Page 39 of Crossroads

My heart thudded, even as my knees went weak. He reached out and trailed a line down my thigh. I swallowed hard.

“You and me? Okay. I can do that.”

“No ghosts either,” he whispered.

I froze, understanding what he meant. “Really?” I asked, my voice breaking.

“Really.” And then he tugged me down onto his lap, and took my mouth, and I let myself believe.

Chapter 11

BODHI

“We got Bodhi out in town twice in one month. I feel like I should go play the lottery.” Rune leaned against the back of his chair, arms folded over his chest as he perused over his bar. He wasn’t working tonight, but because the man didn’t know how to take a full day off, he was making sure that all his staff were set to go. And if somebody needed something, he immediately bounded up and went to help them. Then one of my brothers or his crewmates would force him to sit back down again. Making Rune Carter take a day off was indeed like winning the lottery.

“I can go right back home, you know,” I said smoothly before taking a sip of my beer.

I had spent the past three days deep in my art, working on project after project and then a few commissions for furniture pieces. My hands were sore, covered in scrapes and nicks, but in the end, I could barely feel them all. Each night I spent the night with Kiera, either in my bed or hers. It was odd to think that Kiera felt so comfortable in my bed. Maybe because it had never been Courtney’s. My wife had never slept under my roof, so it didn’t feel as if I were letting an intruder in. Because Kiera wasn’t an intruder.

I wasn’t the same man that I had been when I had been married to Courtney. I had been young, innocent in a way that felt almost dumb, and I thought maybe some people could be better. Dad had tried to break us over the years, though he had mostly taken it out on Callum. I’d taken a couple of blows, but my big brother and my sisters had done their best to protect us. I knew that life wasn’t happy and dewy and filled with stickers and gold stars. Not everybody got their happy ending, but I’d thought I’d had mine with Courtney. Then the fire had come, and that man had taken everything.

So no, I wasn’t the same man who had married my wife. Nor was I the same man who had been physically forced and removed from that fire.

I hadn’t been able to save her or my babies. Yet, in the years that had passed, now that people started to believe that maybe I wasn’t a murderer—even though the murderer was behind bars—why didn’t it feel like a full betrayal to be with somebody else?

“I’m glad you’re out,” Finnian said, his gaze on his phone rather than anyone else.

“I am here for you. Always,” I said dryly.

“You’re so nice,” my brother said, not bothering to look up from his phone.

“Who are you texting?” I asked, confused.

Finnian looked up, blinking as his eyes focused. “Promise and I are trying to figure out what to do with the girls’ birthdays.”

“Aren’t their birthdays a little while away?” Rune asked as he took a seat next to me.

“We’re trying to figure out how to make it work with both of our schedules, and what themes. Making sure that Mia and Ella feel like they each have their own birthdays without being forced to celebrate together all the time is awfully hard.”

“They’re not even five yet. Are they going to remember this?” Atlas asked, leaning against the back of the bar. He had his leg propped up, ice on his knee, though we made sure that nobody in the bar could tell. He was visiting for the weekend and needed to get back to the team soon. Having time away from the ice—even during the most critical of moments in his career—was good for his mental health, according to the team.

“Four- and five-year-olds can remember things,” I said softly.

Atlas held back a cringe and gave me a nod. “Good to know. I think you should have three birthdays then.”

Finnian just blinked at him. “What?”

“Three birthdays. One for Mia, one for Ella, and then a double birthday because they’re twins.”

“And what happens when they have another kid who’s not a twin, and they don’t get two to three birthdays?” Rune snorted.

“Hey, hey, hey. Promise and I are not having any other kids. I’m just glad that we’re friends at this point.”

“I’m pretty sure he meant separately,” I added softly.

Finnian blinked. “Oh, right. I guess if Promise gets married again and has kids, and one’s not a twin, things will be different. But no, I don’t think three birthdays will work. For now, the girls want to celebrate together, but if they ever want to do something separately, I guess we can make that work.”

“Lucas and Olivia always have separate birthdays,” Callum put in.