“Stop thinking like that,” Koi told him. “Anything is possible…”
Liosh rolled his eyes like a teenager and tossed his hands up in the air. “See? That’s the bullshit parents feed to their kids then the therapy starts when said child realizes he can’t jump tall buildings in a single bound.”
Koi took a breath and chewed on his bottom lip for a second before speaking. “You have the powers inside you to do most, if not all, the things we can. Just let yourself be a Shiver.”
“What if I want to be more human than Shiver?”
Koi shook his head. “Then we are wasting our time here. So tell me now.”
Liosh sighed. “I see what being a Shiver means. It means going after those I’m supposed to love with impunity. It means trying to destroy them until they or my hatred destroy me. That is what my father did.”
“You are not your father.”
“Ciro and Carter have been telling me the same thing, but you don’t know that for sure! Somewhere down the road I could be. So I don’t know if I want to be a Shiver. I think I want to be more human.”
“Liosh, it is not a matter of being one more than the other. In battle, you must find a way to balance both. Be human when you desire strength no Shiver possesses, and be a Shiver when brute force is needed. You have the burden of being both—use that to your advantage. You see, whether you want to believe me or not, or take this seriously, the fact is that Zeus’ blood flows through your veins and, sooner or later, you will have to defend yourself.”
“Let’s try it again.” Liosh rolled his shoulders.
Koi nodded and phased away from Liosh in a swirl of wind. When he was rooted in the desert sands of the Waste Land, he bent his knees and waited. “Go!” he called.
He kept his eyes on Liosh and knew precisely what the younger Shiver was going to do. When the attack came, Koi easily defended and Liosh wound up on his back in the sand.
“Damn it!”
“There is no reason to get frustrated,” Koi advised. “When you get irritated that is when the enemy will strike and they will win.” He stressed his point by allowing his lance to appear, glowing blue and aiming for Liosh’s neck. “There is no room for panic during a fight, Liosh. You need calm for chaos.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like Ciro.”
Koi laughed and released the lance. When it was gone, he extended his hand to Liosh and pulled him off the ground. “No one ever accused me of that horrid sin.”
That got a laugh from Liosh.
“We will stop there for today.” Koi patted his shoulder.
The two walked out of the Waste Lands and reappeared in the Halls of Winds at the North Shores. “How is living with Ciro and Carter?”
“They’re kind,” Liosh replied, falling into a plush seat and sticking his legs out before him. “Even after the hell my father put them through, they are still kind. I can’t help feeling out of place there, though.”
“Out of place? Why?”
“Guilt, I guess.” Liosh pulled his legs in and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I asked Carter what my father did—the details. He didn’t want to tell me. Neither of them did. Finally, he promised to speak with Ciro and come to a decision. When they told me I couldn’t handle it.”
“I would imagine. But it is not your fault—none of it.”
“He is my father, Koi, and he did all those things. He killed Osaki in the process. He almost killed Carter, tried killing Ciro and almost took a whole country with him. From what I’ve been hearing, he enjoyed it.”
“Have you gone to visit him?”
Liosh shook his head. “No. I’m not ready.”
“And that’s okay too. No one expects you to suddenly be okay with this. Bad behavior is bad behavior.”
“That’s what you’re going with, huh?” Liosh asked with a laugh. “I just don’t want them blaming me for what he did.”
Koi chuckled. “The sins of your father will not revisit you, Liosh—of your grandfather, maybe. Sooner or later we all get our asses handed to us because Zeus has a wandering cock. This family welcomes you. As long as you do not turn into your father you’ll be fine.”
“And if I do?”
“Well…” Koi took a breath. “Let’s not speak of that now. You should get something to eat, change and head back home. Carter and Ciro will worry.”
“I’m not a child. And they know where I am.”
“Humor them?”
Liosh smiled. “Okay, Uncle Koi. See you later.”
Instead of eating, Liosh nodded and vanished. Alone with his thoughts, Koi fell into his nephew’s vacated seat with a groan. He stretched his frame out, legs long before him, lower back throbbing into the plush cushion. Closing his eyes, Koi tried relishing the silence of the North Shores. His mother was off somewhere with Aphrodite, Ciro had his husband and everyone else seemed to be spending a lot more time on Earth. Frowning, he rose and made his way toward the arches of the main hall. He disappeared and appeared again at Kofi’s home.
Kofi Olabasu hated the way Shivers and the others popped in and out of thin air, so he used the front door. When Kofi answered he smiled.
“The quiet of home was starting to get to me,” Koi told him. “My apologies for just showing up like this but…”
“Koi, you’re always welcome here. You should know that. You’re family. Come in.”
Koi stepped by him but instantly felt someone else. It took everything inside him not to manifest a weapon. “You have a guest…”
“Yes, it’s Christophe. We were just speaking about business. Make yourself at home. If you’re hungry, grab something in the kitchen.”
“Thank you.” But Koi didn’t go to the kitchen. He followed Kofi into his office and waved to Christophe. “Hello.”
“Koi!”
“It is good to see you again.”
Koi smiled. Christophe’s eyes deepened as his lips trembled. For a moment, Koi couldn’t look away. There was something so endearing about Christophe and he hadn’t noticed it before. Catching himself, Koi cleared his throat. “I am going to make something to eat—you guys want anything?”
“Let me give you a hand,” Christophe offered.
“You don’t…”
“Koi,” Kofi called. “Can I talk to you a second?”
“Um…sure. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
Christophe nodded and left them. Koi sat beside Kofi and faced him.
“What’s up?”
Kofi smiled. “He likes you, you know?”
“I do not understand.”
“Come on, Koi. You are not that naïve. I know you don’t pay much attention, but you have to see the way he looks at you.” Kofi leaned forward. “He looks at you like I look at steaks.”
Koi laughed. “That cannot be right. Besides, my life is not conducive to a relationship.”
“I make it work with Osaki. Carter makes it work with Ciro. Hercules seems to be making it work with his lady.”
“I do not think Hercules is the best example since he died because of a woman’s jealousy and was tortured by another’s madness.”
Kofi groaned. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t think I do.”
“Never mind. Just think your brothers are happy and you deserve to be too.”
“I am not as strong as you or Ciro,” Koi replied. “I do not know if I deserve love. Besides, I do not understand it.”
Kofi groaned. “You’re as tough-headed as Osaki and Ciro. Talk to him. All love really requires is some kindness.”
“And loyalty and intimacy and gentleness. Loyalty is all I know, the others are new to me.”
“You’re not a virgin, are you?”
Koi laughed. The look on Kofi’s face was priceless. “No, Kofi. I am not a virgin. I have had intercourse before, but intimacy is different.”
“Okay, then. There’s a first time for everything,” Kofi said with a shrug. “Getting yourself out there to flirt a
nd be flirted with is hard sometimes, but you can make it rain, for crying out loud! This little thing should not be as complicated and as terrifying as you make it out to be.”
Koi shook his head. “I do not know what to tell you. I just wished love could be…”
“Let’s not use the L word right now…”
“Lesbian?”
Kofi growled. “No, Koi, the L word? Love? Shit! You are as infuriating as your brother. It’s too soon to say you’re in love with Christophe—and I get it. For now, you’re just flirting, seeing where things lead. Just go—make some food. I’m going to run out for a bit.”
“Oh, no. You cannot leave me alone with him.”
“Don’t tell me, you, a Shiver who can sink this little blue planet with a swipe of his hand, is afraid of being hit on by a human.”
Koi made a face. “I am not afraid.”
“Then I’ll be back.”
Though Koi wanted to keep Kofi there, he couldn’t he afraid to be alone with Christophe. The young man had never given Koi a reason to be nervous.
Still, Koi needed to take a deep breath before he stepped into the kitchen where Christophe was busy peering into the fridge. “Anything interesting?”
“Hardly.” Christophe closed the fridge. “You would think a man who is engaged to be married would have more to choose from.”
“He hasn’t been here much,” Koi offered. “He and Osaki have been spending most of their time together. I was only thinking of a sandwich. It is often hard to satisfy an unknown craving.”
Christophe chuckled. “That’s true. Where are you from?”
“Um…Greece.”
“That would explain your accent,” Christophe said. “It’s not thick or weird. It’s nice—kind of sexy.”
“What?”
“Nothing—I saw some cold cuts in the fridge. Maybe we could use those for sandwiches.”
Koi couldn’t hide his smile, so he turned to grab the meat Christophe had suggested. While he was there, he gathered mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. They worked in silence making the food, and when it was all set out, he stood back to look at their handiwork. “Do you still fight?”
“I do,” Christophe replied. He was busy washing some grapes in the sink. “I haven’t really had much time for actual fights since my mom’s death, but I’ve been training to keep fit and to just keep my toes in the octagon, you know? I may have a fight coming up and I’m terrified.”
“You have done this before. I have seen you. There is no need to be afraid.”
Christophe rolled his shoulders. “True. But since my mother’s funeral I kept my focus on working, being professional. I love what I do and I didn’t think it would be right to split my focus between the two things. Kofi thinks I’m insane to give up on mixed martial arts.”
“And are you giving up on it?”
“No. I just—I was grieving for my mother and finishing school and working with Kofi—it was all a little too much so I backed off the rounds. But now with things settled… I think I need some new tricks.”
“Oh, yeah? What kind?”
Christophe shrugged. “I’m not sure. Something my opponent wouldn’t see coming. As it stands right now, all they have to do is watch my last fights and they will know all my moves. A fighter who remains stagnant is a useless fighter.”
“Maybe I can help with that.”
Christophe laughed. “You don’t look like a fighter, Koi.”
“Are you going to call me sexy again then pretend you did not say it?”
“I’m sorry. That was out of line,” Christophe said. “Sometimes my brain doesn’t work on the same speed as my mouth and I blurt things out before I can think about them.”
“Are you saying you do not think I am sexy?”
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Christophe asked before shaking his head. “Damn. I sound like a teenager. If we’re being honest, you’re a great-looking guy with beautiful eyes. That’s all I was trying to say. It wasn’t like I was hitting on you or anything—well, at least not on purpose. Things just tend to slip out of my mouth when someone makes me uncomfortable.”
“Well, we do not want that now, do we? It is quite all right. I have been called worse things than sexy.”
When Christophe looked at him, Koi smiled and Christophe nodded.
“Maybe we should kiss,” Koi said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Kissing always eases the tension.”
“Does that pick-up line ever work on other men?” Christophe wanted to know.
Koi chuckled. “No. With other men I merely take what I want.” He stopped as his shoulders rose and fell. “Sometimes a kiss is better when it’s by surprise. I thought you would be the kind of man who enjoys being held against the wall and taken. I was merely asking to be polite so I do not overstep.”
Christophe gasped softly. He cleared his throat and suddenly his eyes couldn’t meet Koi’s. “Koi—you’re a nice guy and I really…”
“Koi? Christophe? I’m back!” Kofi hollered from the hall.
Koi frowned but instead of saying anything, he grabbed the tray with the sandwiches and left the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what he was doing. Why would he even suggest kissing Christophe? Wouldn’t that be like breaking one tiny hole in a dyke to see what color the water was behind it? Both the kiss and the dyke would end in disaster any way one played it and he knew that. But his body didn’t seem to care. His body yearned to be caressed, kissed and not by just anyone—but by Christophe.
No, he wasn’t Osaki or Ciro. There was no happily ever after for him. There was no way he was meant to be with a human—and even if he was, he knew something would go wrong and he’d have to protect them. Koi wasn’t sure he was ready for the risks and the heartbreak if he allowed himself to be swallowed by love.
“You found the cold cuts.” Kofi grinned, reaching for a sandwich. “Good.”
“Christophe found them,” Koi replied with a little too much irritation, even for his ears. “You really should go grocery shopping. There’s barely anything left in that fridge.”
“He’s right. You don’t have much of anything in the fridge,” Christophe agreed with Koi. “So we made what we could find work for us.”
“Kofi, I have to go,” Koi said.
“Already?” Christophe asked. “You haven’t eaten.”
“It is quite all right. I will grab something on the way, but I forgot I had to water some plants for Ciro and Carter while they are away.” Koi saw the look on Kofi’s face and knew the man was calling bullshit on his excuse. But he couldn’t stay where he was. There was something about Christophe, the way he looked, the way he smelled, the way he bit his lower lip when he was obviously in deep thought—all of it aroused Koi. He licked his lips and offered both men a smile before rushing out of the door as fast as he could.
The moment he was sure he was alone, he went invisible. Perhaps he needed to have a conversation with Ciro after all. It was becoming more and more difficult to control himself. He wasn’t going to assume that finding love like Ciro’s was even possible, but he felt something when he was with Christophe. Whatever it was, it terrified Koi and turned him on. That could not be a good thing on the best of days.
Chapter Four
Moving through the professionally decorated house annoyed Christophe. Then again everything seemed to be getting on his nerves lately. “Here is the master bedroom,” Christophe explained. “It has lovely, natural light from very large windows. I wanted to show you this, because you said you wanted to see the mountains from your own private deck outside your bedroom. This means you will have some privacy from the kids when you want to hide.” He smiled and led his clients out of the large, glass balcony doors then stepped aside. The husband and wife glanced at each other then out at the view with amazement on their faces.
“Darling, look at that!” the husband said. “Is this a view or is this a view!”
“We asked for it, didn’t we? But this is beyond anything we expected to fi
nd,” she gasped. “And this is in our budget! How is that possible?”
“Well, the young man who is selling it has to move to the Netherlands for a new job and he wants to have the sale of the home wrapped up before he leaves so he doesn’t have to keep worrying about it. And the bathroom…”
“Oh, Christophe!” the wife exclaimed. “Whatever is in the bathroom we can fix or leave as is, but we cannot find this spectacular scenery anywhere else! We know that.”
“She’s right,” the husband agreed. “We can update the bathrooms, but everything else is spot on! You’ve done well with this one.”
Christophe felt good with that thought. He smiled then gave them a little bit longer to enjoy the picturesque sight. The couple didn’t take much longer for they wanted to jump on the house before anyone else did. He showed them the private rooftop space they had access to and that sold them even more on the listing.
After dropping his clients off at their car, he headed back to the office to begin the process of the sale. Even if his mind wasn’t into it, the commission alone motivated him to get cracking. Once the process was out of his hands, Christophe stopped in to see Kofi then grabbed his gym bag and left the office. He technically wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, but when he’d seen the house come on the market, he had to jump at it.
He went through the motions of dressing, small talk in the changing room with some regulars then wandered into the main area. He didn’t feel like dealing with the crowd of the treadmill or the gossiping at the elliptical so he went for a solo sport.
Christophe backed away from the punching bag and paced. His chest heaved so hard, his lungs felt as if they would explode. For some reason, he just couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened in Kofi’s kitchen between himself and Koi. There was serious flirting going on—Christophe knew that. Then he got embarrassed and was about to say something stupid before Kofi came back. Koi must have sensed what was going to happen for he’d left soon after.
But Koi had offered a kiss. Christophe felt like all kinds of idiot to shy away from that. Just the thought of having Koi’s mouth on his made Christophe weak with lust. Was Koi a gentle lover? Or did he like his man on his knees, arms behind his back, using nothing but his mouth? Christophe sighed and jabbed at the bag before him. The heat rushing through him took away all the force he had behind his fists. Backing up, he took a breath while shaking his arms out by his sides. He tried desperately to push Koi out of his mind then slammed his fists into the punching bag.
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