by Mary Martel
“Yeah,” Quinton ground out, “but have you ever seen his driver before?”
I shook my head.
“No,” I said.
It had never seemed important before. I had assumed it was just some Council underling; I’d thought they probably had plenty of them staying at the motel with them.
“Well, this one’s really fucking special,” Quinton growled. “I cannot believe you had the balls to bring him here, Adrian. You took this one too far.”
“What’s going on?” I demanded to know. “Quinton? Who knocked on the door? Who’s here?”
Quinton nodded his head in Adrian’s direction. “Why don’t you ask him. He’s the one who brought the asshole here.”
“Adrian?” I asked in quiet, hesitant voice. My stomach started to knot up, and I had a really bad feeling about what was going on. I didn’t think I was going to like this. If Quinton didn’t like it, then I knew it was bad news and I certainly wouldn’t like it.
Adrian calmly stood up from the chair and spread his arms wide.
“Now, now, Quinton.” Adrian said in a mocking voice. “You are spoiling my surprise.”
“What surprise?” I asked. The knots in my stomach were twisting up tighter and tighter. If I had to take much more of this, I was likely going to puke.
“Why, your surprise, my dear.” Adrian smiled at me and this one was a scary one, because it looked like a genuine one, and those were rare. “I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to share it with you, but the timing has never been right. Now, your Quinton has forced my hand, and I fear it might be too soon, and you won’t appreciate the gift.”
“Gift,” Quinton snarled. “Are you out of your fucking mind? Take your gift and get the fuck out of my house. Right this minute. I am not even joking with you, Adrian. You bring him here, and then you talk about fucking gifting him to Ariel. Unbelievable.”
Quinton shook his head angrily as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“This shit is too much, even for you.”
“Quinton,” I said in a high voice. “What’s going on. You’re starting to scare me.”
In fact, I was moving past scared and straight towards terrified..
You couldn’t gift a person to another person. And what person did Adrian want to give to me? The only one who came to mind had my throat closing up tightly, and my hand reaching up towards the scar on my cheek.
No. Quinton couldn’t mean…
“What are you talking about?” I asked in a shrill voice as I stood up abruptly from my chair. My body swayed slightly, and I immediately sat back down.
Adrian frowned down at me.
“Calm down, child.” Adrian ordered.
Calm down? I would calm down when they told me what in the heck was going on, and, even then, I would only calm down if it didn’t turn out how I thought it was going to turn out.
“Where is he?” I whispered.
“Outside with the twins,” Quinton growled. “I don’t want that motherfucker in my house. I’m pissed he’s been coming here every time Adrian has.”
“I told you,” Adrian snapped. “He’s a gift for Ariel. He wants to make amends with her. We have gone through the trouble of making sure he isn’t capable of harming her any more. In fact, he isn’t capable of harming anyone. We’ve seen to that much. Something you should have done yourself when you found out he had a special interest in her.”
My stomach churned.
This couldn’t be happening.
“He didn’t have a special interest in me,” I whispered. “He was just a bully. A normal bully before…”
I trailed off, not wanting to throw Quinton under the bus here for what he’d done. If the Council didn’t know Quinton had messed with Chucky before he’d gone off the deep end, then it wouldn’t be me who told them.
“Oh, my child,” Adrian murmured. “You are so very wrong about that. We’ve had quite a bit of time to get to know the young man since his release from jail. He’s been staying at the motel with us while we’ve been deciding what to do with him. We’ve had him under… how shall I put this? House arrest, if you will, unless he’s left with one of us. Daniel has been putting him under and combing through his memories. Daniel is very talented. As I’m sure you remember, Quinton.”
Quinton flinched, and my heart skipped a beat. What was that about?
Quinton’s entire body grew rigid and he looked on the verge of snapping.
“Oh, I remember,” Quinton ground out between clenched teeth. “How could I ever forget?”
“Your father was a great man,” Adrian murmured in a quiet, respectful voice. “We had always hoped he would join our ranks and become a Council member.”
I sighed. As much as I wanted to hear more about Quinton’s father, I wanted to get back to the topic at hand. I needed to know what was going on.
Quinton must have felt the same way, because he snapped, “What the fuck are you doing with the football player? Drop his ass off back in a jail cell where he belongs.”
And, just like that, my worst nightmare was confirmed. Adrian had come here today with Chucky acting as his driver. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Chucky was outside, right this moment, with my Salt and Pepper twins.
Quinton was right. Adrian had gone too far with this.
“No,” Adrian arched an eyebrow arrogantly as he glared at Quinton. “You do not get to tell me what to do. Something you seem to be forgetting more and more every day. It is getting on my last nerve. You do not want to push me any further, young Alexander. You will not like the outcome if you do.”
There was a thread of heat in his voice. I felt it lash out with every word and slither across my skin. A shiver trailed down my spine, and I had to force myself to stay seated in the chair and not jump up and run from the promise of violence I heard in Adrian’s voice.
Quinton wasn’t like me. He didn’t scare easily, and he didn’t ever look like he wanted to run away from anything.
Normally, it was one of his most attractive qualities. At the moment, I wasn’t finding it as attractive as I usually did. I wanted to grab him, give him a firm shake, and hope like hell it rattled some sense loose in his thick head.
Quinton was the one who was constantly telling me to watch my tone when I was with the Council members, and to act respectfuly towards them. Something, I might add, I failed spectacularly at all the freaking time.
Now, here he was, pulling this shit. Not cool.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful towards you,” Quinton bit out. “And I apologize for any rudeness you’ve felt I’ve handed you. It has not been my intention to be rude towards you. But we’ve been under a great deal of strain lately, as you are well aware of, and it’s become very hard for me to not snap at anyone who isn’t a member of my family who gets near us.”
What he really meant was anyone who got near me. Back on the pedestal I went, and I wasn’t a big fan of being on a pedestal. Not at all.
“This motherfucker hurt, no, that’s not even the right word for it. Hurt is too tame of a word. It doesn’t even begin to describe the damage he caused. And, yes, before you can call me out on it, I’m going to admit that I am partially to blame for the things that happened to my family. I take full responsibility for that, as you well know, seeing as I shared this with all of you when I first told you what happened and offered to take whatever punishment you felt I deserved.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Quinton had gone to the Council and asked to be punished for what had happened to myself and Dash? This was the first time I’d heard of this.
I stood up in a rush.
“No,” I whispered fiercely. “No one is punishing Quinton for anything. Not you. Not the rest of the Council. Not any damn body.”
“Calm down, Ariel.” Adrian barked at me.
I knew things were serious when he used my first name. He only ever called me “child” or “my dear.” He never used my real name. Probably because he wasn’t sur
e it was the name I had been born with, but who could blame him for that?
Quinton moved into my side. He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled my front into his side. His hand slid down to my hip and he squeezed firmly as his other hand came up to cup my jaw.
Heat from his bare skin licked up my body, and he put pressure on my cheek and tried to turn my face to look at him. I resisted, and shook my head free of his hold. I wasn’t about to allow Quinton to distract me from what was going on with his touch.
“Both of you need to cease speaking immediately and listen to what I have to say,” Adrian practically shouted at us.
Quinton’s head snapped in the direction of the little man at the same time as mine did. I imagined Quinton was just as surprised as I was at hearing the small Council member nearly shouting at us. It seemed so out of character for him to so much as raise his voice. It seemed so undignified, and not like Adrian at all.
Adrian threw his hands up in the air in frustration, and the heavy gold bracelets on his wrists clanged together noisily with the harsh movement.
“No one is punishing Quinton for his recent behavior, Ariel.” Adrian said in exasperation. “He did nothing the rest of the Council wouldn’t have contemplated doing themselves if they’d been in his position. We never even considered punishing him. We are here to look after our people, to take care of them when the need arises. I wish more people would remember this.”
I pursed my lips as I leaned into Quinton’s hard body.
I didn’t believe Adrian. I really wanted to bring up Mr. Cole’s dead sister, but I kept my mouth shut because it wasn’t the time for that particular conversation. There would likely never be an appropriate time for me to bring up that particular subject.
Adrian clapped his hands together in front of him loudly.
“Now,” he said. “Back to what is important here. That being the young Charles. I-”
“Wait, wait,” I said, interrupting him. “Who is Charles? I don’t know anyone named Charles.”
Adrian sighed heavily and closed his eyes as if he were in pain.
“I believe he goes by the name Chucky,” Adrian informed me. “Though, I have no idea why a man named Charles would ever choose to go by Chucky. It’s quite ridiculous, if you ask me.”
I pressed my lips together tightly in an attempt to keep the bubble of laughter that crawled up my throat inside. I didn’t want to laugh at him because I didn’t think he’d been joking.
“Now,” Adrian said in a condescending tone. “Can I continue speaking, or are you going to rudely interrupt me at every chance you can get?”
I wrapped my arm around the small of Quinton’s back and bit the corner of my bottom lip as hard as I could. The sharp sting of pain chased away the laughter. I licked my bottom lip, tasting copper, and knew I had made my lip bleed. There wasn’t much blood, so I wasn’t concerned. It didn’t exactly hurt. I didn’t seem to feel pain like a normal person; it didn’t always register with me.
“No more interruptions,” Quinton promised, his voice shaking. “You won’t hear another peep out of either of us.”
I swallowed hard. Hearing Quinton suppressing his own laughter was not helping me to control mine.
“I would appreciate it,” Adrian sniped, his voice cold.
I didn’t know what he had to be so upset about, this was all his fault. He was the one who’d brought Charles here, even when he knew no one would want him here. He had no room to be snarky with any of us.
“Daniel found some interesting things while digging around through this Charles’s memories. Some rather concerning things. It would seem he had a strong dislike for our newest female witch. In fact, he told his friends of some rather unsavory things he would like to do to our Ariel.”
I cringed. Both at him calling me ‘Our Ariel,’ and at what he was implying. I really did not want to know what Chucky had been thinking about doing to me.
“There’s also a blonde girl that he’s been involved with in secret for a while now. It would seem this girl has a strong dislike for Ariel as well. Together, they came up with a plan to seduce her, and they had planned to tape it. What they were going to do with the tape and Ariel afterwards, well… I feel it’s best we not speak of such things. I will say that the Council wanted to dispose of him, but I felt we could find a better use for him. And I was right. He can be put to use, which is why he’s been driving me around, doing my laundry, preparing my meals, and, well, you see where this is going.”
Quinton was right. Chucky belonged somewhere where he could be contained. Far, far away from me and my coven. I never wanted to see him again. I couldn’t believe I’d ever actually cared about what happened to Chucky.
“I think you should take him back to jail,” I said in a hushed voice. “I don’t want him here. I don’t want him anywhere near me.”
Or Dash.
I really hoped Dash didn’t have to see Chucky.
Adrian smiled at me sadly, and this one looked genuine. The genuine looks were starting to frighten me more than the fake ones.
“I’m sorry, my dear,” Adrian said softly. And, I had to give it to him, he did sound genuinely sorry. “I’m afraid that’s no longer an option. We take the safety of our females very seriously. This young man wanted to physically harm you, and he succeeded. Perhaps not in the way he’d originally wished for, since there was no pleasure on his end, but it was a successful endeavor all the same. Now-”
I sliced my hand through the air sharply, cutting him off.
“Please,” I begged. “Do not say any more about what he wanted to potentially do to me. I don’t want to hear it, Quinton doesn’t want to hear it. Save it. I don’t want him around me. I don’t want him to drive me around or do my laundry. If you’re not going to take him back to jail, then I think you should keep him for yourself.”
I snapped my mouth shut, but it was too late, the words were already out there. I couldn’t take them back.
I had just encouraged Adrian to keep Chucky, and I’d meant it.
Adrian shook his head. “I will give you time to reconsider,” he told me. “You may change your mind. If this happens, I will gladly deliver him to you. If you do not change your mind, I will need to find you another servant to do these things, and anything else you might want them to do, for you. I’m positive I could even get you a witch from another coven; there are plenty of us out there who’d love to serve you.”
I gaped at him and took a step back, away from him. I shook my head frantically from side to side.
“A… a servant?” I stuttered. “I don’t want one. I’m good, really.”
“You’ve worn out your welcome in my home today, Adrian,” Quinton growled. “It’s time for you to leave.”
“No surprise there,” Adrian muttered under his breath. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
That last part was directed at me, and sounded vaguely threatening.
I wondered if he’d be bringing potential “servants” with him. I hoped not.
Adrian glided out of the room without even bothering to look back. I really wasn’t looking forward to his next visit. This one had been so much fun.
“Ariel,” Quinton said in sweet, soft voice. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. And you don’t have to take any gifts from him, certainly not of the people variety.”
I blew out a breath in relief. I was glad to hear it.
I moved away from Quinton’s heat and said, “I have things to do, and I need to get home to do them.”
His hand shot out and he grabbed ahold of my wrist. He gave a tug and I looked back at him questioningly.
His dark eyes were troubled as they swept over me, but he didn’t say anything.
He lifted my wrist to his face and pressed his lips to the healed marks on the inside of my wrist.
He kissed me softly and let me go.
“Tomorrow,” he muttered.
“Yes,” I croaked out past suddenly dry lips.
I
walked away like Adrian had, without bothering to look back.
I really didn’t need to look back at all that skin. Or, at least that’s what I told myself.
Chapter Two
Quinton
Motherfucker.
I left the study in a horrible, black mood that threatened to swallow me whole and consume me, if I allowed it. That goddamned Adrian had some big balls, I’d give him that. Bringing that piece of crap football player to my fucking house after what he’d done to my family. And knowing he’d been bringing him here for weeks now, and we hadn’t known because he’d left the prick in his car, and had been leaving his car parked on the side of the road. No one had thought to look.
Un-fucking-believable.
My hands were tied. I couldn’t go against them, and there was no hiding her now that she’d been introduced to them. Not that she’d let me hide her. I couldn’t get away with much where she was concerned.
She was stubborn and had been incredibly magnificent when she’d first met them. I wished she’d been a lot less so, because now she was on their radar big time, and wouldn’t be leaving it any time soon, like, not in this lifetime. No one ever spoke to the Council the way that she had, the way I imagine she’d been speaking to Adrian every single day she spent time with him. It was similar to the way she dealt with me. Ariel was refreshing, like a breath of fresh air in the early spring. Cool, crisp, clean and refreshing. I’d seen it in their eyes and the way they’d looked at her, watched her as she told them her life story. They’d gone for intimidation and ended up enthralled themselves. The Council often liked to use intimidation tactics to control people and every situation they found themselves in.
I moved through the house, heading towards my bedroom. I was in a foul mood, and knew that if the others came across me in this mood right now I would snap at them.
Then I would feel bad later for snapping at them, and a guilty conscience was never a good time for any one, least of all me. I knew from experience, because I lost my temper and snapped at people all the time; I always ended up feeling badly about it later on. I rarely apologized for my bad behavior, though, unless it was to my family. Admitting when I was wrong about something always made me feel weak, when I should have felt anything but, because it took strength to admit your faults, and even more so to point your faults out to others. Which, by the way, is exactly what apologizing did.
