Page 86

There was never a dull moment with her around—and fuck knew we’d had plenty of those the previous couple of years. While Ash’s and my love and passion hadn’t ever lagged, it sometimes felt as though we’d perhaps grown too comfortable. Content to let the time slip by without fully enjoying every minute, feeling excitement in day-to-day existence.
“Your life is more interesting,” Colton stated with a chuckle.
I scrubbed a hand down over my face and stretched my neck side to side, once again thinking the recent spark was due to Skylar’s arrival.
No doubt she brought sunshine, warm and nurturing, enticing excitement in the mundane. Some of her qualities, I couldn’t deny, added to Ash’s and my life in ways I hadn’t realized we needed.
“So. Missing Link.” I took the conversation back onto Colton so I wouldn’t have to further consider the shit he’d pointed out. “Change your profile to show you’re looking for a relationship. Trust her to bring what you need.”
“Like she did for you?”
“Fuck off,” I muttered.
31
Ashton
I stood in the shower, head tipped against the tiled wall, hot water raining down over me but not cleansing in the way I wished it would. Sickness riddled my body, I had no doubt. And fear owned my mind.
My symptoms were too similar to what I remember Archer dealing with to be anything else. Memories of my twin in the hospital haunted my mind, and I couldn’t handle the thought of enduring what he had.
My desire to have children had always been a driving force in my decisions throughout life, but the urgency rising inside me took my tension levels to a different plane.
Yes, I ought to see a doctor—but the thought of going to a hospital clenched my insides up to the point of pain. I heaved. Fucking again.
“No, no, no…” I whispered my denial mantra, my eyes clenched shut as though I could will the truth away.
While I was no professional at smothering emotions, I tried my damned best in order to function, choosing to focus on what I could control.
Attempting to get Sky pregnant and make Rhett fall in love with her so he would have someone when…
Swallowing hard, I once more had to stifle rising panic while chanting that damn two-lettered word in my head over and over again.
Time…I just required a little more time—I needed to keep my eyes on what was important, not the cancer dragging me toward the grave.
Sky had burrowed slightly beneath Rhett’s hardened exterior, but he still held back from allowing himself to fully enjoy her spirit, her heart in the same ways I did. He needed help breaking down those damn walls whenever the three of us fucked.
Determination settled like a rock in my churning stomach, and even though my aching body would enjoy staying beneath the hot water and steam, I got out of the shower and threw on some lounge pants, a plan settled firmly in my brain, giving me a focal point to obsess on.
It was time to push Rhett since he refused to lower his defenses.
Skylar and Rhett had finished the dishes, and neither were in the kitchen or living room.
Hope sent me back up to her bedroom since they hadn’t been in ours.
The sound of her shower reached me through her door but no voices.
I went back downstairs and found Rhett in the office, staring out the window from where he leaned in his chair.
He turned even though I hadn’t made much noise letting myself in.
“Feeling better?” he asked, getting up and approaching me where I stood just inside the door.
My hands fisted at my sides as I readied to tell him what I needed, expecting he wouldn’t ever deny a request from my lips.
“I want Skylar between us tonight—without condoms.”
He studied me with his dark, closed-off eyes, knowing exactly what I asked for.