A fresh start. That’s exactly what I need.

Los Angeles has been my home for twenty-eight years. I’ve wanted to leave before now but nothing has ever given me that push to actually do it.

Until now.

I thought I escaped the hellish nightmare of Belle Academy. I’m an idiot for even going back and I’m an even bigger idiot for believing that Max and Thad could ever really want me.

A new job. A new apartment. A new life.

I close my eyes, trying not to focus on the little bit of turbulence rattling the plane as we ascend upward. Non-stop to New York City. Just five more hours until I can feel the solid ground beneath my feet again.

“First time flying?”

I look at the old lady sitting beside me. “Oh, no,” I answer, holding my breath. “But I can count the other times on one hand…”

She chuckles. “Everything will be fine, dear. These pilots really know what they’re doing.”

I nod. “Yeah. That’s what I hear.”

She goes back to her magazine and I shut my eyes again. Every little tug and jerk twists my gut. I hold a steady breath, silently counting to five between inhales and exhales. If I don’t focus on this, then I’ll think of something else. Someone else, rather. Two someones…

Phoebe, stop it.

What if Jackie was right and they really did fall for me?

Knock it off.

It all felt so real.

It wasn’t.

But what if it was?

I want it to be real. I want it more than I’ve wanted anything, including this new job. I want Max and his handsome, green eyes. I want Thad and his devious smirk. But I can’t get that sound of laughter out of my head. Sally Sweet. Carter Queen. David Larkin.

I swallow the bile in my throat.

The announcement system dings on over my head and I flinch.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking…”

Thad?

I lean forward.

“First, I’d like to welcome you to…”

The voice is different now. Deep and raspy, not quite like Thad’s. I could have sworn it was him at first. Hope I’m not going crazy, though… it wouldn’t surprise me.

I sit back and listen to the rest of it. Cruising at an altitude of thirty-thousand feet. Fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight…

I rest my eyes again. If I’m lucky, I’ll sleep through the next few hours instead of constantly thinking about them. I’ll just count my breaths and listen to the various sounds around me. People tapping away on their laptops. Seat belts clicking off. The drink cart getting pushed down the aisle behind me.

“Excuse me.”

I look up to see a flight attendant hovering over me with a plastic cup in her hand. “For you, miss,” she says.

“Oh, I didn’t—” I pause as she sets it down in front of me.

There’s a folded-up piece of paper inside.

“Uh… thank you,” I mutter.

She smiles and pushes the cart along.

I stare at the cup, totally dumbfounded. It’s not possible. Well, maybe it might be possible, but it’s certainly not probable.

I glance around into the sea of unfamiliar passengers before picking it up with trembling fingers. The paper is the same. The little, scratchy handwriting is the same. This is from Thad but… how?

I look at the other passengers again, my suspicions eating away at me, before building up the courage to read it.

“He’s good, isn’t he?”

I spin around in my seat. “Max?” I gasp.

He smiles from the aisle above me. “I mean, it’s a little cheesy but he wrote it this morning, so…”

I stand up to face him. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“We needed to talk to you,” he says with a shrug.

“We?”

“Yeah. We.”

I spin in the aisle and there’s Thad, standing behind me with that smirk. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…”

He holds up his hands. “Pheebs…”

“It’s called a phone,” I say. “You didn’t have to follow me onto an airplane!”

“You refused to answer your phone,” he argues. “We had to improvise.”

“How did you even know I was here? I bought the ticket like an hour before take-off.”

“Jackie told us,” Max answers. “Why didn’t you tell us you were leaving?”

People stare at us and my cheeks burn pink. “Because I wasn’t leaving. I was going out of town on business.”

“I do that all the time,” Thad points out. “I always tell you where I’m going.”

“Okay, yeah. Sure. When we were dating but we’re not dating anymore — and can we please not discuss this in front of the entire cabin?”

They exchange glances and nod.

“Okay,” Thad says. “If you say so.”

Max puts his hands on my hips and guides me forward. I try to dig my heels in but Thad takes hold of my arms and they easily force me down the aisle past the confused passengers.

Thad gives them a wave. “Nothing to worry about, folks. The flight attendants will explain everything…”

I grit my teeth. “This is ridiculous.”

We reach the lavatories and Thad stops and twists around to look at me.

“No, Phoebe, what’s ridiculous is that you feel you get to make decisions for the three of us.”

“Excuse me?”

“We didn’t decide that we weren’t dating anymore.”

“You’re right. I did. I get to make decisions for myself!”

Max shakes his head. “We don’t accept that.”

I stomp a foot in frustration. “Irreconcilable differences!”

Thad glares at Max. “Did you teach her that?”

He winces. “I might have.”

I jerk my arms free from them. “I don’t want to hear another word about this,” I say. “You guys broke my heart, okay? I need time away from this. It’s over. Leave me alone.”

I try to walk around them to get back to my seat but they block my path.

“Move,” I say.

Max takes my hand and pulls me with him into the lavatory.

“What are you doing?!”

Thad takes my other arm and pushes me with him. He slams the door behind us, sandwiching me between them in the tiny, cramped space.

“Oh, for god’s sake…” I fidget in place, barely able to breathe. “This is so unsafe.”

“No. Not unsafe,” Thad says. “We never say unsafe. It’s not optimum.”

I turn around to face the door but Thad spins me back around to Max.

“Let me out,” I say.

“No,” Max says. “You’re not leaving until you listen to what we have to say. We followed you six miles into the air to tell you this. Please.”

I let my eyes fall, not brave enough to show the tears forming on my eyelids. “Fine.”

“First, Phoebe, I’m so sorry,” he says, dropping to a whisper. “I made a mistake. I got roped into a stupid drinking game like a fucking kid but I am so happy I did now because that turned out to be the best mistake I ever made. It led me to you.”

I tremble as he cups my face. “Max…”

“Okay, yes,” he says over me. “We walked up to your table at the reunion to make good on a stupid bet but I took you home with me that night because I wanted to. It’s what I would have done to any other pretty girl I’d meet at a party.”

My frown falters. “You thought I was pretty?”

He smiles. “I thought you were beautiful,” he says. “I took one look at you and everything changed.”

“Everything?”

“Phoebe, I slept with you because I wanted you, I asked you out because I really wanted you again, and I’m here now because I want to keep you. There’s gotta be a part of you that believes that.”

“… Maybe.”

“Which part don’t you believe?” he asks. “Just tell me what it is and I’ll prove it. I won’t let you leave this room until I do.”

My lips curl. “It’s all right, counselor. You’ve made your case.”

He smiles. “And what’s your verdict?”

I shrug. “Jury’s still out but… you’re looking pretty good.”

“Good enough for me to kiss you right now?” he asks, leaning forward.

“Motion granted.” Our lips touch, sending a shock down my spine. “Damn, you’re a good lawyer.”

Max pauses. “Yeah, about that…” He pulls away. “I quit my dad’s firm.”

My jaw drops. “You quit?”

“I quit,” he says with a nod. “And I’m going with you to New York.”

“You can’t quit! Your name is on the wall.”

Max smiles and nudges my mouth closed. “It’s not my name,” he says. “A decent guy once told me that a man creates his own destiny. It’s about time I did that.”

“That was me,” Thad whispers in my ear. “I told him that.”

I chuckle and Max strokes my cheek to bring me back to him.

“Phoebe, you’re my destiny. If I’m going to share my life with anyone, I want it to be you.”

“Ahem.”

“And Thad,” Max adds, glaring over my shoulder at him. He kisses me and I shiver from the gentle, warm sensation taking over me. “I love you.”

My eyes sting with tears. “I love you, too.”

We kiss again, leaning into each other. My Max. My dream guy. He’s really mine. I can’t believe it.

“Okay,” Thad says, gripping my shoulders. “My turn.”

Max and I break our kiss and I glance back at him.

“Your turn?” I ask.

“I haven’t given my speech yet,” he says.

“Your speech?”

“Two boyfriends. Two make-up speeches,” he says. “It’s like having divorced parents. You get two Christmases. Two birthdays. Two orgasms during sex — at least.”

Max pauses. “How messed up is your family?”

I snort.

Thad twists me around to face him while Max keeps his hands on my hips, holding me in place between them.

He inhales a deep breath. “I adore you, Phoebe Pink,” he says. “I’ve never felt more comfortable just being myself in front of anybody in my entire life and that’s saying something.”

“Yeah?” I ask.

“In fact, I’ll prove it.” He looks at Max over my shoulder. “Max, I’m a poet. I write poetry. Been writing it for years.”

A few seconds of silence lingers behind me.

“Yeah, that explains a lot…” Max finally says.

Thad nods and looks back at me. “See?”

I grin. “You didn’t have to do that, Thad.”

“I wanted to.” He grabs my hands. “And I want you, so… take me back. Please. I won’t stop until I make this up to you.”

“Okay,” I say.

“And, you already know this, but...” He holds my hands to his mouth and he lays a soft kiss on my knuckles. “I love you. And I don’t mean for now.”

“Wow…” I sigh.

“What?”

“You talk too much.”

He grins. “Well, in that case…”

We kiss and Max lets go of me to let Thad pull me as close to him as possible in the tight quarters. My Thad. My tough guy. He’s all mine.

“I can’t say for sure…” I say, chuckling, “but this might be the most romantic thing that’s ever happened in an airplane bathroom.”

Thad laughs. “In my professional experience, you might be right.”

Max wraps an arm around my waist. “I think we can probably do better.” He reaches down and I feel his fingers slide up my thigh.

I stiffen. “What are you doing?”

“Shhh.”

He kisses my neck from behind as he raises my skirt. Thad leans in and takes my lips, kissing me hard to distract me from Max’s warm hand as it slides into my panties.

“Be quiet now,” Thad whispers, our lips touching. “We’ll get caught.”

“Caught doing what?”

Max touches my clit, instantly putting his fingertips on my most sensitive spot. I gasp in his arms and Thad crushes his mouth on mine to keep my voice down. Max adds pressure as he rubs, easily breaking away at everything holding me back. I give into the pleasure, clenching my throat as moans threaten to give it all away.

Thad leans over as far as he can, guiding my panties down to my ankles. I watch through flutter eyelids as he reaches for his belt. His bulge sticks out as he unzips himself.

“Is she wet?” he asks.

“Yes,” Max answers, feeling with a single finger.

I clench the safety bar fixed to the wall, growing nervous as Thad pulls out his hard cock. How am I supposed to stay quiet in a place like this? With these two doing everything in their power to make me come?

They both take hold of me and my insides sway as they spread my knees.

“Fuck—” I cry out.

Thad lays a hand over my mouth. “Shhh…”

He aligns our bodies, sliding his cock inside of me with his free hand. I gasp, feeling a spark of pleasure as he pushes in as far as he can go.

Thad’s hand falls from my mouth and he grips my ass, taking most of my weight, and nods at Max behind me. As he fucks me, Max’s fingers find their way back to my clit.

I turn my head round and he kisses me.

“Phoebe…” he whispers. “I love watching him fuck you.”

I tremble against his rubbing hand.

He pulls my bottom lip between his teeth. “I want to taste your moans.”

I moan softly, struggling to keep quiet as he sucks on my tongue.

“That’s my girl,” he says.

“Max…” I shudder as Thad’s cock gives me what I need. “Thad…”

Thad chuckles. “That’s right.” I look to him and he kisses me, hard and fast. “You’re my girl, too.”

I smile, holding back laughter as I melt to pieces in their arms. Climax strikes, bending and twisting my nerves as Thad continues pumping away deep inside of me.

Max’s hand falls from my core and I feel him reach for his zipper.

“Yes,” I sigh, feeling the desire build in me.

I want to feel him, too. I want to feel them both inside of me.

I expect to feel Thad pull out to give Max his turn but he stays deep inside. I hold on to the bar a little tighter as Max guides his shaft between my ass cheeks. I take a relaxing breath, expecting to feel a sharp pain that quickly dissolves into pleasure but he doesn’t enter my ass.

His tip grazes Thad and I quiver with need.

They don’t stop. Max eases inside of me and I feel my pussy stretch out for both of them. My jaw drops. My passion builds. Two cocks burrow inside, aligning together to fuck the same hole at the same time.

I gasp again as ache turns into constant pleasure.

Their hands dig into me. Their warm and rough breaths cover my neck. They both grind without hesitation, giving each other pleasure as I near the edge.

“Oh, fuck. Max…” Thad groans.

Max grunts. “Don’t say my name like that, man…”

“This feels so good.”

“Thad.”

“How have we never done this before? Rubbing together in there like—”

“Don’t talk about my dick, Thad.”

I twist my head back to kiss Max. He tastes my tongue and I suck on his, bringing him back to the moment and he grinds me even harder.

“Don’t stop,” I whimper, feeling the tension breaking in me. “Never stop fucking me.”

Max smiles, tightening his grip on my body. “We won’t.”

We kiss once more before I turn forward again to give myself to Thad. He crushes his lips hard on me, his breath trembling as it always does before he comes.

“Come together,” I say. “Come for me.”

Thad bites into my lower lip, grunting with pleasure. “You first.”

He lays his hand over my mouth again as Max slides his fingers between us to rub my clit. It’s an immediate orgasm, one that takes me over until I’m screaming against Thad’s palm. I clench them both on the inside, feeling every inch of them throbbing for me. They continue to hold me up as I lose all feeling in my body except the pure bliss of being taken by both of them.

I place my hands on the back of their heads, drawing them down to smother their mouths into my shoulders as they groan in climax. They don’t dare pull out of me as they come together, just like I asked them to.

My boys. My Max and my Thad.

I’ll never need anything else.