"A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden." — Unknown

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Chapter 75
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Maggie

I beat the girls back in the house, but Kade stayed outside to help bring in some more food Kimberly bought. I tried to situate myself at the table, but with my nerves, I couldn't stay still, so I resorted to walking in small circles.

Footsteps echoed through the quiet of the house, since the only thing live right now was the crackle of the fireplace, and the thunder of my heart. I wasn't sure which was louder.

Kimberly rounded the corner, first. Raven was behind her, and Levi, still sporting an angry carved expression, headed straight for the fridge, and pulled the entire case of Buds Light out.

I paused in my tracks, and it caught the girls attention.

"Oh, Maggie, I'm glad you're awake," Kimberly smiled, still holding one of the grocery bags. Her eyes dipped to it as she reached inside, and pulled out a bag of jolly ranchers. "I got you a couple more of sweets, since the boys are destroying all of the others."

My nod was rough, and it sent the loose strands of my ponytail astray. "Thank you."

"Hey." Raven placed her bucket of popcorn she'd gotten from the theater down, her eyes sweeping over me. A hint of concern pounced through them. "You okay, babe?"

My fear nearly coughed up another lie, as it had routinely done for the past couple of years. Instead of letting it out, I pushed it back down with all of my strength and hope for their reactions.

My voice barely even hit an octave as I said, "I know this is sudden, but I need to talk to you. Both of you. It's about..." Doubt clouded my mind until it was all foggy, again.

Kimberly's paused on her bags at what I said, and Raven did the same. They passed a look to one another, then returned to me with an expression along the lines of concern and confusion.

Kade, who had just finished placing some of the groceries up with Levi, turned, and met my eyes. For the first time, I had a clear message from him: you can do this and take your time. I appreciated it more than he realized.

At my nod of appreciation, he returned it with one of understanding, then stepped closer to Kimberly. Kissing her head, he glanced down at her. "We'll be back. Levi's gotta help me with something real quick—"

Levi, who had already demolished his third bottle of beer, paused with it half way to his mouth. His confusion lined eyes swung over to Kade. "I do?"

Kade flicked his head at him. "You do."

Levi snorted, bringing the bottle to his lips. "No the fuck I don't—"

Cursing, Kade stomped over to where he was leaned against the wall, and by his shirt, jerked Levi over to the staircase. "Take the hint and come the hell on."

Levi's curses followed about his forgotten beer, before one of Kade's was mixed in, too. Walking back into the kitchen, he snatched the rest of the beers from the kitchen island, and turned to bring them back to Levi, who was waiting by the staircase, grumpily.

Kimberly kept her concern in place, but nodded at me, anyway. Raven did the same, her hazel eyes tracing over any inch of me for help.

It was just us, now.

I heard one of the girls take a cautious step toward me. "Maggie?"

I dared my feet to remain still. "Can the both of you..." Sighing, I looked to Raven, who was watching me with the same stack of curiosity as Kimberly. "Could you both sit, and please listen to what I'm about to tell you? I'm going to try to get it all out at once, and it won't be easy. I know you both might have questions, and I promise I'll try to answer them. I promise, but for right now..." I motioned toward the stools with a trembling hand.

Either girl met the others confusion, but did as was asked. Both took their own stool next to the other, and left a free one for me, but I didn't take it. I might not belong there in a minute or two.

Instead, I took the seat across from them. Straightened my back. Pushed through the bile in my throat. Met their looks of puzzlement.

Then, I poured the truth onto the table for them to shape.

I couldn't even look them in the eye while I spoke. I let my own remain on the kitchen island, burying my shame into the surface. The tears appeared seconds in, but I kept them at bay as long as possible.

The more I spoke, the more that familiar, significant weight began to lift. It was the same one of the day with Luke at the lake house. Relief.

Despite the plenitude of fear, I did manage to find it. It speared right through the fear that had held me down for so long.

The words had managed to crawl from the back of my throat, and I didn't choke on them on their way out. I didn't hold them back for the people I cared about most in the world. It was something I never imagined myself doing, but that was one of many, so I couldn't put anything past myself anymore.

I reran over a scattered checkpoint in my head to see if I missed any points, but when I didn't find any, my quivering lips clamped shut. That was it.

The silence was the only thing with a steady heartbeat in the room.

Slowly, my eyes began to lift from the island. I would hate to physically see them leave, but it was best to get it over with, now.

Before I fully made it to Kimberly and Raven, I managed to croak out past a swollen throat, "It's okay if you guys never want to speak to me, again. If you never want to see me or if you never want a thing to do with me, again...you have every right, and I promise to respect that, but..." My eyes dipped, again. Tears muddled my vision, but I could see the bounce of my leg under the island. "I really, really hope that you don't. You two were my first friends. I'd never had any before you, and I never thought I could, and regardless, I'll always be thankful for you both."

My tearful sigh blended in with, "But, regardless, I hope that you can continue your friendship with Jax. He tried, I promise he did, and if you want to put your blame on someone, please just put it out on me before you do him. I'm sorry that I put our friendship and your trust at risk by—"

My words came to an abrupt stop. Not at my own will, but at theirs.

I hadn't even realized that they had gotten up until I felt their arms lock on either side of me. Then, I was being drawn into a hug that felt like a million embraces all at once.

"Maggie," I heard Kimberly sniffle into my neck. "We're sorry. We're so sorry."

"You went through so much," Raven whispered, her hand gently running up my backside. "We had no idea."

Slowly, I leaned back to peer at them both. Both of their expressions were overflowing with anguish, as well as understanding and a million other emotions that I could note didn't involve one: anger.

"You..." My voice broke with disbelief as I glanced between the two. "You guys aren't mad at me?"

"What?" Kimberly jerked back, shock painting her face over. "Maggie...why would we be mad at you?"

"Because..." My eyes dipped to my feet. "I've lied since the beginning. About everything."

Kimberly shook her head. "For a reason that we understand. You were surviving in the best way you knew how. Not a bit of anger comes from that or us, Maggie."

"And, we're sorry," Raven picked up. She swept at her tears. "We're so fucking sorry you went through all of that, Maggie." Kimberly nodded, adding in an apologetic voice, "And everything else that you're going through, right now, too. You've been here, stuck with all of this shit for the past couple of months, and you're still holding up."

"Luke helped. A lot." My own eyes were beginning to well. "That was what happened at the lake house. The lights reminded me of everything with my dad, and it triggered the fuck out of me. Luke talked me through it." I sighed, the sound short. "I'm so sorry. I know how selfish it was of me to keep it to myself, but..." I shook my head, shamefully. "I didn't want you two to hate me."

"Maggie," Raven sighed out, grasping my shaky hand in hers. Her thumb stroked the back. "As much as we wished that you would have told us, we can understand why you did what you did. We had no business knowing something that you didn't want to give us yourself. We'll always prefer you be comfortable, and come to us on your own terms rather than make yourself uncomfortable for us. You were only trying to get a piece of your privacy back. You had no idea that we'd become so close, and by the time you did, you were scared, but Maggie, love..." Her expression said the words before she did. "We still love you. We still trust and want you in our lives."

Kimberly nodded in agreement, her eyes glazed over. She had taken her glasses off earlier, so I saw the gleam just fine. "And, we always will. I'm not mad or upset about you doing what you did, not at all. I'll admit I am shocked, but it doesn't fuck with shit else when it comes to our feelings for you. Not at all. You're still our best friend, and our sister, regardless of that or anything else that happens. I promise you that."

Something cracked, then healed altogether in my chest. The moment it began to mend, I wondered if it were my heart or my soul. Either one was going through a major change that it never could have expected, nor prepared for.

The tears started to slip down my cheeks. They continued on until the skin was a running faucet.

At the glistening of my eyes, their expressions softened. Raven pulled me in first, her hand stroking at my backside with love. "I promise you, Maggie. When it comes to you, Kimberly and I will always help and support you in any way that we can."

The tears only increased. As Luke had done, they didn't make me feel less than in things I had only ever found negativity in. Instead, they were here, providing support and solutions I would have never had the courage to ask for myself.

I loved them, and they loved me. Nothing had changed that. The universe had finally, finally given me a fucking break. This one nearly beat all others, though.

Both girls pulled me in tighter, dropping their heads on top of mine. Kimberly's voice sounded out, quietly, "We've got you, Maggie. I promise we won't ever let you go."

Raven's tears mixed in with the both of ours, and I heard her follow up with, "We won't even think of it."

***

I was forced out of my sleep by the sounds of fluttering wings, if I could guess.

Once I lifted my head, I realized what it was. Raven's snores.

I rubbed at my tired eyes with my hand. As soon as I dropped it, I felt a plush blanket under my palm.

I glanced around the room. Kimberly was sound asleep on my stomach, and someone had put a pillow behind her head, and I was on Raven's chest. Either girl was knocked out, and our limbs were tangled.

I recounted the steps. The last thing I remembered was going to one of the rooms to further our conversation about everything. As soon as we were inside, though, we all ended up crying, and holding the other. Before I knew it, we were all asleep, and in each others grasps.

I wasn't sure who put the blanket and pillow over us, but my guess was Kade or Levi. Luke hadn't been here when I fell asleep.

Just as I shifted, my eyes raised to the ceiling. The lightbulb in the center. It was off.

Holy shit. The lights were off.

And, I wasn't freaking out.

There was only a peak of light coming from the moonlight, but it wasn't much. We had all forgot to turn the light on since it was bright out when we came inside the room.

I couldn't lie; the familiar touch of fear did begin to walk the path to my brain, but it wasn't as dominant as the other times, for sure. If anything, it was just coexisting with the confidence Luke had helped store in me against the dark. We had been practicing with it a little bit here, too, and all of the lessons were proving to be effective.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and felt my chest suck in under a breath. My eyes slowly parted to the darkness, again, and I felt my stomach roll a little less. "It's okay." It was. I was okay. I had proven that many, many times over, and if Luke were here, he'd do the same.

I'm okay. Those two words were what I hung onto for dear life, and they seemed influential. I locked in a breath of relief at the loss of fear and gain of control.

Since I didn't want to wake the girls, I waited an extra minute. That time was used to reflect.

I had actually told them the truth. My body was still cool from the shock at that, but also at their reactions. I couldn't believe it. They didn't hate me, and their love remained, regardless.

The relief was heavenly. It was like my soul had been given a new, soothing surrounding that their reassurances had structured. They had no idea how much it meant to me.

It was a struggle, but I managed to break free from their arms. With Raven's death grip, the girl should be drafting in the fucking NFL by now.

I made sure to cover the both of them with the blanket, again, before heading for the door. My steps were still slow, and disorientated from the dark, but I managed to make it to the light switch to provide myself relief. We were on Luke and I's floor, so—

My heart nearly burst at that. Luke.

I could hear him downstairs. It was small, and muffled, but I wouldn't miss it.

I tried not to trip over myself as I descended the stairs. I didn't even know he was coming back this early. My mind was still a whirlwind from my confessions, but it was reassuring that I had someone who could try to understand it with me.

Once I reached the living room, I heard the deep rumbles of three voices, but I could find my boy's in a set of a million.

I wasn't even sure what they were talking about, nor did I care much to find out. At my footsteps, Luke's voice paused in their conversation, as if he recognized my presence without even looking, too.

When I stepped into the room, I immediately went for Luke, who was already heading for me. It took only a handful of steps for us to break the distance.

We clashed in a hug. His arms went around my waist, and my own returned it. I buried myself into him as much as I could. And just like that, despite the past couple of hours, peace was my newest companion.

"I missed you so fucking much, Maggie," he whispered against me, squeezing. "Are you okay, baby?"

"I'm fine." My nerves retracted the longer I hinted at his familiar cologne. "I missed you."

I heard one of the other men stand. "We're gonna give you two a minute, or..." Levi trailed off, then shrugged. "You know what? It doesn't matter; you're not even listening to me." Chortling, him and Kade left the room.

I shut my eyes, but it did nothing to hold back the hot tears. "I told Kimberly and Raven about everything." I knew he got my meaning. "I did it."

"I know you did, angel. I know you did," he mumbled back, softly. A hand stroked at my backside. "And, I'm so fucking proud of you, Maggie."

I nodded, feeling my tensed limbs unlock. The longer he held me, the more my spirit crawled back into a natural state, despite being in hiding for so long.

"How did you know?" I whispered to him.

"I got back a couple of hours ago, and Kade told me where you all were. I saw the three of you, but it looked like you'd been crying. I figured you told them." Frustration made his expression turn. "It honestly took everything in me to stop myself from waking you up to check on you right then, but I knew you were probably exhausted from everything."

I sunk even deeper into him as a response. Luke took it, kissing the top of my head. I could hear him whispering out his pride in my ear, and it only added to my relief.

When he leaned back, his hand went to my cheek. "We can talk about everything upstairs, yeah?" The admiration in his eyes gleamed back at me, and it gave me a smile. "We're leaving first thing in the morning, but if you want to get some more sleep, I'll go ahead and get our bags ready."

I shook my head; I didn't plan on going to sleep for a while. The strewed emotions from my confession with the girls wouldn't allow it.

Luke maintained his grip on my waist as he led us up the stairs. As soon as we were in our room, he shut the door after us, then turned to face me.

His tall stature folded over mine like a hug. Rough hands grasped either side of my face in the most gentlest way possible.

"Are you okay?" was the first thing he asked.

I nodded. I was. I truly was.

"I'm okay," I smiled. "Are you okay?"

Luke's gaze softened. "As long as you are, baby. Come here." In his arms, he pulled me into a hug. Electricity was all I knew at this moment, and something much more powerful was all I cared to know in his arms. "My strong girl, Norris."