Page 95 of Feverburn

At that moment, he wasn’t the asshole whoruinedmy life. He was my baby brother who caught frogs to show me and the lanky teenager who got all my hand-me-down clothes. I could see past the part of him that hurt me, and in its place was the man he was today. At this very moment, he pushed past hard news and tried to understand my struggle. That alone made me feel safer than ever before.

The women held us a moment longer before releasing the current of energy.

“Everyone, deep breath,”Viv prompted before she went on.“Now I’d like to say I am fully aware of how hard both Rosie and Carson have fought theirdesireto be together. They knew it could complicate things. They bothloveyou very much, but they alsoloveeach other.”

Rosie and I looked at each other, my arm still around her. She tugged my beard, and I gave her a quick peck without thinking. They all smiled at us. Aside from Bear, no one had seen us affectionate with one another.

“I’m not mad about it. I just felt lied to,” Harley said.

Kaylee nodded,“I knew something was up. I had a vision of you with some guy. You were in a lake, but it was super dark. All I could see was a flash of some crystal necklace on his chest and your little tattooed hands holding his shoulders. I thought for sure it was Dane.”

Rosie let out a pleased little giggle and pulled the necklace out from under my shirt. Everyone’s eyes grew wide. “It’s been on his neck since April.” She flashed Viv a smug smile.

Harley’s eyes bounced between me and her.“Your dress was all muddy the night of Kaylee’s birthday. I knew you didn’t fall. That was from fucking.”He pointed,“You fucked her in my forest?”

“Ourforest,” I corrected. “My cabin is on the other side of the lake.”

Viv cackled and clapped with glee.“Oh, Rosie! Good for you!”

Kaylee giggled,“On Litha? Girl! That’s one way tocelebrate!”

“It was very sudden; I don’t think you want the details,”Rosie hesitated.“You just need to know that we’rehappy. This isn’t something casual for us. We were going to tell you as soon as it felt right.”

I was glad she omitted details of our story and the blessing. That was our private life. Too much of our story was tangled with theirs. It made me love her even more that she guarded my privacy.

Kaylee smiled.“You guys are adorable together. I’m not going to lie.”

Harley nodded in agreement.“Mom is going to lose her shit.”

Kaylee gnawed at her bottom lip,“But it’s awkward because I didn’t realize you harbored so much resentment for me.”

“Neither did I,”Rosie said.

Viv cleared her throat.“I think now that it’s out in the open, you two ladies can keep discussing it. You became friends under very unusual circumstances, and it makes sense that things are still clunky.”

Rosie sighed,“But I don’t want you to think I have it out for you. I had to fight for my happiness, too. I’m sorry I hurt you in the process.”

Kaylee fidgeted with her engagement ring. “I could’ve been more aware of how I was throwing our relationship in your face. I was so insistent on you dating Dane.” She cast a guilty glance at me. “And I remember the first week you lived here, you mentioned Carson was cute, and I told you he was a grump. I’m sure that didn’t help.”

Rosie patted my chest. “But he’s my grump now,” she said lightheartedly.

Harley added,“And we weren’t upset that it was you two together. We were upset that we didn’t know about it. Not that you need our approval, but you have it. We’rehappyfor you.”

I cleared my throat. “Thank you. We will get around to telling everyone ourselves. But let us break the news.”

“Make sense. It’s your news to share,” Kaylee added.

We all agreed to that.

“I am so proud of you all. What a great smutty summit,”Viv said.

“Well…to Kouris cock,”Rosie said, lifting her mug, making Kaylee giggle.

“And towetwitches,”I added, looking at my brother, who wiggled his eyebrows.

We drank in a newfound truce and parted ways, thanking Viv. The bear hug I got from my brother made a lump of emotion stick in my throat. I wasexposedbut newly freed as I walked back to my store, holding Rosie’s hand, not caring who saw it.

“I’m here for you, babe. I told Kaylee I needed a day off tomorrow.If you don’t want to be alone tonight—”

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