Reid, then finally to Enzo, searching their expressions for some indication that they were teasing her.

None of them looked amused at her expense.

Enzo rose from the couch.

Amelia’s attention immediately returned to him. He approached at an unhurried pace. As he drew closer, she became painfully aware of every little thing about herself: her bare feet tucked beneath the chair and the way her pulse seemed to beat right at the base of her throat.

He stopped in front of her, close enough that she had to tilt her head back slightly to meet his gaze.

"He’s telling the truth," Enzo said. "We came here because we wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday, but not only because you saved us."

His expression softened, and Amelia saw something unguarded in his eyes.

"When you stayed behind, you had every reason to be afraid. You didn’t know what those rogues could do to you, and you certainly didn’t know you could fight them. But you saw that we needed help, and you chose to help us anyway."

He paused, his gaze moving briefly over her face.

"I’ve spent most of my life being the person others expect to protect them. I’m used to people looking at me because of my position, my strength, or what they think I can do for them. Yesterday, you looked at me and saw someone who needed help." His jaw tightened slightly. "You didn’t hesitate because you thought I was weak. You simply didn’t want me to die."

Amelia’s throat tightened.

"Enzo..."

"I won’t pretend that one moment is enough to tell us everything we need to know about each other," he continued. "But it made me want to know you."

She had imagined hearing something like that so many times that she had lost count. In her fantasies, she had always known what to say in response. She had been charming, confident, and perfectly composed.

In reality, she could barely remember how to breathe. Reid and Dean rose from the couch and joined Enzo, standing beside him.

Reid’s expression was unusually serious now, though a trace of his familiar warmth remained in his eyes.

"People usually see what we can do for them, or they keep their distance because of who we are. But you didn’t care about any of that yesterday."

He glanced at his brothers before looking back at Amelia.

"And now we find out you’ve been dreaming about us for years?" His smile returned, softer this time. "I have to admit, that makes me feel pretty special."

"You’re going to make her blush again," Dean remarked.

"She’s already blushing."

Amelia covered her face with both hands.

Dean stepped a little closer.

"We’d like to spend time with you," he said. "Not because you saved us, and not because we think we owe you something. We want to know you better because we want to."

His blue-grey eyes met hers, steady and sincere. "And if we discover that our feelings are different from what we hope, we’ll be honest with you. But we’d rather give this a chance than walk away without finding out."

"But are you sure?" Amelia pressed, her gaze moving between them. "Yesterday was terrifying. You nearly died, and I saved you. Maybe you’re just feeling grateful, or maybe it’s the adrenaline. I don’t want you to agree to something now and regret it later."

Without another word, they lowered themselves onto one knee.

Amelia stopped breathing.

Enzo held out his hand, palm up. Reid did the same beside him. Dean extended his hand as well. Three men she had admired from a distance for years were kneeling in front of her, asking for a chance to be part of her life.

It was too much. It was wonderful, terrifying, and so far beyond anything she had ever allowed herself to imagine that she couldn’t tell whether she was about to laugh or cry.

She reached down and pinched the soft skin of her forearm.

Hard.

"Ouch!" Amelia rubbed her arm, staring at the three men as though they might disappear if she blinked. nope, she wasn’t dreaming.

"Amelia, will you give us a chance?"