by Peter Glenn
Mei suppressed a shudder. “Ouch. That bad?”
Sheesh, that had been fifty years ago, and the pain still felt like yesterday. “No, not that bad. Not great, but thankfully not as bad as all that.”
“Thank goodness.” Mei let go of the breath she’d been holding.
“Fei Xhi?” Sevin cocked his head to the side.
“Don’t ask.” Mei and I both said in unison, giving him the stink eye.
Sevin shrank back against the couch and threw his hands up in defense, saying nothing.
“Anyway…” I let out another sigh, “it had all started out so well. I’d made reservations for this really swanky joint downtown like three months ago. Prime table location and everything. Sullivan's Steakhouse.”
Mei nodded appreciatively. “Sullivan's? Isn’t that the place where they employ master sommeliers as waiters and give you personalized, signed photos as parting gifts?”
“Yep.” I nodded, grinning wide. “The one and only.”
“Wow.” Mei seemed taken aback. “You must really care for LaLuna.”
Ugh. The mere mention of her name set me off, filling my stomach with nausea. “Don’t remind me.”
“Sorry.” To her credit, Mei actually looked apologetic. “As you were saying?”
I took a deep breath and started again. “Well, yeah. So anyway, I got the reservation lined up, even got a limo for the drive there and back. And let me tell you, getting a limo to drive you all the way out to Ravensdale is no small feat. That set me back a pretty penny. But for her, it was all worth it.”
Ravensdale was where LaLuna lived. Mei had set her and her baby, Grace, up with a house out there several months ago. It was a great location. Anonymous. Out of the way. Fine qualities in a house, seeing as both of them were hiding from a bloodthirsty fae overlord that wanted them dead. I’d sworn to protect them as well, and visited often. Had visited often, I reminded myself. I wasn’t sure how everything would play out anymore, given how tonight had shaken down. If only I hadn’t been such an idiot.
But this was me we were talking about, so that was a little too much to hope for.
“Damian? You okay?” Mei had gotten up and was hovering a few inches above me, a worried look in her eyes.
Had I drifted off in my thoughts of LaLuna? It was the only reasonable explanation.
“Sorry.” I shook my head and flashed her a weak grin. “Won’t happen again.”
Mei went back to her seat, but she sat in such a way that she could get up again quickly if she needed to. On the one hand, I was a little flattered at how much she cared, but on the other hand, it made me feel like a flake who couldn’t handle a single breakup.
No winners in my head, I guess.
“Where was I?” I said, shaking my head a little to clear the malaise. “Oh, yeah. The dinner went very well. LaLuna ordered the Surf and Turf and I ordered…” my mind went blank. “Well, whatever it was, I’d liked it well enough. Truth be told, I’d been a little too focused on her the whole time to pay much attention to the food. I guess I was nervous.”
I paused for a moment and leaned forward in my seat. “After dinner, we headed back to her place in the limo. I was a little drunk, but in fairness, so was she. The benefits of having someone else drive and all that.” I flashed Mei and Sevin another smile, but they didn’t seem fazed by it. “Tough crowd, I guess. So we arrived at LaLuna’s safe and sound. Grace was at the babysitter's, so LaLuna offered to let me come inside for…”
With their attention on me, I could feel my cheeks burning as I mentally went over that part. I cleared my throat loudly. “We don’t really need to cover that part, do we?”
“Not unless it’s important to the plot,” Mei said with an amused expression.
“Please no, mon ami. I really don’t need ze visual,” Sevin added.
I snorted at Sevin’s remark and dropped that line of thinking. “We’ll just skip over that part, then. So, about thirty minutes later, I–”
Mei choked back a rather unpleasant laugh, and I glared at her.
“Sorry,” she said. She shot me a wry grin. “Keep going, please.”
“Ahem. Twenty minutes later…” I shot her an evil glare but this time she said nothing. “That’s when things took a turn for the worst. We were cuddling in her bed. Her hand was draped lazily on my chest, and my arm was wrapped around her torso. It was nice.”
As I relived the scene in my head, I could feel that sense of comfort returning. That perfect little bit of heaven lying there in her arms after… well, you know. Oh, how I wished I could rewind my life to exactly that moment and do it all over again.
But life doesn’t work like that, kids. Life kinda sucks.
I sucked in a deep breath. My throat felt a little raw, and my eyes were starting to sting like I was going to cry or something, but that wasn’t possible. I didn’t cry, did I?
I continued the tale. “So, as we were laying there, LaLuna, she… she turned her head to look at mine and stared at me with those great big beautiful blue eyes of hers and, well, that’s when it happened.”
“When what happened?” Mei asked. She was gripping the side of the couch so hard her knuckles were starting to turn white, and I feared she’d tear a hole in the armrest.
“Oui, monsieur! What?” Sevin added.
“Umm, well…” How should I put this? What did I say so that they could understand without hating me like LaLuna surely did? I fingered my shirt collar, fanning it a little to cool myself off. I swear, the retelling was worse than the actual thing.
“So, she umm, she… she said ‘I love you’.”
Mei looked like she was about ready to go ballistic. My poor couch groaned under her mighty grip. Oh yeah, it was gonna tear.
She leaned a little closer to me until she was almost off the couch and touching my face with hers. “And?”
Heh. I should have known they wouldn’t understand. I backed up a bit and shrugged. “And that’s it. I freaked out. I ran out of there, barely taking the time to throw on my clothes before I bolted for the limo. I wanted to say something, to make it all make sense, but I… I couldn’t.”
I hung my head in shame. The telling was done. Now the verbal lashings could commence.
“Mon ami!” Sevin roared. He put his hand over his heart and lowered his head as well. “I am so sorry.”
“Me too,” Mei said. She relaxed her grip on the couch’s armrest at last. There was indeed a new tear in the fabric, as well as a deep impression in the shape of her bony little fingers. I hoped that, at least, would go away with time. I could put more duct tape on the tear. It wouldn’t look that out of place. But an impression was harder to cover up.
“It’s okay.” I smacked myself in the chest a few times, nice and hard, then held my hands out to the sides. “You can lay into me; I can take it.” I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath, then waited. “It’s okay, I promise.”
“Mon ami,” Sevin admonished me, “we are here to support you, not harm you further.”
“Y-you’re what now?” I blinked several times and sank back against my chair, unsure of what to think.
“We’re your friends, mon ami, remember? I will not chastise your actions. I am sure you had your reasons, even if I don’t understand them myself.”
I looked at Sevin like he’d grown another head. When had he become the voice of reason?
“What he said, blockhead!” Mei added, nudging her head toward Sevin.
That was better. Somehow Mei’s name calling always made it a little better. Like it was more real that way. It’s not like she was wrong or anything.
But still, I couldn’t shake the feeling of confusion at their reactions. Shouldn’t they hate me, too?
“You mean you’re… you’re not mad at me for wrecking things?” My voice was hesitant.
“Heavens, no!” Mei said. She slapped her thigh and chuckled. “If you hadn’t gone and ruined things with LaLuna at least once by now, that would have been a shocker
.”
“Wh-what?”
Mei shook her head and sighed. “Oh, Damian. You may be over three hundred years old, but when it comes to matters of the heart, you’re still a little fledgling moron.”
Gotta admit, she had a point. And hearing her say it like that made me feel a little better about things, too. She was right. I’d only had like three relationships in my time on this rock, and two of those were arranged by my mother. So I’m not sure those should even count. Not really. I was a neophyte at all of this.
“Thanks, Mei,” I said, grinning at her. “You always know just what to say. And you too, Sevin!” I added quickly. Didn’t want him to think his words hadn’t helped me any.
“Well, I’m glad we could help you,” Mei said. She relaxed against the couch once again. “So, what’s next?”
“Next?” I gave her a blank stare. “What do you mean, next?”
“Your next move, genius. When are you going to go over there and apologize to LaLuna?”
“A-apologize?” Was that even an option?
Mei shook her head again. “Of course, silly. You didn’t think this was the end of your entire relationship, did you? So you freaked at a confession of love. It’s nothing that can’t be repaired.”
It felt like she was talking in a foreign language. Go back over there? Apologize? Keep going? Wouldn’t LaLuna hate my guts? She’d gone all in, and I’d run off. No, I didn’t deserve to even look her in the eyes again. Not anymore.
“Sorry, Mei, I just… I don’t think I–”
“Oh, quit being an idiot!” She waved her hand at me dismissively. For a minute, I thought she’d smack me good and hard—and I’d have earned that—but she stayed put. “You really think LaLuna’s not going to take you back over one little slight?” She sat upright and folded her arms over her chest. “You really have a lot to learn about women, Damian.”
Well, she had that right…
“But–”
“But nothing,” Mei scowled. “I’m not going to let you throw away a five-month relationship over one little mistake. You’re going to march back over there, and you’re going to apologize to that fine young maiden and get things back on track.”
The way she said it left no room to argue. My mouth felt dry again, and I was finding it harder and harder to speak, much less argue.
“Well, I mean, I guess I could–”
Mei stood and came over to me, standing over me and looking down into my eyes. She put her hands on my armrests so she was taking up almost my full range of vision. “Let me ask you something, Damian. Do you love her back?”
“I… uh…”
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t quite sure. I thought I did. I sure spent enough of my time with her when I could. And we did… intimate things together. Wasn’t that love, in its own way? Maybe I loved her.
As an immortal, love was a hard concept for me. In the early days, I had given it freely. But those people had all died off, as was natural, and I’d been left mourning. So naturally, I’d closed myself off. Well, mostly, at least. I’d interact with people, but I’d kept them at arm’s length, never letting them in to see the real me. Cliche, I guess, but sometimes we’re all a bit cliche.
Until LaLuna. She was different. She’d broken through all my walls without even trying. And I liked her all the more for it.
But did I love her? Sitting there in that moment with Mei lording over me, I hedged.
“Maybe,” the word eked out of me.
“Maybe?” Mei repeated the word a few times as if testing it out. “Maybe, he says?”
She got up and started pacing the room. Her eyes had a distant look to them as she muttered something I couldn’t catch.
“Well, Mr. Maybe,” she exclaimed, putting far too much weight on the last word, “don’t you think you owe it to yourself and LaLuna to see if that maybe turns out to be a yes or a no? Don’t you think you both deserve at least that much, after five months together?”
I paused, letting that question sink in. I supposed Mei had a point. It had been five months. Not long when facing an eternity, but the longest relationship I’d had in at least a hundred years. I supposed that was worth something.
And poor LaLuna. What must she be thinking right now, cold and alone in her bed? I was the one who’d stormed off without a word. Even if I didn’t love her, didn’t she deserve better than that?
“You’re right,” I said at last. “You’re right, Mei. I should… I should go to her.”
Mei shot me a broad smile. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” She turned toward Sevin. “Go get your car ready, we have a relationship to save!”
“Oui, madam,” Sevin said with a salute. He seemed quite a bit happier, too, at this sudden turn of events.
“Let me just grab a few things from my room and I’ll be right out,” I told Mei.
Mei and Sevin saw themselves out, and I went into my bedroom. I didn’t really have much to grab, but I grabbed my jacket anyway just to be safe and took a moment to make sure I looked okay in the mirror. If I was going to have any hope of saving my relationship with LaLuna, I might as well look my best doing it.
At my side, I felt that buzzing sensation again. I’d almost forgotten about my phone in all of this.
I grabbed the phone and pressed a button on the side to unlock it. There were three missed calls and one missed message. Probably all from LaLuna, if I had to hazard a guess. Who else would be calling and texting me on Valentine’s at this hour?
Poor girl. I’d left her cold and alone. I really needed to make this up to her.
I glanced at the number as I pulled up the text message, but I was wrong. It wasn’t from LaLuna. She hadn’t called or texted at all. I could have handled hearing anything from her tonight, even a string of expletives. Heck, I’d deserved as much. But no, it was from someone much worse. Someone I’d never thought would have texted me. For any reason. Ever.
My face paled and I thought for a second that I was going to faint as I stared at the name on the caller ID.
Taio Xiang. My brother.
3
The words of my brother’s text message were simple: SOS. Need your help. 2nite. Meet me at Mei’s.
But it wasn’t so much the words themselves that bothered me, it was the fact that he’d reached out to me at all. My brother and I hadn’t spoken to each other in years. Twenty-three years, in fact, since the last time we’d seen one another. Cell phones hadn’t even been smart back then, that’s how long ago it had been. I only even had his number because my mother had forced me to type it into my phone…
And the last words we’d shared had been in anger. I was pretty sure I was his least favorite person on the planet at this point. Or at least close to it.
So to witness him reaching out to me in any capacity, let alone late at night on Valentines, was a shock to the system. And to add to that, he wanted to meet up with me tonight? Right away? At Mei’s?
I mean, granted, everyone knew about Mei’s, but my brother lived in Chicago. There was no way he’d be able to meet me at Mei’s tonight unless…
Unless he was already here, in Seattle.
“Oh, hell,” I muttered.
My hands shook so hard I could barely hang on to my own phone. If he had come all the way here to Seattle to talk to me, then whatever he needed must be really urgent. Like, life or death urgent. That was the only rational explanation.
I sauntered on over to the bathroom to look at my reflection one last time. I ran a hand through my hair to slick it back a little. There was that one little bit in the back that liked to stick up on its own, and I was suddenly desperate for it to behave for once. My brother would suffer no imperfections.
After a few more seconds of fussing with it and wishing I had time to shave again before I went to go see him, I finally left my apartment and headed down toward where Sevin and Mei sat in the car, waiting for me.
The engine was running, so I got in as quickly as I could and shut the door. Mei w
as in the back seat next to me, so I shot her a quick grin and returned my attention to my phone.
I heard the tires squeal as Sevin pulled into traffic and felt the car lurch forward, but I tried to pay it little attention. That little flashing text icon was sitting there, staring straight at me, expecting me to do something about it. Say something back to my brother. But what?
“What to say, what to say,” I mumbled, not really thinking about it and focusing intently on that little blinking cursor.
“Huh?” Mei said. “Look, I’m sure it’ll all work itself out just fine. Just explain that you felt a little rushed but that you do care for her and you want to stick with it and see where it goes.”
“What?” I looked up at Mei, a confused expression on my face. “Sorry, I didn’t catch half that.” I went back to staring at that infernal blinking cursor.
“Damian, if you’re that worried, put your phone down for a second and talk to me,” Mei demanded.
I clicked the button to turn my screen off. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s just I’m a little… distracted.”
Mei chuckled. “I’m sure you are, lover boy, but you and LaLuna are going to be just fine.” She patted my leg. “Trust me.”
“LaLuna?” I asked. Then it all came rushing back at once, and I smacked myself on the forehead. Somehow in those brief few seconds, I’d forgotten all of the previous plans I’d just made.
“Sevin!” I barked. “Change of plans! Head toward Mei’s bar!”
“Mon ami?” Sevin’s hesitant voice asked back.
“Just do it!” I demanded, harsher than I should have. “Damn it, I’m sorry. Just… do it, please.”
“Oui oui,” he said with a tiny salute. He made a sharp turn, and I had to hold onto the little handle in the door frame to keep from being smushed up against Mei’s body as the car peeled around the corner.
“Damian, what on earth are you…” her eyes trailed down to my phone then back up to me. “You’re not… texting her, are you?”
