by Mary Martel
Ignoring his angry glare that promised me violence if I didn't answer him, I gestured towards the building and asked, "Do you know what this place is?"
Rain sneered at me before pursing his lips and looking around, taking in our surroundings. His brow scrunched up and he shook his head.
"I've never been here before," he growled dangerously and I knew if I didn't start talking soon, he'd kick my ass.
"I thought you'd be interested to know," I hurried to get out, "that an old, blind witch used to own this building and she ran a shop called Fortunes for the Unfortunate. She was hiding out in plain sight from the Council. Uncle Quint and I have been going through journals she kept and we found out some interesting things. According to her written words, people have been coming here for years, looking for sanctuary and hiding from the Council. She had a whole network of people helping her out but never actually says who they are. She also kept records of everyone who ever walked into the building. Some of them she sensed magic in but not enough they'd register on anyone else's radar as a witch. But they bought instruments of magic, so she knew they were practicing in secret and hiding what they were. There's a lot of shit that the Council would want to get their hands on that we are going to need to figure out how to keep safe. There's also a lot of journals left that Uncle Quint and I haven't had a chance to read through yet. There's just too many of them for the two of us. And, there's boxes of other shit in the basement and after going through it for hours on end, Uncle Quint and I figured out that not all of it belonged to the old woman. Some of it belonged to the people who sought out sanctuary here. She kept what they couldn't take into hiding with them, in hopes of one day they might come back for it or send word to her on where to send it. I can't bring myself to throw the shit out but it needs to be gone through and properly sorted and labeled. I-"
Rain impatiently cut me off. "What the fuck are you telling me all of this for?"
He sounded angry, but I wasn't stupid and I didn't miss the way his lanky body had stiffened or the way his green eyes, the exact same shade as Ariel’s, had widened when I'd gotten down to business. This shit was right up his alley and he was perfect for it.
"Shop needs a guardian, so to speak," I told him and he raised a dark eyebrow in surprise. "There's also an empty apartment upstairs." I failed to mention that it was a dump, but whatever, he didn't need to know that bit just yet. "I figured with you doing what you do and all, and you being estranged now because you've been hunting for Ariel for so long, well..."
I trailed off. Shit. Maybe this wasn't such a hot idea.
Rain rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. Standing on the sidewalk in his long black trench coat and shitkickers on his feet and the dead eyes in his face, he stood out like a sore thumb. Perhaps we shouldn't have done this in broad daylight and instead met up at night where he would have blended in with the shadows. People'd be staring soon if we didn't go inside.
I shrugged uncomfortably. "I know you're looking to spend more time with Ariel and I thought you'd fit in here perfectly. The old witch was able to work her shop here without drawing any unwanted attention to herself and the Council never knew she was here all this time. It'd be a safe place for you to hang out and the perfect place for you to work with Ariel on all that you want to teach her without having the other guys hovering over the two of you while you do it. I also heard you were looking for a place to stay that was closer to Ariel and not with the rest of us. Two birds, one stone."
He crossed his arms over his chest and a hint of black ink peeked out from under his sleeve. I'd never gotten to see his tattoos because I'd never seen him without long sleeves on but I was curious because I'd heard some of them were spells and held magic and I had never heard of such a thing before Uncle Quint had forced my tattoo on me. It wasn’t something commonly practiced.
"Why would my daughter be spending time here?" He growled at me. "Is Dash kicking her out?"
I blinked at him.
"What?" I asked. "Why would Dash ever kick her out?"
Rain's lip curled in a sneer. "Why the fuck do any of you ever do anything? I worry about her there with him. He's damaged because of what's been done to him and it's no secret he doesn't think much of women outside of what they can do for his dick."
A blast of heat rolled off of him and smacked into me. I stumbled back a foot and almost went down to a knee. I held my hand up, palm out, trying to ward off another blow.
Shit and damn, this was not good.
I tried to reason with him.
"I don't know how you missed it, but Dash is all about Ariel now and he'd never do anything to hurt her. He'd never cheat on her and he sure as shit wouldn't kick her out of the cottage. If it were up to him she'd live out there with him for forever."
The heat scorching my skin slowly retreated and I could finally breathe again. I rubbed my arms, my skin felt tight. I looked at my exposed arms and groaned. There was a faint pink tinge to my skin, testifying to the fact I'd been fried.
This was not going nearly as good as I had foreseen it going.
"If he hurts her," Rain growled menacingly, "I will tear his heart out with my bare hands. The same goes for the rest of you bastards."
Eyes wide, I nodded.
"Got it," I mumbled as I continued to rub at my arms. "I'll spread the word to the others."
Secretly, I hoped he had this talk with each and every one of them and deep fried their asses as well. I didn't want to be the only one, might as well spread the love around a bit.
Then, for some insane reason, I decided to overshare. "I bought the building partly because my dad always told me that we needed to do whatever was in our power to help the old broad even when she so obviously didn't want handouts from us. So, I bought the building partly out of guilt. The other part of me did it for Ariel. She told me this story once about going out on a date with this guy and him taking her to a carnival or fair or what the fuck ever it was.” Holy fuck, I was rambling and I couldn’t seem to shut my stupid mouth and continued.
“She said there was a fortune teller’s stand and she had wanted so badly to get her cards read. Unfortunately, she had no money of her own and her date had called the whole thing stupid and refused to pay for what he considered a waste of time and money because the lady was a phony. Ever since, I had promised I would read the cards for her and teach her how to read them herself. Something always happens, we are always too busy and I have just kept pushing it further back. I guess I thought," I paused as I waved both my hands uselessly towards the building, "she'd really get a kick out of this place."
Shit, I shouldn't have told him about her date sucking so bad, he didn't need to know that. Actually, he didn't need to know most of what I'd blurted out. Christ, maybe it was contagious, usually it was Ariel blurting everything out and now I was doing it. She was starting to rub off on me.
Rain eyed me curiously and I watched in fascination as life slowly bled back into his beautifully sad eyes. I couldn't feel weird calling his eyes beautiful when they were almost identical to my girls’ eyes.
Rain cocked his head to the side as he studied me, his eyes going from my boots all the way up to the top of my head, measuring me up. I stood tall and let him look his full. I wasn't going to flinch or wilt under his dark, careful gaze.
Finally, after what felt like hours, he asked, "What does everyone else have to say about you buying a building out of guilt and your love for their girl?"
Without thought, I replied, "She's my girl, too, and I could give a fuck less about what anybody else thinks."
The corner of his lips curled upwards in the ghost of a smile.
"You've got really big balls, kid," he mumbled under his breath. "I'll give you that."
He was wrong. My balls were average in size. My dick, though, was an entirely different story.
Seeing as the only person besides myself who'd be enjoying my big dick from now until the day I died was his daughter, I felt it best no
t to share with him and kept my mouth shut. I didn't need to give him any more reasons to want to kick my ass, at least, not until the pink on my skin had faded back to its normal tan. If he had another go at me right now, I'd likely end up with major burns instead of the ones I had now that would be gone in a day or two.
Rain was flat out grinning at me now and there was a weird, wild light in his eyes that kind of terrified me. At least when his eyes were dead I knew what to expect from him. It reminded me of Ariel. She often got a weird light in her eyes before saying or doing something nutty. I had a feeling this was something she'd inherited from her father.
Without a word, Rain turned his back on me and headed down the sidewalk, towards the front door to my building.
Guess we were going inside after all. I sighed in relief, happy that crazy light in his eyes didn't mean he was ready to fry me again.
He spoke over his shoulder as he walked. "Did you know that your Uncle offered me room and board at the house beside Marcus's?"
My eyes widened in surprise. I hadn't actually known that Uncle Quint had offered him a room at our house. Wasn't that something he should have asked the rest of us who lived there with him about first? That arrogant fuck Quinton didn't give two shits about what the rest of us thought. He wanted to keep Rain close so he could keep an eye on him, no matter what we wanted and no matter how buddy-buddy they seemed.
"You didn't know, did you?" Rain asked when I failed to respond.
I shoved my way past him and pulled my keys out of my front pants pocket. They jingled as I searched for the right one. I found it and inserted it into the deadbolt. I turned the key and heard the click of the bolt coming free. I twisted my key back before pulling it free of the lock and sliding it back into the front pocket of my jeans.
Hands free, I twisted the knob and pushed my way inside. The bell jingled to life above me, signaling the arrival of a newcomer. Sadly, there was no old, blind chick left to hear it. The obituary had said she'd died of natural causes and I hoped it was true and had nothing to do with magic. That could cause me a whole new level of problems I didn't want to bring down on my coven.
Ignoring how freaked out that made me feel, I told Rain over my shoulder, "No, I did not know that Uncle Quint offered you a place to stay in our house. I don't mind, though." That was a lie because I kind of did mind, I thought we should have had a vote about it or something. "And I know the other guys won't mind you living there either." Now this last part, I wasn't sure if it was a lie or not but I didn't feel bad about telling it if it was.
"I turned him down," he told me as I heard the door close behind him.
I found the switch for the shitty lights and flipped them on.
"Why?" I asked curiously as I turned and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Because my sister is buried in the basement," he told me bluntly.
My eyes widened in shock and I fought the urge to take a step back away from him. He didn't seem upset but he was a volatile man, he'd already fried me once with his magic, I wasn't looking for another go around with it. He was unpredictable and slightly unstable, it would seem. I knew there was no love lost between him and his sister, but death did strange things to people, it made you care when you wouldn't have before.
"Who told you that?" I whispered. No one should have shared that little secret with anyone. It was something we were taking to our own damn graves.
He arched an arrogant eyebrow and mimicked my arms crossed over my chest. "No one told me, boy. Now that I know she's dead, it made tracking her ass down way easier and I used magic to find her body. Why's she down there?"
Why, indeed.
"Fertilizer," I said dryly. "Julian claims the life force comes up outta the ground and goes into the plants he's got cooking down there."
"You got any other dead bodies buried down there?" He asked seriously.
That was none of his damn business, and he knew it. I gave that question the lack of a reply that it deserved.
He shrugged and chuckled before gesturing around the room and asking, "Do you mind?"
"By all means," I muttered ungraciously.
He wandered around touching things gingerly and without asking questions. Before I knew it we were upstairs in the apartment. I stayed by the door and let him wander around at his leisure. When he was done he gestured towards the door and we went back downstairs. I unlocked the offices and let us in. I'd saved the basement room for last.
"This'll do nicely," he told me.
I cocked my head to the side and asked, "Nicely for what?" I wasn't following.
"For where I'm going to live," he stated simply.
That wasn't exactly the plan. I had thought he'd want to live upstairs after it was remodeled. This space was cold and not homey in the slightest. Then again, it wasn't like Rain was a warm and cuddly guy.
"What are you going to do with that shit hole upstairs?" He asked.
"Gut it," I answered immediately. "I already hired a team to come in and do it. Then everything will be nice and new up there. Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a nice and new apartment than this space?"
"This space is clean," he told me. "And the right size for me. I don't have a lot of stuff and what I do have is safely locked up in storage. I'll hire a company to get out some furniture and some of my other shit and have it brought here. I-"
"We actually have a storage facility," I shared helpfully. "Uncle Quint rents some of the units out but most of it he keeps freed up for the rest of us. I have a unit I use to keep a lot of my parents’ things in and I know the twins have some things stored in a unit, too. We've got lots of furniture if you need anything and I'm sure Uncle Quint would let you have a unit for yourself seeing as your family now and all."
He studied me curiously and I was really getting sick of him doing that. It's like he took in everything and wasn't impressed by anything.
"Appreciate it," he grunted. "I'll talk to Quint. Do you have a spare set of keys for me?"
I did and told him so. I had spares made for Ariel and Quinton as well. The rest of them could ask first and I'd have a set made up for them. I didn't think it wise to tell Rain I'd given a set of keys to his new apartment to my Uncle. That was a gross invasion of privacy on a whole new level that he was better off not knowing.
"When's Ariel coming?" He changed the subject by asking me.
"Was she supposed to be coming?" I asked back. I hadn't told her anything about the place yet, I had been avoiding her like a little weak, bitch since the day after that douche bag Chuck died. I didn't like the way she'd looked at me with something not right in her eyes. Not accusation, exactly, but more like she had no idea who I was anymore. And I was fucking terrified she'd be afraid of me now, or not like me anymore. I couldn't handle something like that so I'd been avoiding her in order to not have to face the possibilities.
Rain glared at me. "You got a problem with my daughter?" He snarled at me, all signs of friendly long gone. We were in hostile territory and I needed to tread carefully here or he'd fry my ass again. It was a trick I needed him to teach me, for protection purposes, of course.
"No," I told him honestly. "I'm worried she's going to have a problem with me."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" He snapped at me. "It's obvious she's in this for the long haul with your coven. Why are you making shit up when there's nothing there? It's stupid to create trouble where there is none."
I sighed heavily as I turned my back on him and walked towards the door. We were done here, I was ready to get out of this place.
Rain grabbed ahold of my shoulder and forced me to stop. I whirled around and snarled in his face. "Keep your fucking hands off of me."
"Stop acting like a rabid dog," he snarled right back, leaning into my face. "And tell me what the hell your problem is."
I shrugged his arm off and moved back a step, beyond angry at him having put his hands on me.
"Don't you ever put your hands on me," I gritted out as I took a
nother step back and away from him. I did it because I didn't trust myself to be within arms reach of him because I really wanted to put my hands on him in return and it wouldn't do to hit Ariel's dad. I already had enough problems.
"What's your problem with my daughter?" He repeated on a low growl. His green eyes were burning with rage and I took another step back. This put me closer to the door but I wasn't fooled, I wouldn't make it before he got to me if he wanted.
"I told you," I snarled, "I don't have a fucking problem with her. Right now, the only problem I have is with you grabbing on to me and thinking it's okay to get up in my shit when it's not. You need to back the fuck off right now before things get any worse here for us and we can't go back from it."
"I'll back off when you tell me what's going on," he shot back. "She's my daughter and she means everything to me. I'll not get her back after all this time just to watch you mess things up for her. You better start talking, boy, and I'm not joking."
I was shaking as my back hit the door. It was an effort to control my rage, I usually didn't have this amount of control over my reactions and usually just let it all out when I got pissed. It never really ended well when I acted rashly, but it was a personality flaw I was working hard to change and failing spectacularly at. His words, though, grounded me in a way I'd never been grounded before and took some of my rage away.
"She watched me shove him," I said in a shaky, flat voice. "Then he fell to his death. Because of me. And, what's worse, is I don't even think that's what bothered her but the fact I didn't care about it afterwards. While she was crying and upset because she'd just watched someone die, all I cared about was the fact he was finally dead and gone and maybe because of it my family could breathe a little easier. I kept seeing her face up all cut up and bleeding while Dash was on the ground in a fucking bloody mess and I did not give two shits that that piece of garbage was dead. And, what's worse than that? I was pissed at her that she could even shed a fucking tear for him and felt a little betrayed that she cared so much when I didn't think she should have cared at all. I know how fucked up that is because I know her and I get why that ate her up inside, I really do, but I didn't like it at all. She doesn't do violence very well because she's spent the majority of her life being beaten down and she feels everything deep. It still cut me to see her crying over someone who hurt our family so badly, herself included. I-"
