Blaze gets out of the car and opens the door for Asch. “Come on. There’s a bed waiting for you inside.”
I go to join Blaze, extending my hand for Asch. “There might be pussy waiting for you too. I guess it would depend on whether we think it’s medically necessary.”
I hear the valet, standing nearby, suppress a laugh.
“Fucking hilarious, both of you,” Asch mutters, but he gets out of the car without taking my hand. He slides his phone into his back pocket and straightens his suit.
“I’ll go get our key,” Blaze says. He kisses my cheek, hands his key to the valet, then heads inside.
I wait until he’s gone to put my hands on Asch. He tenses and avoids my gaze.
“Come on, Asch,” I say. “Don’t let your bad mood and stupid thoughts spoil the evening.”
Asch looks down at me, his expression still distant. “You wanted Blaze,” he says. “Well, congratulations. He’s yours.”
There’s something raw there, something I want to poke at and see if he flinches away from.
“Do you think it’s bad to want more than one person?” I ask him.
I know what people have said about my parents. They don’t flaunt their unconventional relationship, and attitudes now aren’t what they were twenty years ago, but there are still a lot of people who don’t understand.
I want to say that I don’t give a fuck, that what other people say never bothers me, but that’s the me now.
When I was a kid, I had a much harder time listening to people calling my parents perverts or weird or gross.
Okay, and also, as a kid I wasn’t really able to violently shut up the detractors. Things had gotten so much better once I had real strength to fight back.
Asch smiles, but it’s not the kind of smile I want to see from him. It’s strange and distant, like he’s put me away in a box and refuses to let me come out. “No.”
I wait for him to continue, but for several long seconds, that’s all he gives me.
Finally, he sighs, his shoulders dropping as he deflates. “Blaze wants you, Pandora, and you want Blaze. You’re the first woman he’s been interested in like this in as long as I can remember. Take the win.”
“What win?” I ask, genuinely confused now. “You think Blaze would drop you for me? I’m pretty sure he still likes you more than me, you idiot. Also, did you forget River? I didn’t. If I thought he’d show up, I’d invite him right now too.”
Asch eyes me. “So… What? You want all three of us?” he asks skeptically.
“Why not?” I say stubbornly. “Who says I can’t?”
Because I do want them all.
I want River, who gave up his finger for me.
I want Blaze, who matches my wild energy.
And I want Asch, who’s hiding darkness underneath that calm exterior.
Asch’s hands go to my hips, and he abruptly drags me closer to him. “Blaze doesn’t share,” he murmurs. “Maybe with me. Maybe. But with River? You can forget that.”
I grin widely and give him a brief kiss. “You think Blaze has a choice? Who would win if we got into a fight, Blaze or me?”
Asch runs a hand down my spine before resting it at the small of my back. “There are reasons I haven’t wanted the two of you alone together,” he murmurs. “I don’t trust you. I never have.” He holds me close to him anyway.
I giggle and grab his ass. “Don’t worry, I promise not to break Blaze’s heart.”
That’s a lie.
If it turns out Blaze is involved in Rachel’s disappearance?—
