Page 119 of Shared By the Mountain Men

“Who’s driving?” Noah asked.

“All of us.”

The five of us jumped on the campsite four-wheelers and took off along the trail, just like on the tour a few weeks ago. Jack took a shortcut rather than the scenic route, leading us to the barbecue place a mile outside of town.

“That was amazing!” Brian said, removing his helmet.

“We can do it again tomorrow,” Jack promised. “I’ll take you along thereallyfun route.”

“Brian’s hitting the road tomorrow to get to California before—”

“I can show up a day late,” he interrupted. “I’ll miss the big Kappa welcome party, but this is more fun.”

Sure enough, Jack took my brother out on the four-wheelers again the next morning. Then, after lunch, Ash gave him a mountain biking lesson. I went along too, cruising down the same trails I had when I was in town a few weeks before. Brian was like a little kid again, cheering and demanding to go again after every run.

“This place is awesome,” he said the following morning while loading up the car to leave. “I can see why you picked this place.”

I glanced beyond him, where Jack was feeding the cats on the porch. “Yeah. It’s special here.”

“And, uh…” Brian ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Sorry for calling you a slut.”

I cocked my head. “You really mean it, don’t you.”

“Now that we’re older, I just…” He searched around for the words. “I want you to be happy. And you seem happier here than you did in Toledo. It’s nice.”

I smiled. “Yeah. It’s nice.”

We hugged, and then I sent him on his way. Something in my chest tugged as I watched the car disappear down the road. I hadn’t told my parents about my three lovers—and I wasn’t sure if I everwouldtell them—but having Brian know about my situation and give his approval meant more to me than I expected.

The guys all had work today, so I spent my time going around town looking for work. Small mountain towns like this were always short on labor, so it wasn’t hard to find a few prospects.

“Right now, I’m leaning toward Marlene’s Diner and the Roasted Bean coffee shop,” I told the guys that night while we ate pizza at Secret Stash. It was a pleasant evening, and we were sitting at a table outside, right on the main street. “Between the two, I should be able to piece together enough shifts to pay for my rent and start saving money.”

“You’d be fine going back to serving food?” Noah asked around a slice of pepperoni. “It’s not, like, a step down?”

“Moving here is a step up,” I replied. “Whatever I have to do to make that happen, I’m happy about. Even serving food.”

“Theresa said they’ll be looking for help at the campsite,” Jack suggested. “They need someone to man the front desk during check-in times, and handling a few chores related to the cabins.”

“You don’t want to keep doing all that stuff?” Noah teased.

“Fuck no,” Jack replied. “I’m a minority owner now. Aside from maintaining the four-wheelers and a couple of other small things, I’m happy to hand the rest off to someone else. I’m looking forward to taking on more forestry contracts up in the mountains. Get away for a few days a week.”

“Good,” Ash said.

“Glad you’re happy for me,” Jack said, surprised.

Ash took a long pull of beer and shook his head. “Don’t care about you. If you’re gone a few days a week, it means we get more time with her.” He pointed his beer bottle at me.

“Now, now,” I said. “There’s plenty of me to go around.”

Jack squeezed my thigh under the table. “There’d better be.”

“But regarding the campsite… I don’t think I’m interested. I don’t need to replace Samthatmuch.”

Noah and Ash both froze, shocked by what I had said. Then their eyes swung toward Jack.

“What?” Jack asked.

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