Page 13

chapter eight

Meredith sat cross-legged on the back patio of the estate, gazing out over the jagged teeth that made up the Idaho mountain range.

Sawtooths, she remembered, but they didn’t look like a sawblade to her, too fractured and brittle to be anyone’s functioning teeth.

She traveled ever since the show ended, searching for…

Bodie and Jeremiah. She rubbed at her chest again, as if her hand could soothe the ache that lived there ever since she got on the plane and left without saying goodbye.

She wasn’t an unrealistic witch—she knew she couldn’t juggle a relationship with two men, nor would they want to do that, even if she was willing.

But seeing Bodie’s hand on Jeremiah’s ass did something for her, she wouldn’t lie. She didn’t just love them touching her, she liked to see them touch each other, loved the couple of times she caught their hungry mouths meeting as they mated in one big tumbling pile of pleasure.

Her breath trembled out of her again, but she brushed the hair back from her face and reminded herself it was for the best. Toeing the ground, she set the seat to rocking as she watched the sun begin to redden the sky.

It would be a lovely sunset tonight. Was it silly she wished they were there to share it with her?

“For fuck’s sake, Red,” she heard, as clearly as if Bodie actually was there. She closed her eyes, blinking back tears at how real her imagination made his voice sound. “Where the hell have you even been going, anyway?”

She opened her eyes, the world blurry, but it wasn’t her imagination. He was there—on the porch of the house she rented in Idaho. A noise came from her throat, but she couldn’t tell if it was joy or pain or what stole the sound.

Jeremiah joined him, coming around the corner of the house with a huff of frustration. “Seriously, where in the hell even are we at this point? You could run away to anywhere in the world, and you went to fucking Idaho?”

She stumbled up from the swing, not sure whether to tumble into their arms or run away, so baffled by the emotions rioting her system. “You’re here!” she managed finally.

“Well, yeah, Red,” Bodie dropped to the swing behind her, scooping her into his arms and rocking her back with him. “We would’ve been here sooner, if you told us where the hell you were going.”

Jeremiah dropped onto the swing on her other side, making the ropes wheeze in complaint. “Where the hell were you going, by the way? Neither of us figured that part out still, because it honestly looked like you went in circles for a while there.”

“Why would you both come here?” she asked, still blinking back tears.

“You didn’t want us to come?” Bodie asked, but because of his confidence, it came out less like a question and more as if he would be surprised if she agreed.

“Yes, I wanted you to come,” she admitted. She touched both their chests, their faces, her hands diving into their hair as if to verify their realness. “Of course I wanted you to come. How could I not want you to find me?”

“You sure as hell didn’t make it easy, Red,” Bodie confessed.

“I was going for a clean break,” she admitted, plucking at his shirt and unable to meet his eyes. “I didn’t want to have to have a big scene, where you both explained to me how it couldn’t work out when I knew, I understood, I couldn’t have both of you.”

“Who says?” asked Jeremiah.

“Yeah, where is that in the contract?” Bodie asked. “I know I didn’t read the damn thing, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed that part.”

“No, I mean—” Meredith gestured vaguely, as if hoping to encompass everything and all of it. “In the real world, one woman does not hook up successfully and form a long-term, healthy relationship with two men.”

“In whose world?” Jeremiah asked. “In my world, that sounds pretty great, especially if the woman in question is you.”

“Agreed,” Bodie said. “I’m also a huge fan of that plan. Why doesn’t that work?”

“I’m a witch,” she blurted.

“I’m allergic to nuts,” Jeremiah confessed. “Sorry I didn’t tell you all before.”

“That’s a really dangerous allergy,” Bodie pointed out. “You probably should’ve mentioned that sooner.”

“You’re both ignoring the witch part,” Meredith pointed out. As if to make a point, she pulled her wand out of her back pocket then extended it. “See? Wand?”

“Can you do magic?” asked Jeremiah, appearing curious for the first time.

“Can you do kinky magic?” Bodie asked, his mind clearly stuck on one thing.

Since her mind was stuck on the same thing, she bit her bottom lip, then glanced down at his bulge before meeting his eyes. “Yeah, I can do kinky magic.”

“I have ideas,” Bodie said, rolling closer to her to nuzzle at her neck. “You didn’t really want to break up, did you?”

She could hear the actual vulnerability in his tone even as his lips traced fire across her neck. She sighed. “I did not, but I thought it would be inevitable, so therefore easier if I ended things that way.”

“What if we didn’t want things to end?” Bodie asked.

“Remember how Jimothy asked me why I thought I had to go back to living my life the way I did before the contest? We both asked ourselves that question when you left. The answer was, we didn’t want to go back to the way it was before.

Even if it meant living in absolute filth, with things crawling around in the darkness, I would rather be with you, Meredith, than without you. ”

“I can’t say it as poetic as him,” Jeremiah pointed out. “I’m not as good with words, but I can tell you, I’ve missed you, Meredith. I want to see where things go.”

“It probably won’t work out long-term,” she pointed out to him. “I don’t know of a lot of poly relationships that work well.”

Jeremiah laughed. “Then we’ll break up and scream at one another. Maybe Bodie can punch a hole in a wall.”

“Luckily, she knows how to fix that,” Bodie pointed out.

She stared between them both, not sure what she did to deserve them. “We’re really going to do this?”

Bodie cupped her breast, tweaking the nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “I’m going to call this a yes.”