“You skate and ride horses?” I ask, leaning against Jace. It’s his turn to keep me warm, not that I was the one who instituted a rule about switching off. There might have been some pouts once the others saw how much my “heater” got to cuddle while they got nothing.
“Yeah, we had a lake that froze over every winter. Ranching slows down in winter anyway, so we kept ourselves amused by playing ice hockey.”
“It’s all too cold for me. I’ve never been on skates or the back of a horse, to be honest. Now, give me a fishing pole and an unfrozen lake, and I know exactly what to do with it.” I feel Jace shiver, his now shaky Southern accent highlighting why he’s not so keen on the cold.
“We’ll just have to fix that.” Shane kisses him on the cheek and steps over to look closer at the lake with Cole. He points to something. “It looks plenty thick enough.” We all turn to check out what he’s pointing at—a hole.
“Why would there be a hole in the middle of the lake?” Jace whispers to me, and I struggle to hide my smile. I don’t want to make him feel bad.
“That’s for the fishing pole you were talking about.” Alex comes over and joins us on my other side, while the other three chatter on about what fish might be in the pond.
“It’s also so the fish don’t die when the water freezes over.” The unexpected voice behind us has us all jumping.
Ash is standing back a bit, his hands shoved into his pockets. “If the lake stays completely frozen, there’s not enough gas exchange, and all the fish will die. Our groundskeepers drill a hole in the ice so that the fish can continue to live.”
He sounds so sad that I pull away from my two heaters and walk over to him for a hug. He shivers in my arms, and I hold him tight.
“I don’t know how that woman became so bitter. I mean, I have never seen her any other way, but still,” he whispers into my neck, and I rub his back. “Thank you. I’ll never be able to repay you for everything you’ve done.” He pulls away to look me in the eye, and I wink.
“Oh, I don’t know. Keep doing some of the things you did last night, and we can call it even.”
That finally chases away the haunted look, but before he can reply, another voice catches our attention—a young female voice.
“Ash!”
The lake is down in a slight hollow, and at the top, a young girl is waving her arms.
“Edie!” Ash breaks away from me and runs up the embankment toward his sister.
“Come on.” Alex grabs me by the hand and starts dragging me up the hill. “I want to meet her.”
I dig my heels and pull him to a stop. “You’re not going to hold it against her, are you?” Alex’s brow wrinkles in confusion, and I feel a touch of relief.
“What do you mean?”
“Ash broke up with you because of her.” Shane steps up next to us and puts an arm around my shoulders. “I think what Jacinta is asking is if you hold a grudge.”
Comprehension crosses Alex’s face, and I see a hint of hurt in the expression. “No, of course not. I would have done the same thing.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested you would,” I apologize, and Alex shrugs as Cole, Riku, and Jace follow Ash up the hill.
Alex sighs and looks between me and Shane. “At the time, I probably would have, but things are different now. I have Shane and Jace and you, and I’d like to think I’ve grown up a bit since then. Ash is… Well, Ash is the one that got away. I’m not sure I ever stopped loving him, but I’m super happy with what we have.”
Shane growls under his breath, but we’re so close together that it makes me jump. “We have talked about this. Jace and I have no problems if you want to try to reconnect with Ash, and I’m almost certain Jazzy doesn’t mind. Hell, I’d be disappointed if you didn’t. Look at that man.” We watch as he reaches his sister, picks her up, and swings her around. “Fuck, my dick gets hard looking at him,” Shane complains, adjusting himself in his pants.
“I don’t know, maybe.” With that surprising dismissal, Alex walks up the hill, leaving us gaping.
“He’s really torn,” I say as Shane grabs my hand to follow him.
“Yeah, he really is. We know how much he loves us. Don’t get me wrong, if Ash wasn’t a part of all of this, if he wasn’t a part of this thing we’ve got going, then he would be off-limits, but I don’t see the problem because he is.”
I chuckle. “Thisthing? Still won’t say harem?”
“No, I won’t give Alex the satisfaction.”
“Well, maybe you need a quiet word in Ash’s ear. He seems to be quite dominant as well. Maybe you and him need to convince Alex this is what he needs.”
Shane’s eyes glimmer, and he wets his lip with his tongue. “I may just do that.”
