Falling Into Place (22 page)

Pretending it didn’t happen wasn’t an
option.

And how the hell am I not hung-over?

She’d had enough alcohol to put her into a
coma, and yet she felt as sober as ever, hence the nightmares.

“Liz, don’t you dare shut
down on
us,
”
Robert demanded as he strolled into the bathroom like he owned the
place.

Her eyes narrowed at him. “I’m not shutting
down. I’m allowed a shower. I’m always sweaty and shaky after the
nightmares. Besides, last night… well, I don’t know what that was.”
Yeah, she did, hot as hell, but it couldn’t happen again, it
couldn’t work. It was a fluke, an act of insanity, or just dumb
luck.

“You better not regret it. You were the one
who kept Tremaine with us.” Robert’s hand was on his hip as he
glared right back.

God, he was so gorgeous that her mouth
watered.

And then Tremaine stepped into the room,
just as naked as Robert, but he wore a sexy little grin. “Oh, she
doesn’t regret that part. She doesn’t trust herself with her
feelings, or with where this is going.”

“No shit,” she growled back. “Look, can we
discuss this after breakfast. I’m not kicking anyone out, I’m not
shutting you down. I just need to think a little. Okay? Besides, we
need to deal with James. Right?”

“Fine,” Robert sighed and closed his eyes.
“Your stomach is growling so we need to get you fed.”

“Fuck, I’m an adult. I already mentioned
breakfast before the shower. I needed a fucking shower.” She rinsed
off and climbed out to find a towel, but each of them grabbed one
and took over drying her body.

“Hey,” she squealed, “I can do that.”

Tremaine pulled her back and nipped her ear.
“Stop arguing. We want to take care of you, and make sure you
aren’t going to run away when we all know this is right.

Damn him. Damn
them
. Why couldn’t they let her be? The
more they played this game, the worse she would break.

Holding on to her anger, she snarled, “You
going to pick out my clothes? Tell me what to wear?” she
challenged.

Tremaine licked up the column of her throat
as her head fell back on his shoulder.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Stop that,” she
groaned. “I need to go get dressed so I can fix something to
eat.”

“No,” Robert growled, more feral than she
had ever heard him. Then he pressed into her, shoving her harder
against Tremaine who groaned as he pressed his hardened flesh
against her ass. Robert lowered his voice. “You can go get dressed,
but we’re taking you to Jess’ bar. Jamie made me promise to bring
you in so she can make sure you’re all right. She saw you pass out,
and Tremaine carry you away.”

“Fine,” she shoved Robert back and slipped
out from between them before she started begging for a repeat. She
glared back at them before stepping into her room.

They weren’t going to make forgetting easy.
She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Choosing one of them
was impossible. They would only find her if she ran.

It was time to be an adult, and deal with
her shit, but she felt fragile. With a sigh she pulled on a pair of
cargo pants and a loose t-shirt.

Robert may have worshiped her scars the
night before, but they still made her feel damaged and broken. She
wanted to hide them.

The water came on, and she
wondered if they were both in there.
God,
how hot would that be?

That was the last thing
she needed to think about because she couldn’t keep them both. It
couldn’t work no matter how much she needed them,
both
of them. That meant
distancing herself and rebuilding her walls in order to
survive.

Lacing up her boots, she pulled a sweater on
and combed her hair before sitting on the bed to wait. That only
lasted a minute before she stormed into the bathroom and found them
drying off.

She shouldn’t have barged in. All she could
think of was the night before and how they all fit together.

What a fucking
disaster
.

“Can we hurry? I’m starving,” and ticked off
because she felt really fucking stupid standing there all covered
up when they were damp and naked, watching her like they were
starved for her.

Tremaine wore his cocky little grin, but
Robert rolled his eyes. Man, when he remembered how much they
always argued, he was going back to South Carolina whether or not
James was dealt with.

One corner of Robert’s delectable mouth
lifted. “Don’t worry, love. We’ll pull some clothes on and we can
go.”

“Good.” She turned and marched out to find
her keys.

* * * *

The door slammed shut and Robert’s eyes
narrowed. “I forgot how stubborn she always was.”

“But you wouldn’t trade her for the world.”
Tremaine glanced over at Robert with an arched brow.

“No,” he sighed. “I’ve missed her too much,
for too long.” Robert closed his eyes and pushed his fingers
through his wet hair. “She thinks I’m going to get fed up with her
and leave. I saw the doubt in her eyes.”

“Then go talk to her, but it’s going to take
some time to convince her that you will never leave again.”

“Why didn’t I listen to you?” Robert
groaned, but he was going to make things right.

“Don’t ask me.” Tremaine snorted.

He took a quick trip in a blink of his eye
to his house across the country. A few minutes later he wore a
fresh suit, and had a few changes of clothes before he was once
again in her room. He hung the bag in her closet before going to
find her.

Liz sat on the counter drinking a bottle of
water.

Robert smiled. “You ready, Liz?”

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “Why do you
think I snapped at you both?”

He grinned. “You like to be difficult, so
maybe it’s a good thing I love you.”

Liz shook her head and looked away. “Look,
Robert, it’s been a really long time, and you don’t know that
anymore. Maybe you loved what I was, but it wasn’t enough.”

That was a knife twisting in his heart. He
closed the distance and took her face in his hands, looking deep
into her eyes. “Why do you say that?”

Tears filled her eyes. “If you loved me, you
would have fought for me. You didn’t. You let me walk away, Robert.
You didn’t even try, so you must not love me as much as you thought
you did.”

“I love you so damned much that I did what
you told me to do even though it shattered my heart.” Her eyes
closed. He stepped between her legs, and brushed a gentle kiss over
her trembling lips. “I love you, Liz, so much it shattered me to
let you go, but you told me that’s what you needed and I gave it to
you like a fool. You told me to let you go, not to follow, that was
what you wanted and needed.” His voice broke and he put his
forehead against hers. “Every day since then has been hell. I never
stopped loving you, never stopped needing you, I never stopped
wishing you still loved me, even as I watched from a distance.”

When she finally looked up at him, her voice
was so small. “Really?”

“Really, love. I’m not leaving you again. I
can’t, not now. No matter how many times you beg me to leave, I’ve
learned my lesson and I’m not leaving your side.”

Her tears spilled over. “And what about
Tremaine?” She closed her eyes, and he heard the desperation in her
voice. “I won’t shut him out. I…,” she only hesitated a second, “I
love him every bit as much as I love you. I think I always have. I
can’t let him go for you, even if you walking away would break me
beyond mending. I can’t have one of you without the other, not
anymore.”

Tremaine stepped in beside Robert. His voice
was soft. “You do, Liz?” Robert looked over to find him looking as
lost as Liz had only a moment before.

A sad smile lifted her lips as she nodded.
He took her hands. “I’m not leaving you, Liz. Hell, I’ve never left
you since I found you. I’ll always be here for you.”

“See, we aren’t letting you go. You have
nothing to worry about.” Robert nodded toward the door. “Now let’s
get some food in you before your stomach starts to growl
again.”

There was a hint of a smile on her mouth.
“Good, I’m starving.”

* * * *

Tremaine locked up while Liz climbed in the
driver’s seat of her Land Cruiser. Robert grabbed something from
his car, so Tremaine took shotgun. His eyes swept to her as he
stole her hand with a grin.

Liz met his gaze with a smile. “It’s true. I
love you, Trem.”

“I love you too, doll. Maybe I should have
said it sooner.”

Her eyes slid away. “I thought you knew, but
didn’t feel the same. I thought maybe our circumstances were all
wrong in your head.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t that. I wasn’t
sure what you felt for me, and I knew you couldn’t be whole without
Robert,” he admitted. “It’s why I’ve always pushed the two of you
together.

“Maybe it’s selfish, but I need you
too.”

He pulled her hand to his lips and pressed a
gentle kiss to her palm. “You have me.”

Robert climbed into the back seat and
squeezed Liz’s shoulder before sitting back to buckle his belt.

Liz took her hand back and backed out of the
driveway.

“Will we be able to plan at In 2 Deep?”
Robert asked.

“Yeah,” Liz answered. “I can cast a
confusion spell and no one will actually hear what we say.”

“That will work in a busy bar?” Robert asked
thoughtfully.

Liz harrumphed, “It’s the same principle as
my hiding spots.”

Robert nodded. “You’re the only one I know
who can create one.”

She shrugged.

Tremaine grunted. “She has several, and even
though she showed you how to access them, she won’t show me.”

“You have a habit of getting rid of my
Voodoo,” she snapped back.

“Only when I know you’ve drunk enough at the
bar to put a normal person into a coma.”

She sighed. “It’s the only thing that keeps
the nightmares at bay. Remember, I’m a mess.”

Tremaine reached over and twined his fingers
with hers. “You aren’t a mess. You have a rough patch every year,
but you always get through it. Last night was a lot to take in, and
honestly, it could have gone worse.”

“Could have gone worse?” She growled at Trem
and glanced back at Robert. “I am sorry, Robert. I don’t blame you
for having to leave that night. I really don’t.”

“You should,” Robert muttered.

“No. I knew it was James and I gave him my
back like a fool. I should have blasted him out the door and locked
the wards down.”

Robert shook his head. “He would have still
come for you. For some damned reason, he always had his sights set
on you.”

“My magic is more potent. He wanted it. He
went dark in case you hadn’t figured it out.” She shrugged. “It’s
not your fault either. It kills me to know that I nearly killed you
because I couldn’t tell you apart after your brother took our
baby.”

“I know, but you shouldn’t blame yourself.
You weren’t awake, you didn’t know, and I scared you. I had no clue
what was wrong, but I saw the blood and rushed to you.”

“No, I wasn’t awake. I was still in so much
pain and grieving, I reacted without thinking. I can’t forgive
myself for what I did.”

“You need to because I never once blamed
you. I have you now. I’m not going anywhere.”

She nodded, but wouldn’t shift her gaze from
the road.

“My biggest regret is that I let you walk
out that door.” There was a desperate quality to Robert’s voice as
he reached forward to wrap his hand around Liz’s shoulder. “I
didn’t know about the rest, and if I had, I never would have let
you go.”

“Shut up,” she snarled. “I’m the idiot who
was afraid to be around you. Shit, your heart stopped, Robert. You
weren’t breathing. I lost it. Sure, I healed you, but those
handprints….” She bit her lip and shook her head. “You could have
let Emily fix you the rest of the way. I tried, I couldn’t do
better. You did what I asked, and I’m the one who should have fixed
it, but I didn’t know how.”

“Stop, both of you.” Tremaine’s eyes flashed
first to Liz, and then Robert. “Either one of you could have done
things differently. And I may be a selfish bastard because I’m glad
you didn’t. If you had, I would still be loving Liz with no hope of
hearing the words on her lips.” Tremaine looked back at Robert with
wide eyes. “Sorry, that makes me sound like an asshole, but to be
fair, I tried for years to get both of you to man up and fix your
shit. It’s not like I planned it this way, nor did I ever think
we’d be here.”

“I know, Trem. I get it,” Robert half
smiled.

“I was willing to love Liz from a distance
my entire life, but now I can’t go back to how it was.” He closed
his eyes and sat back in his seat.

Liz reached over and caressed Tremaine’s
face. “I know you didn’t. I don’t think I could have Robert without
you now.”

“You don’t have to,” Robert told her,
locking gazes with Tremaine. “We’re where we need to be.”

She parked the Land Cruiser and turned in
her seat. “We have a sadistic, dark mage coming. Let’s focus on the
sick fuck before we discuss us.” Liz climbed out of the Land
cruiser without waiting for them.”

“It shouldn’t surprise me that she never
stops to relax,” Robert muttered.

“Not with a looming threat. What did you
expect? Her to get all mushy when you waltzed back twenty-one years
later?”

“No, honestly no. I wish I could spend some
time making up for everything.”

“You’re here for her now. That’s the
important part.”

Jamie looked up as Liz stepped into In 2
Deep. The concern melted from her baby blue eyes as she bounced
around the counter with her blond ponytail swinging.