by Starla Night
Nicole shook her head. "You have no idea what you just promised, do you?"
"Nope," he agreed cheerfully.
"You agreed to boot Amber out of the wedding and never speak to her again."
He snorted. "No."
"Yeah, you did."
"I'd never do that. Mom's going to plan our wedding."
Nicole raised a brow. "Yeah, right. Better chase Mom and tell her the break up is off, the wedding is on."
"You must have misheard. There's no way Mom would expect us to break up. That's going too far."
Nicole rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. "I'm going to film myself."
Darcy headed to work and pushed the whole conversation from his mind.
Pyro caught Darcy at lunchtime, landing behind him in line for his usual sandwich food cart. The sudden aerial appearance caused a brief commotion, but Darcy was used to awe around his good-looking friend. "Hey."
"You look exhausted," Pyro noted. "Engagement wearing you out?"
"Yeah, but not mine."
Pyro raised a brow.
Darcy had spent all evening yesterday with Amber, Ed, and Tara's bridal party while they finished the DIY of Tara's wedding. His mom had dropped hints about starting a rum cake, his family's version of the Christmas fruitcake nobody liked but everybody had to eat at weddings.
"Oh, we have a baker," Tara had said when Mom had pushed the issue.
"Are you sure?" Mom had asked.
"Sure."
"Well, you can't count on strangers. They'll disappoint you. You can only count on family."
That incident aside, it had been a peaceful night. Mom had only inserted herself a few times to comment on the favors — they should have been Jordan almonds, not game pieces, even though no one was Italian — and the placards — which should have been classier with lace and stick-on diamonds, not game-themed. Amber took notes on her wishes and constructed a wedding idea board for her approval.
"I'll bring fabric swatches tomorrow," Amber had promised. "That way we can have everything in order by Monday."
"I don't know if there's enough time ...And Tara and Ed will be on their honeymoon..."
"They'll fly back for our ceremony."
"Oh? They will? Interrupt the honeymoon?" Mom got a pensive look on her face. "Well, I disapprove, but if it interferes with the honeymoon, I suppose we can consider Monday..."
And then he'd gone with Amber back to her lair. The late nights were taking a toll on him. He'd never felt so sexed up and alive. And also in need of a long weekend.
But he wasn't going to explain all that to Pyro in the lunch line. "Yeah, weddings are the most stressful happy time in a couple's life."
Pyro handed Darcy a filled Tupperware. "Happy stressing."
"What's this?"
"Cupcakes." Pyro opened the lid to show him tri-color strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla cupcakes mounded with buttery frosting. "Strawberries are past season so I had to fly Melody to South America. If your sister likes this sample, Melody will get baking. Amber's roped everyone into your sister's wedding."
Aside from Melody on wedding cake and Cheryl remaking the chalk welcome sign, Syenite's colorful fiancée Eva had accepted for hair and makeup.
"Amber's a hero," Darcy agreed. "I'm just sorry it's necessary."
"Wedding's bring out the worst in people according to Amy." Pyro rotated his wedding band. "That's why I haven't told her that ours is scheduled, and I already booked the venue."
"A surprise wedding?"
Pyro grinned. "For a little bit."
Darcy patted his shoulder. "Congrats."
"I never thought it would happen."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. And then, boom, it's happening. I hope you're ready to give Amber away on Monday."
Pyro came out of his reverie. "Hey. I know you think you like my sister."
Darcy's face and chest heated. Every muscle in his body tightened. "I more than 'think' I like her."
"Mm."
"Don't be a jerk, okay?"
Pyro folded his arms, which meant, yeah, he was about to be. "My sister's dangerous. Get her angry? She'll claw your skin off, drop you from a thousand feet, or, oh yeah, breathe fire."
"Amber's not like that."
"You don't understand. You've never seen her lose it."
"You don't understand either, Pyro. The rules are different on Earth."
"But Amber's not. She could rip out your entrails over a marital spat."
Another zing of anger tightened Darcy's body. He struggled to keep his cool. "What makes you believe she would do that?"
Pyro's jaw flexed. "I'm just giving you a warning."
"Nothing? Just because she can, therefore she would? I could go on a rampage with the lizard cultists, Pyro. You want to go warn Amber away from me?"
"She'd destroy you."
"Even with your weapons?"
"She's a female. Dragon weapons are effective against males. Nothing can take down a female enraged."
Darcy stepped up to his turn at the cart and focused on buying his smoked turkey with avocado and gouda on rye. He picked up a bag of salt and vinegar baked chips, took his time deciding on sparkling water, and paid with exact change. By the time he turned to face Pyro again, he had regained his cool.
"All right, Pyro. If Amber's such a powder keg, why did you let her join your company?"
His eyes gleamed red with fight. "She's still family."
"Huh. The rest of you must cower in fear every time she walks by." Darcy turned on his heel and headed back toward the boutique.
"Hey. Darcy. Wait." Pyro zipped in front of him using the super speed of dragons. He held up his hands in surrender. Years of fights scarred the knuckles. "I like you. Me, Mal, Jasper, Alex, Kyan. We all like you. Even Flint likes what he knows of you. Nobody wants you to get hurt."
"Amber won't hurt me. But you, Pyro. You've hurt her."
He flattened his lips with disbelief. "I couldn't hurt her if I tried."
"You hurt her all the time."
"Her skin's like a diamond."
"Her skin might be like a diamond but her heart's flesh and blood."
Pyro shook his head and wheeled on his heels. "I tried to warn you."
"People judged you as a 'radioactive' dragon. You didn't get a chance. Everyone could see it on your skin."
"That's different."
"Amber wants to be close to you. But because she's female, you assume she's one instant away from going crazy. You push her aside and treat her worse than your enemies. And you, Pyro, of all dragons, should have a heart."
Pyro shook his head. "You'll see. And when you're cowering from her, you call me for help. I'll save you, but you better believe I'll also say, 'I told you so.'"
The angry male launched into the air, his suit flapping as he rocketed away in human form. People on the street gasped and pointed. "He's flying! Look, a real flying dragon!"
Darcy watched, the jaded anger fading away at the oohed, excited comments of his fellow food cart diners.
Sometimes he forgot how privileged he was to work around dragons like it was normal. There were three times more NFL pro players in America than there were dragons on the entire Earth, and how many people knew a pro football player? Or accepted cupcakes from them at lunch?
Darcy headed back to the quiet boutique and ate his sandwich.
Amber was right. Her brothers couldn't see past her abilities no matter how much she hid and repressed them.
Which meant he had to do everything in his power to draw her out and love her just the way she was. Bold, beautiful, shy, repressed. He loved every innocent, honest, controlled facet of her.
Darcy crumpled his napkin and checked the clock.
His dad wandered in from the back loading dock. "Hey, son. Any word on whether your dragon friends are interested in this business?"
"Ah, I didn't ask." Darcy drummed his fingers on the Tupperware container of cupcakes. The way he'd left things with Pyro, he m
ight not get the chance. "I talked Amber out of the dowry."
"I see." His dad rested in the old bench seat behind the cash counter and stared out the lattice-covered shop windows. "I hear the fishing in Aruba's nice this time of year."
"You aren't serious about selling the business, are you?"
"When we took over the business from your grandparents in the 80s, it was a mess. Finances in the toilet. Suppliers demanding payments for inventory we couldn't even find. I thought, 'I'll never leave it like this for my kids.' And here we are again. We've come full circle." He gestured at the dusty, empty shop. "I'm tired."
Nicole piped up from the back, "You should let Tara set up the online shop and run ads how she always wanted. And let me do more designs!"
"Tara's going to Silicon Valley."
"Well, yeah. I meant you should have let her set it up before she accepted the other offer."
Dad folded his arms. "You want to take over my stake, Nicole, I'll sell. Just tell me how you're going to pay."
"Nah. That's too much work for me. But, hey, before you sell, pay me for the years I worked here for free."
"Then your mother will charge you room and board."
"And I'll charge her for my therapy." Nicole came to the doorway and stretched. "What about you, Darcy? You've got a rich fiancée now. Do you want to run the family business? Mom and Dad will breathe over your shoulder and tell you how you're doing everything wrong."
Dad sighed. "I'd rather be fishing."
Darcy rested his hands on the shop counter his grandfather had hewn by hand. He loved the business, the history, and he didn't want to see it get parted out or torn down. "I want nothing to change."
"Except everything will change because..." Nicole ticked off the changes on her fingers. "Tara's leaving to join Ed in Silicon Valley. Jackie's sort of reconciled with Michael so she might go back east."
"She reconciled?" Darcy queried.
"Maybe. The avocado incident pushed her over the edge hard."
"Avocado incident?" their dad asked. "Do I want to know?"
"No," Darcy told him.
"Mom poisoned Amber's tacos at Taco Tuesday. Luckily she's immune and eats rocks so she took it as a weird compliment."
"Ah."
"And since none of you appreciate my brilliance as a designer, I'm going to become a barista and open an Etsy shop."
"I gave Amber your 'Secrets After Sunset' lingerie set," Darcy mentioned.
Nicole brightened. "You did? What did she think?"
"I'm still trying to get her to wear it."
Nicole deflated with a huge sigh and retreated. "Nobody appreciates my brilliance. Literally nobody."
"You're ahead of your time," Darcy called.
The backroom door closed.
"I suppose..." Dad creaked to his feet, stretching and groaning, "that Nicole's right. Things don't stay the same. It's time to head to the office and make hard decisions."
"Not right away, Dad. Anyway," Darcy cracked his knuckles, "I'll call our old clients and see if we can't get a deal in a downtown department store. There's still time."
"For you, maybe." His dad patted his shoulder. "It's fine, Darcy. All things end. You've got a bright future ahead. Think about what you want to do with it."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Darcy stuck around until closing and then dropped by the jeweler's to check on the status of the engagement rings. His dad's question echoed in his head.
What did he want to do with his bright future?
He'd just assumed things would stay the same. He'd marry Amber, commute from her lair, and continue to work at the failing business.
But was that what he wanted?
Had he been inside this business for so long that the empty halls had echoed for him the way Amber said her family's estate halls had echoed for her?
What else was out there?
Sales was an easy job. He met people, listened to their needs, showed them the designs—fabrics, cuts, textures—that he thought would fulfill their desires. There was no better feeling than watching a client's face light up with delight — except maybe watching the dragons take his smallest comments as an unrecognized genius. Selling to Mal, Pyro, and the rest had been, perhaps, the most fun of his life.
What else could he do?
Darcy parked in an obscure spot of the crowded driveway. Laughter and music filled the backyard.
Kris met him at the front door and swooped in for the cupcakes. "I'll take these, thank you very much. Don't you dare say a word to your mom."
"I wasn't going to."
"Thanks, sweet pea." She cracked the front door, peered out, and then snuck to her car like a hand-off in a spy drama.
He knew better than to enter the drama. Heading upstairs, he snagged a quick shower and change, then returned to find dinner and Amber.
Tara, wearing a tiara and waving a streamer-clad scepter, ruled over a rowdy crowd of friends.
She drew a card and read it aloud. "'Bachelorette Party.' Everyone, pretend it's a combo like ours and match 'Bachelor/Bachelorette Party.'"
"That's not until tomorrow," someone called.
"So match what you're looking forward to," another replied, and hoots and laughter followed as everyone put in a card.
Darcy picked from the remaining plates of nachos, wings, and chips. Where was Amber? He crunched a quick dinner while searching the guests. And then Amber appeared in the crowd perched next to Tara with her own tiara and honeysuckle vines draped around her neck like leis.
She saw him, left her cards stacked in her seat, and hopped over the top of the games table to land lightly at his feet.
His heart squeezed. This was the best part of his day and he'd only gotten to enjoy it a few times now. He welcomed her with a long, tender kiss and enfolded her in his arms. "Hey. Fun day? I like your tiara."
"It's a halo." She tugged the sparkly gold hoop. "They're playing a card game. It's mystifying."
"Oh?"
"Okay, everybody, I have your cards." Tara shuffled the stack. "I'll choose the best match for 'Bachelor/ette Party,' right? You said .... Disco ball, ham sandwiches, my bank account...Honestly, if we do a disco ball and ham sandwiches, that's not going to hurt my bank account."
Everyone laughed.
"Not your bank account, my dear! It is all mine." Kris raised her wine glass and boogied back to the crowd, tapping glasses with the other girls. "And we are doing pinball, arcade, a dance-off—"
"Whooo!"
"Ed will do the Electric Slide," Kris continued.
He bowed and demonstrated, slapping his patent leather loafers and gyrating to gales of laughter.
"We are doing board games, a murder mystery dessert, and an ice cream sundae bar. Oh, yeah, we will have a good, good time."
"Ah, I can't wait. Okay, back to the cards." Tara read the rest and then tilted her head at the last card. "...and spiders?"
Mom raised her hand. It wobbled. She swallowed twice. "That's Amber's."
"She's right." Amber went to the table of assorted drink mixers, poured a shot of sweet amaretto, and gulped it. "I don't know how she keeps guessing mine. This game is random."
"The winner is the disco ball because I can't wait to see Ed dancing." Tara waved the disco ball card, and the excited bridesmaid chose a cute game figurine from Tara's prize bowl.
Darcy ruffled Amber's loosened hair, which she'd arranged to accommodate the halo. "How's your first night of drinking with friends?"
"Diverse. Between your mom's drinking contests and losing this game, I've sampled your entire liquor cabinet."
His mom stared, glassy-eyed and unsteady, in her chair.
Hmm. "Drinking contests?"
"I tried to tell her I'm a dragon so I'm immune, but she wouldn't hear it. She pulled me into the upstairs family room so we could share truths. The first contest stopped when Nicole got home."
Nicole appeared at the end of the table as though summoned by her name. "Oh, yes. I will never for
get climbing the stairs to my bedroom only to be assaulted by Mom, tears streaming down her face, while she begged me to stop you and Amber's bestiality."
His heart contracted. "No."
"It was bad."
"Why's she out of bed?"
"You mean, why didn't I stand outside her door all night, arguing about her health, when Tara and Jackie wouldn't help me? When you weren't home? No. It's always me. We all live here and I'm the one who deals with her on my own."
"Nicole, I—"
"Darcy!" Mom stood with a watery smile. She lifted her half-full goblet and staggered toward him. "My darling, you're back. You must leave that—that nasty—"
She stumbled and fell onto the concrete with a horrible smack.
His heart stopped.
The party dropped silent. Everyone held their breaths in a collective gasp.
Darcy knelt at her side. "Mom. Mom!"
"I'm fine." She spat a pebble and rose to her hands and knees. She'd scraped her nose. "Just...just going to throw up now."
Nicole sighed. "She chipped her tooth."
"What?" Darcy tried to check. His mom gnawed on his fingers and made a chomp noise. Tara was calming her guests and Nicole just had her arms crossed, irritated, so he focused on Ed who was watching in concern. "Call my dad."
Ed whipped out his phone.
"Don't...call your father. He hates it when I drink and he doesn't." Mom giggled and swallowed. "Oh, my glass is empty. This is a party. I need ... another drink..."
"Your father is on his way," Ed reported.
Mom's face drained of color. "I don't...feel so good."
"You'll be fine. Dad's on his way."
"Maybe I overdid..."
"How much did you drink?"
His mom bobbed her head without answering. Darcy looked to Nicole, who shrugged, and Amber.
"We drank a bottle of Jameson," Amber said. "I had a little over half."
"Half a bottle...Mom, what were you thinking?"
"And that's just before her nap," Nicole said. "She's had at least three, maybe four shots since."
"But I thought, Darcy, if I just keep drinking, I'll wake up from the nightmare of you and that ... that..." She projectile retched.
Amber pulled Darcy out of the path using her faster-than-human reflexes, and the sickness landed on the concrete with a splat. Mom groaned and collapsed in the watery chunks.