Akara nods. “Yeah, she always has been.”
Tires crunch gravel, and we both turn to watch the security vehicle drive down the road. The SUV parks near ours. Sulli hops out, waves to Gabe, and the car heads back to where it came.
She blows out a breath. Her hair billows in the wind and she hugs her arms to her chest. I want to bring her into my body, warm her, but Akara and I are rooted in place.
“Sulli—” Akara starts.
“Before you two say anything,” she interjects and holds up a hand. “I want you to know that the time I spent with both of you in Yellowstone has been undeniably some of the best times of my life. And whatever happens after today, just know I love you both.” Those words rush through me.
I glance to Akara. Is he going to say it first?
He looks to me. Waiting.
She smiles. “Oh hey, I know you both love me, and I love that you care about each other enough to not hurt one another by saying it.” She eyes me. “So I’m officially the second girl you’ve ever fallen in love with, huh, Banks?” She says it very fucking proudly.
Hate to ruin her good time. But I’m grinning like a fucking fool.
Her smile fades. “What?”
“You’re not the second, Sulli.”
Her fingers touch her lips, confused. “Wait, but you said you’ve been in love once before.”
“Yeah.” I nod strongly. “With you, mermaid.”
“All the way back then?” The realization chokes her up for more than a second.
I nod, but I don’t want to say anything else. This isn’t a hand I’m playing. It’s just the truth, but I can feel Akara’s tense energy beside me.
She looks between us. “I care about you two too much to drag this out any longer. That’s why my decision was already made this morning.” She exhales before she says, “I was going to choose your friendship.”
Was. Past tense.
My blood ices over. I don’t know whether to be fucking destroyed or overjoyed by this news.
I bite on my toothpick. “So in that scenario, we both watch you be with some other guy?” I wonder.
She shrugs. “Or I could stay single forever. Who knows?”
“I don’t like it,” I say gruffly.
“Neither do I.” Akara tugs on his beanie and nods at her. “What’s the new verdict, string bean?”
She puts her fingers to her lips. “It’s…unconventional. I didn’t even think it was an option until I talked to Beckett today.” She drops her hand. “Would you both want to be in a relationship with me…together? A triad. A closed triad.”
It’s like she’s speaking in Spanish—which she’s fluent in and I’m definitely not. “I don’t know what any of those words mean,” I say and glance to Akara.
Akara shakes his head. “No clue.”
Sulli looks over her shoulder at the road. “Fuck, I should have brought the M&M’s.” Don’t know what that’s about either. She lets out a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this or at words.”
“It’s okay, Sul,” Akara says. “We’re listening.”
“You have all my attention, mermaid.”
She smiles softly. “Alright, so basically, we’d be in a relationship. Like what we did in Yellowstone. Only there’s no end date that we’d have to worry about. No choice that has to be fucking made. We’re all just…together.”
I’ve got a lotta questions, but I’m not the logistics guy. Mostly, all I hear is we’re all just together.
My mouth curves in a smile that Sulli hangs onto.
I go where the wind blows me.
It’s sent me here.
To Akara. To Sulli. To home and love.
I’m ready to be rooted down, and this doesn’t feel like a consolation prize, having him here too. It feels like I’ve won it all.
My best friend.
And her.
I glance to Akara, hoping he’ll feel the same. But I see more questions in his eyes. And unlike me—he is that logistics guy.
56
AKARA KITSUWON
“I’m in.” Banks barely hesitates. I didn’t think he would.
They both look to me for my answer. I could back out, and if I do, I lose her. But I’m more scared of losing this. The ability to have what we had in Yellowstone. That’s like a dream. And I’d think I’m stuck in one, but it’s not snowing.
This is real.
“Slow down,” I hold out a hand. “How does this even work?”
“I can explain everything,” Sulli says, “But mostly, we get to choose our relationship. We define the boundaries. No one else.” She grins. “Wild, right?”
Banks smiles.
I try hard not to feed off their excited energy, but I can feel my lips already rising. “This might not work,” I say realistically. “I mean, what do we even call each other?”
She touches a hand to my chest. “You’re my boyfriend.” She puts a hand on Banks’. “You’re also my boyfriend.”
I narrow my eyes at Banks. “Does that make you my boyfriend?”
Sulli smiles. “Not unless you like that term with each other,” she says. “If you’re not romantically involved, it’s like a V-triad, I think that’s what Beckett said. It’s not a triangle, and in a V, I’m the hinge between you two. You can call each other metamours. Closer than a friend but not quite a boyfriend.”
Metamour.
Banks is my metamour.
Strange, but interesting. I’ve literally never heard that word until today, and it sounds like something from a fantasy novel, not real life. I’m tempted to open my phone and look up metamour. But then again, Sulli said we should define our relationship.
We could call each other Pop-Tarts for all it matters.
Shit, I’m already confirming this in my head like it’s real. Like I want this.
Because you do, Nine.
I breathe in deeply.
The pain I’ve felt this entire trip has been from the idea of losing one of them. Banks or Sulli. This outcome has the least amount of pain, but it’s also going to be the hardest for her. I don’t want to burst her happy bubble, but I need to make sure this is everything she wants.
“Sul,” I say. “I can’t be your boyfriend in secret.”
Hurt crosses her face. “You wouldn’t be.” She looks to Banks. “Neither would you. I would tell everyone that I’m proudly in a poly relationship. And even though I learned what that is this morning, it doesn’t change my feelings for both of you that have existed far fucking before it.”
“The media—”
“Fuck the media,” Sulli says.
“Sulli,” Banks interjects. “Akara is right. You have to just give it a second thought. This won’t be your normal bout of attention. It’s going to drive a lot of focus onto your life.”
She swallows hard. “And I know it’s going to be tough. The media cannibalized my dad for dating my mom, just because of their age difference, and my dad has always been unapologetic in his love for her. They stayed together, despite the headlines, the lies, the rumors—they never let the media tell them who to love or what to do with their lives.” Her eyes well up with conviction in her voice. “I wouldn’t be a Meadows if I didn’t unapologetically go at life at a hundred-and-fifty-miles per hour. No brakes.” She exhales, “I’m tired of playing it safe.”