Bad Habit (Bad Love 1)

“It’s us,” he says simply.

Ash scoops me up, wrapping my legs around his waist. I tuck my head into the space between his neck and his shoulder. Our sticky, love-drunk bodies fusing as one as he carries me back toward the living room.

He lowers us onto the plush carpet in front of the fireplace, and we lie there, tangled together, unspeaking for who knows how long, before he finally succumbs to sleep. He looks so innocent like this. Thick, dark eyelashes fanned against cheeks with the faintest of freckles scattered across them. His lips are slightly parted, and the worry lines between his eyebrows no longer exist.

Because he’s at peace. And so am I.

Epilogue

Briar

One year and two months later.

“You can come home any time now,” Nat says into my ear. I’m on the phone with her, driving the tree-lined, windy roads in River’s Edge. Two months after Asher vowed to never leave me again, I turned eighteen and moved in with him. He stayed at his dad’s house while he was waiting for it to sell, and I stayed at my parents’ home. I knew those remaining two months of still being seventeen weren’t going to make any kind of difference, but I think it was my way of making sure it was going to stick this time. But, I didn’t let Asher buy that house he showed me, even after we christened every surface. One night when we were driving to meet my brother for dinner, I told him that I fell in love with River’s Edge and asked what he thought about starting our new beginning there. He promptly showed me exactly how he felt by swinging his truck into a crowded parking lot, pulling me onto his lap, and fucking me right there in the open. It’s kind of our thing—sex in semi-public places.

Speaking of my brother, Dashiell and Asher somehow managed to become even closer than they were before. I worried for a while, because it was a rough adjustment period. Dash finally realized that it was really that different at all. Dash, Asher, Adrian, and I… We’re all still best friends. The dynamic hadn’t changed much in that sense. The only difference is that two of us also liked to fuck each other. A lot. Every chance we got.

Dash completed his bachelor’s degree, and next year he’ll start law school. In the meantime, he likes to drag Adrian up to River’s Edge every chance he gets. They get to see us, and they get to prey on the pretty tourists. Win-win.

Adrian likes to claim that he’s the reason we’re together in the first place and has demanded that we name our firstborn after him to show our everlasting gratitude.

Nat is balancing college and working at the boutique, so we don’t get to see each other all that much, but we still talk daily.

As for Whitley and Jackson? I haven’t heard from either one of them. I’m pretty sure Jackson went on living as nothing happened. The jury’s still out on Whitley. I hope she got the help she so clearly needs.

My phone beeps, signaling my mom calling on the other line, and I make a mental note to call her later. The biggest surprise of the last year was when she announced she was divorcing my dad. Apparently, their issues ran deeper than I ever knew. In a rare, candid moment, my mom informed me that my father had been having affairs behind her back. Yes, plural. As in, multiple affairs.

I was floored, but Dashiell didn’t seem too surprised. It made me wonder if he knew more than he let on. She admitted that she didn’t leave him sooner because she didn’t want to disrupt our lives. My mom made a lot of unseen sacrifices over the years, and though I wish she had put herself first, it makes me see her in a different light. It’s comforting to know that she cared all along. She’s living back at home, trying to figure out who she is without my dad. And of course, my dad stayed in California. We’ve talked a few times, but except for the occasional birthday call or text asking me if I’d like to come visit him, we don’t really speak. He did apologize for the effect his decision had on Ash, but stands firm that he made the right choice as a father. I understand it, but I don’t agree with it.

“Or, you could just come live here. You’d love it in the wintertime, Nat. It’s like a magnet for hot guys. Foreign hot guys. With accents.”

Asher was right; this place really does look like a snow globe in the winter. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not used to seeing snow, having lived in Arizona my whole life, but everything just feels magical here. People come to River’s Edge from all over the world. In the winter, we have snowboarding and skiing. In the summer, everyone comes for the lake.

“I’ll come visit soon. I promise.”

“Good. Hey, I have to go. I’m about to lose service,” I say as I approach the narrow road that leads to our little cabin in paradise. When you live as deep into the woods as we do, you can forget finding a signal.

“Okay. I love you, B. And I’m really happy for you.”

“I love you, too,” I say, laughing at her random display of emotion.

I pout when I pull into the driveway to see that Ash isn’t home from work yet. With Dare focusing most of his attention on the new shop, Bad Intentions, Ash has been working six, sometimes seven, days a week during peak season. Between that and the fact that I have to make the forty-five-minute journey to nursing school five times a week, we haven’t seen each other as much as we’d like in the past month or so.

I grab my purse before I make my way to our modest, but beautiful little cabin. The entire front is made up of tall windows, with a deck that wraps around on one side. It’s beyond perfect.

I’m looking down at my phone as I twist the knob and walk inside. My head snaps up, taking in the dozens of twinkling lights hanging from the ceiling, and I see Asher, standing in front of me with a bouquet of flowers.

“What is all this?” I laugh. “Where’s your truck?”

“Happy birthday, baby girl,” he says, handing me the flowers. Only, they aren’t just flowers. It’s a succulent bouquet, and it’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.

“Thank you,” I say, throwing one arm around his neck, the flowers sandwiched between us.

His hands rub up and down my back before gripping my hips.

“They’re beautiful.” I press my mouth to his and suck on his bottom lip, which earns me a groan.

“Are you happy?” Asher asks, and I realize for the first time since walking in that he looks nervous or unsure.