Humming to myself, I marinated some chicken and chopped the veggies, sautéing onions and peppers in a giant frying pan. I had to laugh at the poor equipment they had in the state-of-the-art kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Seth demanded, wandering in with his eyes wide. He sniffed the air and looked at me with his perpetually sleepy eyes.
“I’m just making dinner,” I told him and he chuckled.
“What?”
“You’re as bad as me,” he chirped, flopping onto stool at the island. “It’s noon.”
“Fine,” I agreed, shocked to hear that. “Call it lunch.”
“You can call it whatever you want,” Seth replied. “It smells delicious.”
He reached over to grab a piece of pita bread. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the concoction in the bowl and then at the pita in his hand.
“What did you do?” he asked again. “What sorcery is this?”
I laughed aloud.
“I made some guacamole and fried up the pita since you guys don’t have any tortilla chips.”
“You made guacamole?” he echoed in disbelief. “How? How!”
“I’ll never tell you my secrets,” I replied. “Can you get the others? It’s almost ready.”
But Seth didn’t move, his eyes bulging from his head as he chewed.
“YOU MADE THIS?” he choked when he finally swallowed and my brow furrowed.
“Yeah…is it okay? I was missing some—”
“It’s fucking fantastic!” Seth howled excitedly and I giggled as he scampered off to collect the others.
I started to lay the plates out on the kitchen table, followed by the fixings for the homemade fajitas and as I moved the filling from the stove to a bowl in steaming mass, the others started filtering in.
“Sasha, what did you do?” Dan asked and I shot him a warm smile. To my surprise, he didn’t return in and I felt my heart drop a little. I dismissed his expression, realizing that he was probably still stressed out about work matters.
“I made dinner—uh, lunch,” I replied brightly. “I hope everyone likes Mexican.”
“I do!” Harry called, dancing into the kitchen and flopping down into a chair. “This is awesome, Sasha, thank you!”
“You should be resting,” Stevie chided and Jim ambled in after him. They both seemed to be avoiding my gaze and I saw that Bash was doing the same.
“I’m fine,” I insisted. “I’m doing much better and it’s the least I can do.”
I looked around, my eyebrows knitting.
“Where’s Graham?”
“He’s not hungry,” Stevie said quickly, shooting Dan a look. But Dan didn’t seem to notice as he reached for a tortilla shell and began to dig in.
The smile on my face began to fade as I looked around the table. Harry and Seth were digging in with gusto, complimenting me extensively while the others were silent.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Harry asked and I realized I was just standing there, looking at them all.
“Of course,” I replied, moving toward the table. “I-it just feels weird without Graham, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t worry about Graham,” Harry piped. “He won’t starve.”
I looked toward Jim and Stevie again but they purposely kept their eyes trained on their plate. Dan was looking at his cell phone but I knew there was no service so what could he be looking at? Bash, as always, eluded my stare.
A weird uneasiness pushed through me for the first time since arriving at the cabin and I looked searchingly at each of them, willing them to tell me what was going on but there only sound which reached my ears was the sound of chewing.
* * *
After a tense and awkward lunch, Dan asked me if I needed help cleaning up. I thanked him but refused, hoping that we could grab a minute to talk but he cited work and left the kitchen.
Seth had already fallen asleep on the couch by the time Stevie and Jim finished their plates but the stripping duo quickly found an excuse to go also, leaving me alone in the kitchen with Harry.
“I can’t believe they stuck you with the clean-up after that,” Harry muttered, shaking his head.
“It’s fine,” I replied quickly. “You can go too if you want.”
A feeling of wistfulness enveloped me when I realized I was going to be alone but Harry shook his blonde head.
“No way! After what you just did for us? I’m doing the dishes. You just sit and relax.”
“I can—”
“I’m not listening!” Harry interrupted and I smiled, realizing that he wasn’t just being polite.
He’s a charming guy.
“Harry…”
He turned his head to look at me.
“Was it just me or was there an obscene amount of tension at the table?”
Harry cocked his head in confusion.
“Not that I noticed,” he replied. “But I’m probably used to it.”
“Used to it?”
Harry chuckled and threw a dishrag over his shoulder.
“You may not have noticed but we all have very different personality types.”
“Yeah,” I muttered dryly. “I kind of did notice.”
“We weren’t always so defined,” Harry explained and I found myself leaning across the table to hear him out. Harry sauntered around the side of the counter and joined me at the table, plopping into a chair.
“What changed?” I urged. “Living together?”
“No,” Harry sighed. “I think we had to live together after we realized what had changed.”
I waited.
“That bus accident which killed the rest of our team,” he said, lowering his voice. “None of us was quite the same after that.”
“I imagine not!”
“No,” Harry sighed. “It’s not just that we lost friends…our personalities changed.”
He must have read the perplexed look on my face.
“Graham, for example. He was always serious, somewhat of a downer but after the accident, he was downright emo. Fatalistic. Almost paranoid.”
“Brain injury or PTSD?” I suggested but Harry shook his head, his loose blonde waves going everywhere. His blue-green eyes met mine and I noticed for the first time how much they looked like the ocean.
“Nothing like that. We’ve all had tests, been to therapists…it’s just like our most dominate traits became magnified after the accident.”
There was something endearing about Harry, something simplistic and open.
This man has no secrets.
I felt myself being drawn to him, my knee touching his but he didn’t move.
“What about you?” I asked lightly. “What’s your superpower now?”
Harry shrugged and grinned, his dazzling white teeth sending a thrill through me.
“Not sure,” he replied. “I’ve always kind of been easy going. I just believe in living each day to its fullest. There’s no point in worrying about the future until you get there, you know?”
I nodded, biting on my lower lip and I saw his eyes travel toward it. My heart skipped a beat and a small warning in my brain told me that it was inappropriate to act on this but Harry was the only one who was showing me any kindness today.
Dan certainly seemed to have lost interest in me, just like the others.
I don’t have to justify my reasons for this, I told myself, moving my head toward him. He met me halfway and pulled me onto his lap so that I straddled him on the chair.
We grinned at each other through our kiss and his hands instantly slid up my back to splay across my back, drawing our faces together in a mesh of tongues and lips.
Instantly, I felt the rise in his crotch and I pressed down on him, grinding my hips to his.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured in my ear. “I thought so since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
His breath caused the hairs on my arms to raise and when his lips closed around my lobes, I exhaled in a rush of breath.
“I’m so gla
d you chose me,” he continued and I felt a flash of guilt. Harry’s hands cupped my breasts as his mouth moved along the curve of my neck.
“Harry,” I breathed. “I…I need to tell you something.”
“Hm?” He didn’t slow his kisses.
“Dan and I were together last night.”
His body went rigid and he pulled his head back to look at me.
“What?”
I nodded and shrugged.
“I don’t think it meant anything to him but I thought you should—”
I didn’t get a chance to finish my thought as I was picked up by my waist and dropped onto the kitchen table, next to the dirty dishes.
In shock, I watched as he stalked out of the room without so much as a backward glance, leaving me in a state of sheer consternation.
It took me several minutes for me to move from my spot atop the table. I didn’t know what to do with myself so I slowly began to collect the dishes as I tried to make sense of what had happened.
What’s the big deal? It’s not like Dan and I were married or even dating. In a day, I’ll be out of here and they won’t even remember who I am.
I thought of what Alex had said about men being the more emotional creatures and I shook my head in disbelief. This was ridiculous. We were all adults. This wasn’t 1948.
Carefully, I piled the dishes into the sink, scraping the uneaten food into the garbage and rinsing them off before clearing off the rest of the table. A part of me wanted to run after Harry and demand he explain himself but I didn’t. I remembered that he was the easy-going one.
A glance out the window told me that the snow wasn’t letting up but I wondered if there wasn’t a way for me to get back to my team.
I just traded one awkward hell for another, I thought with some bitterness.
As I started to dry the dishes, I heard loud voices and I paused, my brow furrowing. I couldn’t make out what was being said but I could hear the unmistakable anger. Tossing the dishrag aside, I rushed toward the office and paused to listen.
“…so stupid?” Graham was growling. “You don’t care about us at all, do you?”
“Shut up, Graham,” Dan barked. “Of course I do.”
“Obviously not enough,” Graham spat. “If you slept with her.”
They were fighting about me.
And it got worse.
“You’re a piece of work, Dan,” Harry hissed.
“You really are,” Bash agreed and I felt my eyebrows shoot up. If Bash was mad, they must really be up in arms about this.
But why? What the hell was it to them?
“Oh, like you’re one to talk, Bash,” Stevie barked back. “We know you were about to go there yourself when you gave her a bath.”
Bash didn’t respond but Seth did.
“What about Magic Mike, Stevie?”
“What?” Dan demanded. “What did you do? Did you all screw up?”
I’d heard enough and I stormed into the office, glaring at them in disbelief.
“Are you children?” I howled at them. “In grade school? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You are what’s wrong with us,” Graham spat and I bristled.
“You clearly had problems long before I got here,” I retorted. “But if you want to blame me, Graham, by all means. I’ll be your scapegoat.”
A dead silence followed my accusation and Dan sighed heavily, dropping his head.
“We need to tell her the truth, Graham.”
“No!”
“Uh yeah,” I countered, folding my arms over my chest. “I think I deserve to know what’s going on.”
The men exchanged looks that were worried and nervous but I was unrelenting.
“If you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, I’m getting out of here. I’d rather brave the snow than deal with this level of crazy.”
Dan raised his head and stared at me.
“Come on,” he sighed. “Let’s take this in the den.”
13
Dan
I could tell that no one wanted me to do this, to explain the painful truth behind my betrayal but Sasha deserved to know what was going on. No one had asked for her to be there. What had happened was a natural progression and we needed to set the record straight before anything went any further.
Of course, it was my fault. Bash, Stevie and Jim may have toed the line but in the end, I was the one who had broken our pact, even if Harry would have done it anyway.
“I’m waiting,” Sasha said curtly and I couldn’t draw it out anymore.
“First of all,” I sighed. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“Yes it does!” Graham countered. “I told you that—”
“Graham shut up!” we all chorused at him and he clamped his mouth closed, gazing at the ground sullenly.
I turned back to Sasha who stared at me expectantly with her vivid blue eyes and I knew what I was going to tell her was going to make her run screaming forever but we had to come clean.
“I think we told you that we were all involved in a bus crash,” I started.
“She knows,” Harry interjected and I gave him a scathing look.
“Can I do this without interruptions?” I demanded. “It’s difficult enough.”
There was a murmur of consensus among the men and I sighed, reclaiming my spot.
“After the accident, Sasha, we grew closer than ever. We had survivor’s guilt and we shared a bond that most people couldn’t understand but it worked for us and we love each other like brothers.”
I met her eyes again and she nodded, her face softening slightly.
“I know you do,” she conceded. “I never wanted to come between you. I just…I just don’t understand why I would.”
“I’m getting there…”
I paused to gather my thoughts.
“We had a friend, a free-spirited girl, not unlike you in many ways.”
“Not as smart,” Stevie offered, casting her a grin and I scowled.
“Really Stevie?”
“Sorry,” he muttered. “Go on.”
“Anyway…Collette was the sister to our group and she spent all her time with us. The eight of us did everything together. She was the glue that held us all together and inevitably…we all fell in love with her.”
Understanding colored Sasha’s face.
“Oh…”
“She loved us all in her own way but we were all head over heels for her. She didn’t realize what a riff she’d caused, even without trying but we knew that unless we could somehow manage to share her among us, our relationship would fall apart.”
I sighed and looked at my friends. It was easy to see the memory still hurt them as much as it did me.
Or maybe it hurt a lot less now…now that Sasha was here.
“We asked her if she would be willing to love all of us and she refused. She was angry, disgusted with us even though she’d loved us individually. Our hearts were broken and it took us a long time to get our relationships back on track but the first thing we did was vow that we wouldn’t ever get involved with a woman unless she could love us all.”
I smiled mirthlessly.
“I know how that must sound and trust me, we long ago submitted to the idea that we would be childless bachelors.”
“You can’t even have children?”
“No marriage, no children,” I conceded and she gaped at me.
She must think we’re crazy.
“So you see,” I concluded. “I broke the pact when I slept with you.”
Sasha’s mouth opened and closed as if she was wrestling with what to say about that.
After a long moment, she finally spoke.
“So what happens now?” she asked. “You get exiled or executed or…?”
She was being facetious but she wasn’t far off the mark.
“We’ll put it to a vote,” I explain. “When they decide I’ve screwed up, I’ll be sent off this job and suspended indefinitely.”
&
nbsp; I looked around at my friends and they all avoided my gaze. I knew exactly how this was going to play out. There was no real point in the vote.
“Should we even bother with the vote?” Graham asked but before anyone could answer, Sasha spoke up.
“Wait!” she cried and we looked at her. “What if I agree to be shared by you?”
“What?” everyone chorused. I didn’t need to look at the men to know she’d said just the right thing.
“I am willing to be with all of you,” Sasha continued and my heart jumped into my throat. “If you’ll have me.”
She smiled tentatively around the room and there was a sea of nods, all except Graham who shook his head.
“No!” he grumbled. “No way. She’s caused enough of a problem with us—”
“We’ll vote,” Harry interrupted. “All in favor of Sasha righting the pact.”
Six hands shot up, including mine.
“Opposed?”
Only Graham, of course.
“Majority rules, Graham,” I intoned and he glowered at me.
“I’m not on board with this!” he snapped at me, avoiding Sasha’s imploring gaze. “This isn’t the end of it.”
He stormed out of the office, leaving us alone with Sasha who smiled warily at them.
“He’ll come around, right?” she asked plaintively and I forced a grin.
“Sure,” I lied.
Sensibility wasn’t exactly Graham’s middle name, after all.
14
Sasha
Bash looked at me, the tips of his ears pink as he leaned it to kiss the bridge of my nose.
“Thank you for that,” he murmured and I laughed.
“Why are you thanking me?” I asked, reaching up to cup his face. I drew him toward me for a deep, sweet kiss and he blushed again.
“It takes a special woman to agree to this,” he muttered and I could see even talking about it was embarrassing him.
“Trust me,” I purred. “This is my pleasure…”
I trailed off and sat up, pulling the bedsheet around my naked body. I’d spent the last twenty-four hours in bed, each one of the drillers taking their time drilling me.
Snow and the Seven Men: A Reverse Harem Fairy Tale Romance Page 7