Sang

Sang worried her lip with her teeth as she sat at her desk, looking over at the door leading from the kitchen to the garage. She'd heard North working in there for hours, ever since he came home, but she hadn't gone out to see or talk with him. She wanted to know how he was doing, something she should have asked back at his work garage, but she'd been too stunned to think about it then. And now she wasn't sure what to do. She wanted North to know she cared and was worried about how he was feeling too, but she also wanted to give him space if he needed it.

Polaris moved to the door leading to the garage, sitting and whining, knowing that North was outside. Mentally shrugging, she gave up, heading for the door. "We'll just be quiet and sit off to the side, okay?" she whispered to Polaris, catching his collar to keep him by her. Outside, she moved them to a storage chest, using it as a seat before giving Polaris a quiet command to sit beside her. He kept his gaze trained on North, who was hovering over the engine of his truck, but stayed by her.

North glanced at them, giving Sang a nod to acknowledge she was there, then he went back to working. She sat there quietly, petting Polaris as she waited. It wasn't like she was in much of a state of mind to do anything, and it was comforting to watch North and know that he was here with her, even if neither of them were saying anything.

Not too much time passed before he stepped away from the truck with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry for not coming in to see you when I got home."

"It's fine," she promised, resting a hand on Polaris's head. "We both need time to process this."

He nodded, then winced as he sat down next to her on the chest. "And I forgot to pick up dinner on my way home. Sorry."

"It's fine," she said again. "We can just make sandwiches and eat them on the back patio." Their French doors giving them a view of the lake and woods out back also housed a small concrete patio that held a grill and some outdoor furniture. They'd often eaten outside since moving here.

Though after a few moments of silence, it occurred to Sang that given how long it took North to arrive home compared to her, it didn't make sense that he hadn't picked something up. He had to have been doing something with that time. Hesitantly, she asked, "What did you do before coming home? Did you have a lot to clean up at the garage?"

He hesitated, staring down at his hands before admitting, "I wanted to know where Luke was staying, so I tracked him down." Sang stiffened. "Found him at a motel, along with everyone else. Except for Mr. Blackbourne. I didn't see him, but if everyone else is here, I imagine he's around somewhere."

Sang breathed slowly, fighting to hold back the tears that tried to form at this news. She couldn't process this. She didn't even really know how she felt about them being there other than that it hurt. Why were they there? She'd done what they'd wanted her to, hadn't she? She'd left their lives. Were they back to try to take North? To convince him to rejoin them? Her hands clenched until her nails bit into her palms, part of her hoping they would discover that she and North were married and just leave. They wouldn't try to convince North to divorce her to go back with them to South Carolina, would they?

Gathering her courage, she asked, "Why are they here?" She couldn't manage a voice much above a whisper.

North winced, sending her heart thudding with fear before he admitted, "I don't know. All I did was yell at them, Baby. I was too angry to think of asking them. Mostly I told them they had no right to be here."

She went cold at his words, her veins feeling like ice had suddenly appeared inside of them. Despite his comment about them having no right, he'd yelled at them. He wouldn't have yelled if he didn't still care. Not that she expected him to not care about people who'd been his family for years, but . . . it scared her. Was that selfish of her? She wasn't sure, but the yelling and what it might mean worried her.

She startled when North's hand appeared on her back, rubbing between her shoulder blades. "Sorry I forgot to ask them why, Baby. Maybe I will in a few days, after I've calmed down."

She nodded wordlessly, keeping to herself that she'd rather he not talk to them at all. That made her sound like a crazy jealous wife, and North had chosen her over them once before. But . . . would he a second time, if they tried to convince him to go back with them?

~.~

Gabriel

Gabriel paced back and forth in the sand surrounding the swings at the park, kicking at it every few steps. It was getting sand all over the outside and inside of his shoes, but it made him feel better. A tiny, tiny, tiny bit better. Luke swung high in the air on one of the swings, probably thinking about jumping, though hopefully he wouldn't try to jump over Gabriel. Victor sat in the swing beside Luke, idly pushing himself back and forth with his feet on the ground. Kota leaned against the metal bars supporting the swing set, while Silas and Nathan sat on a little cement wall keeping the sand separate from the sidewalk.

Sean and Mr. Blackbourne were working on getting a rental home big enough for the eight of them while convincing the renters that eight young men living together were really just basically a big family and weren't wild and crazy partiers who would destroy the property. The rest of them were supposed to be figuring out how to make themselves a part of this stupid little town, since it was where Sang and North had decided to settle down, but Kota already had a good lead on that, so they'd gone for a walk to get away from the motel and ended up at a park.

"I hate this," Gabriel ground out, kicking more sand as he paced. "I hate having no idea what Sang is thinking or if we even have hope of a shot with her." It was all he could think about, day or night. Had she missed him? Did she want him back? Did she still love him? Did she hate him now? Would the sight of him disgust her? Make her cry, like when she saw Luke? Why had she cried when she'd seen him?

"We might not know for a long time," Victor pointed out quietly. "Sang herself might not know if we have a chance with her now. It's possible she never expected to see us again. Us just being here in town might be something that takes time for her to get used to."

Gabriel made a disparaging sound in the back of his throat that almost came out as a growl. Never see them again? Was it really possible that Sang had thought that? That they would just leave on a mission and never appear in her life again? How could she think that? How could she believe that for even a moment?

Nathan sighed, rubbing his hands over his face before saying, "If she doesn't know how she feels, we'll just have to work on slowly showing her how serious we are about fixing things with her and how much we really meant it. How much we want her."

Silas looked away as he said, "I've always known what I wanted. And now I wished I hadn't listened to Mr. Blackbourne's words about Sang not necessarily knowing what she wanted. We should have just talked with her about things."

"But maybe Mr. Blackbourne's fears about Trouble were right," Gabriel muttered to his feet, stopping his pacing. "Maybe Sang really is happier being with just one guy, and now North—"

"We don't know anything about how she feels yet," Kota interrupted in a sharp tone. "So we shouldn't assume. Speculating isn't helpful."

Gabriel's hands fisted at his sides before he burst out, "But I just want to know if we even have a chance! Not knowing is driving me crazy." It wasn't that he felt it was a waste of time for them to be there even if they had no chance at all, because it was still worth it to check. He just didn't want to hope that he'd someday get to hold Sang in his arms again if it was never going to happen.

"Maybe it's not about having or not having a chance with Sang," Luke said, his eyes on the sky. "Maybe we have to earn back having a chance with her."

Hope sparked in Victor's eyes. "Luke might be right. And Sang deserves that and more."

"Of course she does," Nathan said. "It's just . . . hard not to be mad at the situation. At least, for me. I know we all made our own choices, but I'm still struggling not to blame Mr. Blackbourne, even if his heart was in the right place. We had the perfect setup. Being with Sang allowed us all to stay together as a family. With us ending up with other women, we all eventually would have grown apart. We can't stay together in the same way as a team if we all have different wives."

"That's partly why polyandry is practiced in some parts of the world," Kota explained, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Brothers marry the same woman to keep the family close."

Gabriel threw his arms in the air as he started pacing again. "Obviously, that's the best choice for us. After we all grew up so close and helped each other out so much, no one else could understand us like we understand each other—like Sang understands us. She got all of us. Unlike some other chick who would be jealous about how close we all are and clash with some of us and get between us. Sang was—is—perfect." So why did Mr. Blackbourne have to go and mess all that up? Had he really been so worried that not all of them knew what they wanted? Though if Gabriel and some of the others had been so easily persuaded to go along with his plan, maybe they hadn't. Like Kota had said, maybe they had needed an experience like this to really know for sure what they wanted. But couldn't it have happened without them losing Sang? Without her being so hurt? And without her running off and marrying one of them?

Gabriel didn't even want to think about how close North and Sang must have grown during the past year. Emotionally, physically, mentally, none of it. North, despite all his yelling, was amazing. He was talented at everything he tried, he was brilliant, he was strong, handsome, protective. After being with just him, would Sang really want anyone else? Why would she need any of the rest of them?

Nathan's next words pulled Gabriel out of his thoughts. "And our setup was better for the Academy too. Other members have to be less and less involved as they get older. When they get married, they can't just get away whenever because they have a spouse to answer to so they can't be lying and running off all the time if they want to keep things good between them. Also, once they have family their kids need to be their top priority. But with all of us being with Sang, we could remain just as active, for the most part. Sang already knows about the Academy, and so long as we can leave someone with her, the rest of us are good to go for missions."

"So then why did Mr. Blackbourne screw that up?" Gabriel asked, unable to keep the bitter note out of his tone.

"Because even he makes mistakes," Silas said, his words quiet. They all went silent after that.