Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Jim
I wasn’t sure if enlightenment and cocktails were meant to feel like frostbite, but that’s exactly what this place delivered.
The Snow Globe Lounge sat on the edge of the wellness resort, resembling a billionaire’s igloo.
It was a glass dome dusted with frost, glowing from the inside as if someone had captured the Northern Lights for ambiance.
Inside, snowflakes drifted lazily above the bar. The tables shimmered like carved ice, the floor radiated a cool blue haze, and the air was crisp enough to keep a man somewhat sane after the shit show we’d just endured.
Snow-covered pines lined the curved glass walls, each one strung with crystal ornaments that reflected the soft white lights like scattered diamonds.
“Well, was it as great as you all imagined it would be?” Ash asked with the usual excitement she had whenever we indulged her new-age side. “We’ve all been completely unplugged and tuned into each other, forgetting the stresses of the outside world altogether.”
“Best part was watching the guys collapse in their yoga poses,” Laney joked.
“I’m actually proud that Jim didn’t complain as much as I expected,” Avery added, her blue eyes sparkling from across the table.
I grinned. If she kept looking at me like that, she’d soon find out just how proud she could be once we got home tonight.
“No shit,” Jake clapped me on my shoulder. “You didn’t bitch about a damn thing. Impressive.”
“I figured if I complained, I’d wind up trending on social media again,” I said with a wink to my wife.
“You still might,” Collin warned. “Cameras were everywhere in that place.”
My stomach tightened. “At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m just curious what they’d say about me doing yoga in a damn robe.”
“Oh, I can think of a few things,” Collin said, lifting his glass. “We should get the footage and test that theory.”
“I think the world has seen enough of my brother’s sorry ass for one year,” Jake chuckled.
“Good to know you feel that way,” I said, arching a brow. “So, if this wasn’t another one of your stunts to get me a new hashtag, what was all that supposed to accomplish?”
“I told you,” Jake said. “The best sex comes after all this.”
Avery laughed. “We all seriously failed that union-therapy thing we just did.”
“Yeah, and after this dipfucker forced me into a wall of candles and poinsettias, I’m far from achieving this sexual greatness that Jake keeps lying about.”
“It’s not a lie. You’ll see,” Ash said, sliding closer to Jake. “Right now, we’re in the ice phase. It’s part of the elemental balance program. They use extreme temperature shifts to release tension.”
Collin eyed her. “So, we freeze our asses off, then what, have sex to thaw out?”
“Then we do fire therapy,” Jake said, clearly thrilled with himself.
I took a drink. “Is this how you secretly get your kink these days, Jakey? Freeze your balls off, then roast them like chestnuts on an open fire?”
“It’s not kink, it’s chemistry,” Ash said with the fluttery excitement of a butterfly in a rose garden. “The heat relaxes every muscle, restores circulation. It’s all about resetting the nervous system.”
Jake nodded, grinning. “Exactly. You go from shock to release. The cold constricts everything, and the heat dilates. It’s biology, and it fucking heightens everything.”
Avery raised an eyebrow. “Everything, eh?”
“Everything,” Jake said. “Touch, heartbeat, response time. You’re basically hacking your body into remembering what connection feels like.”
“Sounds like foreplay disguised as therapy,” I muttered.
“That’s because it is,” Jake said, dead serious. “We do the ice part first because it builds anticipation. The fire therapy next, as it floods your system with endorphins and oxytocin. You rewire yourself for intimacy.”
“Oxytocin,” I said. “Of course. You always did have a scientific explanation for your insane bullshit.”
“Not bullshit, Jimmy,” Jake corrected. “Optimization.”
Collin groaned. “I’ll stick with the heat from my whiskey therapy.”
Ash smiled sweetly. “You’ll thank me when you’re glowing.”
“I glow after two bourbons,” he said.
The server appeared with a tray of smoking crystal glasses. “Prepare for your round of Arctic Elixirs,” she announced.
I watched, intrigued as the mist curled off the rims like dry ice meeting champagne.
“More science,” Jake said, grabbing his.
“I feel like we’re at some weird bar in Star Wars,” I chuckled, before taking a sip.
The cold bit first, then warmth bloomed down my chest, a perfect contradiction. “Wow,” I studied the contents of the glass. “Impressive.”
Avery exhaled softly. “Damn.”
“It only gets better from here, kids,” Jake said, taking another drink.
Collin eyed his best friend. “All right, I’m on board again, but I better not die of heat exhaustion during this next therapy session.”
“You’ll be fine,” Laney offered her husband a smile.
Collin smirked at her, “I’m doing this for you, you know?”
“Your selfish bastard ass is doing this for yourself,” Jake added. “Don’t lie to your lady like that.”
“Touché,” he added.
“So, what’s next?” Laney asked.
Ash brightened. “The Fire Chamber! It’s the most amazing thing, and it’s built into the cliffs. Heated basalt benches, essential oils, and Himalayan salt steam. It’s a full sensory immersion.”
“Translation,” Collin said, “a sweaty cave, yes?”
Jake smirked. “A sweaty cave that’ll change your life, buddy.”
I leaned back, amused. “You and Ash sound like a fucking brochure for this place.”
“You all laugh at it,” Ash said, “but when you’re in that room and your heartbeat syncs with your partner’s, you’ll understand. The body suddenly remembers what true connection feels like. You breathe together. You move together.”
I smirked. “We shall see is all I’m going to say.”
Avery laughed, leaning close enough that her shoulder brushed mine. “You know she’s probably right. Look at Ash, she’s glowing already.”
Ash raised her glass. “And it’s time we all get matching glow-ups.”
Jake stood, taking her hand. “About damn time, baby.”
Collin groaned. “I can’t trust the two of them,” he said while Ash and Jake acted like newlyweds on their honeymoon.
“Consider it a field study,” Jake said over his shoulder as we all prepped to finish our drinks and leave.
Laney laughed, “Come on, Collin. Live a little.”
“I was living just fine,” he said. “It’s my prankster of a best friend who I can’t trust not to kill us all with some bizarre shock therapy to our nervous systems.”
I finished the last of my drink, set it down, and looked at Avery.
She was still smiling softly, and it struck me how just twenty-four hours ago, we weren’t anywhere close to this place in our hearts.
I’d ached to have her back in my arms, and now I did, seeing her laugh as we took this day to do silly shit with our friends and family.
I honestly didn’t care what we were doing so long as I was with her.
“You planning to test his theory later?” Avery asked, pulling me out of my thoughts while we walked through the cave.
“Thoroughly,” I said, offering her my hand. “And if those two nuts up there are correct, I’ll gladly offer them an apology for doubting this experience.”
She slipped her fingers into mine, eyes glinting as we followed the others out of the Snow Globe Lounge and down the frosted hallway.
The air grew warmer with every step, scented with sandalwood and citrus, a soft hum of music pulsing under the floor. Ahead, a faint orange glow shimmered through the mist of firelight, bending across stone walls.
Avery glanced back at me, her smile deepening. “This shit better work,” she chuckled.
“We’re about to find out, gorgeous,” I said, guiding her inside.
And as the steam swallowed us, I had a feeling Jake might be right.
The corridor curved downward into a tunnel of glass and stone, lit by low amber sconces that pulsed like candlelight beneath water. The deeper we went, the warmer it got. By the time we stepped into the fire chamber, my robe felt too heavy, and the air shimmered with heat.
The place was built into the cliff itself with arched ceilings of black volcanic rock, walls glowing with thin veins of orange light that looked like magma running just beneath the surface. Steam curled through the air, laced with citrus and sandalwood.
“This might be how I fucking die,” Collin said, pulling at his collar. “In a billionaire sauna.”
Ash inhaled deeply. “That’s Himalayan salt mist. It’s cleansing your lungs.”
“Feels like it’s melting them,” he muttered, sitting on a heated basalt bench. “Jesus,” his eyes widened, trying to keep himself in check while adjusting to the sudden temperature increase.
“Quit being a little bitch, Collin,” Jake said, relaxing like he’d invented the place. “The temperature’s perfect. One twenty-five. You just breathe into it and let the tension go.”
Avery eyed him. “You have this memorized?”
“My favorite pastime,” he said with a smug grin.
“It’s actually not so bad,” I said.
Jake grinned. “Told you. It’s that fire and ice effect. It’s the reset button for your nervous system. Every pulse of heat floods your body with oxygen and dopamine. You leave the room high on your own biology.”
“Or dehydrated as fuck,” Collin said, leaning back.
I sat beside Avery. The bench radiated warmth straight through the robe; the air was thick, humming. She brushed her hair off her neck, eyes half-lidded from the heat, and for a moment, I stopped pretending this was about wellness.
Ash closed her eyes and stretched her arms. “Breathe through your chest,” she said. “In… out…”
Collin cracked one eye open. “God.”
Jake laughed. “You’ll be thanking him later.”
Avery exhaled slowly. “It’s actually kind of amazing,” she admitted. “Feels like everything’s unclenching.”
“Exactly, sister,” Jake said. “The tension leaves your body, and blood starts moving again—”
“Stop describing it like an anatomy textbook,” Collin interrupted. “You’re killing the vibe.”
“I’m educating you,” Jake countered.
“You’re terrifying me. You’re a tad bit too into this shit, dude,” Collin said.
Laughter echoed off the stone walls, the sound low and easy, softened by steam.
After a while, Ash stood. “Okay, now we’re moving into the scent-immersion next door,” she said, slipping her hand into Jake’s. “Ten minutes, and then cold towels with crushed mint.”
Collin groaned. “Mint towels?” He eyed Jake. “What the fuck do you two really get up to with your kinks these days?”
“Apparently a fuck-ton more than you,” he shot back.
Once they were gone, the room fell still. Only the gentle hiss of steam and the faint trickle of water from somewhere within the walls remained. Avery leaned back against the stone, eyes closed, a thin sheen of heat glistening across her collarbone. “Do you think this is all ridiculous?”
“I think this shit better be everything my brother seems to worship,” I said, taking her hand to help her up.
She wrapped herself around me, and I couldn’t resist bending down to kiss her lips. The air between us thickened, not just from the heat. Her hand slipped through my hair, holding me close as I kissed her deeply.
The overhead lights dimmed automatically, the amber glow deepening into a molten orange. Outside the chamber, I could hear muffled laughter from the others and the soft sound of doors closing as attendants prepped the subsequent treatment.
“We better follow the rest, or I’m going to take you right here and now,” I said after ending our delicious kiss.
We stepped through the archway together, heat curling at our backs and cool air waiting just beyond. As we stepped out of the heat and into the quiet corridor, cool air spilled over us like relief. The world felt sharper and every breath cleaner, every sound more distinct.
Maybe there was some truth to Jake’s theory of bullshit after all. The cold, the heat, the stillness—all of it stripped away the noise until there was only her. Avery. Laughing, flushed, alive.
For the first time in weeks, I wasn’t thinking about work, headlines, company parties, or the countless other things waiting for me outside this retreat. Just balance. Her hand in mine, the pulse under her skin, the soft hum of everything finding its rhythm again.
I might need to thank my brother for dragging all of us into this weird therapy journey of theirs. Then again, he was the main reason I was trending as a tree-hugging billionaire who ruined his family, so it was probably best not to give him the satisfaction.