Page 83 of Seduced in Ink

“All I’m saying is that the two of you were great together. And I don’t care if you thought you weren’t dating, you were. So don’t even start with that.”

“Madison needs you, too. You guysweregood together,” Lincoln said. “And considering that I want my precious baby cousin pure and perfect, the fact that I’m even allowing this to happen should tell you how good I think you two were.”

“I’m not going to touch on that subject, if that’s okay with you,” Aaron said, thinking of all the kinky shit they had done.

Lincoln narrowed his eyes. “Yes, let’s not.”

“I walked away to give her space. Hell, to givemespace. Everything happened so fast. I didn’t know what was real and what was fake anymore.”

“Then talk to her,” Ethan said.

“That’s funny, considering what happened to you,” Aaron said, regretting the words as soon as he spoke them.

“You’re right,” Ethan said. “I almost ruined everything.”

“Same here,” Lincoln said.

“You know what we did?” Ethan said.

“We fucking talked to one another after the rest of you guys yelled at us,” Lincoln finished.

“So, here we are,” Ethan said.

“Yelling at you,” Lincoln added.

“Okay, I get it. What if she says no? What if she’s healing and not sad at all that I’m gone?”

“What if you’re a fucking idiot?” Lincoln countered.

“Nice, honey,” Ethan drawled.

“I miss her so much,” Aaron said, running his hand over his beard. “I didn’t want what we had to get confused and jumbled in the charade. And now I don’t know how to go back.”

“You just go back,” Ethan whispered. “And you grovel. You beg. And you tell her exactly how you feel.”

“But first…” Lincoln said.

“I should shower?” Aaron drawled.

“Okay, yes. First, you should shower. But then? You should figure out exactly what you want. Because you don’t get a second chance,” Lincoln said. “This is all part of your first chance. But if you walk away again? If you hurt her? There’ll be no place on this Earth you can hide from me.” Lincoln glared.

“Figure out what you want,” Lincoln repeated.

“I already know what I want,” Aaron said, looking down at his hands. The hands that had touched her. That still craved her.

“And?” Ethan prompted.

“I want her.”

“Then go get her. Grovel your heart out. And don’t fuck it up,” Lincoln said.

“How the hell do I grovel?” Aaron asked.

Ethan threw his hands up into the air. “You read how many romance novels? Read one of your precious books and learn how to grovel. And do it well. There’d better be glass on the floor for you to walk over at this point.”

“It’s crawling, darling,” Lincoln said, laughing. “Seriously, though. Crawl over glass. That’ll help.”

“But don’t get too much blood on the carpet,” Ethan countered.