“Don’t be sorry. I like feeling your eyes on me,” he admits with a smile that I can’t help but return. Being near him relaxes me. No need to try to be anything but myself. He has seen me at my worst, picked me up and carried me home, he knows all my secrets. For better or worse, he still stands by my side, being my friend, my pain in the ass, my family.
“Jake, I….” my voice trailing off, unsure of what to say.
Walking over to me he sits on the edge of the lounger at my hip. “I’m not going anywhere, babe. Talk to Silas, work your shit out and let me know where I stand when the dust settles.” He cups my cheek, running his thumb over my skin absently. “I love it when you say my name.”
I place my hand over his and lower my eyes, he brings so much peace into my soul, I love him dearly. “You’re my favorite person in this whole messed up world, you know that right?” Tears filling my eyes, I wish I could say those three words that get trapped in my throat. I blink away the tears, smiling at him.
“I love you too, babe,” he replies quietly, raising my hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on my palm before placing it back on my lap as Marcus walks outside to join us. He doesn’t touch me much when Marcus is around, but I don’t think he’s blind to what is happening between Mason and me. He wouldn’t have any issue with us getting together. Still it must be odd to have his best friend and sister making eyes at each other.
Marcus collapses into one of the chairs surrounding the table with a groan, rubbing his face and hair with his hands. “Fuck, I hate all these meetings. Sitting there pretending I actually give a fuck what these guys have to say. Whoever scheduled a meeting at seven-thirty in the morning on a Monday should be strung up and stripped of their fucking powers.” Dark circles under his stormy grey eyes show evidence of the stress he has been under.
His little F-bomb-filled rant makes me crack a smile, and I try to cover my laugh with a cough but it doesn’t work. I glance up to him scowling at me, uh oh.
“Something funny?” he asks with a less than amused smirk on display. Pressing my lips together, I shake my head. When will I learn to not poke the bear, maybe when it stops being so much fun. Marcus has zero sense of humor, a fact that Mason and I tease him about relentlessly.
“Come on, fucking out with it, share it with the whole class,” he says, waving around the table impatiently.
Unable to contain my laughter anymore, I blurt out, “You’re the only person I’ve ever met who swears as much as I do in the morning. It’s cute, like a family trait or something.” The guys exchange an odd look. “I feel sorry for Stella though; we can’t be easy people to work for.”
Mason, sitting down at the table, laughs at this. “Stella can handle herself just fine, believe me,” he says pointing to an empty chair, silently ordering me to join them. I roll my eyes at him but do as I’m told, not wanting to have that argument again. These two men are bullying me into living, not getting stuck in my own head with regrets and sorrow. I’m grateful to have them both in my life, even if they are bossy as fuck most of the time.
I settle into my chair as Marcus places a plate of food in front of me, and goes about making his own plate. He knows this annoys the hell out of me. “I’m not a child, I can make my own plate of food.” My arms cross, fully aware that I’m behaving exactly like a petulant child, but I’m stubborn enough not to care.
“Then stop acting like a child,” he replies in the same whiny tone I used. We lock glaring eyes, then smile, shaking our heads. He’s a pain in the ass but I kind of love having someone care enough to make sure I eat. “So how is everything going? Are you getting it under control? Any more nightmares?” He’s concerned, waiting for me to break. No doubt ready to jump in and mind zap the pieces back together again.
Mason and I exchange a knowing look. His room is across from mine, on the nights when I wake up screaming unable to tell reality from nightmare, he’s there. Holding me until my breathing evens out, calmed by his strong heartbeat but, he’s gone by the time I wake up. We don’t talk much about those nights, he’s simply there when I need him, no questions or expectations.
“Training is going really well, I’m more than ready for this tour,” I insist, cleverly deflecting his questions from my mental state to my powers.
Marcus scowls at me. “You know that’s not what I’m worried about. Are the flashes getting easier to handle? If it gets too much I can try to fix it. I said I wouldn’t compel you without your consent again but I can’t help what I don’t know about,” he says. Then raises his hands in surrender when I give him the death glare. “I’m just making sure you can handle it. Do you want me to take it back?” I don’t respond to his questions; I don’t have the answers he wants to hear. Whatever I say he will read into. I just want him to stay out of my head.
Mason clears his throat. “She’s amazing, don’t even think about messing with her head, or we will have words.” They have a silent stare down for a few tension filled moments. They have a lot of those. They seem to be on another level, more than best friends, like brothers able to communicate so much with just one look.
“Is there anything I could help with?” I ask, trying to direct their eyes away from each other. Bossing me around seems to be the only thing these two agree on. I have no idea what I could do, assuming they would even want my help.
Marcus smiles. “After the tour you can join the family business if you wish, but you must pay your dues. Nothing in this world is given easily or without sacrifice. Rest, and keep working with Mason, this tour will be the greatest challenge you have ever faced. You need to be prepared.”
“I am one of the most powerful demigods on tour. What is there to get ready for?” He’s always so serious when it comes to the tour. “Aren’t we just supposed to put on a good show?”
Wiping his mouth on his napkin that was placed neatly in his lap, he stands to leave. “Power is one thing; fame is another creature entirely.” He worries about me; I have told him I’m fine so often the word has lost all meaning.
“I’m not interested in fame.” How shallow would I be if I was going on tour just to be famous? Lord have mercy I couldn’t think of anything worse than being famous. All those people knowing every detail of your life, sounds miserable if you ask me.
“You haven’t even tasted fame yet,” he chuckles, kissing the top of my head. “Ianna’s plane arrives in an hour. Don’t forget to spoil yourself while you are spoiling her. Enjoy your girl time. It will be a relief after hanging out with us all the time,” he says before walking away, off to manage his empire while I continue to play the part of the princess locked in the tower.
Fame. The word is foreign on my tongue. All Titans are famous; I never really thought much about it. I spent so much time focusing on whether or not I wanted to join the Titans and then on training to get here, I hadn’t considered what it would be like once I had finally made it.
Mason stands up, stretching. “Well little lady, I have to get some work done,” he says with a yawn.
“What exactly is it you do on the tour?” I wonder. When he isn’t with me, he’s busy working, I never thought to ask him.
“Whatever it takes to get the job done,” he says, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “See you girls at dinner, try to stay out of trouble.” With one last wink he leaves me to finish my breakfast alone.
My phone buzzes in my pocket
Ianna: Just landed & was picked up by a stupid huge limo… WTF!?
I laugh out loud and respond,
Me: Oh you love it! Hurry up. I miss your face!
I have sent the most obscenely embarrassing limo money could buy to pick her up. She would be equally embarrassed and elated. I have missed her so much over the past few months. After Marcus gave me my memories back she wanted to come to my rescue. But I had refused, I needed time to get myself under control. Time for Marcus and I to get to know each other.
I wonder what the tension is going to be like tonight at dinner. I know Marcus has feelings for
her, the extent of which I don’t know, but I’ve seen it, the buzz of attraction between them. Marcus deserves happiness and as much as him lusting after my best friend creeps me out, I have sworn to mind my business and stay far away from whatever drama those two are cooking up. I have had more than enough of my own problems to work through to worry about Ianna, Kai and Marcus. Though it’s good to know I won’t be the only person bringing some extra baggage on tour.
Fix You
Marcus
Phee with a smile on her face fills me with a sense of pride. I love seeing her at peace. She deserves to have a life full of happiness. It’s taken a lot of time to put the pieces back together after I gave her memories back. What a huge fuck up that was, though it seems every time I try to help her, it ends up backfiring. Her therapist was right; she broke down almost immediately under the pressure. Practically catatonic for days after, she would just lay in her bed shaking and rocking as wave after wave of her forgotten miserable life washed over her. Our life, our nightmare childhood, closing in around her, she was drowning in it. Those first few days were the worst and I hope I never see that kind of desperation in her eyes again.
One phone call, I had only left her side for a moment to take one stupid phone call. When I returned I found her with a knife pressed against her wrist. Too terrified that startling her might send her into action. I watched helplessly from the doorway, as thoughts of taking her own life battled with her will to live.
Her voice came out weak and broken, “It hurts too much, I can’t breathe, I need it to stop, Marcus.” She looked up at me with tears streaming down her sweet face. It broke my heart.
“Don’t do this. I’m so sorry this happened to you, but please…” I say, approaching her slowly, my eyes never left the knife in her shaking hand. “Give me the knife, Phee.”
It killed me to see her so broken, she’s still so much like that little girl I tried to protect. What was I thinking, unloading all of it on her? I have lived with those brutal memories my whole life; I should have never given her it all at once. Maybe I should have lied to her, given her a perfect life, a memory full of smiles and trust and happy moments, but that isn’t who we are. We are demigods, our life is always going to be a struggle, that’s what has made us strong. I wish there was a way to turn her sorrow into strength, without compelling her.
“This can’t be real,” she whispered, staring down at the knife pressed against her pale skin.
I sit down next to her, speaking softly, “Look at me, Phee.” The moment her eyes meet mine I snatch the knife out of her hand, throwing it down, it skids across the floor out of sight. “It will get better, you are so much stronger than this,” I say, cupping her face, wiping at her tears with my thumbs, wishing I could take her pain away, I hate to see her cry.
“You are brave and have endured so much already, but I can’t fight this battle for you. I wish I could.” I don’t know what else to do, I have only one thing in my arsenal to help her. “You will not try to kill yourself ever again. We had a rough childhood, father was cruel and beat me, but we survived; you will draw strength from your past, it will not weaken you.” I didn’t want to compel her but I can’t spend every day worrying that she will pull a stunt like this again. She cries on my shoulder for a while before falling asleep. She will grow stronger, she has to. I’ve worked too hard to get to this point and I cannot let her instability ruin everything.
That was when I called Mason and asked him to move in. I had too many things on my plate as it was without her instability added to my worries. I needed someone I could trust and when it comes to Phee, Mason is the only one I trust.
Right on cue, Mason walks into my office, sitting down in the chair across from mine. I can tell he’s going to launch into yet another speech about his precious Phoenyx.
“Why? Why do you insist on dragging her into our world of shit? I don’t get it. She isn’t your blood; why do you keep pretending that she is? What good does it do her?”
“It does her good to have the support of a family she can lean on. Her mother raised us, Mason. Phee may not be our blood but she will always be my sister. Obviously, you have other feelings for her. You think I don’t see the way she stares at you. Keep it in your pants, you’ll only break her heart in the end,” I warn. He has never seen her as a sister, damn fool has been in love with her since we were kids. Father didn’t allow us to spend time with her but when he was gone, her mother would let us all play together. We both adored Phee, it was hard not to. She was a bright shining light in our dark world. A light father tried to dull every chance he got.
Mason had it worse than I did with our father. He saw me as his legacy, constantly pushing me to be as great as he was, whereas Mason was considered a leech. A demigod with no real powers of his own, only able to steal power off others, ‘The Legacy and the leech’, was what he called us. We never knew our real mother but for whatever reason, he kept Phee’s mom around. She loved us as much as father would allow. Phoenyx’s powers were overt and would draw too much attention; father couldn’t have that, the lie he was living would be exposed. So she was hidden away from the world.
“Really Marcus, you wanna have a conversation about feelings? Maybe we should talk about how you feel about having Ianna and her boyfriend staying under your roof. That should be… entertaining. Oh Kai, yes, touch me there,” he says, running his hands over his chest, then bursting into that damn laugh of his. Fuck he’s a pain in my ass.
“Shut up, Mason,” I snap at him. I don’t want to think about Ianna and especially not her with Kai.
“Shut up, Mason,” he responds, mimicking me in a whiny voice, then chuckles at his own joke, he’s such a fucking child. How two brothers could be so different is beyond me. He is everything I’m not, and wouldn’t want to be. Though his immaturity and easy smiles have helped Phee adjust, being around him 24/7 is driving me nuts. If I were completely honest, he’s the only person I trust to protect her, to make her happy. So as much as I want to punch him in his smug face for pursuing Phee, I know he loves her. Unlike the parade of asshats she has been with, especially that manipulative fuck, Silas. His holier than thou attitude, like he’s better than the rest of us. The only reason I let his ass on tour is so I could keep an eye on him, and his father. I don’t believe for a second their motives are pure.
I read over the itinerary on my desk, arena tickets have sold out for all the Titans fight nights. Touring six cities in six months, loaded with fights and promotional appearances, every detail has been obsessed over and planned out to perfection. I hand the itinerary to Mason.
“You sure she’s ready?” I ask, while he scans the schedule. He has been working with her every day. I have faith that they are both going to bring their A-game.
“She’s more than ready. She’s going to be amazing,” he says with a huge smile. “Her new abilities took some focusing but she’s 100% in control and ready to go. How about you? Are you ready for this?” he says opening his brief case and handing me the file I’ve been waiting for. Laid out before me is everything we have worked toward, every moment of planning for years have gone into this tour. The beginning of the end of the world as we know it. Nothing is going to stand in our way.
“Do you think they will be able to handle the change of plans? They didn’t sign on for all of this. There is a good chance they will fight you on it. Once we start on this path there will be no turning back. Are you ready?” He says this like I don’t know what is at stake, like my life isn’t also on the line.
I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I have to be, we all do. This is more important than any of us. There is no room for error. I believe, when the time comes they will stand behind us.”
Best Friend
Phoenyx
After checking and double checking every detail of Ianna’s room to make sure everything is perfect, I make myself a cup of coffee and sit outside on the front steps to wait for her arrival. As soon as the car comes into view I can’
t help but laugh out loud. The car, if it can be called that, is freaking huge. You could fit twelve people in that thing. It pulls around the circular driveway. As soon as the car comes to a complete stop Ianna comes barreling out of the door, crashing into me.
“I missed you so much.” Ianna pulls back so she can see my face. “Look at you! Beautiful! So happy and healthy. I love it and this place is insane!” she says, eyes darting around, taking it all in. “You are living like a queen in this big old house. Jeez, Marcus doesn’t do anything subtle does he?”
“No he doesn’t,” I say with a smile. The house is stunning, resting on the edge of the ocean; if there are any neighbors nearby, I’ve never seen them. “Come on, I will show you around.” Grabbing her suitcase off the ground, I lead her inside.
Stella was our first stop; she, of course, is sweet and welcoming to Ianna. Then, I give her a tour of the house. As we pass Marcus’s office Ianna lingers, running her fingers over his door, her curiosity getting the better of her. She slides herself into his chair, turning it from side to side, her eyes dancing around his sparse office.
“What it must be like to have all of this power and money.” She seems in awe of everything that has to do with Marcus. The domineering pain in my ass isn’t that amazing but I can see how he would be intriguing to someone who doesn’t know any better.
“Lonely. Sad.” Of course I don’t know this for a fact, he could be delightfully happy. Marcus isn’t much of a sharer, but it must be. He separates himself from everyone but Mason and me, and the parade of nasty skanks that visit him but I don’t want to tell her about those girls.
Titan Elite (Demigods Duet Book 2) Page 2
