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Bill,
You will come to the cottage tonight. Sundown.
Don’t be late.
RJL
He reread the letter over and over again, trying to discern the reason behind it, and, even hours later, could only come up with one possible explanation.
Shit.
Remus was finally going to kill him.
That was the only logical reason he would summon him in such a manner. It’s not like Bill could really blame him, because that’s exactly what any alpha would, and should, do if another wolf kept sniffing around their mate.
Bill had tried to fight it. He really had. But there had always been this thing about Hermione. It was made worse when he finally accepted his wolf, Rook. And even worse still when she sealed her mating bond with Remus two years previous.
Now, Bill had no choice but to travel to Wales, knowing that Moony was going to rip his fucking head off. Or maybe his cock. Either way. He would be losing something he cherished deeply, all because he could not stop lusting after someone else’s mate. It was pathetic.
He checked the clock on the mantle again, and realized he had less than a minute before sundown. Like any dead man who had accepted his fate, Bill folded the letter neatly and put it in his back pocket before downing three fingers of firewhiskey. He gladly embraced the burn of it, as it was likely one of the last things he would ever feel, then headed for the door, and out past the wards.
With a fortifying breath, he spun on his heel and rematerialized just beyond the boundary of Lupin Cottage. Bill had meant to take one last moment to appreciate the fairytale cottage tucked into the forest that positively screamed “Hermione Granger lives here!” But he was not alone.
Remus stood there, with his hands in his trouser pockets, looking every bit the menacing alpha wolf that he was. It was something very few got to see, but once you had, it was unforgettable.
Bill opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately assaulted by his scent. A snarl ripped from his throat as Rook surged forward in his mind.
“Why do you smell of her blood?” He demanded.
The cocky prick dropped his gaze to the ground and tried to stifle a laugh with the back of his hand. Moony didn’t even bother coming to the surface, and instead Remus continued to chuckle to himself as he took a few steps closer.
“Be a good lad, and try again for me.”
A low growl rumbled through Bill’s chest. He didn’t appreciate the condescension, nor how it made him feel like he had a belly full of wriggling flobberworms.
With as much dignity as he could muster, he leaned towards Remus, and sniffed.
Once again, he was assaulted by the scent of Hermione’s blood, but this time he caught the sweet, flowery undertone to it. Relief rocketed through him, as he realized Hermione wasn’t injured. It was quickly followed by mortification for scenting Remus’ mate’s menstrual blood. Well, more specifically, for acknowledging it out loud to her fucking husband.
Remus gave a smug grin, which only deepened his mortification. “That is exactly why I invited you here tonight.”
The use of menstrual blood was often used to strengthen old blood magic rituals, but Remus didn’t need him to perform those. It didn’t make sense.
“‘Invited’ is a strong word,” Bill countered, as the letter had been an outright demand.
“Perhaps,” he said with another throaty chuckle as he took a step closer, invading his space, which only reinvigorated the flobberworms. “You and I both know that asking isn’t really in my nature, but for Hermione, I did my best.”
For Hermione?
Bill clung to his courage and tried to stand up straighter. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know what tonight is?” Remus asked, gesturing towards the darkening night sky. Of course he bloody well did. They both did. “The new moon. I know you don’t study the history of our kind, but give it a guess for me. Why would the new moon be significant for us?”
“It means we have two weeks until another Full?” He offered bitterly, and Remus laughed. Again.
Arsehole.
“True, but not especially relevant to our situation.” His eyes flared gold momentarily as Moony openly assessed him. “Only during the moonless night can an alpha bind another wolf into their pack.”
Bill’s whole world was thrown off kilter. “Y-your pack?”
Remus hummed in confirmation, and gave a sad smile. Bill would never forget the stories he had told him about losing his first pack to the Wizarding Wars, and how painful it had been for Moony. He truly never believed Remus would form another, but here they were.
“This would be different,” he said, as if reading Bill’s thoughts. “You wouldn’t just be pack. You would be ours.”
His heart broke out in a sprint, and he thought he might pass out. “Just spit it out. What do you want from me?”
The smug arsehole smirked at him as he leaned closer still, then tilted his head to run his nose up the length of Bill’s neck, and back down again. He then placed an open mouthed kiss on his pulse point, and after a few seconds, nipped it with his teeth.
Fuck the flobberworms. His belly was now full of rampaging dragons.
Remus pulled back and cupped his face forcefully with both hands. “We both know you want my mate, Bill, but it might surprise you to learn that she wants you too. As do I.” Moony watched him carefully as he let out a ragged breath, then continued. “This wouldn’t be a standard pack bond. You would be bonded to us. Permanently.”
Rook was so overjoyed that his emotions eclipsed every thought in Bill’s mind. Of course, he wanted that, but it wasn’t as if he had ever been with a bloke before. He was certainly interested, it had just never happened.
“Now, now,” he said softly as he forced Bill to look into his eyes. “You and I will have plenty of time to figure things out. Tonight is about Hermione. She is terribly nervous about all this, and has been planning it for about six months.”
Six months?! Bill immediately jerked back at this, but before he could speak Remus yanked him forward and kissed him fiercely.
Rook clawed his way to the surface and started pawing at Remus without his permission. He had undone three buttons on his shirt and was nearly swallowing his tongue before Bill could regain control of his mind.
“Behave,” Moony snarled in his alpha tone, making his hands still at once. “Rook might be ready for me to shove your face into the dirt as I fuck you senseless right here and now, but you are not.” He kissed him tenderly while Bill tried to stay very still, then continued. “Much better. We will get there eventually. To answer the question you were about to ask, yes, six months. This is the first time the peak of her monthly has aligned with the moonless night. She even made a nest for you.”
Inexplicably, tears stung the corners of his eyes at the thought of Hermione nesting for him. It was so startlingly intimate, and the thought that Remus had sat patiently by and watched her do it sent a shiver down his spine. Merlin, he may have even helped her.
“What do I have to do?” He asked in a choked voice.
Remus’ hungry expression went straight to his cock.
“You will give her exactly what she wants, however she wants it. You will knot her,” Bill jolted at this, and Remus gripped him more forcefully. “You will knot her, and bite her, and then I will bite you. Her blood will be the binding agent to seal the new bond.”
As a curse breaker, he was well aware of exactly what that bond would entail. Triad marriage bonds weren’t as common as they once were, but definitely not unheard of. This one would be different simply because of what they were. It would be unbreakable.
“Asking me to knot your wife is a funny way to propose, Moony,” Bill teased, trying to make light of the situation. “How do I know your alpha instincts won’t make you rip my throat out?”
“Hmmm… I wasn’t aware I was asking for anything. It’s quite simple really. We want you and you want us.” Remus arched a brow at him, as if daring him to argue. When no argument came, he dropped his right hand and gripped Bill’s painfully hard cock through the fabric of his trousers. “And I won’t rip your throat out, not before I get the chance to fuck it. Tonight I plan on fisting my own cock while watching your tight little arse fuck my mate, imagining how it will look when I knot you for the first time.”
Bill’s heart skipped at least two beats as he absorbed what he said, all while his hips rocked into Remus’ grip. “You mean it? Because there would be no undoing this? And I don’t want to be the odd man out in a marriage.” He almost said again, but refrained.
Remus brought both hands back to Bill’s face, and stroked his scarred cheeks with his thumbs. “Yes, I mean it. I am the one who suggested this to Hermione in the first place. It’s not uncommon for our kind. She is particularly nervous about this part, so, please Bill, show her that you mean it just as much as I do.”
He leaned in slowly then, as if giving Bill a chance to back away, then kissed him gently. More gently than he could ever remember being kissed, and he completely succumbed. His eyes fluttered shut, he leaned into it, his grip tightened on Remus’ shirt. It all made something impossibly warm flood his chest.
“See? The bonding magic likes you already,” Remus said against his lips before kissing him just once more. “Come.”
It was an order that Bill would have to be insane not to follow. There was also the fact that Remus had laced their fingers together and was tugging him towards the ethereal cottage, having made the decision for him.
When they entered, their scents together hit him like a herd of centaurs. He almost commented on it, but then he heard the floorboards overhead creak and remembered exactly why he was there.
Remus chuckled wryly and towed him up the stairs, leading him, mercifully, to their spare bedroom. He didn’t think he could handle the smells of their bedroom at that moment. Instead, he was smacked across the face with the scent of her blood as they rounded the corner, and there she was.
Hermione.
She was wearing a flowing white nightgown with thin straps, had her curls piled high on her head, and was pacing the room anxiously. It was obvious that she hadn’t heard their arrival by the way she gasped and her hand flew to her throat upon seeing them. Her large chocolate eyes flicked from their faces, down to their joined hands, and back again.
Remus dropped his hand and went to her, then bent low to kiss her perfectly plump lips. “It’s all sorted, my love. Bill wants to be with us”
Her eyes snapped back to him, and he suddenly felt like he was too far from her. Slowly, as not to frighten her, he stepped towards her and the lush nest of pillows and blankets she had made for him.
“Hi,” she said softly. Hermione Granger wasn’t known for being soft spoken, so he assumed it was her nerves.
Bill moved closer still. “Hello, you did a wonderful job on the nest—“ he cocked his head to the side and arched a brow at her. “Are those the pillows from my bed?”
She flushed prettily while Remus tried to stifle a laugh. “I may have popped through the Floo when I saw you had arrived.”
Her teeth bit into her plump lower lip in the most distracting manner, and he tentatively reached up and pulled it free with his thumb.
“I like knowing that you wanted my scent in your nest, sweet girl,” he said in a low voice as he continued to stroke her jaw with his thumb.
Hermione practically melted into his touch, and the scent of her arousal bloomed. With it came the undeniable smell of sex, and his head snapped up to look at Remus.
The smug prick grinned and clapped him on the back before leaning down to kiss Hermione once more. Bill wasn’t sure why it shocked him that Remus had fucked his wife first, but he supposed he would have done the same if roles were reversed.
“I’ll be right here if you need me, my love. But, don’t fret. Bill will take good care of you, and then we can finally seal the bond,” Remus nearly cooed to her, which only made her melt further.
After stealing one last kiss, he made his way over to a leather armchair and settled in for the show. Bill couldn’t help but feel satisfaction at seeing the throw blanket from the foot of his bed draped across the arm of the chair. He took a fortifying breath and refocused on the task at hand.
Hermione.
“Only you would want to be married to two wolfy arseholes,” he teased, and a breathtaking smile tugged across her face.
“Someone has to keep you two in line,” she said primly, the way that always spoke directly to his cock. “I believe I’m witch enough to handle it.”
“Oh, I am certain that you are, sweet girl.” Bill ran his tongue across the front of his teeth and raised his eyebrows at her suggestively, causing her to flush crimson.
Her breath hitched as he stepped into her space, and brought his hands up to gently cradle her face. Bill laced his fingers into the hair behind her ears so he could use his grip to gently tilt her face up towards his. With a deliberately slow motion, he leaned in, his face hovering just inches away before he paused. Hermione’s eyes flickered to his lips as he waited, silently asking her permission. After a moment, she gave a small nod. That was all Bill needed.
The moment their lips touched, Rook began to howl in the back of his mind, spurring him on, and for once, Bill listened and deepened the kiss. A soft moan escaped her and he took full advantage of her parted lips by sweeping his tongue into her mouth. There was nothing hesitant about the way he explored her mouth, as the taste of her was hypnotizing. He pulled back from the kiss, slowly tugging on her lower lip with his teeth, longing to truly bite her, and her knees buckled.
Bill easily scooped her up in his arms while still keeping their faces close, then toed off his boots, and stepped into the plush nest she had made for him. Hermione clawed at the collar of his shirt, pulling herself up to kiss him again.
He felt himself smiling into the kiss as he lowered her onto the nest, then finally pulled back. “So eager,” he teased. “Let me help you with that.”
With a flick of his fingers, he vanished her nightgown, revealing her soft, beautiful body, and an absolute mess of blood and come on her upper thighs.
Bill leaned down to kiss her lips only once, then began repositioning her to fit his needs.
Pillows lined the wall at the back of the nest, acting almost like a headboard, so he propped himself against it and laid her out before him. When he parted her knees to see exactly how much of a mess Remus had made, she yelped in surprise.
“Beautiful,” he complimented, and the blush from her cheeks spread down her neck and chest like Fiendfyre. “May I borrow this?”
Without waiting for a response, he flicked his fingers again, and the hair elastic that had been keeping her curls at bay, appeared in his fingers. She looked almost mesmerized as reached up and began to tie his own hair back.
“I think it’s unfair to be that bloody gorgeous,” she said with a bit of a pout.
“He is very pretty, isn’t he?” Remus remarked from his armchair, watching them with a predatory gaze.
Hermione twisted to look at him and shivered at the sight. “He is. Thank you for getting him for me, darling.”
“You’ll find our witch is a greedy little thing,” Remus responded, obviously speaking to him, and the way he said our witch nearly sent Rook into a frenzy. Which did not go unmissed, making the smug prick smirk devilishly.
Bill was struck by sudden inspiration and smirked right back.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, sweet girl,” he said innocently, just before grabbing her hips and yanking them up towards his face, making her scream in earnest as she nearly hung upside down. Only her head and the tops of her shoulders were touching the nest as he kissed the dark curls on her mons.
He then, very deliberately, locked eyes with Remus as he flattened his tongue over her cunt, and began licking up the blood and come that had collected there.
“Hold yourself open for us,” Moony ordered. Hermione immediately brought her hands behind her knees, and pulled, spreading herself wide to give them the best view.
“Good girl,” Bill said against her beautiful cunt as he worked to lick her clean. “You and your mate taste so bloody incredible.”
And they did. He never would have imagined just how delicious they would be together. Truthfully, he didn’t even mind the metallic taste of her blood, because now that his face was buried in her cunt, the scent of her arousal nearly overpowered it. Which was really saying something.
He pulled back to assess his work, and saw Remus’ come had dripped down between her deliciously full arsecheeks, so he dove in, licking her clean from arse to clit. Bill had expected a big reaction, and she did not disappoint. Her hips bucked against his face as he lapped at her arousal, up one labia then down the other, over and over. Deciding to be merciful, he focused his attention on her clit, and readjusted his grip on her so he could still hold her up as he slipped two fingers into her impossibly tight cunt.
Her legs were shaking violently and he felt her walls clamp around his fingers while she mewled and panted for him. Without warning he gently bit down and pulled on her overly sensitive clit, then raking his teeth along it until he slowly pulled off her completely, causing a stuttering series of sharp gasps to escape her throat. In the next second he dove back in and sucked it harshly, and she nearly screamed her orgasm as Bill continued pumping his fingers into her, drawing out her pleasure.
He kissed her perfectly pink cunt once more, then gently lowered her to the nest as her belly trembled with aftershocks.
“I think you two are trying to kill me,” Hermione panted.
Obviously, he had no idea what Remus had done to her earlier, but he was immensely pleased that he had been comparable to her bonded mate.
“Only little deaths for you, sweet girl,” he promised as he leaned forward to claim her lips.
The feisty witch kissed him back with reckless abandon, not caring that he smeared her with her own blood, then bit his lip hard enough to break the skin. “Why—“ kiss “are you—“ kiss “still—“ kiss “wearing clothes?”
Bill instantly vanished the offending garments, sending them to a pile near the foot of the nest, and groaned when his painfully hard cock slapped down on her soft belly.
“Merlin, did you see that?” She asked with blood smeared across her mouth, twisting to look towards Remus. “Who knew wandless could be so hot?”
“I assumed his magical prowess was at least partially why we wanted him?” Moony remarked, chuckling darkly.
Hermione giggled and looked back to Bill. “We’ve lost the man already. Get ready to be bossed about.”
Bill looked up to see Moony in human form, and his blood ran cold for a brief second. The meticulously controlled Remus was gone, and there were almost no signs of him left in his face. His glowing golden eyes were watching him like a predator studying his prey as he brutally gripped the armrests of his chair.
“Do you fuck the wolf often, then?” He asked, trying to make light of the situation, and keep Rook locked at the very back of his mind. One wrong move, and Moony could easily kill him.
Hermione giggled again, seemingly unaware of the wolf dynamics at play. “About half the time. You’ll see. He’s a filthy beast.” She gave a tinkling laugh as an almost playful snarl came from Moony, and then another far less playful one when she slipped her hand between them and began stroking Bill’s cock. “I don’t know how much more restraint he has.”
Shit.
He needed to get to it, then. Being brutally murdered with his cock out was a humiliation he had no desire to experience.
“Alright,” he said in an even tone, tamping down his own apprehension. “How do you want it?”
Despite his nerves, her beaming smile brought a dopey grin to his own face. “Have you ever knotted someone before?”
Bill shook his head, and she wiggled out from underneath him, and crawled to the middle of the nest on her knees. “We’ll want to be comfortable afterwards. How about like this?”
Hermione turned her back towards Moony, then bent at the waist, leaving her gorgeous arse in the air. She gave Bill a blood stained, yet mischievous, grin just before dropping her chest to the nest and reaching back to grip herself.
The feral growl that escaped Moony had Bill moving quickly to see for himself. Hermione’s small hands cupped where her bum met her upper thigh, and gripped tightly, intentionally stretching herself wide for them to see.
“Oh fuck,” he panted, as he forcefully shoved Rook back in his mind again. His eyes were locked on a bead of bloody arousal that dripped down her thigh, and he thought he might very well die.
“If you would like to be bonded you had better take her now,” Moony snarled. “Or I will.”
“Please, Bill,” Hermione said, giving his deliciously spread arse a little wiggle.
He was behind her in an instant, dipping his fingers into her to collect the mixture of her blood, release, and Remus’ come, then used it to stroke his own cock. It was hard not to be aware of the predator to his back, but he was determined to keep his attention on her. This was too important.
“Ready?” He asked softly as he gently stroked the skin at the base of her spine. They both knew those would be the last gentle touches.
“Yes. I want your knot, Bill, please. I need it.”
A shiver ran up his spine and chills erupted all over his body just as Moony snarled fiercely from behind him.
Bill bent to kiss her perfectly round arse cheek. “If he kills me, just know I died doing what I love. You.”
It was true, and she deserved to hear it, but he wasn’t going to give her time to discuss it. He straightened and lined himself up with her entrance, then slammed all the way in.
“Bill!” Hermione cried out, and the sound of his name on her lips, like that, spurred him on.
Starting at a languid pace, he began to pump in and out of her almost painfully tight cunt. If not for the blood and arousal making her impossibly wet, he was certain he would have never fit.
“How are you so fucking tight?” He said through gritted teeth.
Bill was well endowed, and had been even before becoming a werewolf, but she was regularly fucked by an alpha wolf. He had seen Remus’ cock the morning after a Full Moon on countless occasions, and knew it to be a true monster. It didn’t make sense.
“I’ll always be tight for you,” she wined. “I’m a wolf mate.”
Now really wasn’t the time to dwell on the specifics of werewolf mating magic, but he was extremely fucking grateful for it.
“You are perfect for me, sweet girl. For us,” he corrected quickly, as he valued his life
. “You feel so. Fucking. Good!” He punctuated the last three words with hard thrusts.
Bill watched where they were joined and was mesmerized by the way her blood streaked across his skin and the way he could actually see the delicate skin of her cunt gripping his cock with each thrust. The sight of that alone made his knot begin to swell, and her whimpering nearly pushed him to the edge.
“Oh god, Bill,” Hermione whined, as her walls trembled around him with a shocking amount of force. “I can’t.. oh god!”
“You will!”
The menacing snarl from Moony made them both jump, as he had moved much closer to them, and now knelt within the nest.
“Come, mate,” he growled in his alpha tone, making Hermione’s cunt clamp around Bill’s cock so hard white spots popped into his vision. He had no idea she could come on command, and was nearly lost to the bliss of the moment.
That was until he was shoved backwards and wrenched from her deliciously warm cunt. Hermione slumped forward, her arse still in the air, as her blood soaked cunt repeatedly clamped down around nothing. It wasn’t until a large hand crushed around his knot that he realized what had happened.
Moony had shoved them apart, and was now fisting both of their cocks in tandem. Bill exhaled sharply when he bent and took the tip of his cock into his mouth. Gold eyes flashed up at him with a stern expression, and he didn’t need the alpha tone to recognize a command.
Bill gripped his sandy blonde hair sharply, with much more force than he would ever dare use with Hermione, and thrusted into the back of his throat. Moony gripped his knot tightly, which felt like a sign of approval, so he did it again. And again. And again. Until he was fucking Remus’ throat in earnest.
Even with how good it felt, he refused to give in to the wolf. He wanted to remember the way their alpha gagged and choked for him, with tears running down his cheeks. He wanted to memorize the way Hermione’s blood and arousal that had painted his cock smeared across Remus’ face. Much more than that, he wanted to cling to the feeling of belonging that he had in that moment.
Moony’s eyes flashed up at him again in another silent command, and Bill immediately pulled out, but didn’t release him. Instead he yanked him up to eye level, and licked the tears from his cheeks.
“Sweet Circe,” Hermione moaned, and they both turned to see her watching them while rubbing firm circles into her clit, and making an even bigger mess of herself.
Moony released his grip on Bill’s knot, and he moaned as all the blood came rushing back in, which, in turn, made Hermione moan as her eyes rolled back involuntarily.
“We are going to have a lot of fun together,” Moony said in an almost victorious tone, a grin stretching across his blood smeared face. “It’s time, my love.”
Hermione scrambled closer then flipped back onto her knees, presenting herself to them. As if unable to help himself, Moony leaned forward and buried his face in her cunt for a moment, then pulled back and smacked her arse.
Bill sidled up behind her, pulling her upright by the back of her neck so that her back was perfectly against his front. “I cannot bite you if you’re down there, sweet girl.”
Remus positioned his cock for him, and assisted Hermione in sinking down on it, then kissed them each on the shoulder and moved behind Bill once more. He jolted slightly as he felt the head of Remus’ cock smack against his bare arse, but he really shouldn’t have been surprised. Moony had told him he was going to fist himself while watching them from behind.
“I won’t last long,” Hermione whined as he began to thrust into her. “Bite me here.”
Bill made note of the existing silver claiming bite where her right shoulder met the base of her neck, and felt almost giddy at the thought of his own bite there with it.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to take long,” he nearly whispered in her ear as he set a punishing pace. “We’ll go together, yeah?”
Hermione gave a jerky nod as she gasped and panted in time with his thrusts. Each time, he pushed in just a little bit deeper, gradually preparing to slip his knot into her.
The sounds of Remus’ furious wank told him he was doing the exact right thing.
“Bill, I—“ Hermione made a strangled noise, and Rook surged forward in his mind, taking control just as she toppled over the edge. Rook steadily fucked his knot into her vice like cunt, and the moment it locked into place, he came harder than he ever had before.
Typically, Bill didn’t trust Rook with anything important, but at that moment, he was grateful for the wolf. While he was lost to the intensity of his orgasm, Rook had gently moved her wild curls to the side, and leaned against her sweetly as he sunk his teeth into her flesh, filling his mouth with her blood.
Only seconds later, hot jets of come shot across Bill’s lower back, and Moony was sinking his teeth into the left side of his neck. A bolt of white-hot magic speared him through the chest as the bond snapped into place, making his wolf howl in satisfaction.
With his arms still wrapped around Hermione, he was vaguely aware of hands guiding him to the side, and shoving a pillow under his head.
Bill woke in the wee hours of the morning, sandwiched between too hot bodies and the hum of magic against his skin. Lifting his left hand, where he felt the tingling sensation of magic, he saw a gold band glinting in the ambient light.
“Our witch is very thoughtful,” Remus grumbled from beside him, his voice heavy with sleep. “It matches mine, and has all of our initials etched on the inside.”
“How did it get there? He asked groggily.
Remus chuckled. “I put it there, because you belong to me.”
Bill turned to look at him, surprised but not displeased by the claim. The night before he had repeatedly said that Bill would belong to them both, and the possessive nature of his words now sent a shiver up his spine.
“Don’t bother looking surprised, Bill. We both know what I am. I would do anything for Hermione, but alphas are selfish by nature.”
“So, it was you who wanted me this whole time?” Bill asked with a bit of a laugh.
Remus kissed his cheek sleepily. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. As soon as she said she wanted you, I knew that you would be ours. It was simple, really.”
An overwhelming sense of satisfaction and contentment washed over him as he snuggled in.
“And Bill?”
“Yeah?”
His eyes snapped open, revealing Moony held the reins as his golden eyes flowed brightly in the dim bedroom. “I’m giving you until after the next Full, then your arse is mine.”
“Can I watch?” Hermione mumbled out, her voice heavy with sleep.
Bill felt his face grow hot, and was grateful when Moony answered for him. “Of course, mate. Bill is going to need you there.”
“Mmmm,” she hummed happily. “Can’t wait, Billy.”
He leaned forward to kiss the side of her head. “Me either, sweet girl. I’ll always need you there.”
And he really meant it. He would always need both of them, no matter what.