The soreness was just another echo of what we’d done. What we’d been. I caught Jay watching me from across the room as I padded in, still in one of their long shirts, his mouth twitching at the corners.
“You okay?” he asked, though his tone already saidyes, obviously, because he’d been cataloging every blink and breath of mine since dawn.
“Bit stiff,” I said, stretching again with a wince.
Rhett, naturally, leaned in from the kitchen with a wicked grin. “You’re welcome.”
I groaned and threw a clean towel at him. “I hate you.”
“No, youloveme,” he called after me as I wandered toward the coffee pot.
“I tolerate you,” I corrected.
Roan glanced over his shoulder from where he was zipping up a duffel. “You’re moving like you got tackled by a pack of wild animals.”
“Gee, I wonder why,” I muttered into my mug, cheeks heating even though they were all being—almost annoyingly—affectionate about it.
After breakfast, they packed efficiently. Roan’s SUV was already warming up outside, snow dusted across the windshield. Rhett and Jay drove off to the other cabin to grab my car and the rest of my things. I took my time cleaning up—brushing my teeth, putting on something clean, trying to pull myself back together for the world outside this snowy cocoon.
But the closer we got to leaving, the heavier something settled in my chest.
It wasn’t dread. Not quite.
Just… reluctance.
When the cars were packed, we stood in a loose little cluster by the vehicles. My car sat in the driveway beside Roan’s, looking much smaller now—like it didn’t belong to the same story.
No one really wanted to break the moment, but logistics eventually forced the issue.
Roan jerked his chin toward his SUV. “She drives her own. We’re three deep in mine.”
Jay raised an eyebrow, then looked at Rhett.
Rhett mirrored the look. “Oh no. You’re not gonna Jedi mind-trick me out of this one.”
“You two figure it out,” Roan said dryly as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
Jay and Rhett stared each other down in mock seriousness. Then, wordlessly, they began:
One. Two. Three. Shoot.
Rhett’s grin was immediate. “Scissors beats paper, baby.”
Jay sighed, dramatic, but there was amusement tugging at his mouth as he turned toward Roan’s passenger side. “Unbelievable.”
I watched the whole thing with this strange, warm pull in my chest. It was almost gooey, but not in a way I hated. It was a kind of affection that didn’t feel fragile or forced. No one was trying to control me, not now. Not with choices or cars or touches.
This wasn’t about power.
It was aboutbeing allowed to enjoyeach other.
That was… new.
The fun part? I didn’t mind it. Not even a little.
I was still smiling as Rhett loaded himself into my passenger seat, long legs stretched out and already fiddling with the music settings like he owned the space.
I glanced sideways at him as I buckled in. “You gonna survive not being the driver?”
