A small intake of breath, I didn’t know from whom. It was as close as I’d come to saying I’d decided. I knew what I wanted, but I didn’t know how to say it yet. And tonight wasn’t the night to make that kind of declaration, especially when I was still reeling from Mom’s reaction.

“I can’t believe she had files made on you guys.”

“Baby, there’s nothing for her to find. Promise.” Kade winked.

“Oh, I’m not worried about that. I just can’t believe she did it. Though I would pay money to see what Katarina’s face looked like when she asked. You guys aren’t in her normal clientele. Thank fuck.”

Rylan laughed. “Yeah, we’re pretty glad about that, too.”

Avery stood and stretched. “I was about this close the entire night from pulling you into my lap to make sure you were okay. So I’d like to spend the night with you, Esme, if that’s all right.”

I startled. “Why wouldn’t it be all right?”

He chuckled. “I’m just checking to make sure you didn’t have other plans.”

“No. Before you ordered me in here I was going to go bury myself in my nest and wallow.”

Luke leaned in and kissed my temple. “No wallowing allowed. Relationships with parents are hard, and just like we told you, nothing’s changed.”

I leaned into the kiss, enjoying the feeling and trying to let go of my shell-shocked anxiety. Avery came across the room and pulled me up from Rylan. “Go wait in the nest for me.”

“So you can talk about me?” I raised an eyebrow.

Reaching around, he smacked me lightly on the ass. “No, baby girl. So I can grab a couple things.”

“Okay.” My lips were pressing together and the same anxiety was bubbling up again. I didn’t quite believe they weren’t going to talk about what happened, but there wasn’t much I could do about it either way.

Going up to the nest, I peeled off my shirt and jeans at the door. I needed the softness of all the pillows and blankets on my skin. The nest had been cleaned. Not enough to get rid of all of our scents, but to clean up all the mess from the heat. Still, the mixture of all of us was comforting. I pushed my way under one of the fuzzy blankets and finally breathed.

The dark, soft space soothed something in me, and my muscles relaxed. All the aches I had from last night were still there, but at least I didn’t feel like I was going to snap in two.