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Grim threw him another look that seemed to say, don’t stir up trouble.
“What are you all colluding about over there?” Poe mumbled through a bite of bread, a smug look on his face for having beat Grim to it.
I took a big swig of my red wine. “Nothing you need to worry about, sweet Poe. Saint just wants some one-on-one time later.”
“Aw, is our resident monster feeling a bit needy?” Poe teased.
Saint rolled his eyes over his glass of whiskey. “Says the man who gets separation anxiety when she’s in the shower. Don’t worry, I’ll have her back in our bed before sunrise.”
Grim snorted. “You’re both adorable.”
I giggled despite my nervousness about chatting with Saint later. It was rare that they fought for dominance over each other. We were equals, sharing each other from the moment we met. Poe just got off on getting a rise out of Saint. And I couldn’t deny that it turned me on. The obsession and possessiveness were hot. Maybe that meant I was fucked up, but it was my truth. I knew it the second Poe dragged me out of my bed that first night. I hadn’t been scared at all. I’d been craving it.
Poe burst out laughing. “Take as much time as you need. Just don’t have too much fun without us.”
I could feel Saint’s body tense beside me. That told me all I needed to know. Something was bothering him, and he wasn’t going to let me go to sleep tonight until he got it off his chest.
Saint
When you’ve lived the life I have, happiness and love were two concepts that were hard to believe in. And yet here I was with my two best friends and our little fox. The loves of my life. But the nagging feeling of dread never fully goes away.
The garden was my favorite place on the whole property. Maybe because I’ve been tending to it myself for over a hundred years. Or perhaps because it was natural, the only spot on our land that wasn’t fixed with marble and stone and velvet. Just the trees and flowers, all of which I planted myself with my bare hands. And when the Wickford Hollow wind would blow through my hair, it was the closest feeling to being alive. At least from what I remember.
As I sat in the dirt between two rose bushes, I sensed my little fox before I saw her. Heard the points of her heels squishing into the grass. Scents of honeysuckle and vanilla engulfed me along with a tiny shadow, lingering behind me.
“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?” I asked. The moon was almost full, casting an ethereal glow across the garden.
Bailey sucked in a deep breath. “It’s perfect.”
I took off my jacket and laid it beside me. “Here, sit next to me.”
She plopped down without hesitating and nestled into my side. I wrapped my arm around her to keep her warm.
“What’s going on with you, Bailey? Aren’t you happy with us anymore?” I was connected to her on a deeper level from the moment we met. It was as if I could sense her emotions before she even experienced them.
Bailey’s eyes widened as she gazed up at me. “Of course, I’m happy with you! I love you all so much. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Then what is it, little fox? What has got that beautiful head of yours spinning out of control? And don’t lie to me. You’re terrible at it.”
She fidgeted with the edge of her skirt. “It’s nothing. I’m just sad that Maureen is moving away soon. I’m fine, I swear.”
She wasn’t lying but she also wasn’t telling me the whole truth. I pulled her in tighter. “Believe it or not, I understand what you’re going through. The whispers, the gossip… When we first moved in here after the war, it was quite a scandal. Fuck, I mean three grown men living alone with a widowed woman… They didn’t really believe that we were just the help, you know?”
“I’m not ashamed of you if that’s what you’re getting at. It’s just that I’ve always had a complicated relationship with this town. After my parents died, I was sent to Wickford Orphanage. I lived there until I was eighteen. It was so lonely. And people can be so mean…”
The thought of anyone treating this sweet girl with anything but kindness literally made me murderous. “I know you aren’t ashamed of us. But I think you are still ashamed of yourself and that needs to stop. You have done nothing wrong. Love is love and it’s nobody’s fucking business how we express it. Trust me, I’ve seen enough to know that to be true.”
Bailey slipped her hand in mine, our fingers interlocking. “I’m working on it.”
I kissed her temple. “That’s all I ask. Maybe you can start by introducing us to Maureen.”
She tensed, her grip on my hand tightening. “Fuck. I know I need to. What if she thinks I’m crazy?”
I sighed. “Darlin’, if she loves you even half as much as you love her, she will support you no matter what. The longer you wait, the more hurt she’ll be that you didn’t tell her. Poe, Grim, and I had to learn that the hard way once.”
Bailey nodded. “I know you’re right… wait, what secrets did you keep from Poe and Grim?”
The past was a haunted place. Full of darkness and sin and death. So much death. But the thing I used to be more ashamed of were the secrets we kept from each other. “When the widow first started coming to each of us at night, we each kept it a secret. The concept of sharing her together was a foreign one. Times were different back then. It started to drive a wedge between us all. But then one night, she beckoned for all three of us. And we realized that the love we had for each other was stronger than our pride. It wasn’t jealousy, it was an ache to be with each other. A need to share our desires.”
