Three Swedish Mountain Men

by Lily Gold

Eli gently pushes me into an armchair and bends to take off my boots.

“I can walk myself,” I mutter. “Did you learn recently? You’re not good at it.”

“I’m going to bend over now,” he adds. “Make sure you pay very close attention to my ass.” I sputter. “I—what?” He tosses me a dazzlingly white grin. “I can see you watching me in the window reflection. You gotta get better at perving, babe.”

His hand spreads over my neck, tilting my jaw up. “Let me get that,” he rasps. I nod, letting my eyes flutter shut as he finally kisses me.

“You don’t touch her, you don’t talk to her, you don’t fucking look at her,” I snap. “Do you understand me?”

I break off when he puts a gloved hand on my cheek. His thumb strokes over my cheekbone, wiping off snowflakes. He doesn’t say anything. He’s breathing harder than usual, every muscle in his body tense. “Riven?” I whisper. “Are you o—” He bends and presses his lips to mine.

Even though I keep buying more bookshelves, I can never keep up with my book-buying habit. It’s probably a diagnosable addiction at this point.

“Come on, Nalle,” Eli wheedles. “Do what the nice doctor says. If you’re good, he might even give you a lollipop!” I scowl. “Don’t call me that.” Of course, Daisy’s ears perk right up. “What does it mean?” Eli grins. “Teddy. Everyone calls him Cole, but it’s actually a nickname. His real first name means ‘bear’ in English. But he wouldn’t hurt a fly, so when he gets all grumbly like this, I call him teddy.” She raises an eyebrow. “Your first name literally means Bear? Jesus, did you come out of the womb growling?”

“I do this really odd thing, where I bleed out of my vagina for a week every month? I don’t know why, it’s weird. Now sit.”

“Oh my God.” Underneath the tarp are three canvases arranged in a pile, from biggest to smallest. “Did you make these?” I lift one up to examine. It’s perfect.

Cole stops pacing abruptly by the window, staring out at the snow, and growls something. “Use human words, Nalle,” Eli mumbles. “We’ve been over this. We don’t speak bear.”

There’s a little piece of paper pinned to the bottom of the canvas. I lean in for a closer look. In faint pencil, she’s written the word Home, with today’s date. My throat squeezes so hard I can barely swallow. She thinks of this place as her home?

“We’d be exclusive.” “God, yes.” “I would have three boyfriends.” “Yes, baby.”

“I’M NOT LOSING BOTH OF YOU!” Cole roars, getting right in his face. “YOU’VE ALREADY TAKEN HER AWAY FROM ME, YOU’RE NOT FUCKING DYING AS WELL!”

“Teddy,” she mumbles. My heart clenches. “Yeah. I’m here. I’m here, you’re going to be okay.”

His grip tightens on me. “I’m not a coward,” he says, his voice dangerously low. “So prove it! Pull yourself together and move on! Let yourself get out of this relationship with a ghost! There are people all over the planet who would want you in their family. Who would love you, Cole, if you just let them in—” He cuts me off with his mouth.

I wouldn’t be scared of Cole if he came into my bedroom with a chainsaw. He’d probably just be building me a bedside cabinet, or something.

For the first time in years, I have a woman I care about in my arms, and it feels like coming home.

Well. My waist. It’s only up to Cole’s thighs. He sees me struggling, and his mouth quirks. “Why are you so small?” “I shrank in the wash.” “Come on.” He makes to pick me up, and I stumble back. “No! Your shoulder!” “It’s fine. I don’t want you getting too cold.” “I can make it,” I insist. He reaches for me again, and I glare at him. “Pick me up, and I’ll kick you in the dick so hard your balls fall out of your mouth.”

He grabs my hand and presses it to his chest. I can feel his heart battering away in his ribcage. “God, I love you.” “I love you, too,” I say. I don’t even have to think about it. I know it’s true.

“I think I love all of you,” I say quietly. There’s no I think about it. I know I do. I just don’t know what the Hell to do about it.

He gives me a little shake. “I thought you were dead, woman. I need to fuckin’ hold you.”

“You always do the thing that keeps you safe,” he says gruffly. “Always. No exceptions. We will deal with the consequences after. You never jeopardise your safety just to make someone else happy.”

There’s a few beats of silence. “I know you’re a bit of a caveman, Nalle,” Eli says, “but that has to be the weirdest one-word sentence you’ve ever come out with.”

She takes in the three gold wedding bands stacked on my ring finger. The boys gave them to me just a couple of months ago. They did it one at a time; Eli, on top of a ski slope with the mountains all around us; Cole, on a walk in the woods; and then Riven, kneeling at the side of the bed before I went to sleep that night. Each ring has the man’s name engraved on the inside.

Every so often, he goes into a shop, buys something, then brings it back and dumps it onto the little plastic table next to me. So far, I’ve gotten two romance paperbacks, a cup of coffee, a salad, a cinnamon bun, and a pack of sweets. Apparently, trying to keep me happy is the only thing that’s keeping him sane right now.