me his back, which stated, “Property of Thea Gale” in large block letters. Then, Tristin and Hayle both turned around to reveal the same.
My hands flew to my cheeks, as though to anticipate the blush that would undoubtedly be forthcoming. “Are you guys sure you want to be that obvious about this?”
Earlier today, we’d made the decision to attend the bonfire together. Like, together together. Despite Vincent’s warnings about waiting to be certain of our commitment, we didn’t need to wait any longer. We knew.
Thankfully, he’d agreed to release us from our deal and had already started the process of turning over our trust funds. No matter what, he wouldn’t be able to hold money over our heads anymore.
As the brothers turned back to face me, I couldn’t help but shake my head at their shirts, though I was smiling. There was a difference between subtly going public and shoving our relationship in everyone’s faces. I’d assumed we were going with the first option. Clearly, the guys had chosen the second.
“If we’re doing this, we might as well do it all the way,” Tristin said, surprising me. I would have expected him to be the least enthusiastic about drawing attention. “We can let people whisper and wonder, or we can make it clear from the beginning that you’re with all three of us and allow them to start getting used to the idea.”
“I guess that’s true,” I replied with a sigh. “But I might have to take advantage of your height when I need a break from all of the staring.”
He smiled at that. “Anytime.”
“Maybe we need a signal,” Hayle suggested. “Then, we can come running and shield you with our bodies.”
Leo nodded vigorously, like it was the best idea he’d ever heard. “She could use her middle finger to scratch her nose.”
“Good one,” Tristin said sarcastically. “Because there’s no chance someone will think she’s flipping them off and call her out or anything.”
“Then, what do you suggest?”
“Something more subtle.” Turning to me, he said, “You could pull all of your hair over your shoulder. No one would think anything of that.”
“Would you even notice?” I asked.
His eyes heated. “I always notice when you do that, since all I can think about is kissing your neck.”
Leo smacked his stomach. “Dude, same here.”
Hayle nodded. “Guess that’s that. If you need us to rescue you for any reason, just pull your hair over your shoulder.”
Unable to resist teasing them, I slowly reached behind me to sweep my long locks over my right shoulder. “Like this?”
Tristin groaned and moved forward. “Yes.” Then, he swung me around to plant soft kisses over the exposed skin at my neck. “See? I can’t resist.”
“Good to know.”
Leo walked toward the front door. “I would like to get in on that action, but then we’d never make it to the party. And I worked too hard on these sweatshirts to let them go to waste.”
Pulling away from Tristin, I grabbed my coat before heading in Leo’s direction. “You made them?”
“Well, technically, Petra did. But I supervised.”
Of course, my best friend had made them. I should have known. Not that I was mad. They were rather adorable, if not a little embarrassing.
It only took a few minutes for us to make it down to the beach where the bonfire was being held. But those few minutes had been enough for my stomach to tighten from nerves. It wasn’t that I particularly cared what a bunch of random Harbor U students thought about me. I just didn’t want to be the center of attention. A lot had changed in the last five months, but that much hadn’t.
The temptation to fall into old habits and convince the guys to put off our coming out for another day was strong. But I knew better than anyone that procrastinating wouldn’t fix anything. It would merely draw out the anxiety of this moment for longer. And that wouldn’t do any of us any good.
As Leo parked, Tristin leaned up from the back seat to place a hand on my arm. “Don’t be nervous. We’ve got this.”
I gave him a tremulous smile. “Yeah, we do.”
All three of the guys laughed at my less-than-convincing response. But Hayle actually grinned at me, something I hadn’t seen from him all week. “Just think. At least your forbidden relationship with the three of us will give everyone something to talk about other than my mom’s death and your mom’s murder and Dad’s upcoming stint behind bars.”