by Flynn Eire
“Who are you to say that?” Davin demanded. “He’s got charges to answer to.”
I watched as Nero went right over and took the paper from Ashton, ripping it up into pieces. “We’re Wyrok, stupid. Did you really just think you could fly out here and lie to warriors?”
“Yes, because they think they’re smart and all warriors are stupid,” I whispered, spots forming in front of my eyes. “They wanted me dead, not just to beat me. All the abuse I took, and I was never going to survive it. That’s so much worse. At least leave me be if you were going to kill me off. I always wondered how they thought I was just going to stay there forever once I was an adult. I was going to be dead.”
“Trade with me,” Seth asked Seneca. Then he was in front of me. “Zach, unload whatever was in the ATV and bring food to the infirmary. He needs a time out.”
“No, the party,” I whispered, sounding distant to my own ears. “Everyone’s so excited about the party.” He tried to reach for me, but I shoved his arms away. “No! I want to do the party. I want to have sex with you after the party. I don’t want to start the New Year being this same Jayme. I want to be the Jayme that has a place, here, friends, and the best boyfriend like ever. I want to be that Jayme.”
“You are, sweetie,” he promised, cupping my cheek. “You are. You already are, so midnight or any other time isn’t more important than taking care of you. You’re still recovering and almost died. Please don’t let them hurt you anymore.”
“Maybe you’re not useless if you snagged the eldest Curry,” Sara muttered.
“She seriously doesn’t get that she’s done and it’s over,” London muttered, rubbing his fingers over his forehead. “She’s totally delusional. She’s been so warped in her own corner kingdom of Orlando that she truly thinks she’s untouchable.”
I nodded. “My father and Davin are like that. They’re always able to worm their way out of whatever. My mother too.” I flinched. “FYI, don’t let her come here. All she’ll see is available men with money who are weak and her charms will work on and pop out more kids.”
“Yes, she has used that shtick several times,” Sara drawled.
I blinked at her, understanding she meant I had other half siblings, and my vision went from spots to everything dark.
“Time to party,” Seth told me when I woke up. I blinked at him, and he smiled. “Sara and Davin are gone. They were flown to the Midwest Council headquarters and are being held there while an investigation is being done, but given how much Helios already made them confess to as they tried to abduct you, it’s a pretty clear cut case, so we’re going to have fun.”
I rubbed my eyes and realized all I wanted was to go back to bed, tired after my outburst and drama. He seemed to realize that and reminded me I was needed to get things started since I was the one who knew how to make mochi and had been working with Manny and several others on the hot pots.
That worked. I couldn’t be the reason New Year’s was messed up for others. I also worked on something on the side that I thought would be fun too.
We headed over to Nero’s where everything was set up and people were bringing more of what was needed. I decided to push all the ugly aside for the day and enjoy my hard work, cry later after I accepted it. I wasn’t sure, but I was putting pause on it.
Adults could do that, right?
We started by getting the rice out of the water and three batches into the steamer since that would take an hour. It was easy to forget my troubles when the Curry brothers immediately jumped in to do whatever I needed, acting like cute—but massive—puppies who wanted treats after.
Grills from the camp and a bunch of new ones for the finished houses were set up at my instruction, the right kind of outdoor or grilling pots on them.
“Okay, I get that we’re using the grills to have outdoor cooking,” Seth said as he lugged over a huge table with Ryan for the buffet of ingredients to be set up on the side of the concrete patio closest to the kitchen. “But what is with those massive hanging cauldrons with fires under them? I thought you’ve been making the soup stock for weeks with Manny?”
“I have, that’s for seafood stock,” I explained. “Alastair ordered a shit ton of seafood like he sent his mate when they were courting or something. Zibon heard seafood hot pots are the best, and Alastair asked me what was needed, and the man went way overboard.”
“Because seafood broth is made with shells and heads and whatnot,” Zach said as he brought over another pot. He shrugged when his siblings gave him a funny look. “You’re dating someone who went to culinary school. I got interested and was looking at cooking shows on YouTube. I wanted to know more about hot pots too.”
“Isn’t it fun to watch how other cultures do things differently, but really every culture has soups and is so alike each other?” I asked, smiling when he did. We kept talking as more and more prep was done. By then everything was finished and we had a lot of people ready for fun. I went right over to Alexander and Dimitri, giving them each a mallet. “You guys get to go first since you made this such a good place a haven could be built here.”
“Thanks, Jayme,” Dimitri whispered, his eyes filled with emotions as he took it. I didn’t know everything, but I did know there had been a lot of shit and a lot dumped on them as the bosses. They also did a lot of good, and that couldn’t ever be forgotten. Alexander thanked me when I handed him one too.
“Okay, I need the kettle of hot water,” I told Verge who had been a huge help too because he said he planned to eat lots of it. At least he helped.
He brought it out and filled the stone pounding bowl that was normally on a wooden table meant for this, but Nero had been smart and gotten a stone one since vampires were doing it. Zach set the first batch of rice with it, and I showed them how to use the mallets to knead the rice so it mashed together and didn’t go flying when hit. A few minutes of that and we were ready.
“Rotate hitting it,” I told them after I had them dip their mallets in water so they didn’t stick to the rice. “Ten hits and flip the bundle over.”
Matteo offered to do that, pulling up a cooler of drinks that didn’t need ice in it since it was fucking freezing out. The kilns were going in the garage, so with the doors open and all the grills and fire pits it wasn’t too bad.
After the first few rounds and people got the idea, I called the three of them over to the first pot on the grill. “So pick out what you want in your hot pot, and it cooks while you smash mochi. Meat and seafood take longer, and this is the base stock, which we were doing a mix of what bones and whatever we had.”
“‘Whatever we had?’” Alexander asked, not looking too thrilled at that.
I couldn’t help but giggle, fully understanding that. “So one of the things we learned first in culinary school is don’t be wasteful. First, new restaurants can fail because they’re not using their resources properly and have too high of costs. Second, there’s a use for it all so be smart. Italy’s a lot like that too, so I got it from when staying at the coven too. You don’t toss the tops of celery stalks, you use them in broth.
“Bones from dinner go in the broth. Carrot peels. Potato peels. All of that goes in the broth along with leftovers from the salad bar. You roast a chicken and don’t make a broth with that carcass and there will be some Italian grandma smacking you with something for being so wasteful because it’s right there for what you needed instead of buying cubes for broth.”
“Got it. So it’s a hodgepodge of everything that comes together well,” Alexander muttered, bobbing his head. “That was how I grew up because there were no convenience stores to stop by at all hours or whatever.”
“So this is your pot, your base,” I told them then brought them over to the array of additives, spices, and sauces they could add.
“Sweetie, start out with what you’d do because you’re going to make our brains hurt,” Seth suggested.
“Right, okay, I can do that. I don’t like spicy, but I love savory soups, and hot p
ot isn’t made for creamy soups, but I put a bit of soy milk in my bowl when it’s done because it’s a splash of richness that’s really good.”
“Teach us, Yoda,” Dimitri teased me, giving a wink when I glanced at him.
So I did. I set up their pot with the right extras before we talked about what food they wanted and the fact it had to be cooked at different times. It made sense that a crab cooked longer than cabbage or mushrooms especially since I didn’t like them cooked all the way. That was why hot pot was so cool, as it was completely customizable all in one meal to satisfy so many.
“Why don’t you start with the first six of your stuff and people can branch out after getting a chance to see what they like?” Nero suggested, looking like he was about to burst out laughing as Verge couldn’t seem to decide what to put in their pot and was seconds from putting everything in.
“That might be best,” I agreed. I started adding the seafood and then moved a tray of dumplings we’d made the past few days once Nero got the filling machine over the top of the pots to steam. Then I quickly got some scrambled eggs going on the skillet on a grill, shrugging when I got some confused looks. “If you like eggs in fried rice, lots like them in ramen. I love them in my hot pots. A few other things too.”
“Like what?” Seth whispered as he leaned in as if expecting he was the only one to get my secrets even if we both knew everyone could hear us.
“Cheese,” I hissed back, nodding when he gave me a look like I might be teasing him. “Once you have the bowl with noodles and ingredients, I put a few slices of cheese over it. It gets melty and gooey and so damn good. Especially muenster. You get some freshly sliced muenster or Colby jack cheese that has a bit of oil to it and it melts over the top and into the broth, and I promise you that you will like it.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You get to eat me instead,” I promised.
He nodded and then growled as I added more to the hot pots. “Hey, you already said I could do that.”
“I’m that confident you’ll like it,” I giggled, laughing even harder when he pouted. Wow, I even liked his pouting. Was this what love was?
Yeah, I was totally in love with Seth.
Awesome.
7 ~ Seth
People were completely sold on hot pots, like completely sold after they started tasting them. It was hysterical to see a bunch of warriors get so into what was in their pot and if someone snagged what they put in for themselves. Nate about throttled his friend Wally when Wally had taken the crabs the second they were done for him and Roarke.
And it was fun. Everyone was having much needed fun, including Jayme who was racing all around to give instructions or add something to any of the pots or refill ingredients. Everything he made was delicious, and honestly I saw way too many checking him out for the catch he was that the moment his back was turned I was growling at people that we were together.
“How come we have to wait to eat the mochi?” Zach demanded. “I spent all that time pounding it. I want to eat it.”
“No more sake for him,” Ryan drawled, the rest of us nodding. He got whiney when drunk.
“You can have it,” Jayme told him with a shrug. “It’s better after it’s cooled in the fridge and sat a bit. Think of it like apple pie or apple pie right out of the oven and all nice and warm and extra nummy that way.”
“I do like extra nummy,” Zach grumbled, bobbing his head. “Okay, I’ll make s’mores then.”
That had been something extra from Evan, Ashton, Drake, and London for everyone. They figured if there were going to be grills and fires going, then we needed s’mores and had ordered a crap ton of everything.
“Hey, did you reduce the alcohol on these Kinky balls?” Verge called over. “This mochi filling tastes different than the ones I snagged before.”
Jayme shook his head. “No, I put in the same amount.” He went pale as his eyes bugged out. “Oh crap, I put in the same amount, but I did half sized batches for tasting. There was twice as much booze in those then. No wonder we got so drunk.”
“That works perfectly then,” I said easily, knowing Jayme was over stressed already. “They were extra boozy for the adult cookie pops or whatever, which was perfect, but less so now when it’s going to be mochi filling.”
“That is better,” Jayme agreed, giving me a relieved look before something caught his eye. “Lobster shells in the cauldrons please. We’re going to make seafood soups and chowder with those. Also anything you didn’t like.”
“There’s not a lot of wasted food with this group,” I chuckled.
He shrugged. “I figured not everyone would like the different mushrooms or veggies. Even the tofu someone gobbles up if another doesn’t like it. It’s nice. It’s like how a coven should be. Like the one in Italy was. No one hungry, no one forgotten, and everyone acting like a family should.”
“It is nice there is a coven like that,” Morggyan said as she sat down with us. “That was always supposed to be how they were, the plan for them instead of only families and their castles and the risk of bloodlines getting wiped out because we couldn’t protect all of them. Being able to mate and find the one right for you because no longer were people so far out of reach.”
“It was a nice idea, but bad people made it not work, not the ones who came up with the plan,” Jayme told her gently before offering her some more to eat. He was better with people than he thought because I’d seen him comfort someone but then not stay on that topic, as he’d just done several times that day. Alexander and Dimitri seemed lighter just by what he’d done earlier, thanking them for what they’d done and having them go first as the bosses.
It was probably hard on them with the ancients and a councilman there all the time. No one seemed to really try to take over, but so many cooks in the kitchen couldn’t be ignored either.
“Yeah, I don’t want to hear her on politics,” Darrell, one of Jordan’s apprentices said to Alexis as they helped add in more food and stir the hot pots, talking about some big name celeb who’d just made a splash by supporting a candidate for a special election. “I just don’t. She’s not a politician or anyone who should be speaking on what she doesn’t know. She’s a singer, and what does she know about that stuff?”
“How do you know she doesn’t know about that stuff?” Alexis shot right back. “You assume she doesn’t know. For all you know, she’s got piles of political books she’s read.”
“I doubt that.”
“But you want her money, right?” Jayme threw in, fire in his eyes which made him extra sexy to me. “Everyone’s always complaining that the rich or celebs don’t do enough and have all that money, but she should keep her mouth shut? News flash, she’s always been political, you just weren’t paying attention. She’s a huge advocate for wildlife conservation, donated the proceeds from a few different songs for that.
“Hi, that’s a political issue. She donates for cancer research, which, wait, the budget was cut for by politicians. So she puts in to cover where the government hasn’t done what they should, and then you’re annoyed she says anything about which way she votes or comments on politics? Wow, that sounds like crap. There’s a country that’s against taxation without representation. I know there is. It’s how the country started. Wait, I know the name.”
“I’m with him,” Jordan said as he came and grabbed some more food. “It’s also indicative of how sexist our culture is. There are tons of big name male celebs who are outspoken in politics, but when it’s a woman, suddenly people are saying they don’t want to hear it. Or she’s young. Yes, but at her age, it would be frowned upon for a man to not have knowledge in politics.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Darrell admitted. “I’m just tired of everything being politics. Can’t there just be stuff that’s not on a side? I just want to listen to her music, not her message.”
Jayme snorted. “Then you haven’t been paying attention to her music because there are lots of messages in it. And why sh
ould she be silenced, her right to free speech and say what she feels, because of what you want? So she can only open her mouth when it’s music but be quiet the rest of the time? Bull. It’s a thing because she’s female, young, and on the left. If she was on the right, everything would be pushing for her to be the voice of this generation.”
“Why are you getting so hot about this?” Darrell asked quietly, taken aback by the tone of what Jayme was saying.
He met his gaze full on. “Because I was silenced my whole life until I came here. No one should be silenced. I don’t care if everything she says is crazy. It’s not, but if it was, she still has the right to say it all and not be silenced. Personally, I’d like to know instead of being ignorant. I’d like to know if she’s a hater or a freak I would never support.
“It’s better than people not knowing and praising someone like Henry Ford who was a Nazi sympathizer and helped Nazi Germany. He used camps there for workers for Ford products that helped slaughter people. But hey, yeah, praise him as someone of American ingenuity when he was for killing Jews. I’d rather know that. I’m tired of the lies that Columbus was anything but a mass murderer.”
“I didn’t know that about Ford,” Darrell admitted, looking taken aback and like he’d stepped on a land mine he didn’t mean to. “And I agree I’d like to know that too. You’re right no one should be silenced, and I’m tired of the lies too. I get what you’re saying, I do. I didn’t think of it like that. And you’re right that if she was on the right, the PR would be spinning she was awesome instead of attacking her.”
“But?” Jayme asked when he stopped talking.
“I don’t think there is a ‘but,’” he sighed. “I’m just tired of all the politics and lies. I want a safe space where I can get a break from it. You’re right that ignorance is dangerous, but fuck, sometimes I want it.”
“No you don’t, it would just be easier, and too much is too hard,” Jayme said gently. “They’re already all in politics, and personally I think it’s a shame more don’t use their platforms to say what needs to be said. The other side is, so why should we keep quiet?”