They’ve just fed me something I’ve never eaten before.

It’s also a very good thing they know how to listen to the voice of reason, because these three have lost their damn minds.

“No. I’m not the rope in a tug of war.” I push Banks back a step and work my skirt back into place, my diaphragm expanding and contracting with staccato breaths. “What happened to all that ‘sharing you felt right, because it benefitted you’ talk? Were you lying?”

“No.” Banks answers first, dragging an unsteady hand down his face. “No, I don’t know what came over me. I just couldn’t stand not being the one to—”

“Take you first,” Gabe grits out, obviously still working on getting himself under control, his nostrils flaring, sweat dotting his upper lip. “Make you happy first.”

“It’s tough being the only enlightened one,” Tobias sighs, but his casual tone is forced. Does he think I can’t see the strain around his jaw? The white knuckles of his fists.

“This isn’t going to work,” I murmur. It’s a statement of the obvious, right? “I don’t think any of us are cut out for this. A four-person…”

“Relationship. You can say it, And you were loving every second,” Tobias argues. “We are the ones who fucked it up.” He shoves five long fingers through his hair. “I’m not acquainted with jealousy. I didn’t know how to handle it, I guess.”

“He took the words out of my mouth,” Banks says, brown eyes steady on me. Regretful.

Gabe takes longer to speak. So long that we all look at him expectantly until he finally speaks in that deep rumble. “I guess I’ve gotten tired of letting other people take what I want.”

That sentiment catches me in the dead center of my chest. It doesn’t align with my personal issues, but I understand what it’s like…when it seems like everyone around us has life figured out and we’re still in beginner mode. There’s a thread of that frustration in what Gabe is saying and it pulls at me like a gravitational force.

I start to respond when Gabe’s head lifts and he tacks on, “And I don’t understand it, but I’ve never wanted anything or anyone like I want you.” His eyelids fall and he visibly struggles with the next part. “It’s the same for them.”

Banks nods, grips the edge of the counter beside me, his scent teasing my nose. “Give us another chance to do it right, Elise.”

Everyone looks at Tobias. He snorts. “I’m not apologizing. I called dibs.”

“Why are you the way that you are?” I ask, tilting my head.

Something guarded travels through his eyes. “Now, love. Don’t open Pandora’s box.”

That ominous statement settles over the room and I can’t help it. I’m beyond curious about what makes these men tick. I want to know what turned Tobias into a giant tool. Want to know more about Banks and the situation with his mother. Gabe? I just want to defend with a sword, even though he’s not the simple golden retriever I initially pegged him to be. Apparently he’s also a hot, tattooed thief.