by B. N. Toler
“Okay.” Bridge cuts a look to me that reads, I’m on to you. Rage burns through me and I speak before I have time to think about what I’m saying.
“Random thought, Flynn. I read this book in high school and I can’t remember the name, but I really want to read it again.”
“What’s it about?” Flynn asks intrigued. Flynn, on top of his good looks, charm, and awesome sense of humor, is a closet bookworm. He’s more into philosophy, but he’ll read anything.
I make a point to look directly at Bridge, even though I’m speaking to Flynn. “It was set in the 1800’s. It was about this beautiful redheaded girl who toyed with a boy that was in love with her. He was foolish over her.” Bridge’s brows crease as I speak. “He was smitten with her, but he caught her with another guy and killed him while she watched, then he killed her.”
“Sounds pretty intense for high school lit.” Flynn shrugs. “Don’t think I’ve read it. We can look it up online later.”
“No biggie. I was just thinking about it earlier.”
Bridge clears his throat. “Sounds scary.” He stands and scrapes his dish in the trash before dropping it in the sink. “I’m going to go unpack.” He heads down stairs and my inner self flips him the bird. At least now he knows he’s not the only one who can play this game.
We all set about clearing the table. Eileen and I team up at the sink for dish duty; Nick, Daniel, and Flynn plop down on the sofas in front of a football game on the tube, and Cassia starts opening mail while seated at the breakfast bar.
The guys are cursing at the screen when Cassia starts spouting off random words in Spanish to herself while staring at a bill.
“What is it Mama?” Eileen giggles at her.
“This water bill was due on November first.”
“We’ll pay it tomorrow,” Daniel says without turning around.
“Today is the eighth. Now we have to pay a late fee.”
I drop the plate in my hand into the sink and it breaks into pieces. Today is my birthday and I didn’t even realize it.
“It’s your birthday?” Eileen asks in a hushed voice. Shit! I didn’t realize I’d said that out loud.
“It’s your birthday?” Flynn shouts from the living room.
I look over and everyone is staring at me.
“Uh, yeah. It’s no big deal. I actually forgot about it until she said the date.” I clear my throat to hide my emotion. I’m not upset about me, I’m upset about my brothers. It’s the second birthday I’ve been away from them. Last year I was in a coma. I miss them so much. A tear slides down my cheek, and I quickly brush it away. I hope Lila and Sarah did something special for them. I can imagine the obnoxious cake Lila probably got and Sarah rolling her eyes at it. I bet little Beau was a mess of smushed cake and frosting. God I miss them.
“Um…we have to go out.” I look up to see Eileen’s eyes twinkling with excitement.
“No, I’m good. I’m actually really tired.”
“Um…too bad. We’re going out.”
“You two have to dance.” Flynn smiles as he stands and faces the kitchen.
I cut him a glare.
“It’s a good night for a celebration, kitten.” Daniel stands and heads to his bedroom. “Everyone be ready in an hour.” He shuts the door behind him.
Eileen squeals as she grabs my hand.
“Aren’t you like a hundred? I thought clubbing lost its luster by the time you reach your thirties.”
“Um, I’m in my nineties, thank you very much and they say your nineties are like the new twenties.” I snort out a laugh as she shuffles on her feet. “I’ve been dying for a night out.”
“Yay…” I add unenthusiastically.
“Let’s go get ready. You have an entire wardrobe we haven’t put to use yet.”
An hour later, we emerge to the top floor. Eileen primped and primed me, forcing me to wear a fitted black dress with three quarter sleeves and knee high boots. My blonde hair is down, billowing over my shoulders. Eileen did my makeup, penciling my eyes with black liner giving me what she calls a mild version of Cleopatra eyes.
All eyes turn to me and heat flushes my face.
“Doesn’t she look amazing?” Eileen beams with pride at her work—I mean me.
“You did good, babe.” Flynn squeezes her to him and they look like the perfect pair. Flynn is wearing a gray, knit shirt with dark jeans and Eileen wears a jean skirt with a gray sweater and boots.
“Not coming tonight, Mama?” I look to Cassia who sits on Nick’s lap in the living room.
“No, mamacita, we want the house to ourselves.” She winks at me through her long, dark lashes and Nick smiles. “But, happy birthday.”
Daniel emerges from his room and I do a double take. He’s wearing a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms and dark denim jeans. The top few buttons of his shirt are undone and his shirt hangs open, exposing a bit of his chest. He runs a hand through his loose hair, and I have to remind myself not to stare. When he looks at me his eyes run down my body and he quickly looks away and shakes his head.
“Doesn’t Aldo look nice, Daniel?” Eileen asks.
I shoot her a look that says what are you doing?
“She looks like trouble,” he grumbles looking at everyone, but me.
“You are what you dress,” I jest. I feel nervous for some reason, but I don’t know why. My emotions are all over the place, with missing my brothers and Daniel looking so hot. Plus, the awkwardness still looming between us from the last time we all went out to a club, and he ‘taught me a lesson’ by acting like he was going to rape me.
“You’re a dork,” Flynn teases me for my corny joke.
“Yeah, I know,” I admit. Thank God, Flynn and Eileen will be with us tonight. Hopefully we’ll all have a good time and come home without having any drama.
“Is Bridge coming?” Eileen asks.
“Says he’ll meet us there,” Flynn answers. Oh joy!
“All right, let’s go.” Daniel slides by me and heads down the stairs. He avoids looking at me. I figure it’s because last time we went out it ended in a horrific event.
We make our way down to Flynn’s pickup. He drives a metallic blue, jacked up Chevy truck. A small ladder comes down so that Eileen and I can climb in. The truck is obnoxious and screams Southern boy toy, but Flynn says, when in Rome…or in this case, when in South Carolina, you drive a big truck. Daniel’s car is only a two seater so we’re taking Flynn’s ride as it’s a king cab.
Eileen sits in the backseat with me and applies some lip gloss before passing it to me. I put it on just to humor her. As we pull onto the boulevard, Daniel leans over and says something to Flynn. Flynn glances back at me and then looks at Daniel.
“Why not?” he shrugs.
When we pull into Avery’s my heart starts pounding. If Daniel thinks he’s going to pretend to pimp me out again he’s got another thing coming. I cringe remembering how I almost drained that douche-bag biker, Marcus, dry in the bathroom. Flynn parks the truck and turns it off.
Daniel turns back to me. “You ready for another lesson, kitten?”
“I’m ready for you to stop calling me that,” I answer dryly. “Daniel I don’t want to—”
“Learn how to hypnotize someone?” he interrupts me.
“Really?” I flash a giant grin at the thought. Finally!
“On one condition,” he adds.
“What?”
“You only do it while in our presence. It’s a hard gift to master.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I answer too enthralled to even think about what he’s saying.
“Let’s go.” Flynn shrugs and opens his door, sliding out. He helps Eileen and me out and we all enter Avery’s. The bar is more crowded than the last time Daniel brought me here. There are an assortment of bikers, old timers, and women that look a little rough. Daniel and Flynn take a seat at a table in the corner, but Eileen pulls me to the bar, keeping our arms laced.
“What can I
get you ladies?” a tall, thin man with dark hair asks from behind the bar.
“Two shots of Jack Daniels,” Eileen replies sweetly as she flashes him her stellar smile.
“Right away.” He nods and turns.
“You’re going to take a shot of Jack?” I ask stunned.
“No, they’re both for you. It’s your birthday.”
“Shouldn’t I hold off until after I do—”
“Nope,” she smiles.
We both glance back to the table where Daniel and Flynn are sitting and see a waitress with a short, black skirt and blonde hair flirting with them. Eileen’s eyes flicker with something before she clears her throat.
“Jealous?” I question, trying not to laugh.
“Just keeping an eye on things.” She stares directly at Flynn who cocks his head to the side and smirks as if saying come on babe, like I’d want her over you.
Eileen shrugs and gives him a pointed look that says you touch her, you die.
“Funny, I thought you said it was only the male hybrids that dealt with this savage, jealousy power issue,” I tease.
“Yeah, well, jealousy is natural. I mean within reason.” We turn back to the bar where two shots sit. Eileen places a twenty on the bar and tells the bartender to keep the change. “I think couples who don’t have at least a little jealousy are the ones with the real issues.”
“I’ve never seen a man more in love with a woman than Flynn is with you.”
She smiles and leans her head on my shoulder. “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You’d think after being together for so long we’d be bored of each other, but I fall more in love with him every day.”
My heart aches with her words. Flynn and Eileen are like a yin and yang. I can’t imagine them apart. But that makes me wonder if that’s what love is. I mean, I love Rhett, but one might argue if I really loved him I wouldn’t have left him. Rhett was so perfect for me in every way, with one exception. He wanted to hide me. He hid the fact he knew I was a hybrid from me. He wanted me to stop healing completely. I know in his mind and heart it was to protect me, but that doesn’t make it right. It’s hard to be angry with him when what he did came from a good place. I glance at Daniel as he blows a stream of smoke out of his mouth. Daniel isn’t soft like Rhett. He’s fierce and rough around the edges. He certainly doesn’t coddle me. He wants to make me stronger. He wants to make me better. He wants what I want. I shake my head. Why am I comparing Daniel to Rhett?
“Okay, let’s focus.” Eileen leans in. “Time to practice.”
“What?”
“Take your shots.”
Slamming the first shot back, I fight the urge to cough as heat flames my cheeks. I catch Daniel eyeing me, a slight smile playing on his lips as if he knows I’m struggling. Being the pride-ridden idiot that I am, I slam back the second shot. Now I want to puke. I face the bar to hide my queasy expression from Daniel and hold my breath for a moment. The warm burn settles in my stomach and I take a breath.
“I don’t know how you do that.” Eileen shakes her head. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“I’ll do the talking, you just follow my lead, okay?”
“Yep.”
“Just watch and learn.”
I pull my shoulders back and follow Eileen to the opposite side of the bar. Eileen perches beside a middle-aged guy wearing a denim vest and sunglasses, even though it’s night. I listen for his energy and hear it. I slide onto the stool on the other side of him and almost fall off of it when I look at Eileen. She’s twirling her hair, her legs are crossed towards the man and she’s leaned in.
“Do you mind if we sit here?” she asks sweetly.
“N-n-no. Not at all,” he stutters as she seductively licks her lips and stares into his eyes. “What’s your name handsome?”
“Uh, Derrick.” He turns towards her, one hand still gripping the bottle of beer on the bar.
“Derrick, you look so strong,” she purrs as she touches his arm and squeezes. “Do you work out?”
I don’t know why, but my eyes meet Flynn’s from across the room. He’s seething. My inner self does an eye roll. The two of them are crazy. They both know what’s happening here, but still get jealous. I shoot him a pointed look do you really think she’d take him over you?
I want to kill him is the look I get back.
Well, there’s that. I shake my head and refocus on Eileen.
Eileen shoots me a look that says pay attention.
That’s when it happens. Something in her gaze flickers, like a shutter in a camera lens and her eyes are almost black. “Derrick you’re going to order my friend and me a beer and then you’ll walk over to that table in the far corner where those two guys sit.” She points to Daniel and Flynn. “You’ll tell the one in the gray how badly you want to screw me. Tell the guy in the black shirt how badly you want to taste my friend, how you’d love to have your head between her legs. Then ask them if you can buy them a drink. Okay?” she smiles. My jaw feels like it’s on the floor. What the hell is she doing? Flynn is going to go ape shit and I cringe at the thought of Derrick saying those things about tasting me to Daniel. Like he’d care.
“Yeah, okay. But can I piss first?” Derrick answers eagerly.
“Of course.” Eileen’s eyes flicker again and return to their pristine green. I sit silent, stunned until the bartender slides me a beer Derrick apparently ordered for me while I was lost in shock. Derrick slides off his stool. “I’ll be right back. I gotta piss.” He grins at Eileen who bats her lashes at him before casually sipping her beer.
“He’s so classy.” She rolls her eyes.
Sliding over into Derrick’s seat, I hiss, “What was that?” Flynn is going to kill him!”
“No, he won’t, but he will punish me later. And by punish I mean—”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” I shake my head. She’s shared quite a few stories about Flynn taking out his anger in the bedroom. Apparently she enjoys provoking him.
“Did you see my focus? When you work someone, you have to have their full attention.”
“How did you make your eyes flicker like that?”
“You’ll feel it when they’re ready. It’s like you’re casting out a line to their brain and when it catches, that’s when you can tell them to do anything. You try on me.”
“Can I actual—”
“No. You can’t. Hybrids can’t be spelled, but you can still practice on me. Stare into my eyes.”
Our eyes meet and I focus hard. Eileen’s green eyes blaze into mine and I reach out to her with my mind and then I feel it. A click.
“Very good,” she praises me and leans back to sip her beer.
“So, can we spell blood healers and vampires?” Excitement flutters in my stomach at the thought. This is such a cool gift and will definitely come in handy for me later on.
“Blood healers, yes. Vampires, no.”
“What was the bit about getting him to tell Daniel he wants to taste me? That’s just so—”
“Hot,” she finishes.
“Ew! That guy? No.” I shake my head disgusted.
“No, I mean what Daniel will do. That’ll be hot.”
“Did I miss something here?” I grab her arm. “It’s not like that between us.”
“That’s the reason I did it. I’m going to prove he’s got the hots for you.” She nods enthusiastically.
“Eileen, you are so off. We don’t like each other like that.”
She gives me a pointed look. It says don’t bullshit a bullshitter.
“Eileen, what are you doing?”
“I got eyes.” She widens her eyes and looks at me. “When’s the last time you got laid?”
I look away from her. There in itself lies a technicality. I mean technically, never would be the answer, but I have had sex twice in my subconscious, so one might argue that counts.
“Uh, a while,” I answer awkwardly despite my best attempt to sound casual.
“What?”
“You’re a virgin.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” I chug my beer.
“How? I mean you’re so…beautiful.” Now that makes me smile.
“Thanks, but you’re way off.”
“Aldo, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“No, it’s not, but I’m not one from lack of trying. So don’t go thinking I’m all virtuous or something.”
“Yeah, because being seen as virtuous would be horrible,” she mocks.
I roll my eyes at her. “You know what I mean.”
“Are you saying someone turned down the opportunity to have sex with you?” Her expression is baffled. “Were they gay?”
“Can we just drop it?”
“Sure.” She sips her beer and we both turn just as Derrick approaches Flynn and Daniel after his bathroom visit.
Daniel and Flynn stare up at him while he speaks. We can only see Derrick’s mouth move, but he’s looking directly at Flynn and his head nods in our direction. Flynn’s entire face tenses and he moves to stand, but Daniel grabs his arm from across the table to stop him. Daniel cuts Eileen a look and shakes his head with a smirk. Apparently he’s in on her little game.
Eileen bites her lip as if she’s turned on by Flynn’s reaction. I shake my head realizing I’m hanging with some real twisted people these days.
Derrick directs his attention to Daniel, licking his lips in between words, as he shakes his head and looks over at me. Oh God. That was the part where he said he wants to taste me. Then casually he points a thumb to the bar, I assume the part where he’s asking if he can buy them a drink.
Daniel’s face goes hard. A thousand things seem to happen at once. Flynn’s eyes go wide as he looks at Daniel before he glances at Eileen. A look that says what have you done?
Daniel sits still as stone, jaw clenched, staring up at Derrick who just stands there staring at him.
The bar seems to stand still as I watch Daniel for a brief moment before I look around. Oh shit! The bar really is standing still. Everyone is frozen except for me. The statuesque bartender behind the bar is pouring vodka into a tumbler. Even the vodka is frozen mid pour. Behind me a woman is leaned over a table, her mouth beside the ear of a man, but no words leave her lips. They’re both still as stone. What the hell?
