She expected him to do as Alex did to poor Bree, which was repeatedly insist it was time to go home. But Camden settled in and had a long chat with Valentina’s crazy brothers, whose interest he’d apparently piqued after they heard about his brawl with Grant. The only time Camden seemed unhappy was when Aspen went to the bar or restroom—he didn’t like having her out of his sight.
As for everyone else … they talked and laughed and bantered.
Bree leaned into Elle. “Damian and Acadia seem kind of cozy, don’t they?”
Aspen looked over at Elle’s younger brother. He was indeed all cozied up with a female. They were pretty cute together.
“They never liked each other as kids,” said Vinnie, watching the pair with a smile. “Argued like cat and dog. But over the past couple of years, they’ve grown close. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn they’re predestined mates.”
“I don’t see how he could possibly have one,” said Elle. “True mates are two halves of a whole. If you don’t have a soul, you can’t have a mate.”
Isaak frowned. “Why would Damian not have soul?”
The redhead waved a hand. “It’s an antichrist thing.”
Vinnie exhaled heavily. “Elle.”
“I get that it’s hard for you to accept that you raised an abomination that will surely destroy the world, but you have to stop blinding yourself to it,” said Elle.
“Or you could stop insisting that your brother is evil incarnate, and try to get along with him a little better,” Vinnie suggested. “It can be done. Look at Tate and Luke. They were horrible to each other when they were kids. If they weren’t trying to actively kill each other, they were just being plain mean. Tate once emptied a 5-litre tub of glue all over Luke’s head—”
“Only because he tried to make me drink it,” Tate interjected.
“—then threw a blanket over him and locked him in the closet. I have thousands of similar stories. But you know what? They stopped that shit eventually and learned to get along. It’s time you and Damian did the same.”
But Elle apparently disagreed, and so she and her father proceeded to argue.
Aspen turned to Bailey with a smile, expecting to see her chuckling—the mamba found the whole “Damian’s the son of the devil” thing pretty amusing. But she was currently staring off into space, her brow furrowed.
Aspen nudged her. “Did you not hear any of that?”
Bailey double-blinked. “No, I did. I heard about the glue thing. It’s just … I don’t get why glue never sticks to the inside of tubs and bottles. I mean, what is up with that?”
Aspen felt her brow knit. “Yeah, I don’t get it either.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“My suggestion?” Aspen used the remote control to gesture at the widescreen TV. “Train to Busan. It’s an awesome movie.” One of her favorites, in fact.
Sitting beside her on the sofa, Camden dipped his spoon into the huge tub of caramel ice-cream they were sharing. “What’s it about?”
“Well, there’s this guy—a hard, divorced workaholic—who wants to take his daughter to Busan so she can spend her birthday with her mom. Actually, I wouldn’t say he wants to do it. But he feels shitty when he watches a vid of his daughter getting hit by stage fright while singing at a recital that he missed and … I can’t say more without giving too much away.”
Camden studied her face for a long moment. “There are zombies in the movie, aren’t there?”
“What? No. Does it sound like a … Okay, so there’s a zombie apocalypse going on around the characters, but it’s not a major part of the plot.”
“You always say that, and you’re always chatting shit.” He ate a spoon of ice-cream. “Pick something else.”
“Oh, come on. Just give it a chance. I think you’ll like it.”
“No, you don’t. You want me to like it. There’s a difference.”
Well, yeah. Aspen sniffed. “Fine.” She resumed scanning the selection of movies on the screen.
They’d been mated a few days now and, honestly, nothing felt different. They’d always been so deeply embroiled in each other’s lives and met so many of the other’s needs, so adjusting to being mated had been absolutely effortless. It was amazing how such a fundamental event could so fully settle a person rather than knock them off-balance.
“How about a horror movie?” she suggested. “You ever heard of Resident Evil?”
He stuck his spoon in the tub again. “No.”
“I figured not. It’s based on a video game. You’re not really into those.”
“What’s the storyline?”
“So a girl wakes up in the base of her shower. She has a vague memory of falling unconscious while showering, but she can’t remember much else—not even her name. She’s wearing a wedding ring and sees a picture of herself with some guy, so she knows she’s married, but she doesn’t remember him either. She gets dressed and … Let’s stop there or I’ll give too much away. Basically, there’s a strong amnesia theme going on.”