“Yes.” His blue eyes glittered dangerously in the light. “Payback for defying him.”
“Ari,” Jai choked, glancing down at her.
The Red King strode past Jai and kneeled down, lifting Ari into his powerful arms with ease. “I will take her home. I have to explain everything to her before she does something rash.”
“And Derek?”
“The shaitan was ordered to give him an aneurism. Even when dealing out revenge, my brother likes to keep things organized and easy to clean up.” For just a second, the Red King’s face flickered, his eyes turned black, and shadows swirled under his skin. Then, just as quickly, he looked like himself again. “Arrange it so that Derek is found. Put him back in his car and have it placed somewhere someone will find him quickly. His death must be like all other human deaths. It will be easier for Ari in the long run.”
“Easier for Ari,” Jai growled, rubbing a hand over his short hair in desperation. He felt useless. “How is… she won't get over this.”
“She’ll have to.” The Red King looked down at his niece and Jai could have sworn there was a sad fondness in the huge jinn’s eyes. “The White King has thrown down the gauntlet.”
Chapter
Four
I’LL PROTECT YOU ONCE I SAVE MYSELF
The sound of snoring had become soothing despite its origin. Charlie sat across from his dad in silence, watching his chest rise and fall in drunken sleep. The television muted. The football game playing across the screen was just a flicker at the edge of his vision. A bottle of scotch laid at his dad’s feet. It was difficult to come to terms with the truth. His father was a drunk. And his mom didn’t seem too concerned about doing anything to help him. Sure the house was cleaner, she was paying more attention to Charlie — she’d even hugged him the other day — but Mike’s ghost still lingered in the house. A sharp knife of pain flared in Charlie’s chest and he closed his eyes briefly, still amazed by how fresh the grief of losing Mike could be. Maybe if they’d had a more volatile relationship like some brothers, maybe if Mike had been a total pain in the ass, then he could deal with his death more easily. But Mike had been a great kid. He’d been his buddy...
The soft rap at his door was not unexpected. Charlie sighed, throwing his pencil down on his math homework and spinning around to face his bedroom door. “Come in,” he called with only a slight rasp of exasperation in the words.
The door opened slowly, and Mike’s boyish face appeared in the doorway. He was getting taller, but Charlie still saw a tiny little kid that was his to protect, even though Mikey could hold his own and had more charm than men three times his age. Mike was the most popular kid in his class. He even had every teacher in his school in raptures over him.
He should also be in bed by now.
His chocolate eyes were wide as he shuffled in and closed the door behind him, his smile sheepish.
“Mom and Dad wake you up?” Charlie asked him quietly, hating that his parents’ constant arguing upset Mikey so much.
Mike shrugged. He was at that age now, where he thought he had to pretend to be okay about everything. Especially in front of his big brother. “I wasn’t asleep.”
Another curse word floated up from downstairs as their mom and dad started arguing again. He winced as his dad accused his mom of spending too much money on clothes for Mikey. Charlie knew what her shrieked answer would be before it came. “You should go back to bed, Mike.”
His little brother shrugged again and jumped onto Charlie’s bed. “What are you doing? Video calling Ari?” he teased, his grin far too knowing for a twelve-year-old.
“No,” Charlie huffed, a little affronted that even his little brother thought all he did was think about Ari. He got enough crap about it from his friends at school. “Math homework.”
Mike wrinkled his nose. “I’d take Ari over math any day.”
“I thought you liked math.”
“It’s okay.”
Charlie narrowed his eyes at Mike. His brother had that look. He hadn’t just come in to see him because of his parents' fight. He wanted to talk to him about something. Knowing that with Mike you had to wait it out of him, rather than press him about it, Charlie whistled softly and swung a little on his chair, his eyes trailing over the familiar posters on his walls.
“So…”
He raised an eyebrow at Mike. “Yeah?” Holy crap, did Mikey just blush. Charlie grinned. “What?”
Squirming a little, Mike exhaled like a forty-year-old with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He couldn’t meet Charlie’s eyes. “Something happened at Sarah’s party on Saturday.”