"Really?" Violet gasped. "What the hell is it with the dinner table and you both talking politics?"
"Terms of endearment," Ash assured her. "I mean, did you hear about that bill he voted for? Some new state flower logo?"
Berto just dropped his head to the table, groaned, and then thumped it a few times. "Blaze? How much to make Ash shut up for a few hours?"
Billy just chuckled. "I have a copy of an email Cy sent Gran a month after Violet and Ash went to modeling school. If I hear any more politics at the table tonight, I'll delete every copy of it."
Cy sucked in a breath. "Shit, you have that?"
Ash just mimed zipping his lips. "You win this round, Cobalt."
"And what do I owe you for that?" Berto asked.
Billy shook his head. "This time, it's on me. I don't want to hear politics either. So, how about we get back to making a plan for Southwind? Somehow, we have to convince at least three of the five city council members to vote yes on our business license. That, Berto, is your area of expertise."
"Or," Emily said, "you could probably pass a law about state-approved agencies not needing local township approvals, right?"
Everyone at the table turned to look at her. "That's brilliant," Violet breathed.
"And it would take a year or more," Berto said. "So let's put it on the backup list. Pretty sure I could get the votes for it. Even better, all I'd have to trade would be some support for a few LGBTQ programs." He looked over at Ash. "Which I plan to vote for regardless." Then back to the rest of us. "But I have a feeling that even city council members face re-election. Get me the info on that, Blaze?"
"Tomorrow," Billy assured him. "Now, where are these fajitas I heard about?"
Berto pushed his chair back. "That means I'm cooking!"
Chapter Thirty
Berto and I somehow managed to put together a pretty good dinner. Both of the kids gorged themselves, which actually worked out. By the time Emily and Zeke walked back down to the cottage, Faith was ready to go to bed. Evidently, even thirteen-year-olds still passed out after an exciting day when they had a full belly.
But the best part had been not needing to hide our relationship. While I'd been cooking at the grill, Cyan paused to wrap his arms around me. At one point, Ash had stolen a kiss. Later in the evening, I'd had Violet all but sitting in my lap while Ash leaned in to kiss her. And all night long, Ash and Cy held hands without shame.
In the back of my mind, I'd been waiting for Emily to say something. I knew better, but it seemed I still had a little of my own paranoia to get over. Then there was the question of balancing out this mess. We had all gotten into the habit of me being with Violet, and Ash being with Cy in public. This, however, wasn't public - and yet it felt like it.
The house was so full that there wasn't room to spare. With Billy crashing in Ash's room, that meant the only logical place for Berto to sleep was in mine. There was a little bit of chaos as we all shifted around clothes, and the four of us ended up in Violet's bed anyway.
The next morning, I woke to a ringtone I knew a little too well. Unfortunately, I wasn't sleeping at the edge of the bed. Nudging Cy's shoulder, I woke him up enough that he grabbed my phone and passed it over. I swiped to answer just as the big guy rolled over to wrap his arms around me. I didn't even have the phone to my ear before Cy was mumbling something about going back to sleep.
"Are you still in bed?" Mike asked on the other end, clearly having heard that.
"It's Sunday," I told him.
"Which usually means you would be at church," Mike teased. "What kind of example are you setting for your daughter?"
I knew he wasn't serious, and yet he still had a point. "We're taking the weekend off because we moved Emily Harding onto the property yesterday." Then I patted Cy's hand where it wrapped around my waist. "Hey, you have to let me up."
"Please tell me you are not kicking that model out of your bed," Mike said. "Luke, man, you don't want to do that."
"First, it's her bed. Second, she's not lying next to me. Third, if I don't get out of this bed, I'm gonna wake them all up." I lifted the phone away from my head, and nudged at Cy again. "If you let me get up, you can snuggle against Ash."
Cy's lips curled into a smile and his arms relaxed. He still didn't say anything, but it was enough to let me crawl over his legs and head towards the bathroom. From my phone, I could hear Mike laughing, which meant he'd heard all of that.
"So, you having, like, gangbangs every night or something?" he asked. "I mean, I knew you were living the life, but that is called going above and beyond."
"No, we don't have gangbangs every night. We try to keep that to the weekends." I tried my hardest to make that sound serious, but I knew I was failing. When Mike started laughing again, it was clear that he knew it too.
"Well, then I feel a little bit bad about getting you out of bed," Mike said. "Still, you're gonna want to come down to the Grill and have lunch with me. I mean, I may not be as cute as whoever you're fucking this week, but I'll make up for it with some good news. Or maybe it's bad news? Fuck, I don't really know. It's news, though."
"What the fuck are you rambling about, Mike?" I asked as I searched the floor for my jeans.
