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His brothers were looking at him expectantly.
“What was that about?” Jeri asked immediately. Dante was more restrained. He wanted to know just as much, but he didn’t want to be the one who asked.
“Shyla contacted mountain rescue about replacing the stuff in the cabin. They told her we’d already taken care of it, so she asked if she could add some items of her own.”
“Like what?” Dante demanded, more than a hint of attitude in his voice. “We covered everything. Did she not think we would?”
Lazarus looked at his brother and raised an eyebrow. “Actually, she wanted to add some extras,” he told Dante mildly. “Mostly tinned goods. Tomatoes, vegetables, soup, bouillon cubes, that sort of thing. She also asked if there was enough room for a stove top kettle, curtains and extra blankets which she proposed to send in a reusable vacuum pack, so they stay fresh.”
“Send? She’s not going herself?” Jeri asked. There was a clear hint of hope in his voice as he asked the question.
Dante, on the other hand, said nothing.
“It doesn’t appear so,” Lazarus told him, knowing it would douse Jeri’s sudden optimism. “She arranged for the goods to be delivered to the ranger station by a personal shopper from a store in the area.”
“Maybe we should reach out…” Jeri hedged.
“Maybe we should leave it alone and get on with our lives,” Dante interrupted. Lazarus eyed him. Of all of them, Dante was the one who was torn.
What had happened with Shyla wasn’t something he was accustomed to, whereas Lazarus and Jeri were used to sharing. Dante still had a lot to come to terms with. Including his tenuous relationship with Heather. The two had been friends for a while and Lazarus knew Dante had been thinking of taking their relationship out of the friend zone. Then Shyla had happened and now his younger brother seemed like he was at odds with the entire world.
Jeri, on the other hand, wore his heart on his sleeve. He made no secret of the fact that he wanted to pursue Shyla. The thing that was holding him back was Dante… and Lazarus himself, to a certain extent.
The relationship Jeri had with Shyla hadn’t been a one-on-one dynamic and it was in deference to both his brother’s feelings that he hadn’t acted on his own. He didn’t want to make things awkward… for any of them.
For himself, Lazarus was with Jeri. But while they’d shared women, sexually, in the past, an ongoing relationship was a thoroughly different matter, and that’s what made Lazarus cautious. There was nothing at all conventional about this situation, but the truth was, Shyla had affected them all. The question was how did they proceed?
Unconventional in the secret privacy of seclusion was one thing, but in the cold light of day when a world of judgmental people wanted to poke their nose in, it was something else entirely.
And then there was Dante.
While Lazarus and Jeri would easily adapt to a polyamorous relationship, should Shyla be agreeable, Dante was still in denial, but Lazarus knew damn well his brother had feelings for her. They all did.
But how was that going to unfold if they weren’t all on the same page? The likelihood of awkwardness - on all sides - which would probably be the least of their worries, or jealousy, resentment or even outright conflict was what held Lazarus back.
But he doubted Jeri would be dissuaded from approaching Shyla for much longer. He already thought too much time had passed. The unfortunate events that had unfolded when they were brought down the mountain and their next of kin had been informed had been beyond awkward. The arrival of their two sisters, Athena, Lazarus’s twin, and Delilah, along with Heather who had launched herself at Dante, despite the platonic nature of their relationship, had obviously conspired to make Shyla think the worst. And the scene with Antony had only made things worse.
None of them had had a chance to discuss the night they’d spent together since the rescue team had turned up so unexpectedly. And the things that should have been said had remained unspoken. They hadn’t even had the opportunity to exchange contact details, though all of them were high profile enough that it wouldn’t be difficult to look them up.
Lazarus hated that Shyla had left thinking the worst of them. But there hadn’t been time to correct her erroneous assumptions, and it certainly hadn’t been the place, either.
So now, here they were, at a stalemate.
“Are you planning to meet the helicopter at the cabin when it drops the stuff off?” Jeri asked.
Lazarus nodded his head. “Yes. I thought I’d make sure everything was packed away properly. The chopper crew have no obligation other than to unload.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jeri told him.
“I won’t turn down the help,” Lazarus replied. Or the company, he thought to himself. Truth was, he wasn’t certain how he was going to feel about going back.
“What about you?” Jeri asked Dante who was still brooding.
Their middle brother shook his head. “No, I don’t think so,” he declined.
Before either of them could say any more, Dante got up and walked out of the room.
* * *
