I kissed him back and smiled as I fell asleep, too tired to keep my eyes open for another second or speak a word in return.

16

The next morning, we all slept in late. Even after the guys got up, I slept in even later still. I didn’t even hear or feel when they got up from the bed. I was too wonderfully exhausted to move. I laid there, curled up beneath the blankets with my toes wrapped up in the fuzziness of the fleece, and I dragged out the thought of opening my eyes as I flirted back and forth between sleep and waking. Finally, my eyelids started to peel open on their own and I blinked against the light of day that was shining too brightly in through the window. I felt good about today. I felt as if it was a new beginning for all of us. The guys were no longer in strife with each other, and we were all on the same team working toward the same goal. The Sanctuary was going to be a huge success. I got up out of bed and meandered my way toward the kitchen to get some coffee started.

“Good morning,” Rob said as he looked over the top of his coffee cup at me. “We were wondering if you were indeed going to wake up today.”

I rolled me eyes at him playfully.

“Well, it was quite a lot of physical exertion last night,” I said. “I needed a rest after such a night in the garden.”

“What garden?” Sarah asked as she walked into the kitchen and took one of her protein shakes out of the fridge.

“There’s a beautiful garden on the Lineage campus,” I said benignly. “We took a walk over there last night and looked at all the fireflies and flowers.”

“Sounds nice,” she said as she plopped down at one of the tables to have her drink. It was the most I’d seen her out of her bedroom.

I walked over to the coffee pot where Michael was pouring me a fresh cup of coffee from the pitcher. He reached his hand around to the small of my back and pulled me closer to kiss me on the top of my cheekbone.

“So which of you guys are dating her?” Sarah asked.

We all stared at her as if she had just said something offensive.

“Didn’t mean to pry,” she said when she saw our surprised expressions. “I was just curious since I seem to have seen all of you with her at one time or another. Or was that supposed to be a secret? Shit, I’m not very good at all of this. This is why I don’t date.”

“It’s okay,” I smiled at her when I realized that she was just trying to be social and that we were supposed to be welcoming to the residents here and not standoffish. “I guess it does seem a bit convoluted at times.”

“Not anymore though, right?” Adam said. There was a tinge of sarcasm and angst in his voice that everyone seemed to pick up on. “We’re all happy with this new arrangement that we’ve agreed to.”

Michael stood and stared at Adam as if he was waiting for his head to pop off his shoulders or something. I started to get a bad feeling about the agreement that the guys made. An agreement is only as good as the word of those who enter into it. Rob seemed fine with everything and he waved a hand at Adam as if to shush and dismiss him.

“Don’t listen to him,” Rob said to Sarah. “Michael and Lisette are together. Adam and I are just her close friends.”

Adam made a snorting noise as he spit out his coffee.

“Close?” he said with a pointed laugh. “I think we should come up with a better word than close. Me and my favorite barista at the coffee shop are close, but I don’t think that holds a candle to this.”

“You guys are all pretty weird,” Sarah said as she stood up from the table and walked out of the room.

“Is there something you want to say, Adam?” Michael asked bluntly. “If so, spit it out.”

“Maybe just don’t spit it out like the coffee you just spit all over the table,” Rob said. “Some of that got on my pants.”

“There’s nothing that I want to say,” Adam said under his breath.

He pushed the chair out from under his legs and stood up to leave. I watched as he stormed out of the room and down the hallway toward the bedroom, not our mutual bedroom, but instead the one that he had recovered in after we had rescued him from the safe.

“What’s going on with him?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Rob said. “Just give him some time and space and he’ll get over it. You know how he is.”

“Yeah, actually I do know how he is,” I said. “And up until recently, he never used to act this way. He used to always be the most laid-back and chill guy that let things roll right off his back. Now he seems to be full of angst and anger.”

“I don’t think he’s going to stick to the agreement,” Michael said. “We made a deal.”

“He will,” Rob said. ‘Like I said, he just needs some time to get over it.”

“I hope you’re right,” Michael said as the two of us brought our coffee to sit down at the table with Rob.

I didn’t like the feeling that Adam was pulling away from all of us. It worried me.

“Maybe you should go talk to him,” I said to Michael.

“Me?” he asked sounding surprised. “I’m the one who has taken you from him, at least that’s what he thinks. I’m the last person that he would want to talk to I’m sure.”

“But you two were friends way before I came into the picture,” I reminded him. “I think Adam will listen to you.”

“I don’t,” Michael said bluntly.

“I have to agree with him,” Rob said. “They may have been friends before you arrived, but love changes things. I doubt that Adam can clearly see their friendship right now. He’s clouded by his feelings for you.”

“But you’re not,” I said, trying to figure out why Adam was the only one that seemed to be miserable now.

“Trust me,” Rob chuckled. “I’m still not happy that I can’t have you. But that being said, the three of you had more history together before I came into the picture. That might have something to do with it too.”

“What should we do about it?” I asked. “I don’t want Adam to be upset.”

“I know you don’t,” Michael said as he rubbed my hand with his fingers. “But sometimes you just have to let people work through stuff on their own. I think Rob is right; we just need to give him some space.”

After I finished my coffee, I headed down the hallway toward the bedroom to take a shower and get dressed. I was a little surprised to see Adam standing in the hallway talking with Sarah. She barely seemed to talk to anyone here, and Adam didn’t seem to be at all in the mood to talk to her earlier. They both looked up when they saw me come into the hallway, and Sarah immediately ducked back into her room.

“Hey,” I said as I walked up to Adam. “Listen, I don’t want you to be mad at me again.”

“I’m not mad at you, Lisette,” he said.

“You could have fooled me. You seemed pretty damn angry in the kitchen.”

“Not at you. I can’t stay angry at you.”

Adam lifted his hand to my face and traced the side of my jaw with his fingertips. I smiled and hoped that he was being honest. After such a wonderful night last night, I really didn’t want any of the three of us to be at odds. But when Adam leaned forward to kiss me, I pulled away. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss him; I did. But after how wonderfully last night had ended, and how well it seemed to put a closure on things and carve a path ahead for me and Michael; it just didn’t feel right.

“What are you doing?” I asked quietly. “I thought the three of you had an agreement.”

“I don’t want to agree to it anymore,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s how agreements work.”