My question was obviously left field of anything Eth had expected. He froze in place. “What? Why would you even ask that?”
“Well, look at my role model. How am I supposed to know what to do? I don’t have the first fucking clue how to look after a child, especially one . . . especially one who is going to be so special.”
“Are you kidding me? It’s because of everything you’ve been through that I know you’re going to be a great dad.”
“How do you figure?” I tossed back the rest of my drink and poured another.
“For years, you looked after Lou in a way neither Dad nor I could. And you have that great big bleeding heart of yours that will serve your daughter well.”
“What if I can’t do what needs to be done though? Tonight, standing on that step, I froze. It was life or death, and I just couldn’t go in.”
“It’ll be different for your kid though. You’ll do what you need to. Besides, what you had to do is a little different to anything you’ll have to do for your daughter.”
“Is it? How do you know that?”
“I just know. I know you and I know what you’ll do for family, especially for your little girl.”
“I hope you’re right, man.”
“I don’t need hope. I know I’m right. Even when we trusted the word of everyone here above anything, you didn’t. You saw the truth. Much as it pains me to admit, you were right all along.”
“It didn’t matter though, did it? No matter how hard I fought, all of those people were still murdered, weren’t they?” I placed my glass back onto the cabinet and paced the room. “What if we can’t fix things here? What if they go back to the way they were? What if I can’t save her from that?”
Eth moved in front of me and grabbed me by the shoulders. “You won’t need to. We’ll sort things here.”
“You sound sure of yourself.”
“Of course I am. We’ve got you and you’ve been doing this for years.”
“But I never changed anything before, not until we found out about Mom.”
He scoffed. “You changed me.”
“Not soon enough.”
“Just . . . trust me when I say it was and that there are some people out there alive today who owe their life to you.” He turned away from me, blocking his emotions from me by showing me his back. After taking a breath, he twisted around again. Before I could question him further, he said, “Besides, you know that even if we can’t fix things in the Rain, you won’t have to save her alone. You’re a fool if you can’t see that you’ll have a team on your side.”
“I’m not stupid. I know there are people who will fight to the death for her, but what if it’s not enough?”
“It will be.”
“But how can you know that?”
He scowled. “Do you honestly fucking think I’d let anyone hurt my niece?”
I chuckled because he was right. I was being stupid. There were so many people who would defend my daughter to the death. Evie and I would be front of the line, but we wouldn’t be the only ones. If nothing else, Mom and her fae guards would protect our daughter with their lives, providing our baby could live on the ethereal plane that was.
“You better get back to your girl before she takes all those crazy, baby-making hormones out on your ass.”
I tossed down the last of my drink. “You’re right. I should be getting back.”
Leaving my glass next to his, I headed for the door.
Just before I walked through it, Eth’s arm shot out. “You won’t tell Evie I said that thing about her hormones, will you?”
He almost sounded afraid, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “I think you’ve kept enough of my secrets that you’re safe on that one.”
“And let’s not forget that I’ve saved your ass on more than a few occasions.” He spun and then stepped closer before flicking my ear.
Ducking out of the way of his movements, I threw out my fist and caught him on the chest. “Fuck off, I’m going home.”
“Don’t forget about our date tomorrow night,” he said, making kissy faces before I pushed the door shut in his face.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“CAN YOU HONESTLY say that you enjoy being in this sort of establishment?” Aiden asked, assessing the table in front of us with disdain as he tried to find a place to rest his hands.
I couldn’t say I blamed him for his concern.
Despite Aiden’s reluctance, Eth had dragged us both to a seedy dive buried down a small alleyway in the back of Hell’s Kitchen. The lighting in the bar made a moonless night seem bright. The floors were sticky in some places and squidgy underfoot in others. I was stupid enough to put my arm on the table for a nanosecond, and I was certain I lost some arm hair when I went to lift it again.
“Couldn’t we have gone somewhere a little nicer?” I asked.
“Living at the court has spoiled you.” Eth laughed as he clapped my back. “All that cleanliness and joy. You used to feel right at home in a place like this.”
I wasn’t sure about his assessment. There wasn’t anything I’d ever enjoyed about seedy dives. Plus, this one seemed worse than most. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d contracted at least fifteen exotic diseases just sitting on the torn leather booth.
He sighed and muttered something about not being such a pussy under his breath. “We have to wait until Ben gets here at least. He shouldn’t be too far away.”
“Why are we doing this anyway?”
“Because it’s not every day my baby brother gets married, and I’ve got no plans to do it anytime soon, so this is probably going to be my only chance at a good, ol’ fashioned bachelor party.”
I figured he meant strippers. The idea was nauseating. Why would I want strangers coated with tan from a can shaking their fake boobs at me while Evie was at home with her rich olive skin glowing and her breasts already naturally fuller from the pregnancy hormones that raced through her body, ready and willing to not only dance for me but offer me the full service and happy ending?
The thought was almost enough to force me to my feet and back to the court, back to her side. Except she wouldn’t be there either. Mom and the other fae who were helping to plan the wedding had apparently hijacked her for their own nefarious purposes.
Eth looked over at me, a mile-wide grin smacked across his features. It was something of a warning sign—he was about to cause some kind of trouble, and I was starting to regret asking him to be my best man of sorts.
“You know what I just realized?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I wasn’t going to escape as easily as not responding. That didn’t stop me from trying the silent treatment anyway.
“What is that?” Aiden asked from the other side of the table. I shot him a glare. He might have been a friend, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t piss me off.
“Of everyone at this table—”
“The three of us?” I clarified.
“Yep, of the three of us, I’m the only one who hasn’t slept with Evie.”
I clenched my fists even as the words came out.
He laughed at the sight. “What do you say, bro? Free pass?”
“What do you say, bro? Broken nose?” I snapped back at him. Even though I knew his words were a joke, it touched on such a raw nerve I couldn’t help but react.
Eth kept chuckling. “What did I tell you, A, he’s always so highly strung.”
Aiden was laughing too, but cut off when I directed a glare in his direction. “If I was as devoted to such a beautiful creature as he is, I would most likely be strung rather high myself.”
“You would take his side.” Eth crossed his arms and pouted.
“Only because I am well aware of the damage Lynnie would do to me if I ruined this night.”
“So the phoenix is dangerous then?” Ben’s voice rang out behind me.
“Only if you threaten harm to her pookie bear,” Eth said before sticking his tongue out at me.
&nb
sp; Ben slid into a chair at our table.
Once Ben was settled, Eth clapped his hands. “Well, now that we’re all here, let’s get started!”
He held up his hand and like magic a round of shots appeared on the table.
Within an hour, and after we’d already consumed a ridiculous quantity of alcohol, the drinking games started.
I’d learned at a very young age that a safe game to play with Eth was Never Have I, because there wasn’t much that he hadn’t done, so his drinking tally usually outweighed mine pretty fast. That was the only safe way to drink with him. Between his bulk and his experience with hard liquor, if I tried to compete and match him drink for drink, I’d end up in the hospital. When he suggested the game, I figured he was just being generous given that I was being forced to have a bachelor party.
It occurred to me almost immediately that I should’ve known better.
Three rounds in, he gave me a wicked grin. “Never have I ever broken into someone’s private vault.”
I breathed out through my nose as I was the only one to drink. Ben’s curiosity was clear in his raised brow. He’d never been told the story of Oxford. I didn’t particularly want to enlighten him either.
Ben’s turn was next, but despite his surprise over the vault, I saw that he’d obviously caught on to Eth’s plan when he said his next Never Have I. “Never have I ever experienced retraining.”
I clenched my jaw but drank the next shot, knowing they couldn’t get much worse once those ones were out of the way.
It was my turn and I thought hard about something that would force my brother to down at least one shot. “Never have I ever had an orgy.”
Three glasses lifted off the table as Eth, Aiden, and Ben all downed a shot.
“You’ve missed out, little bro,” Eth said, and the other two laughed in agreement. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the next step was high-fiving each other on jobs well done.
I swayed slightly on the spot, definitely feeling the effects of the many rounds I’d had to take already.
When it was Eth’s turn again, his grin was even wider than before. “Never have I ever had sex with a phoenix.”
“That’s enough,” I snapped, trying to ignore the fact that Aiden was already lifting his glass and drinking. “I don’t want to play this game anymore.”
“Only because you’re losing.”
A bark of laughter fell from me as the alcohol raced through me. “You’re wrong! I’m marrying Evie, so I’m winning.”
“You may have a point there,” Eth said, conceding defeat. “If I found someone like her, even I might consider going off the—” He burst into laughter. “Sorry, I can’t even say it with a straight face.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, getting ready to launch at him if he said one negative thing about Evie.
“Nothing. Evie’s great. Despite our rocky start, I really do love her like the sister she’ll soon be. I just . . . seriously . . . one pussy for the rest of your life? How? Why?”
Ben and Aiden were nodding in agreement, looking equally sympathetic over what they clearly considered my loss, but they didn’t understand. No one else had ever satisfied me like Evie could—no other touch affected me as deeply. Why would I want to try to replace that?
“Speaking of pussy,” Eth added. “Wet pussies all round!”
Again, as if he’d hired a private bartender, which he probably had knowing him, another round of drinks appeared moments later.
“To my baby brother and the last wet pussy he’ll taste for years to come.”
I choked on the drink, which had already been halfway down my throat when he’d spoken.
“And now, we come to the best part of the evening!” he declared, ignoring my coughing and spluttering.
Please don’t say it . . . I thought, almost certain I knew what was coming.
“The strippers are here!” He practically bounced over to a group of four girls. He whispered something in the ear of a blonde, before turning to another woman with black hair and speaking with her for a moment.
Almost instantly, the blonde singled me out and came toward me. I staggered backward, determined to resist her charms. There were better things waiting for me at home, and I was growing anxious to return there and forget the rest of the night. I wanted to go to Evie and hold her tight, to remember all the things I had that I never wanted to lose again and not focus on the skimpy outfit of the woman fast closing in on me.
I didn’t have much choice on what to do though when she came up to me and placed her hands on my chest.
“You’re mine tonight,” she murmured.
The sound of her voice, the plump of her lips, and the swell of her breasts all made the concern I’d felt over having strippers melt away. It disappeared so fast that instead of wanting to hide from her, I wanted to hide her from all other eyes. When she grabbed my hands and pulled me toward one of the private booths, I didn’t even resist.
CHAPTER EIGHT
MY MOUTH TASTED like ass.
My head throbbed.
A warm body was snuggled up against my side.
I pressed the heel of my palms against my temples to try to ease the pressure just behind my eyes as I tried to remember what happened the night before.
My recollections were vague at best. Being with Eth, Ben, and Aiden. Recounting old conquests. Playing drinking games.
After my tenth shot though, the night was a blur. I hated the sensation of memory loss, the big stretches of blackness that couldn’t be filled no matter how hard I searched for the elusive information.
Even the act of trying to recall the missing information made my stomach churn from my self-imposed poisoning. After the night drinking so many different types of alcohol that I might as well have drunk through the inventory of a liquor store, I decided there was definitely something to be said for the clean taste and natural high of fae enchantments. At least overindulgence on those only left you with a too-full stomach.
I rolled onto my back and risked opening my eyes. Almost instantly, panic flooded through me and a fresh wave of nausea rolled over my body. It wasn’t my ceiling above me. It wasn’t the ceiling of any room in the fae court. Which meant I wasn’t at the fae court at all.
My heart galloped as it hit me that there was a soft, warm body wrapped against me. If I wasn’t at the fae court . . . did that mean that it wasn’t Evie beside me like I’d assumed?
I couldn’t even look. If I’d been so over-the-top drunk that I did something I’d regret, Evie wouldn’t have to hurt me, I’d break my own dick off. I wouldn’t . . . I couldn’t.
But why am I not at home?
After a steeling breath, I risked a quick glance beside me and saw a mess of blonde hair and a body that wasn’t surrounded by Evie’s usual fiery aura. I bit the inside of my cheek as it struck me how monumentally I’d screwed up. My stomach twisted around itself.
I couldn’t lose Evie, but neither did I deserve her. Not if I’d cheated on her. My heart pounded at the thought.
Surely no matter how much I’d had to drink, I wouldn’t do that.
I couldn’t.
And yet there was another woman—a blonde—tucked into my bed.
“Fuck me,” I murmured as I berated myself for my stupidity.
“Mmmm, I thought I did a pretty good job of that last night,” the woman beside me murmured in a voice that was decidedly similar to Evie’s.
“Evie?” I rolled to the side, moving away from the warm, rounded body as I did, trying to get a better look at the woman beside me. The lack of her usual aura surprised me. How was she hiding that? Why?
She shifted at the same time, rolling from one side to her other so that she could face me. As she did, the wig that had covered her hair slid away. “Who else would it be?”
“Oh thank God!” I was so relieved that the words tumbled from me before I saw the danger in them. I moved to kiss her, but she put her hand on my chest to stop me.
�
�Who else would it be, Clay?” she asked again, her tone sharper and far more dangerous.
“No one!” I assured her. “No one at all.”
She raised her eyebrow at me. “Then why the tone of relief?”
“Because I can’t remember most of last night, and I was worried I would have to take an athame to certain parts of my body that I am rather fond of because I thought maybe I’d done something incredibly stupid even though I didn’t know how I could have done that to you—to me!” I admitted. It was too late to back out of the situation, so I figured it was better to admit the truth.
“You thought you’d cheated on me?” She sat up. The makeup she’d obviously worn the night before was a mess over her face, her lipstick was smudged across her left cheek, and her eyes were black with mascara and heavy with sleep. Loose strands of hair curled out of the braid in her hair, forming a wispy halo of red and gold around her face. Through it all though, even with all the gunk on her face, she was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
I just hoped she’d let me keep seeing her, as well as letting me retain other vital parts of my body. After all, I hadn’t done anything wrong. I’d just thought I had for a moment.
“No. I mean, not really. I didn’t really think I could have.” I paused and let the thought settle over me as the truth that it was. I doubted my cock would rise to greet anyone but Evie these days. “But you know Eth. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d paid some hooker to sneak into my bed after I’d passed out drunk.”
“You thought I was a hooker?” Evie practically screeched. She picked up the blonde locks and threw them at me.
“No wait, that’s not what I meant!”
She growled and turned away.
“I couldn’t see your aura. That and the blonde hair threw me for a moment.”
Glancing back over her shoulder, she cast me a glare that said she didn’t believe me.
Living with Embers: (Son of Rain #4) Page 6