He grinned, his ears turning pink as his gaze went to my back. “How does it feel not having to worry about your barriers anymore?”
“Freeing.” I smiled. “I have a life, I have a future. I’m going to live long enough to enjoy student loan debt.”
Miles chuckled. “And you’re happy about debt?”
“Yep,” I said. “I’m happy that I’ll be alive to pay it back.”
“I’m glad you’ll be around,” he said quietly.
“I’m sorry Asher and Ethan were mad at you,” I said. “They shouldn’t have been.”
“They weren’t really angry with me,” he said. “They were upset at the situation and didn’t know what to do.”
“Still,” I muttered.
“It’s alright.” His eyes met mine. “What’s important is that you were going to tell us before everything went wrong with Isaac.”
I gave him a smile.
“Miles,” Ethan called from the door.
Miles got out of the chair and headed back out the door. Ethan came in and took his place. What was going on?
“Are you guys playing musical chairs?” I teased.
Ethan chuckled as he moved closer and took my hand. “I know I didn’t say this before, but… thank you, Lexie,” he whispered. I squeezed his hand. “You saved his ass.”
“Evelyn saved both our asses, actually,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but he would have been done for if you didn’t go in after him,” he countered. His chocolate eyes were warm as they met mine. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” I said softly. The needle hit another spot, I hissed and grunted. He squeezed my hand. Isaac moved into the doorway.
“Ethan,” Isaac called. Ethan squeezed my hand, got up and left the room.
“Okay, seriously, what is with the musical chairs?” I asked again.
“Nothing. Everyone is just antsy to get home,” Isaac said as he took my hand. Hades came in and put himself under my hand. Apparently I existed to him again. Ever since the demon died he’d stayed with Isaac and ignored me. What changed? I started scratching his ears.
“That looks painful.”
I smiled. “Yeah, but worth it.”
He took a deep breath and met my eyes. “Hey, when we get home I want to talk to you.” My heart hammered in my chest. Talk? Oh God…
“Um, okay.” My mouth went dry. “I have something I need to do first, but after that—”
The needle hit a bad spot. I squeaked.
Isaac leaned closer. “Squeeze my hand, Red.” I did. Isaac stayed with me until the artist was done. When the gun shut off he let go of my hand and got up. “I’m going to tell the others you’re done.” He hurried out the door. Seriously, what was going on?
Hades stayed with me as Mike carefully cleaned my back and then handed me a mirror. I held the towel to my chest as I went to stand with my back to the mirror and used the hand mirror to see the tattoo. It was beautiful. Black and bronze, the scrolling Latin ran down my spine, starting just below my neck and ending almost on my butt. I smiled. No more getting jumped for this Necromancer! I handed him the mirror and sat back down. He bandaged the tattoo all the way down my spine and gave me aftercare instructions before he left to let me get dressed. I tied my suit top lightly and pulled on my cami.
When I came out, no one was in the waiting area. Okay… I went to the front desk to ask where the guys were, but no one was there. Figuring they would be back in a few minutes, I sat down to wait with Hades and picked up a magazine. The writing was oddly blurry. I moved it further away until I could see it better. Weird.
A curtain leading to one of the tattoo rooms opened and Isaac came out into the waiting area. Before the curtain closed, I spotted Ethan in the chair getting a tattoo. What the…?
I got up and met Isaac halfway across the shop. “What the hell is Ethan doing?” I looked up, and for the first time saw the tape on his neck. “Isaac…”
His eyes met mine. “That chick, Evie? She gave us a design to give the tattoo artists here for us.”
My mouth dropped. “What? You got a tattoo?”
He grinned. “Yeah.” He turned and carefully pulled the bandage off the back of his neck. It was a symbol of some kind. I could figure that much out, but… I had no clue what it meant. There were several parts to it and the detail was intricate. I put the bandage back in place and walked around to meet his eyes.
“Your mom is going to kill you,” I told him quietly. “What does it do?"
He swallowed hard. “Two things. Protection from demon possession…”
Okay, that I could get behind.
He continued reluctantly. “And to give the Sight.”
Huh? What? “I think I heard you wrong. The Sight?”
He smirked down at me. “Yeah, Red. We’ll be able to see what you see now.”
My chest warmed even as fear tore through me. “We?”
“Uh. Yeah…”
A curtain opened. Zeke walked out and spotted us. He came over as if nothing strange was happening.
“You guys gave yourselves the Sight,” I said again, just to be clear.
They exchanged a look then turned back to me.
“Yeah,” Zeke said.
A curtain to another room opened. Miles walked out, still pulling his shirt down. A patch of gauze riding low on his hip caught my eye. What…? Why….?
“Do you guys understand what you’ve done?” I asked as my chest grew tight. “Do you have any idea what this is going to do to your lives?” My voice was getting louder.
“Our choice,” Zeke told me gruffly.
I stared at them, stunned, as Miles joined us. Asher stepped out of another room.
“I see you told her,” Miles said lightly.
“You’re all insane,” I stated.
They chuckled as Asher reached us.
The curtain to Ethan’s room moved. Ethan came out with a bandage on the inside of his left wrist. His eyes found me.
“So, she knows already?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah,” the guys answered in unison.
“You don’t know what you’re… your lives… why?” I couldn’t seem to manage an entire question.
“It’s the only way we can possibly help you,” Miles explained. “If we don’t see what you do, then we’re useless. And we don’t want you dealing with this alone anymore.”
I shook my head as tears filled my eyes. My voice was warm when I said, “You fucking idiots.”
Ethan
I looked out the window at the cloudless sky. The seats in Miles' plane were nice, but no one was ever comfortable on a plane.
I turned away from the window. Well, Lexie was. She had curled up in the seat next to Isaac and passed out before we took off. Not five minutes later Isaac fell asleep too. Hades had stretched out on the floor between them.
I eyed my brother. He was still so exhausted. Isaac. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Lexie went into Isaac’s center. I leaned my head back against the chair and cursed myself. If he remembered any of it and told Lexie, she might figure out that I lied about not remembering our kiss. Shit.
My mind went back to that kiss in the Veil, reminding me of the way she felt against me. The way her ass fit in my hands… I sighed. I never should have lied about our kiss. I should have just kissed her again. If I had, I wouldn’t have been cursing myself since Boulder.
Lexie whimpered in her sleep. My eyes snapped open as I lifted my head to check on her. Her face twisted in pain. Before I could get up, Isaac reached over and found her hand while still asleep. Her face relaxed as she squeezed my brother’s hand. I started twirling my rings.
Even if I told her I remembered, there was still that stupid agreement with the others. No dating Lexie. I cursed under my breath as I looked away from her and out the window again. Why the hell had I agreed to that? I could raise the issue again, but... if she didn’t feel the same way, there was no point.
I sighed wearily. I was tired. Tired of holding back with her, tired of not touching her, tired of… not kissing her. I had to fucking tell her or I’d never know.
Epilogue
I strode into Serena’s store and slammed the door behind me. Serena looked up from the computer on the counter. She scowled at me.
“What are you angry about now?” Serena snapped.