We’ve teased some of Bastian’s dark past out of him, but honestly, it didn’t feel all that cathartic for any of us, so we’ve left it alone for now. This thing between the three of us is so new, I don’t think we know what to make of it yet.
New, but so fuckingamazing.
“Only good dreams last night, I hope.” Done with the fire, he comes back and sinks onto the couch beside me, pulling my legs across his lap. His palm is warm on my bare thigh, his thumb tracing idle patterns that make it hard to think.
“So far, so good.” I watch his hand move, avoiding his eyes.
“I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again, sweet girl.” His voice is gentle in a way it rarely is. “This is a safe space. I will never judge. I will never criticize. But the more you let me in?—”
“The more you can help. I know.” I huff out a breath, leaning my head against the couch so I can stare across at him. “Seriously, I slept well. If I did dream, I didn’t remember anything.”
“No sleep paralysis?”
I suppress a shudder. I’ve had vivid nightmares my entire life—big fucking surprise—but the sleep paralysis only started when I came back to Agony Hollow. Bastian thinks it’s the trauma from killing Uncle Lenny.
I secretly think Uncle Lenny still haunts me to this day. But we ran so far, and so fast, when we left Agony Hollow, that I’m hoping he lost my trail.
“And you? How’s the insomnia?” I rake my toe over his bare chest, giggling when he grabs my ankle and pretends to take a bite out of my foot.
“Nice segue, Miss H,” Kai says as he comes into the living room with three mismatched coffee mugs. “You know he won’t fall for it though, right?”
“I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt this morning, my good boy,” Bastian says, giving Kai a salacious smile as he takes one of the mugs.
Kai nearly fumbles the other two, then scowls at Bastian. “Stop calling me that,” he mutters.
“But you love it when he calls you a good boy,” I say, tapping Kai with my foot as he comes to sit beside Bastian.
Kai’s only reply is a loud slurp of his coffee.
He grimaces. “Fair warning, I kinda fucked up the coffee. It might be a tad on the strong side.”
It is strong.Aggressivelytoo strong. We drink it anyway, watching the sun rise over the Montana wilderness. Bastian gets two notifications on his phone, types a reply to the second one, and then sets it back on the table behind the sofa.
I wait for him to explain what the messages were about, but he just gives me a faint smile when I look at him.
Screw this.
“So,” I say, setting my half-empty mug on the coffee table. “Are we doing this, or what?”
“Doing what?” Kai asks innocently. He’s busy scrolling on his phone, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Are they sexting each other while I’m right here in the fucking room with them?
I throw a pillow at Kai.
Bastian growls when I leap off the couch and nearly slosh his coffee onto his lap as the cushion bounces back.
“Which one’s mine?” I crow with delight as I skid up to the tree on my knees. I start hauling presents out, muttering, “Ow, ow, ow,” every time a branch scrapes me.
“They have labels, you little heathen,” Bastian says.
I glance up at him towering over me, a present in my hand, and shake it. Hard.
Whatever’s inside rattles merrily.
He squeezes his eyes shut with his fingers, groaning. “Thank God I didn’t opt for the snow globe,” he mutters.
Kai plops down beside me, reaching under the tree to drag out two presents I’d missed.
