Page 74 of All That She Needs

"It's okay to hate him," Mason said. "Honestly, punching him in the face might make you feel better."

That certainly crossed my mind a few times.

"You need time to heal, Asha." Max sighed.

See? Triplet bonds. My brothers were mind readers; sadly, I couldn't do the same with them. They were far better at guarding their defenses than I was.

"How's your relationship with that start-up guy?" Mason asked.

I rolled my eyes; they always seemed to forget Liam's name; whether it was deliberate or not, I didn't know. Probably deliberate. They did the same thing to Aiden ages ago. "We're doing fine."

Actually, it wasn't fine—not on my part. Liam had been perfect as always, but my mood had been perpetually melancholy this past month. I probably didn't seem as excited about this relationship as he was.

I finally went to see his apartment, and to my surprise, it looked almost similar to what it had in my dream, as if it were some kind of premonition. The big difference was that I wasn't naked, and he didn't kneel on the floor and ate me up until I screamed.

He would definitely go for it if I just gave him the green light. But then again, I was stuck in my goddamn melancholy mood.

I knew I wasn't being fair to Liam. He had been very patient and understanding, always ready to give me the space I needed. But I realized I was keeping him at a distance while he was simply trying to support me. I need to be in the right headspace to start this with him properly.

And I think Liam sensed it. He could tell I was constantly sad and miserable, and it weighed on him, too.

I had to do something about –

"How's he taking it with you being miserable like this? You need to do something about it, Asha." Max said, interrupting my thoughts. Again, he read my mind, and I just had enough.

I smacked both my brothers on their chests with the back of my hands. "Stop it!"

"Ouch," Mason grumbled, while Max just shot me a glare while rubbing his chest.

"How about we all go on vacation?" Mason suggested after a moment of silence. "We could go somewhere cold where we can ski. I promised Kayden I'd teach him how."

"Their school break is coming up, though," I said, suddenly feeling a spark of excitement. Finally, my brothers offered a good idea. "In fact, they've just finished their exams, and I'm sure I can get permission from their school to take a break early."

"We'll rent a nice cabin," Max suggested.

"There's got to be a hot tub," Mason added.

"We should see if we can hire someone to cook for us," Max continued. "Because none of us can cook for shit."

It was true. The three of us had grown up on takeout and frozen foods. Not that we hadn't tried to cook—we'd had plenty of attempts, but we were justreallybad at it.

"Kayden can," I said, earning a look of disbelief from them. "Just the basics," I clarified.

Mason shrugged. "Still better than us, though."

"We can bring Sandy with us," I suggested.

"That's even better!" Mason exclaimed, sounding relieved and happy that he wouldn't have to endure the horrible cooking from the three of us.

"The kids have twelve weeks of holiday," I said, musing to myself. "I want to see if they'd be interested in staying there that long."

"Can you take that much time off work?" Max asked. "Mason and I could only go for two weeks maximum. They wouldn't let us go for too long."

I shrugged. "I have too many accumulated leave days that I haven't used. Besides, I could have a Team call with them if they need me." But to be honest, I couldn't care less about work right now. Lately, I often find myself considering quitting my job altogether.

"It'll be good for you, Asha," Max said. "You need to get away for a while, clear your head, and forget all the terrible shits that happened to you in the past."

"You'll need to let that tech guy know, though," Mason added quietly. "But I really think some time apart will be good for both of you—a fresh start and all."

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