He cheated i chose two firefighters novel Chapter 57

Milo’s POV

“Should we just… ask her to live with us?”

Jace’s eyes slid to mine, that crooked smile already in place.

Merit

“You’ve got to get used to the fact that she needs room to breathe,” he said. “She’s basically been with us since Wednesday night. She’s at her self–defense class right now. And last night? I really thought we were about to lose her. The money thing set her off.”

“Yeah.” I scrubbed a hand over my jaw. “We probably should’ve warned her, but I didn’t think it would land like that.”

“I don’t think the cash is the real problem,” Jace said, the humor fading. “I think she used it to cover what’s actually going on.”

“That she thinks she’s not enough for us.”

He tipped his head, thoughtful, like he was turning it over from every angle.

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“We’ve been coming in hot,” he admited. She went hom

three years–four years with

the same guy total–to divorced, to a new relationship that’s… not exactly standard, all inside two

months. She hasn’t even had time to figure out who she is on her own.”

“I’m not letting her go,” I said, sharp with it. “Call it selfish, I don’t care. I can’t, Jace.”

“I’m not letting her go either,” he said. “But we could stop crowding her. Give her the space she might

be looking for. Maybe dial it back–let her go out with friends without us in her shadow.”

I shook my head before he finished. Not happening.

“And what if we do that,” I shot back, “and someone else swoops in? Or she decides she likes the quiet

better and figures out she doesn’t want us at all?”

My chest was tight. Panic had its hands around my throat. Like Jace said yesterday–she was the missing piece of my soul. Same for him.

“We need to sit her down,” I said, forcing the words out evenly. “A real conversation. No games. But

not tonight, okay?”

“Okay.” Jace leaned on the dresser, then his eyes sparked again. “So what do you think tonight looks like? The auction club is mostly Daddy/Mommy Dom types bidding on LG/LB’s. I know whoever offers themselves chooses the theme, but what do you think she’s going with? And how high are we

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bidding?”

“I’ll pay whatever it takes,” I said. “No one is walking away with her but us

I paused, running through possibilities.

“I don’t know what she’s going to present,” I went on. “I’m ready for anything, though. I’m bringing a

small duffle–some tools, a mix of stuff that could be useful. We know she won’t pick DD/LG. But she

might pick CNC. Or a hunted scenario. Or some bratty babysitter thing. She could pass for a teenager,

and people in that room eat up a girl who looks young like she does.”

Jace’s mouth twitched. “So we’re spending a lot.”

“Yeah,” I said. “A lot.”

“Whatever she chooses,” he replied, “we’ll handle it. Now come on–help me finish unpacking. And I

want to get her something.”

“What kind of something?”

“You know. The standard.” He started ticking it off with his fingers. “Flowers. Chocolate. Jewelry. She

hardly wears any.”

“He’s not wrong,” I said. “I’ve only seen the choker and earrings, and that’s only when she actually

dresses up. Day–to–day? Nothing.”

I helped him get his clothes on hangers and shoved the rest into drawers. My closet was massive- plenty of space if she ever wanted to stash things at our place.

I checked the time. A couple hours had evaporated.

I opened our text thread.

Hey baby, Jace and I are gonna run some errands. We’ll be back in a couple of hours.

My Scar: No worries, I just got done with my class, gonna have some lunch with Lena and her partner. Um, would it be okay if I met you guys at the club tonight?

I blinked at the screen.

Oh, huh. I didn’t know about that.

“Scar wants to meet us at the club tonight,” I told Jace,

He looked up. “Why?”

“No clue.”

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My phone chimed again. “She says she doesn’t want us figuring out her theme.

Jace’s eyebrows jumped. “Ohhh. Secretive. Now I’m getting excited.”

Yeah, beautiful. Auction starts at eight.

My Scar: Okay. See you then. I miss you guys bunches. XOXO

We miss you too. I’ll give Jace a kiss from you.

My Scar: LOL you do that. ?? That’s my kiss to you and him.

I smiled at the screen. The words I love you hovered in my head, hot and ready, but I kept them there.

She wasn’t ready. And if I was honest, part of me still flinched. The last girl I’d said it to had fucked my

best friend.

Except–my girl was already fucking my best friend.

Still. Not yet.

We headed out of the condo.

Stop one was a candy shop, but not the kind for kids with gummy bears in plastic bins. This place specialized adult, custom, made–to–order filth wrapped in sugar.

We picked a heart–shaped box stuffed with raspberry, peanut butter, and caramel centers. Then we ordered custom M&M’s with little messages stamped on them: suck my cock, let me eat you tonight.

Mine said your pussy is delicious.

Jace chose you’re my favorite flavor.

We laughed way too much, like teenagers getting away with something. On the way out we grabbed dick–shaped lollipops–cherry, pineapple, and grape.

Next was jewelry. Jace wanted a necklace. I went for a bracelet and an anklet.

He chose a thin gold chain with a diamond butterfly charm. I picked a diamond tennis bracelet and a matching anklet.

Outside the store, we nearly collided with Summer.

“Hey,” she said, eyeing the bags in our hands and the sign behind us. “What are you two doing? And where’s my girl?”

“She’s at lunch with friends,” Jace said, looking almost proud of himself. “And we’re spoiling her.”

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Ocas Mered

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Summer grinned. “Good. She deserves it. Her ex never did things like that. He’d give her gift cards. Same gift cards every year–birthday, anniversary, all of it.”

I couldn’t help it. “How do you date Scar and not want to spoil her? She’s incredible. Gorgeous, sexy, smart, funny. She cooks, she bakes–like, unreal. She’s sweet. She gives and gives.”

Summer’s smile widened, like she’d just watched me fall off a cliff. “You’re gone for her.”

“We both are,” Jace said. “But we’re also trying to slow down. She’s gotten overwhelmed more than

once.”

“That’s Brennan,” Summer said, her voice flattening. “He did damage. You know she divorced him because he cheated, but you don’t know what he did before it got physical.”

Jace stiffened. “What did he do?”

Summer hesitated, then shook her head. “I don’t know if that’s mine to tell.”

“Is she going to tell us?” I asked, softer than I felt. “Because I don’t think she will. We just… we need to understand what she’s carrying. The way she’s fallen apart, it’s obvious it wasn’t nothing.”

Summer let out a breath. “Okay. But if she opens up, don’t tell her you heard it from me. Promise.”

We both nodded.

“Before he cheated,” she said, “Brennan basically left Scar without leaving her. He latched onto

another woman. And he said things–things that tore her up.”

“Like what?” Jace pushed.

“The woman’s name was Sloane,” Summer said. “She had a daughter, Ever. Brennan saw them and

just… became their family. Ever had a daddy. Sloane had a husband. He fixed Sloane’s house. Mowed

her lawn. Did little handyman stuff for her.

“And at the same time he neglected Scar. He neglected his own place. Their third anniversary? He

spent it with the neighbor and her kid. The next morning, too.

“Scar made him breakfast and he told her he’d already eaten. That became a pattern–she’d cook and he’d already had dinner with Sloane and Ever. Their disposal broke and he said he’d handle it, but he didn’t, so she watched a YouTube video and did it herself. Same with a light fixture. Same with patching holes in the walls.

“He wouldn’t touch her for weeks. When he finally did, she said it felt like a pity fuck. If she confronted him, he called her selfish. When she said she was ready to try for a baby, he said, why would he want

one with her?

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“And when they fought,” Summer continued, “he ran straight to Sloane.

“Then one day she had to Uber home from work because he’d disappeared again to be their hero. She pulls up and sees him kissing Sloane–Sloane in his arms, her legs around him.

“And the worst part?” Summer’s eyes hardened. “Sloane got him drunk and recorded them having sex.

He did things with Sloane that he never did with Scar.”

“That’s it,” I muttered. “That’s why she thinks she doesn’t measure up.”

Summer nodded once.

Jace’s voice went low, determined. “Then we prove her wrong. Over and over. We give her what she

wants. We show her what she is.”

I nodded, because there wasn’t anything else to do.

“Thank you,” I told Summer. “I know that wasn’t easy.”

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Jace lifted the bags. “Can you let us into her place? We want to set everything up–on her bed. We still

need flowers after.”

“Yeah,” Summer said. “Come on.”

We swung by the florist. Jace picked rainbow roses. I grabbed daisies, sunflowers, and marigolds.

Summer unlocked Scar’s condo for us. We set the bouquets on her coffee table. The chocolates,

jewelry bags, lollipops, and custom M&M’s went right on her bed like an offering.

Then I went straight to her closet and pulled a handful of outfits off hangers. Jace rummaged through her drawers and came up with underwear. I grabbed her toothbrush, hair products, and whatever else

looked like daily essentials.

We took most of her stuff back to our place.

So much for slowing down.

If she needed space, she could say it out loud. Otherwise, we were going to make it easy for her to be

with us–whether she admitted she wanted it or not.

Before we left, I slipped my key off my ring and set it on top of the chocolate box.

This was war.

War on her doubts. War for her heart. War for her love.

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