My brows shot up as they met Ash’s eyes. “Make me?”
His lips twitched. “Forgive Dominic. He can be a bit controlling.”
“A bit?” Jake parroted with a scoff, setting a small plate of cheeses, crackers, and fruit on the table. He looked at me with a smile and jerked his head to Dominic. “If the opportunity presented itself, this man would take over the world.”
“It would certainly operate better under my supervision,” Dominic said, clicking his tongue and writing something down.
Ash’s hand dropped to the small of my back, his lips finding my ear. “Please sit and eat, beautiful. If not for you, then for me.”
A chill ran down my spine, his facial hair tickling my skin. I gave him a small nod and took a seat. I’d never actually sat in here before, and I found myself looking around the table, wondering which seat I would like the best.
“Is something wrong?” Ash asked.
“What? Oh. No. I just…” I cleared my throat. “I’ve never actually sat at this table before.”
He raised a brow, and I could feel Dominic studying my profile. “You haven’t?”
I shook my head.
Ash was studying me, frozen, and there was a flash of sadness in his eyes. “Is it new?” he murmured.
“No, I purchased it a week after I moved in.”
The sadness glimmering in his pupils transformed into something stranger, darker, and my heart raced.
Had I done something wrong? Had I said the wrong thing?
I glanced over to Dominic, but his head was bent again. Ash leaned over, pressing another hard kiss to my forehead, holding himself there for a few moments. As he pulled away, Jake came back in, my favorite teacup cradled in his hands. “I put the kettleon when you were upstairs. Margo texted and said you were a tea person.”
I blinked, staring at the red tea steaming from the cup. It was my rose energy blend. “You…you know how to make tea.”
Jake shrugged his shoulder. “I dabble in tea creation every now and then.”
“Translation: he knows how to make tea because six winters ago, he got so sick with the flu that he spent nearly forty-eight hours in the kitchen, playing apothecary, looking for a cure,” Dominic drawled, not looking up from his work.
Ash took a seat beside me, his arm resting on the back of my chair. “He also spent hundreds of dollars on different tea blends and then proceeded to spill half of them all over Hayes’ office when he was trying to show them off.”
I stifled a laugh, pressing my lips together. They were trying to distract me, and I was grateful.
Jake rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but his office smelled amazing for weeks.”
Dominic hummed. “Which is probably why he didn’t fire you.”
“You only live once. It’s okay to spill things every now and again.”
A silence settled over the table then. It was heavy and uncomfortable, and there was nothing we could do to avoid what needed to come after it.
With my cup suspended in the air, resting against my chin, I asked the painful question swimming in my mind. “Did they get Felix off the beach?”
Jake rested his forearms on the back of his chair, his face solemn. “Yeah, they did,” he answered softly.
“Are they going to perform an autopsy?” I set my cup down on the saucer, the muted clink of the porcelain sounding like thunder.
“We don’t know,” Dominic replied. “Right now, the county office is wanting to rule it as a suicide.”
“Felix didn’t want to die,” I said, my voice firm as I looked at Ash for support. “I told Ash that he didn’t want to die. He was planning on leaving the restaurant to go find himself.” He craved life so badly that he was willing to give up everything he had for it. “He found a new dream to chase.”
“Did Felix tell you this?” Dominic pressed gently.
