It Takes Three to Fly (35 page)

If this had been anyone else besides Landon or Katie-Anne, Shane would have believed that it had to be a joke. His aristocratic grandfather would never have confessed, even if he had done it. Yet something in Landon’s face told him that this was no prank.

Landon linked their fingers together, squeezing his hand tightly. “I can see that you hesitate to believe me. But, apparently, he is dying and wants to atone for his sins.”

“That old coot can’t die. I’m not that lucky,” Shane retorted, but it was half-hearted. He despised the bastard. He really and truly did, but he couldn’t celebrate his suffering or death. He couldn’t do that to anyone—no matter how evil they were.

“You don’t mean that,” Katie-Anne said softly, patting his chest.

“Like you’re broken up about your mother,” he snapped. But, before he finished his harsh retort, Shane felt guilty for treating her that way again. It wasn’t her fault. None of this was, and he shouldn’t act as though it were. “I’m sorry, little one,” he apologized wholeheartedly, brushing the length of her hair from crown to tip.

Katie-Anne didn’t even bat an eyelash. “I’m not sad that she’s gone, but I wouldn’t have wished her death on her. I wouldn’t do that to anyone.” She continued to soothe him with her touch, her pats on his chest morphing into slow rubs.

Shane’s cock awakened, despite the gravity of their discussion. With Landon and Katie-Anne touching him, even innocently, the love and lust he felt for them stirred him up, and his body prepared to take them, to possess what was his.

Shane couldn’t help his body’s response, but he could calm down the dirty thoughts popping up in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he willed himself to focus on the moment and not his hardening dick. “No, you wouldn’t, but maybe I would.”

“Whatever. Believe what you want, Shane,” Katie-Anne informed him curtly. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We are not here to talk about me. We are here to talk about you, my love.”

My love
. Shane’s heart stuttered as her words wound their way around his heart. He couldn’t explain why but hearing her call him her ‘love’ touched him in a primitive way, even though she’d already told him how she felt. It was different somehow, and he knew he’d never grow tired of hearing what she felt, of seeing who she really was.

Katie-Anne feared that he wouldn’t love the person she’d hidden for years, but he had no worries about that. His instincts told him everything he needed to know. This was his woman, just as Landon was his man. It was pure, and it was true. They were his reality and his fantasy, all converged into one.
Shit, I’m starting to sound like a sappy, lovesick fool. Landon would laugh his ass off, if he could hear my thoughts right now
.

Shane tightened his arms around Katie-Anne, and she curled around him like the kitten Landon called her. She smiled up at him serenely then kissed the side of his neck, momentarily stunning him with her unvarnished gesture.

Clearing his throat, Shane pretended that he had dust tickling the back of it. “No, it isn’t about just me anymore. When it involves me, it involves you and Landon.”

“Okay,” she relented. “It’s about all of us, but we are talking about you and not what happened in my past.” Lifting up, she kissed him quickly, the brush of their mouths fleeting yet still managing to be potent. “I have begun the path to healing, and I need you to join me because you need to heal as much as I do. It’s the only way we can move on with our lives.”

Landon brought Shane’s hand to his mouth. Unlocking their fingers, he flipped Shane’s hand over then kissed the palm. “She’s right. It’s time to let go of the past and pave way for the future, Shane.”

Shane’s lips twitched. “You sound like a bogus fortune teller.”

“No,” Katie-Anne disagreed. “He sounds like Svetlana. She told me something quite similar a few months back.”

“Well,” Landon murmured. “If Svetlana says it…”

She rolled her eyes before turning to Shane and asking, “Are you willing to go back with us, Shane? Will you testify so you can let it go—for us and for Kane?”

“We’ll be there with you,” Landon murmured, “every step of the way. You just have to let us in.”

In Shane’s heart, the only word that made sense for him to utter was a resounding yes. Yet his head paused. It hesitated and so did he. It was easy for him to say that he would go back and face the world he’d known as a child and just move on. But he didn’t know if he could. All he knew was that he had to try, despite his misgivings. So, taking a deep breath, he nodded his head. “I will try.”

“That’s all we can ask for,” Katie-Anne murmured then sealed her words with a kiss that wiped out everything around Shane, leaving him alone with the two people he loved most. After that, there was no more talking. They just existed without the outside world creeping in. They just loved without thoughts of the past, present, or future. And everything was all right.

Sliding into the plush leather seat on Deke’s private jet, Katie-Anne sighed.
This is going to be a fun trip to Florida.
Over the last two weeks, a wall had slowly built between her, Shane, and Landon—the exact same wall as the one that had separated her and Shane before their marriage. Only this time around it was between Shane and Landon, too.

As the wall grew taller, Katie-Anne found that she was disturbingly unsurprised that everything had fallen apart with the circumstances around them. If she were honest with herself, she’d actually expected it. Life didn’t magically fall into place. It took hard work and unwavering commitment.

After all these years, Shane couldn’t be expected to change overnight. He couldn’t just open up completely and share every thought and feeling he had. And she got that because she was the same way.

Every day was a struggle to not hide in her shell again, especially with the void widening between her and one of the two men she allowed herself to be vulnerable with. But she couldn’t go back to that place. She couldn’t be the Ice Queen again. And she wouldn’t. She refused to be.

However, she wasn’t so sure about Shane. She didn’t know what he wanted anymore. And that scared the hell out of her.
If only I knew what to do for him or say to him to fix the distance and the excruciating pain we’re all feeling. If only I could make everything all right.
Yet she couldn’t because life didn’t work that way.

The sound of someone else entering the plane caught her attention and pulled her out of her melancholy musings. Looking up, she immediately spotted Shane stepping into the cabin. His nearly black eyes slid to hers, the despairing depths causing her to nearly cry out in pain. But his attention didn’t remain on her long before he dragged his gaze away from hers.

Glancing at the seat across the aisle, he stared at it for a moment before peering back over at the seat next to her. With a heartbreaking helplessness in his eyes, he cleared his throat then sat down—in the chair on the other side of the aisle. Staring off into space, he seemed to drift away from her, lost in wherever his thoughts were

A second later, Landon appeared in the doorway. Before he even took a full step inside the cabin, he spotted the empty seat next to her and cursed. Scanning the interior of the plane, he quickly found Shane and glowered at him.

As though he sensed Landon, Shane appeared to snap out of his thoughtful trance. Locking eyes, her husbands seemed to communicate silently—one frustrated and one troubled. After a moment of tense silence, Shane averted his troubled gaze.

With a grumbled, “Son of a bitch couldn’t even sit with us,” Landon crossed over to her and plopped down into the seat Shane had refused. He buckled his belt with quick and efficient fingers then reached for her. Clasping her hand in his, he held on tight as though she were his lifeline.
I guess I am. And he’s mine.

Squeezing his hand reassuringly, she forced a smile to her face. “It’s all right. We can talk, if you want.”

“No, that’s okay,” he replied with a sigh, “I just need to hold you, if that’s okay.”

A real smile bloomed on her face—the first one in days—and she leaned over to rest her head on his wide shoulder. “Always,” she murmured.

* * * *

Today had been the longest day of Shane’s life. First he’d endured the plane ride from Hell where his spouses had clung to each other while he sat alone, wishing that he was holding them and knowing that he’d been the one who’d pushed them away in the first place. Then he’d checked into the hotel with Katie-Anne and Landon. Only he’d chosen to rent a two-bedroom suite for appearance sake which had hurt his spouses’ feelings, particularly Katie-Anne who was bothered by the fact that she couldn’t acknowledge her love or relationship with Landon.

Now, here he was, walking down the wet street with Katie-Anne and Landon in the Florida town he’d spent the first twelve years of his life in. And he was exhausted from the never-ending nights filled with turbulent dreams and tormenting nightmares. And he was miserable because he felt disconnected from himself, as well as his lovers. And, frankly, he was pissed off at the whole fucking world.

“Are you all right?” Katie-Anne asked Shane in a small voice, and his heart squeezed. Over the last fourteen days, he’d shut himself off from everybody, including Katie-Anne and Landon, despite his promise to them and his desperate attempts otherwise. He knew it, and he hated himself for it. However, he had no clue how to fix it. He had no clue how to fix anything.

“I’m fine,” Shane replied tersely then felt bad for his rudeness and added, “Are you okay, little one?”

Katie-Anne winced, her eyes darting away from Shane and going straight to Landon. Extending her hand toward her other husband, she paused then frowned as though remembering she wasn’t supposed to show her feelings for him. With a despairing sigh, she lowered her hand.

Cursing himself over and over for causing distance between his spouses, Shane forced himself to smile and pretend everything was okay. “Why don’t we go to the movies? I’ve always wanted to neck in the back of the movie theater.”
Neck? Shit, I sound like a teenage boy from the good old days.

Landon choked but remained mute. He strolled through the darkness, on the other side of Katie-Anne, whistling a depressing tune. His partner hadn’t touched Katie-Anne since their plane landed a few hours ago, and it appeared as though it was getting to him.
Shit, I think it’s wearing on all of us.

Since Katie-Anne wore Shane’s ring, it wasn’t like she or Landon could display any level of intimacy or affection. Her permanent frown showed how hard it was on her, as well. Of course, his lack of attention probably wasn’t helping a damn thing. But, when he looked at her, he saw how he’d done exactly what he would have been expected to do, if he’d remained here all those years ago. He fit the stereotype he hated to a perfect
T
, and that was all he could think about.

Shane had a profitable business. Granted, it was no conglomerate, but it was financially sound. He had a beautiful, blueblood wife who adored him. And, lucky for him, he loved her, too. He had a social set. Okay, they weren’t exactly the type of people these snobs would associate with. But, he had a tight-knit group of people he spent time with and did things with. They were a twisted clique without all of the two-faced elitist bullshit.

Those three aspects were the social trinity in this godforsaken town, and he met them all. Not perfectly, but that didn’t matter. He still met them.
Because I’m fucked up like that. I just had to go and do what was expected of me. Rebel, my ass.

Katie-Anne sighed. The clicking of her high heels against the pavement stopped. She turned to Shane and said, “Look, I know this is hard on you, but it’s hard on us to. Stop closing us out.
Please.
”

“I don’t know if I can,” Shane answered truthfully, probably too honestly, but his wife’s plea cut him to the core. “Shit, Katie-Anne, I promised not to do this, and I don’t go back on promises. But I don’t know how to stop myself from pulling away.” He heaved a harsh and uneven breath. “I just can’t. My mind is a million shades of fucked the hell up right now.”

“You
can,
” she responded with equal candidness, “but you
won’t.
”

“Maybe we’re all trying too hard,” Landon murmured, playing the peacekeeper as always. “Could we just attempt to have a normal night together? This is supposed to be a date. It
is
Saturday night.”

Katie-Anne eyed Shane, and he shifted his attention away. Her penetrating stare made him uncomfortable, more than he wanted to admit. So instead, he focused on Landon. As luck would have it, Landon studiously ignored him, watching Katie-Anne carefully.

With a sigh, Katie-Anne shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll try, if he will,” she said, pointing straight at Shane’s chest.

“I can do that,” Shane replied to her as he grasped her cold hand in his. The feel of her icy fingers brushing against his caused him to shiver. “Your hands are freezing, little one.”

“Well, if someone would warm me up, I wouldn’t have to worry about that,” she replied cheekily, but there was a distinct tremble in her voice. And he wanted to take it away. He wanted to take all the bad away from her, and from Landon, but he couldn’t. So he would try his damnedest to make tonight into a nice evening out, even though he would rather be anywhere but in this town.