You okay Sweetheart
1119 Words
Aubree’s POV
I didn’t realize I was shaking until I stepped away from them.
The twins called my name—Abel’s voice rough, Carter’s calm but urgent—but I couldn’t look at either of them.
Not when my heart was pounding hard enough to bruise my ribs. Not when the truth hung between us like a lit fuse.
I pushed through the ballroom doors and stumbled into the cool hallway, pressing a hand over my runaway heartbeat.
They loved me.
Both of them.
Not as friends.
As something else. Something dangerous. Something forbidden.
The air felt too thick. The walls too close. The silk of my dress too tight across my chest. I dragged in a deep breath—then another.
“You okay, sweetheart?”
I jumped, spinning around.
Uncle Sebastian stood in the hallway, his expression softening the second he saw my face.
Great. The one man in this house who could spot emotional turmoil like it was an armed threat.
I forced a smile. “I’m fine. I just needed a minute.”
His eyes narrowed. “Abel and Carter?”
My stomach dropped. “What—what makes you say that?”
“Because they haven’t taken their eyes off you since the second you walked down those stairs,” he said simply. “Both looked like they were ready to commit murder.”
Great. Exactly what I didn’t need—Uncle Sebastian noticing.
He stepped closer, leaning in like he was shielding me from the world. “Aubree… if those boys said or did something to upset you—”
“They didn’t,” I whispered quickly. “I just… I need air.”
Sebastian exhaled slowly, studying me, reading me like he always did. “You know you can talk to me or your mom if something’s wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I lied.
Nothing was wrong.
Everything was just… too much.
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, the same way he had since I was little. “Take a walk in the garden. I’ll send your mother to watch over the party.”
“Thanks,” I said, slipping past him.
As soon as I stepped outside, the night air hit me—cold enough to make my skin prickle, warm enough to feel like a relief.
Fairy lights glowed along the pathways. Roses grazed my skirt. Somewhere inside, music drifted faintly, but out here everything felt… quieter.
Safer.
Or it should have.
I made it all the way to the fountain—the same one the twins gave me the silver pendant by all those years ago—before the first tear slipped down my cheek.
“Bree.”
I froze.
Abel.
His voice was closer than I expected.
I turned slowly. And there he was—tie askew, chest heaving, eyes wild like his whole world was about to collapse.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted.
“For what?”
“For… everything.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “For dragging you onto the dance floor. For getting in Carter’s face. For making tonight weird.”
“Abel—”
“No, listen.” He stepped toward me, footsteps crunching on the gravel. “I didn’t—God, I didn’t mean to mess things up.
You looked… you looked like an angel tonight, and I just—my brain stopped working.”
His hand hovered near my waist before he thought better of it.
“I shouldn’t have said what I said,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have told you I wanted you. Not like that. Not when it could ruin everything.”
The pain in his voice made my chest ache.
“Abel… you didn’t ruin anything.”
His eyes flicked to mine—hope flashing, fading, flickering again. “Then why did you run?”
“Because I didn’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” he breathed. “I just needed you to know.”
Before I could answer, footsteps sounded behind him.
Measured. Controlled. Familiar.
Carter.
He stopped a few feet away, hands tucked in his pockets, but his eyes were sharp—burning with things he never said.
“Aubree,” he said quietly. “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
Abel scoffed. “She wasn’t alone. I was with her.”
“That’s supposed to comfort me?” Carter shot back.
They were about to fight again—I could feel it. The air was charged, the tension too thick.
“Stop,” I whispered, stepping between them. “Please.”
Abel looked away, jaw tight.
Carter exhaled, long and slow, trying to steady himself.
“Aubree,” Carter said gently, “I didn’t mean to pressure you either. I shouldn’t have—”
“You didn’t pressure me,” I said. “Neither of you did. I just—”
I swallowed hard. “I need time to think.”
Abel’s chest deflated.
Carter nodded almost imperceptibly.
“I get it,” Abel said softly. “I’m not good at waiting, but… I’ll try.”
Carter’s voice was steadier. “Take all the time you need. We’re not going anywhere.”
I believed him.
Both of them.
But that was the problem.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered, voice cracking. “Either of you.”
Abel’s eyes softened instantly.
Carter’s expression shattered in silence.
“You won’t,” Abel said.
“You can’t,” Carter added.
My throat tightened.
“You don’t understand,” I said quietly, tears burning. “I—”
I cut myself off before the truth slipped out.
Before I admitted I didn’t just care about one of them.
That I felt something for both.
“Aubree,” Carter said softly, “we’ll figure this out. Just… let us be here. With you.”
Abel nodded. “Always.”
I wiped my eyes, looking at both of them under the soft glow of the garden lights—the two boys who had been my best friends, protectors, constants.
My past.
My present.
My future.
All tangled together in a way that terrified me.
Before I could respond, the door to the garden slammed open.
Sebastian stepped out, face sharp. “All three of you inside. Now.”
Abel straightened immediately.
Carter stiffened.
And my heart dropped.
Something was wrong.
Something big.
“We just got a threat,” Uncle Sebastian said, eyes locked on the twins. “Someone wants the heirs dead.”
The world tilted.
Heirs.
Abel.
Carter.
And me—standing in the middle of them.
Everything had changed tonight.
And it was only the beginning.
- Writer
