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“I told you, Uncle, I’m pretty sure Nicholas still likes a good Samuel Adams,” Francis chimed into the conversation, a grin on his face, too. “He never drinks anything else when we’re hanging out.”

When we’re hanging out?

Suddenly, the butterflies with knives returned, even though I did my best not to let it show on my face.

“I don’t know how any of you can stomach anything that’s not Blue Moon.” Tyler scoffed. “I swear, one swig of this and you’re never going back.”

“What kind of beer do you like, Parker?” George asked, before he took another sip of his drink. “Are you a Samuel Adams guy like Nicholas here?”

“Oh. Uh… I’m not really a beer guy…” My words trailed off as my stomach sank, something telling me I’d just given him the worst answer possible.

“Interesting.” George nodded, before going back to the drink in his hand. He then shifted his attention back to Nicholas, a warm smile on his face. “Do you remember that time you and Francis tried to drink each other under the goddamn table? When was that? A few Thanksgivings ago?”

“He started it!” Francis laughed, and soon, Nicholas was laughing, too.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure you’re the one who started it,” Nicholas added. “But I’ll let you rewrite history if it makes you feel better about losing?—”

“Rematch! Rematch! Rematch!” Tyler started to chant, his fists pumping into the air with each word.

“I don’t know if I’ll be in town long enough to recover from something like that.” Francis smirked. “But maybe we could have a few drinks? Down at that dive bar you’re always dragging people to?”

“Sure thing. Just let me know when you have time,” Nicholas said, his tone so casual and so polite.

And with that, it felt like all the color drained from my face, my skin turning the kind of pale it was hard to ignore. Even so, the only person who seemed to notice a change was Nicholas, concern lining his features as he looked down at me.

“Hey, since you guys are going to be working on these drinks, Parker and I are going to head back out,” he said, turning back toward his friends. “We’ll catch up with you near the endpoint of the trail.”

“Sounds good! See you out there, kids.” George waved us off, already heading back inside the cabin for another drink. Tyler and Francis soon joined him, offering us quick waves of their own as they disappeared behind the door.

“Come on. There’s somewhere I want to show you.” Nicholas beamed at me before he took a seat at the front of the snowmobile, his hands already back on the handlebars. He then tilted his head toward the seat behind him, and I slid into place, my mind racing as I wondered just where he planned on taking us.

“You brought me to a cave?”

Nicholas laughed after I asked the question, already moving away from the vehicle. I followed him to the cave, still unsure of why he’d brought me out here, a part of me terrified that we were about to find out some creature with sharp teeth had claimed this place as their home a long time ago.

But once we were a few steps inside of the cave, I immediately understood why he’d wanted me to see it.

Wow.

My eyes went wide as I took in the view of what seemed like hundreds of different kinds of crystals and gems, decorating each and every inch of the cave. I reached out to run my fingers across variations of purple, blue, quartz, azurite, all shimmering and shining under my curious fingers.

“You like it?” Nicholas quietly asked, one of his hands reaching out for mine, before gently folding it into his grip.

“I love it,” I murmured, still mesmerized by the sight of it. “I can’t believe something like this is just out here.”

“It gets a lot more play when it’s warmer out,” he replied. “It’s… actually a pretty popular make out spot for the high school kids.”

“Yeah. I can see that.” I nodded in complete understanding. “If I wanted to make out with someone, I’d definitely try to bring them here, too. It’s just so…”

“Impressive?”

“Magical,” I suggested, before playfully nudging Nicholas in the shoulder. “So, is that why you brought me here? You were angling for a make out session or something a little more grown-up?”

“Actually…” Nicholas’ words trailed off for a moment. “I just wanted to check in with you.”

“Check-in?”

“Back when we were with the rest of the guys, you seemed a little off,” he continued. “Like something was bothering you?”

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