He turned and jogged back into his cabin.
Ty sat back, the whole of what he’d done hitting him squarely in the chest.
He’d fucked everything up.
“Roll up the damn window, Ty. You might be used to this kind of cold, but I’m from Florida and my rage doesn’t warm me like it used to,” Michael complained.
Ty rolled the window up. “I’m sorry. I…I saw the two of you together and I overreacted.”
Michael was quiet for a moment. “Did you hate seeing me with her that much?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think I would. I’ve kind of had a couple of fantasies about it over the last few weeks. I might have been thinking about it longer than I admitted.”
“And I didn’t think about it at all, and when I was kissing her tonight, I thought about the fact that you might walk in and demand equal attention.” Michael sighed. “And I didn’t have a problem with it. I thought about how hot it might be to watch you with her.”
“Seriously?”
Michael looked straight ahead, watching the snow drift around outside, swirling in white waves. “Yeah.”
“You weren’t trying to cut me out?” This is what they should have done.
“No. I wasn’t. I got caught up in a moment, and I honestly can’t promise you it won’t happen again. I don’t expect you to not touch her if I’m not around.”
“Of course you don’t. I don’t either. I’m sorry, Michael.”
“Yeah, I am, too. I’m especially sorry about the pizza and not getting to finish what I started and not getting to sleep in a nice bed tonight,” Michael admitted.
“I thought you didn’t like nice things.” He was known for shunning the things everyone else wanted, but maybe Sawyer was right and Michael was going through more than a minimalist stage.
“Like I said, my rage doesn’t keep me warm the way it used to. And my spinal column doesn’t give a crap that I want to punish myself in an endless guilt cycle. It wants a nice bed.”
Well, at least the man was willing to admit what he was doing to himself. It was a good start. “No one’s using my second bedroom for now.”
Michael relaxed again, his eyes closing. “Good. Then we can tell those nosy assholes we sat up all night talking about our feelings when what we really did was drink a couple of beers, watch the game, and go to bed. But I was serious about the bacon. I’m going to eat yours tomorrow. It’s your punishment.”
How had he gone from walking away from the whole relationship to ending up with Michael as a houseguest? And he was being called in before the King of Bliss to account for his actions. And he’d lost his bacon rights.
It had been a weird, shitty night.
“Shouldn’t you take your own car?”
Michael didn’t even open his eyes. “The keys are inside the cabin. It’s lost to me now. Just go. Hope you have food at your place.”
“Well, it is a resort. We can go to the kitchens.” Was he really going to hang with Michael tonight? Maybe they should have done more of that, too.
“Good.”
He glanced back at the cabin, thinking about Lucy in there. She’d been so beautiful tonight, and he’d made her feel bad. “Maybe we should try to talk to her.”
“Oh, hell no. I promise you she’s cursing your name. Better to let her yell about you to her girlfriend than get in the line of fire right now,” Michael advised. “You can send her a groveling text later on tonight. You can talk about how crappy our night was without her.”
He was probably right. He started the Jeep. “Are you sure you shouldn’t take your car?”
“Just drive, Ty. You wanted a partner. Well, you’ve got one, and that means we have to stick together. I assure you once she finds out I went back to your place, she’ll have a million questions, and she’ll have to deal with us if she wants them answered,” Michael murmured.
Actually, that wasn’t a terrible plan. He could text her a sincere apology and ask her if they could talk when she felt comfortable talking. To both of them.
Ty pulled away feeling slightly more positive than he’d been before.
* * * *
“I am so sorry, River. I didn’t realize you were coming home tonight. I apologize for you walking in on something you shouldn’t have had to see.” Lucy’s heart was still pounding in her chest as she walked back into the cabin.
Ty was such an asshole. How could he have done that to her?
River walked up to her, opening her arms. “Don’t you apologize. I missed you. I missed you and Ty, and I missed this place so much while we were gone. I’m sorry I didn’t call you to warn you we’d managed to find a ride home this evening. I wanted to surprise you.”
She hugged her friend, breathing her in. She’d missed River on a level she hadn’t thought possible. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she held her tight. “I’m so happy you’re home. Phone calls don’t cut it.”
River squeezed her, too. “They do not, and as much as I came to love the people we were with, they weren’t you.”
Had she worried about this? Deep down, had she worried that River would go out into the big world and find more interesting friends and leave her behind? Yes. She had. That fear of being left behind by someone important to her had been simmering underneath everything. It might be why she’d reacted the way she had to Ty. “I spend a lot of time with Hope and Beth, but they aren’t you.”
River stepped back, looking her over. “You have a lot to tell me. When did you start dating Ty? And Michael?”
“Tonight.” It hadn’t taken long for that experiment to fail.
River looked over where her husband was moving the pizza boxes Ty left behind. Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me you didn’t text Stef.”
“Of course I did,” Jax replied. “Hey, what festivals did I miss? And protests. I’m excited about joining all the protests.”
“The Winter Festival is coming up, and Nell and Henry always have a protest going on. Why would Jax text Stef?” Suspicion crept over her. “Tell me the town isn’t talking about us. It was our first date. I know they know, but they can’t possibly be this nosy.”
“Okay, I know you’re not technically from Bliss,” River began, “but I need you to hear those words coming out of your mouth.”
“Everyone’s up in everyone else’s business,” Jax agreed and sighed, a happy sound. “It makes me miss my old team. They were a bunch of dudes who pretend to be all tough but really live for gossip. So relationship meddling feels like home.”
Lucy felt herself flush. “And you are one of those, Jax?”
“One of the dudes who spent a lot of time in the military and now lives to watch other people fuck up?” Jax asked. “Yes. That is who I am. Not that you fucked up. You seemed to be doing real well there.”
She’d probably gone past pink and into ruby red.
“Jax,” River hissed. “We talked about this. I’m sorry, Lucy. I’m still teaching him how to act in the real world. Between the whole losing his memory and being tortured thing, and then spending years with Big Tag’s group, he is not ready for polite society.”