Page 20 of Save a Horse

“I need to spend time with Axl and Beth before I go home. If I stay here today, it’ll be too hard to leave,” I admit, my stomach twisting.

“Fine. You have three weeks, Aces,” Mitch protests.

Eyes narrowed, I counter, “Four.”

“Inthreeweeks, if you’re not back, I’m coming for you.” He kisses me goodbye with a slow, sweet kiss that makes my toes curl.

Once Mitch leaves, Jasper makes me breakfast, then brings me into the shower with him. As much as I’ve loved being with both of them, when I was with Mitch two nights ago, he made me feel like I was his whole world. He’s loving, doting, focused on my pleasure. My time with Jasper is different—he’s broody and possessive, consuming. Still, I’m his. I need both of them.

Being away from them will be the longest three weeks of my life.

Jasper

Christmas Day

“She’s three days late,” Mitch snaps, running his hand through his hair. He attempts to stand, but I place my hand on his shoulder to keep him on the couch. “Why aren’t you more on edge about this?”

I’ve been lying to Mitch for weeks. Amy and I have been texting, but only because she wants to surprise Mitch today. I helped her secure an apartment here and I helped her move in two days ago. Hiding it from Mitch has been hard on both of us. She’s spending today with Axl and Beth at Beth’s parents’ house. Everyone’s in on it, except Mitch; he’s worse than a kid on Christmas waiting for her to come back to us.

“I’m not freaked out because I know she’s coming.”

“How do you know?” He eyes me suspiciously, but I can’t bring myself to spoil Amy’s surprise.

“Ready to go to the Andersons’?” I deflect. “You can harass Axl there, ifyou want.”

Mitch turns off the movie we were watching and rushes for the front door. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

We drive to their house which is next to the Comets. Both homes appear as if they raided the holiday aisle at every store from here to Quebec. Every year, they one-up each other with who has the biggest displays. It’s all in good fun, and both houses are always the most festive in town.

Once we’ve parked, I’m surprised he doesn’t notice the white SUV that doesn’t belong to anyone we know. I smile to myself, listening to Mitch grumble about how today he was supposed to wake Amy up with his face between her legs.

The front door opens before we make it to the entry steps, and Amy comes barrelling towards us. His face lights up brighter than the Christmas decorations on this house, and his arms fly wide. “Aces!” She leaps into his embrace, wrapping her legs around him, as he buries his face in her neck. “Fuck, I missed you, baby. What are you doing here?”

Amy pulls back, cupping his cheeks and kissing him without abandon. “I’m sorry, I wanted to surprise you.”

As sweet as the reunion is, I can only handle so much of these two; they’ve been love-sick since Amy left. “All right, can we go inside? It’s fucking freezing.”

Mitch sets her down and rests his forehead on hers. “Best Christmas present ever.” He’s so wrapped up in her, he hasn’t noticed Amy didn’t acknowledged me yet—he’ll be pissed when he figures out I’ve known she was coming back since the morning sheleft.

Once inside and our jackets are hung on the coat rack, Amy takes Mitch’s hand and leads him further into the house. She only makes it two steps before stopping to turn, offering me her other hand. “Come on, I have a present for you.”

I admitted to Axl and Beth that Mitch is interested in Amy—though that’s putting it mildly—but I’ve strategically omitted that I am, too. Walking in with the two of them potentially outs our unorthodox situation. I blow out a long breath and take off my hat, placing it on the same hook as my hanging coat.

“Are you sure about this, sweetheart?”

“It’s not like I’m going to ride my cowboy while sucking Mitch’s cock in front of everyone,” she deadpans. “We’re going to spend time with Beth’s family and you’re going to open presents. Everyone knows why I’m here, not only what you told them.”

Mitch pins me with a curious glare. “Hey, how long have you known she’d be here?” When I don’t answer, his gaze becomes murderous.

“No punching best friends on Christmas,” Amy insists. “Jasper only knew because I wanted to surprise you.”

His eyes remain narrowed as he grits out, “I’ve been a fucking mess for days, Jasper.”

“I know. Sorry.” I wince.

I hesitantly take Amy’s hand, and we make our way into the living room where there are significantly more people here than I expected. On top of Axl, Beth, Tristan, and Myles, Jaxon is on the couch with two people. They turn around and my eyes widen at Greta and Troy sitting with him. I’mfrozen in shock; things didn’t end great with Beth and Troy. Something about boot fucking. Not to mention Greta and Mitch hooked up earlier this year. With Jen and Tara in the corner laughing, this feels like something out of a bad daytime talk show.

Either I’m here for an intervention, or I’m going to find out I’m not the father of someone’s baby.

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