Be With Me(16)

Hutch laughed. “She took it wel because we drugged her ass and she was in shock. We won’t get off so lightly when she wakes up and the drugs wear off.”

“No one said it would be easy,” Cam offered.

Hutch put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. There was frustration and an edge of fear reflected in his expression. Cam could understand that. He felt the two conflicting emotions, had felt them for a damn long time.

“Are we kidding ourselves?” Hutch asked. “I mean real y? Who the hel has the kind of relationship we’re proposing? I wake some mornings and wonder if I haven’t lost my damn mind.”

Sawyer leaned forward, his beefy arms resting on the table. His fists were clenched tight. “We’ve been over this, Hutch. How much more do you want to rehash it? What do you want to hear? That in a perfect world, you and Cam would disappear from the picture, and Reggie would only be with me?” Hutch looked away, his jaw tight.

“This isn’t helping,” Cam said.

“Oh shut up,” Hutch muttered. “You can’t tel me you haven’t had those thoughts.”

Cam raised an eyebrow. “No, Hutch, I can’t tel you that. But what good does it do me? We’ve had this conversation. We agreed that we al love her and that we wouldn’t make her choose.”

“No, we agreed that she wouldn’t choose,” Sawyer said quietly. “Our solution is our only way to have a part of her. Are you having second thoughts, Hutch?” Hutch pressed his lips together and final y shook his head. “No. But I’m not going to bul shit you either.

Standing back while you and Cam touch her, comfort her, is hard. I’ve loved Reggie since we were children. I’ve always felt as though she were mine.

That’s a hard notion to let go of.”

“No one’s trying to take her away,” Cam said.

Hutch rubbed his hand over his face. “I know that, Cam. I do. But I can’t help the way I feel watching another man touch her. Don’t you think I realize that jealousy is the quickest way to make this fail? And that as f**ked up and twisted as this is, the three of us sharing her, it represents my only shot at having a life with her?”

“I hear you,” Sawyer muttered.

Cam nodded. “I understand, man. It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice from al three of us. Not to mention patience. Because Reggie . . . she’s going to fight this. Not because she doesn’t love us. I believe she does, and that’s the problem.”

“She’s stubborn and ornery as hel ,” Sawyer said wryly. “But she would also cut off her right arm before ever hurting any of us. And in her eyes, this can only lead to inevitable hurt, and so she avoids us, which hurts her.”

“Stubborn is right,” Hutch grumbled.

“In her mind, she’s protecting us,” Cam spoke up.

“She’s been protecting us since we were kids. It’s time for that shit to stop. She’s going to balk at any notion that we’re taking care of or protecting her, but after what happened, I’m no longer wil ing to sit back and wait for the right time.”

Hutch and Sawyer both nodded.

“And look, this probably doesn’t need saying, but I’m going to say it anyway,” Cam added.

Sawyer rol ed his eyes. “Is this the big brother lecture?”

Cam ignored him. “I understand we al have our reservations. We have concerns and fears and maybe even resentment. But we’ve got to be careful to present a united front to Reggie, otherwise this wil never work. If we have a problem, then we’re going to have to hash it out privately. We don’t want to give her yet another reason to keep running.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t need saying,” Hutch said.

“Yeah, it does,” Sawyer said. “We can’t afford to screw this up with stupid bul shit. We’re not a bunch of girls. Reggie means a lot to us al . I’m having to put my trust in the two of you not to screw up my chances with her. That’s pretty messed up. So yeah, I’d say we need that reminder often.” Cam studied the other two men and saw a calmness to their demeanor he hadn’t seen since Birdie had cal ed them about Reggie. Yeah, they’d needed this talk, and maybe they needed it more often just to reinforce what was at stake.

“Okay, now that al that’s out of the way, we have other arrangements to make,” Cam said.

“Yeah? Like what?” Hutch asked.

“We need to drive back to Houston to get your vehicle and Sawyer’s, plus we need to transfer our office here for now, which means moving everything.”

“Did you get with the Robertsons about their project?” Sawyer asked.

Cam nodded. “Yeah, they were okay with the delay when I explained the circumstances. Even so, I need to finish up those drawings so we can go ahead with the building.”

“What about Reggie?” Hutch asked. “One of us needs to stay here with her.”

“I can cal Birdie and ask her to come over and stay with Reggie. You two can ride back to Houston with me, and one of you can head right back in your truck. The other can help me get everything together from the office to take back here.”

“Hutch can come back in his truck,” Sawyer said.

“I’l hang out and help you clean out the office. Hutch can arrange to have our cal s forwarded to the number here. He needs to grocery shop anyway.” A soft moan from the couch silenced the men.