“Meadow, daddy wouldn’t exactly say that.” I said, and she looked sad.

“But Uncle Lexi said this was a good thing for you, and Uncle Creed agreed.” She said before she set her two hands on my cheeks. “Do you not like them, daddy?”

“Daddy does like them, both of them. But, Meadow, they have their own feelings, too, and I can’t force them to do or want anything.” I said, trying to explain to her, but she didn’t seem to really get what I meant.

“Grandma said that men only need two things in life------”

Kylian quickly scooped her up. “You are far too young to know what those things are.”

It seemed like all three of us had met eyes and collectively took a breath when she switched to talking about something else unrelated to the conversation from before. Dion chuckled as Kylian got roped into playing tea party with her, and every now and again she would look at him and see what he was doing.

“She’s really interested in you, Dion.” I muttered, trying to get him to come closer to me on the couch. It was L shaped, and he could sit right beside me with minor issues, but he had put space between us. Reaching over, I wrapped my hand around his arm and pulled him closer.

“Come closer.” I said, and he looked at Kylian and Meadow before he got a little closer. He clearly didn’t want to get too close while my daughter watched him. A moment of distraction on his part led me to lie across his lap and pin him down.

“Nikki, what are you doing?” Dion asked and slipped his fingers into my hair.

“I told you. I wanted you to come closer, but you didn’t, so I came to you.” I spoke. He just smiled sheepishly and relaxed back into the couch. I brought his free hand to my lips and pressed kisses to his fingers. “Please stay like this. My daughter won’t bat an eye at this.”

Kylian brought Meadow back to the couch with him, and she was wrapped around him, her hands balled in his shirt. Tears streamed down her face, and I wanted to comfort her, but right now she clearly wanted Kylian to be the one to hold her.

“Did she get hurt?”

“No, I just turned around. She was crying, reaching out for me and I didn’t know what to do.” Kylian said, and he looked out of his element. Knowing that she wasn’t hurt, I knew exactly what she was doing. This was something she did when she wanted to be held. She knew that crying was the surefire way to get picked up and cuddled, and the fact she did it to Kylian was amusing to me.

“Meadow, Kylian is uncomfortable. Daddy can hold you.” I said, and she held onto Kylian tighter. Kylian rubbed her back, and I watched her loosen her hands in his shirt. She got her way with him; he was holding her.

“Are you ok now?” he asked her, and she looked at him, before she made herself cry even more. He hugged her tightly and rocked her awkwardly. Little did he know from where Dion and I were sitting, we could see she was smiling into his chest. I knew I should have stopped this behaviour right away, but I enjoyed seeing him caring for her too, even if I felt bad that she was playing with him.

“Meadow, do you want daddy to order pizza for dinner, or I can see if someone will pick us something up from the diner.” I asked.

She turned her head and looked at me. “I had pizza yesterday. I want chicken nuggets.” She said and looked at me liked I was supposed to make them appear for her.

“Are you sure you want chicken nuggets?”

“Yes.” She said and laid her head on Kylian’s shoulder, and I snorted. She was making herself right at home against him.

 “If you order something, I’ll go get it,” Dion said, and I frowned. I didn’t want him to move.

“Forget it. If someone has to move, I’ll just do it.” I said and sat up, before standing up and putting all my weight on my leg. Dion was quick to move too, and I had guessed that. I barely made it out of his grabbing range. Putting weight on my leg definitely was killing the thigh, but somehow, it wasn’t as bad as if felt before, when I was bleeding to death.

“Nikki, sit down, stop this. You can damage your leg further.” Dion said, urging me to go back to the couch or take the crutches he now had.

“Look, it only hurts a little. I’ll be alright.”

“It only hurts a little because of your pain medication. Kylian, darn it. Do something,” Dion hissed, and took Meadow when Kylian passed her into his arms. Neither of them looked like they knew what to do about the situation. Kylian had this look on his face, and I knew there was no bargaining here. He was going to force me back on the couch.

Continuing to walk to the kitchen, I grabbed a takeout menu off the fridge before Kylian lifted me up and carried me back to the couch.

“I’m fine. Put me down.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so, Nikki.” Kylian said flatly, an edge of anger underlying in his tone. He had me around the waist and I could have tried to actually wiggle free, but I didn’t want to hurt myself or him if he dropped me. “You’re making a bigger deal out of this than it is. There are plenty of others who walk around on worse wounds than this, believe me.”

“I’m only doing as Dion asked me, Nikki.” Kylian said as he set me back down on the couch. Meadow was still in Dion’s arms, but she was busy touching his hair and staring at him now up closely. I heard her tell him that his eyes were pretty, and I was praying at that moment that she said nothing about his Asian features. If she did, I would for sure want to hide. Aside from at school and in public, I really wasn’t sure if she had seen Asian features on many people.

“My eyes look like this because my mother is from the other side of the world. Just like your eyes look like that because of your daddy, or rather, you just look like your daddy.” He said, and she seemed to soak in his every word.

“Are you going to order food?” Kylian said, interrupting my viewing, and grabbed my chin lightly, tilting my face to look up at him.

“Yeah, I have to feed Meadow before she goes back to Alexi and Creed’s for the night.” I said, and looked through the menu, before taking Kylian’s phone when he offered it to me.

Placing the order, I gave Kylian back his phone and stretched out on the couch. Dion put Meadow down, and she got absorbed into the tv show that was on. Dion sat beside me, and Kylian did the same, giving me the perfect opportunity to touch them both. Dion lightly pulled me into his lap again, so my head and shoulders were on his legs. I tried to sit up for a moment to readjust myself on him, but he slipped his hand around my throat and held me down. My breath caught in my throat, and I stilled.

“What are you doing, Nikki?” he asked.

“I was going to move to get comfortable, but I don’t really need to.” I muttered and set my hand over his so he couldn’t take his hand off my throat. I was actually enjoying the feeling of his warm hand on my neck. It wasn’t even sexual that this second, it was comfortable. Kylian wrapped his hand around my ankle lightly, and the pressure there to felt comfortable.

Kylian got up, leaving to go get our food when the time came to pick it up, Meadow asked to go too, so he took her. That left Dion and me here, just lounging together.

“Your place is much larger than Kylian’s, that’s for sure.” he said.

“Yes, that’s because it’s a what we call a wing. It’s made for our higher ups. I only got it because it was empty.” I spoke.

“What do your days normally look like where you’re not injured?” He asked, and I wondered if he was trying to see where he fit in here. “Kylian and you, are you two actually an item?”

“My days when I’m not injured are pretty simple. I help with my brother and his partner, I train, and I do other things outside of what my brother knows. Meadow goes to school, so she’s gone from the morning till the afternoon on weekdays. As for Kylian and I, well, that’s a question even I don’t know the answer to.”

“Would you like to be something with Kylian?” He grilled me even further, complex emotions hidden behind his eyes. “I just want to know where I stand, Nikki.”

“I want you both. I want Kylian and you, Dion. I don’t care if that makes me greedy or gross, or…. I just want you both. Kylian clearly feels something for you too, I mean I understand if this is all too much. But I don’t think I can just let you walk away now, Dion. I want you. I want him. I want there to be and us, like that night, in the hotel room. I can still vividly remember how it felt to be touched by you both that night. Hell, even in the medical centre.”

Dion covered my eyes and pressed his lips to mine, his tongue slipping between my lips and into my mouth.

“I crave more nights like hotel, too. I’ve felt hollow for a long time, Nikki. That night between you two, I felt alive.” He whispered against my lips before he pressed his lips against mine roughly again. “Regardless of Kylian, I want you too, Nikki.”