by Flynn Eire
“Oh, yeah,” Jayme agreed, taking the slice with a smile. “Nummy.”
Fine, pizza and fries were better than just fries. Not sure on that combo, but I’d eaten worse when drunk too.
After the slice of pizza, somehow he ended up on my lap facing me. He studied me closely and cleared his throat. “I’d pick you over fries.”
“I’d pick you over my favorite food too,” I promised, understanding what he was saying. I leaned in and kissed him, holding on by a thread when he moaned and threw his arms around my neck. “I didn’t get to eat, sweetie.”
“Oh, you have to eat,” he gasped before turning around and moving my tray closer. He ate more fries while sitting on my thigh like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to sit there so he didn’t block my tray. “I like it here so much better than Orlando. I still don’t have a room, but I get to sleep with you, so that’s better than the laundry room.”
I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who gave him a shocked look at that bomb. I was dying to ask more, but it seemed like such an invasion of privacy for me to do that when we were dating.
So Alexis decided she should do it then.
“Why did you sleep in the laundry room?” she asked him as we ate, Zach getting him more pizza and fries.
Jayme shrugged. “I didn’t earn a room or bed. They kept changing what I had to do to earn it. I wanted to run away, but they had my ID and records in the safe. It was why I had to go back after my schooling in Italy.” He smiled brightly and ate more fries. “It took me a while to try every combination possible, but I finally figured it out about six months ago. When I heard of the chance to come here and the plane, I used it and got my papers.”
“What the hell did he go through?” Ryan muttered under his breath, giving Alexis a glance to chill.
“Were you a servant there?” Zach asked, ignoring Ryan’s cue. “Did you owe a debt?”
Jayme snorted. “I was born. I owed them everything for not drowning me the moment I was, according to them. They treated me worse than servants.” He set down his fries and gave me a sad look. “I don’t want to talk about this. I was having fun and happy. I don’t feel happy anymore.”
“Sorry, it’s just that we care and worry,” I muttered, moving his hand with the fries to my mouth. “We won’t talk about it anymore, I promise. Not until you’re ready.”
He nodded and reached for more fries, studying them for a moment. “Would I taste better with cheese when you eat me? That sounds like fun. You said all about wanting to see my lips on you. Nacho cheese covered dick might be good.”
“For the love of fuck,” I breathed, glancing away when he gobbled up his fries, picturing he was enjoying my cock like that instead.
“That sounds good,” Verge told him, bobbing his head. “We’ve done chocolate, and I love sucking him that way, but cheese might be good too.”
“Chocolate would be good,” Jayme agreed.
I gave Nero a pleading look, and he nodded, distracting his fiancé so he didn’t give my lover more to say and make my patience snap.
We changed the topic to New Year’s and the party planned, all the fun we were hoping to have at Nero’s, and the spread being made with fondue and hot pots. Jayme nodded along, answering questions when asked and seeming to sober up as he kept eating, which was good. We finished dinner, and I was about to get him to the infirmary when he hopped up on the table instead like it just seemed a good place to sit.
“Will you want to have sex with me more if I keep wearing skirts?” he asked as he fisted the material, pulling it up higher than he should.
“That’s it, I can’t anymore,” I growled, picking him up and putting him over my shoulder. “Time to visit the infirmary or you’re losing your virginity right here and now.”
“But I want to lose my virginity,” he complained, grabbing onto my sweater to keep balanced. “I came to find you to have sex, remember? Are you drunk too?”
There was a range of people laughing to simply shaking their heads at us as we walked out of the cafeteria. I couldn’t blame them. Hell, I was just as conflicted especially since I was rock hard. Drunk Jayme was unknowingly sexy, and I wanted to gobble him up.
With or without the cheese or chocolate.
6
People teased me for days after my accidental intoxication. It was all good natured, but I wasn’t used to it, so it was still uncomfortable for me. Not enough to say anything, but a bit like being dropped in the deep end of having friends, whereas I was new to it. That was why I’d arrived later than normal for the second morning delivery on New Year’s Eve and to meet Seth for breakfast.
But when I saw who was there at the main building, I wished I’d driven the ATV towards Mexico or Canada and risked getting eaten by zakasacs.
“I’m telling you there’s been a mistake,” my father’s wife, Sara Lindsey, told Alexander with her syrupy sweet voice. “I’m so sorry you’ve been burdened with him, but he wasn’t supposed to come here.”
I almost crashed into the SUV parked there that had probably brought the visitors and my nightmare. I slammed on the brakes in time but drew attention to myself. My heart thundered in my ears as I glanced from the scene there to the ATV, wanting to put it in reverse and flee. There was no way they wouldn’t recognize me since I was wearing jeans, sweater, and sneakers, over dressing like a girl now that I knew it wasn’t needed.
There might be times of skirts and tights since Seth liked them and I enjoyed a bit of makeup, but Alexis had helped me to see I was using too much of it before. Either way, I had just become comfortable enough, felt safe enough to stop hiding.
Apparently it was too soon.
And as always, my father’s wife had drawn a crowd, as she loved the attention and fed off the drama.
“A dog that bites their master needs to learn their place and receive stricter discipline,” my half brother said quietly as he turned off the ATV and took the keys.
For some reason that was the wrong thing to say in that moment, and something snapped deep inside of me and I lost my mind for a moment. “I’m your brother, not your dog. I know you think everything is yours, but this is mine, Davin.” I snatched back the keys to his shock and tucked them in my pocket.
“Oh, there he is,” Sara sang. “Good, now we can straighten this out and get home before the big party.”
“Do you need me to cook for it so you can throw my food back at me and humiliate me?” I snapped, the temper I didn’t know I have fully cracking. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You’re not my family. You’re nothing to me. How do you think you get a say in anything?”
Her eyes flashed shock and rage before she schooled it, remembering the audience. “I’m the Orlando coven leader’s wife, and you’ll remember that, Jayme.”
“I’m not part of that coven anymore,” I sneered. “I got free. You can’t make me go back.”
She flashed that brilliant, bitchy smile. “Oh, but we can. There were some charges brought against you. Theft ones to start with.”
“That’s a different story than the tale you were spinning about how you think someone forced him to come here,” Alexander muttered, glancing between us.
I kept my eyes on her and my half-brother, knowing it wasn’t smart to do otherwise. “What did I steal? My birth certificate and papers you illegally withheld from me? I’m fairly certain I could have taken a sledge hammer to the safe legally to get them.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she sighed. “That’s not what you stole.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling better and worse when I saw Seth in the crowd. Better because it reminded me I wasn’t alone anymore, but worse because this was not how I wanted him to find out any of this. “Davin told me to clean out the array of everything women leave in his suite because he’s such a slut. So I did.”
“I have no idea about any of that,” she drawled, rolling her eyes at me before glancing at Alexander. “Has anything gone missing a
round here? He’s a thief. I have a list of items that went missing and signed affidavits swearing it could only have been him.”
For the first time in my life I was so angry I was sure steam was coming out of my ears. I was used to being humiliated, but to spin her web of bullshit so I was someone no one would trust again was a joke, as she was the biggest snake of them all.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought that was payment for the years of working for the coven without wages,” I seethed, but then smirked at her when she flinched. “Isn’t that why they’ve thrown those items at me? I only took what had been literally thrown at me. How did I not know that meant I couldn’t keep it? I wasn’t paid anything else.”
“That’s enough,” Davin growled as he came towards me.
I flinched in fear, knowing how much he liked to hurt me, but then suddenly he wasn’t there. I blinked, and Seth was blocking me, and Ryan was easily holding Davin back.
“Take your hands off my son this instant,” Sara demanded.
“Son?” Alexander asked, glancing between us again.
My eyes went wide as I realized what else was going on. “She left that out, huh? Yeah, Davin’s my half-brother. I’m a bastard of the Orlando coven leader.” I met Sara’s angry gaze. “My mother is a skank who slept with a mated man and got pregnant, thinking that was her ticket to an easy life as a mistress, but instead, he demanded she get an abortion.”
Several people gasped. It was a cardinal sin of vampires to abort a baby since it was harder for us to have children and people didn’t survive their transition. For a coven leader to be caught trying for that would be seriously bad.
Which was how my mother had gotten a huge fucking payoff.
“She wouldn’t, getting him on tape demanding it,” I continued, my eyes locked with Sara’s. “Instead she had me and dumped me off on my father after he signed whatever she wanted to be paid off yearly if she never told anyone about the tapes.”
“How do you know this?” Alexander asked me, holding up a hand to Sara to cut her off.
I finally looked at him when I saw Zach was right there in case Sara tried anything. “I’ve met my mother. She’s a slimy, horrible person. She never apologized for abandoning me or the life I’ve had to live by her dumping me with my father, his mate, and his other son, but instead, told me everything when I was old enough to understand so I was her witness in case she ever had an ‘accident’ so they didn’t have to pay her anymore.”
“Have you heard the tapes?”
“Yes,” I answered, much to Sara’s shock. “And I know where the copy is hidden to be sent to the council if she dies.” I smirked at Sara. “I honestly felt bad for you when I met my mother, you and Davin getting dragged into my father’s affair and all of that. But then I remembered you’re a monster, and I don’t blame him for cheating on his mate when that mate was you.”
“Watch it, servant,” Sara hissed. “You still have charges to answer to.” She waved a piece of paper in front of her.
I watched as Councilman Ashton snagged it and quickly glanced over it. “This doesn’t mean a thing. This isn’t from the Southern Council. Covens can’t hold hearings or dole out any justice. Any suspected crimes have to be turned over to the council for an investigation.” He glanced at me then. “Do they do this often?”
“Yes, always,” I whispered, not hiding my shock well. “She and my father are judge, jury, and executioners.”
“That’s a lie,” Davin argued, looking relieved when he saw someone in the crowd. “Ronny, tell them that’s not true and that Jayme’s the problem here.”
I glanced at my brother’s friend that had checked me onto the flight, and the next surprise came when he threw back his head and burst out laughing.
“You are such a fucking moron,” Ronny said with a gasp, trying to calm down. “I bet you spun this as my sneaking on the plane to bust everyone who ran and betrayed the coven, right? The good friend who tailed after them?” He waited until it was clear to everyone David did think that. “I hate you. I’ve always hated you. You’re a spoiled bully who has the IQ of a rock most days.
“I organized the group to get out. I’ve been trying to find a way out of Orlando since I was ten and realized you and most of the coven were fucking nuts. I nodded along with whatever you said and waited until I could get away, get others out, including Jayme.” He shot me a sad look. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out sooner, Jayme. I just didn’t know where to send you or who to tell that could do something. I thought maybe culinary school—”
“You told that coven leader who visited that I made the desserts,” I surmised.
He nodded. “I thought it was a real way out for you, gushing about how good you were and all you wanted was to go to culinary school but you were a poor orphan that no one would take a chance on. She knew I was lying but wanted to help. But they wouldn’t let you go.”
London snorted. “Because he could take the coven.” He did a double take at whatever was on my face. “You didn’t know, huh? Yeah, you’re a child of the coven leader. It’s not first born or only males, hasn’t been for a while. If he decided to step down, you could force a vote, and the coven would decide between you and Davin.”
“All I wanted was to not be part of that coven,” I whispered in horror. “There’s no way I’d ever want to take over.” I blinked at Sara. “I was running from you. I don’t want it.”
She snorted this time. “Of course you did. You left to find supporters so you could come back and try to take over. You’ve always been weaseling your way to get close to people and—”
“You are insane!” I bellowed, sounding hysterical to my own ears. “I hate that place. I hate Orlando. I hate most of that coven and prayed lots of nights for zakasacs to eat you and your friends. Yeah, sure, I’ll try to take over when most abused me. I’ve lost count how many dumped coffee on me or threw hot food on me because it amused you. Oh, forget the fact that coven doctor wouldn’t help me during my transition or—”
“I’m sorry, what?” Ashton demanded, his eyes burning with anger too.
“He wouldn’t help me,” I whispered, scrubbing my hands over my hair. “I reminded him that it was almost my birthday, and he refused to help me, said not to come to the infirmary because he wouldn’t help me.”
“Well, he’s dead,” Ashton drawled, nodding when I looked at him. “Any coven leadership or medical staff that refuses treatment during a transition is basically committing murder, Jayme.”
“And that was the plan,” I realized, rubbing my hand over my chest. “I died in the laundry room, and it wasn’t his fault since I didn’t ask for help or come to the infirmary. Except I was scared Davin would mess with me then, so I hid in the attic until it was over and then snuck out from there to get my bags in the garage and catch the plane to come here.”
“Holy fuck, Jayme,” Ryan whispered, tears filling his eyes. “You’re lucky you survived or didn’t attack someone.”
“I didn’t know that until I got here,” I admitted. “Apparently no one prepared me because they didn’t plan on me surviving.” I let out a nervous, hysterical sort of laugh. “Fuck it.” I looked at Davin. “You know she’s screwing the head butler, right? She bitches and moans about how she’s the victim of Father’s affairs, and her lover lives in the coven. Then again, have you seen Father lately? He’s traveling, right?
“How many years has he been traveling now? Several and only comes back when you’re gone? Right, he hasn’t been coming back. Or it’s her friends who say they’ve seen him when traveling. But he calls you. You get calls and messages from him, you’re thinking. Oh, yeah, but head butler guy is really good with computers and like voice altering stuff, so that’s not a big leap to make. He enjoyed scaring the shit out of me with that when I was younger.”
“Wow, there is so much fear coming off of her that apparently Jayme is completely right,” Proximo informed us. He glanced at me. “How long have you known?”
I shrugged. �
��I didn’t. I thought maybe or certain things were hinky, but it seemed too far over the line. Apparently that line had me dying at my transition instead of just letting me leave and live on my own so, you know, doesn’t seem that out there anymore.” I looked at Ashton. “That whole coven is a nest. The more I’ve heard everyone talk about what a nest is like and the signs—everyone that didn’t leave is just like that.”
“He’s right,” Ronny agreed. “I thought every coven was like that until I met Liam and realized they weren’t. It was then I realized a lot of things weren’t like they should be. I found and sent what I could, but I couldn’t ever get the right passwords.”
To which I rattled them off. I shrugged again. “I was just the indentured servant and dog apparently. People said shit in front of me all of the time because who was I going to tell? I know bank accounts and tons of everything from cleaning her room for so many years.”
Sara launched for me, but Seth easily caught her, his hand around her throat. “I dare you. And before you’re stupid and take the risk because I’m just a warrior that you think you could cover it up, I’m Seth Curry, eldest son of the Phoenix coven leader.”
“You’re the son of a coven leader?” I asked him, my eyes going wide.
He glanced at me over his shoulder. “You’re the son of a coven leader?”
“Right, that’s fair,” I muttered, bobbing my head. “He doesn’t acknowledge me though, and I’m a bastard. Sort of different from being first born.” I winced. “Your dad’s bullied me. That’s seriously awkward. I didn’t make the connection with Curry. He said my food was shit but then offered to take me off their hands. So he liked it. Wow. Okay then.”
“Are you having a nervous breakdown?” Verge asked me gently.
“I feel like when I got off the plane and everything hurt and was too loud and like I was slipping before I fainted.”
“That’s a panic attack,” Seneca said as he was suddenly in front of me, snapping his fingers. “You’re going into shock. Listen to me now that they can’t take you back, okay? We like you and have adopted you.”