Three
I regret looking at him almost immediately.
I’m suffocating. Heating up.
Zaid’s dark eyes meet mine, smoldering with an intensity that makes my breath hitch. There’s hunger there, a desire that wraps around me, tightening like a coil. It’s so intense that I wonder if any other man on this earth ever truly found me beautiful.
None had ever looked at me the way he does.
“You look beautiful,” Zaid murmurs, his voice low enough that only I can hear.
A flush creeps up my neck, and I struggle to steady my breathing. I lay my hand on my
neck, where it meets my chest, but it does little to help.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I try to find something else
to focus on.
But Aiden is distracted with a conversation, and I am left to fend for myself.
The weight of Zaid’s gaze pins me in place. His fingers brush lightly against my arm, sending a shiver skittering down my spine. The touch is gentle, almost absent–minded,
but it leaves a trail of fire in its wake.
Does he know how much this makes me feel?
“We should talk about last night,” Zaid says, his voice like velvet. The heat in my cheeks worsens. I can’t breathe. I have to blink to stop the images from last night from
bombarding my brain.
“No,” I reply quickly, shaking my head. “We don’t need to talk about that at all.”
His eyes drop to my lips, and for a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me. There’s a wild, desperate edge to his expression, like he’s fighting a losing battle with himself. I stop breathing, caught in the tension, my body leaning forward ever so slightly, when the first notes of the piano cut through the air, signaling my mother’s entrance.
Zaid pulls away, jaw clenching. His eyes lift to mine, like he’s sorry our moment was
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Three
broken.
The guests stand, and I use the distraction to pull myself together. My mother appears at the end of the aisle, radiant in her lace gown. It hugs her frame, each detail perfectly chosen to highlight her beauty.
Because regardless of our relationship, my mother is beautiful.
She walks with grace, her bouquet trembling ever so slightly in her hands, and I feel the familiar sting of tears in my eyes.
I can’t look at her for long. The memories hit me too hard.
Old wedding photos of her and my dad, his hand around her waist, her glowing smile so full of hope. Her dress with puffy sleeves and my brother in her arms.
In every picture, she was smiling like the world was before her.
She loved my dad with everything in her. They were soulmates.
My chest tightens painfully, and I swallow back the lump forming in my throat.
Zaid senses the change in me. While Aiden is too busy watching my mother, Zaid reaches for my hand, his fingers curling around mine in a firm, comforting squeeze. The unexpected tenderness undoes me, and I blink rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispers, his lips brushing against my shoulder in the lightest of
touches.
I glance at him, conflicted. The softness in his eyes is so different from the arrogance, the cruelty of before. It’s like he’s peeling back a layer of himself that I’m not sure I want to see, yet can’t look away from.
“It’s weird watching my dad with someone else, too.”
Guilt fills me. It tears me apart. The pain in his eyes wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for
- me.
Instinctively, I wrap my fingers around his and squeeze back.
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Soon enough, we’re sitting back down and I pull my hand from Zaid’s. The ceremony continues. I try to focus on the officiant’s words, but my emotions are too tangled. My mother almost looks so happy as she stands before Jake. Her face is glowing, but it’s very easy to tell that she doesn’t love him
I feel like a bitch for the relief it brings me.
When it’s time for the vows, Jake glances at me as he speaks. His words are heartfelt, his devotion clear, but the weight of his gaze unsettles me. I force myself to look away, fixing my eyes on my lap instead.
Zaid shifts beside me, his presence steady, grounding me even as it sends my heart racing.
I shouldn’t want this, I shouldn’t want him, but the way he’s looking at me now, his
thumb brushing over my knuckles, makes it impossible to think clearly.
Aiden places his arm behind my back, his fingers caressing my shoulder. He presses a kiss
on my cheek.
I sit frozen, caught between Aiden, Zaid, and a man who keeps unraveling everything I
thought I knew about myself even as he marries my mother.
What is wrong with me?
My chest tightens, and I press a hand against it, trying to push the ache away.
How did I end up here? Torn between three men who each see a unique part of me. Zaid sees my fire, my defiance, the part of me that craves chaos even when I know better.
Aiden sees my sweet side, my support, the pieces of a girlfriend I didn’t even know I had inside me.
And Jake? Jake sees something I don’t even understand yet, something dark and wild that scares me as much as it intrigues me. He made me feel again for the first time since my dad’s death.
I can’t love all three. I shouldn’t love any of them. But my heart refuses to listen, each beat echoing their names like a betrayal.
What am I supposed to do?
