I watched Ash for signs of how she felt about her meeting with Isabella, but she didn’t seem out of sorts. If anything, she seemed happy her father was here. And at least she was right here and safe. That eased my discomfort a little. It’s why I’d got so damn agitated earlier.
Xav came in after setting the table and sat down on the arm of Rory’s chair, much to his disapproval. Though when Xav leant down and whispered something to him, Rory’s hazel eyes went wide and he stared straight at Ash with some surprise. I had no idea what Xav said to him, but he was smirking.
Ash’s voice brought my head back around to her.
“I’ll tell him at the table, then I don’t have to repeat myself.”
Tell me what?
I knew she was talking about me by the way she glanced my way with a worried expression on her face. It made me very suspicious. What on earth had happened with her and Isabella?
“You wish to tell everyone at once?”
“We talk about things like this together… as a group.”
Viktor glanced over at the three of us with an odd expression on his face but he didn’t say anything about it. Ash had mentioned she thought he knew about our relationship. The fact he’d not got up in our faces about it made me wonder what he really thought. Would any man be okay with his daughter having a relationship with four men at once? Though he hadn’t known about Ash for very long. He seemed to be the type of man who didn’t like to step on her toes or control her. He had left it up to her to decide Isabella’s fate after all.
When we embarked on this relationship together, I hadn’t really thought much about it how it would all work. Now Xav had mentioned Viktor being our father-in-law, it made me think a little too hard about what our future would look like. It’s not as if any of us could marry Ash since that would make her legally bound to one of us, leaving the rest out. I didn’t think it would be fair nor would I agree to it. Would we even all still want to be with her long term? I knew I did, but who knew about the others. It’s not something we’d ever discussed. We’d fallen into this arrangement without really thinking too much about how it would impact our futures together.
What did you even call a group of five people in an exclusive relationship with each other?
A quintet?
Was this even normal?
Did it matter if it was or not?
We were happy, weren’t we? That was the important thing. Ash was happy being with the four of us and we were happy with her, not to mention Xav and Eric had finally accepted their own feelings for each other. The future would bring the unexpected, but if we stuck together, we’d be okay, wouldn’t we?
I must’ve been so lost in my thoughts because I almost jumped when I felt Ash shaking me. When I looked up, I found Eric in the doorway.
“Dinner’s ready,” Ash said with a soft smile.
“Oh.”
I need to get a grip.
We all got up and went into the dining room. Ash sat next to Viktor with Xav and Eric across from them whilst Rory and I sat at either end. Rory was closest to Ash, which was probably a good thing considering he’d be uncomfortable being around someone he didn’t know.
After Eric dished up and Xav poured some wine, we all were quiet as we tucked in. I barely tasted the food since I wanted to question Ash about what happened and I wondered when she was going to bring it up.
“This is very good,” Viktor said, pointing at his plate with his fork.
“Thank you,” Eric replied, his face flushing.
Xav gave him a nudge and a grin as if to tell him well done for making a good first impression on our girlfriend’s father. I almost rolled my eyes. Did they really need to be so overt about it? I didn’t think Ash would want us flaunting our quintet in front of Viktor.
“E does most of the cooking,” Ash put in. “He makes this amazing cheesecake I can’t get enough of.”
Eric flushed even further though his eyes softened.
“It’s nothing really, someone has to look after this lot. Quinn can barely cook eggs and Rory wouldn’t know a wok from a frying pan. Ash has been helping me and this one can at least string a meal together.” He pointed at Xav.
I doubted Rory was insulted by Eric’s assertation since it was the truth. He’d never liked cooking so he avoided doing it at all costs. I was always too busy so it was usually down to Eric and on occasion, Xav.
“You grew up together, did you not?” Viktor asked with a smile.
“Yes… we’re more like family than friends.”
Viktor nodded and Ash smiled, clearly pleased no one was being too awkward about this meal. But that was more than enough small talk for me.
“Litt… Ash, what happened with Isabella?”
I realised as I said it, I shouldn’t call her little girl in front of Viktor. He might not understand the pet name I’d given her even though he’d heard me call her that the first time we’d met.
Ash’s eyes immediately went to her plate. I felt bad for asking her in front of everyone, but I knew for a fact she wanted to get it over with in one go.
“A lot of things, but I suppose I should start at the beginning.”
Ash proceeded to tell us all about what Isabella had told her. At one point, when she spoke about how Isabella had essentially tricked Viktor into giving her a baby, she got a little choked up. I was about to get
