“Agreed,” Maddox says, then the two men are talking spells and ancient magics that I know nothing about.
I keep my ears open and listen intently, because… the more you know.
You know?
CHAPTER 20
Finley
There are times—admittedly few and far between—when I can forget about the perils facing me.
Tonight—right now—is one of those times.
The kitchen of Carrick’s condo has become our place for casual hangouts. We use the library for business.
But in the kitchen with good food and typically good wine, we can let go of the horrors to come and just be ourselves. We can celebrate Maddox’s return to us just yesterday.
It wasn’t always like that. I remember back to the days when Carrick was an asshole and Zaid hated me. Rainey and Myles were oblivious.
And now, I look around at this group and this seems normal.
It seems like home.
Like family.
Zaid is at his usual post, finishing up our dinner. While I no longer see his glamour but rather his real daemon face, I don’t see him as different from me.
Rather, I see him as a partner, friend, and, yes, a family member, although he’d probably never admit the same about me.
Tonight, we’re having fajitas, and the entire island is filled with spicy seared steak and chicken as well as bowls of fillers like onions, peppers, three different types of cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. He even set out both corn and flour tortillas.
Maddox is at the end of the curved island, a seat he claimed early on when he joined us. The four stools opposite Zaid down the island’s length are comprised of Myles, Rainey, Carrick, and me.
The obvious members we are missing, and not just in a physical sense, are Titus and Lucien.
The other member missing is Boral because while he is fully on the team, he’s so disliked by everyone he wasn’t invited. I don’t spend too much time stressing over that being rude, though, because Boral probably wouldn’t have come. He’s been taking his role in providing crucial information on Kymaris to us very seriously and has remained by Kaesar’s side.
Boral had even mentioned they’d been bonding over old memories and good times, and I was afraid it had meant they were engaging in Boral’s favorite past time of mayhem and murder. I try not to think about it though, and instead focus on the good right here in this kitchen.
Zaid pulls out the piece de resistance—a huge pitcher of margaritas—and starts filling salt-rimmed glasses as he orders, “Dig in.”
For the next few minutes, there’s no conversation. No bowls are passed either, each of us leaning forward, left and right, to reach the various fixings to assemble our fajitas. I perch on my stool, standing and stretching Maddox’s way, trying to ignore Carrick when he slips his hand in between my legs at my calf and starts a slow slide up.
Fortunately, no one can see. When his hand reaches my actual knee, I slam them shut and sit back down. Pulling his hand free, he laughs and steals a chicken fajita off my plate.
I turn down a proffered margarita from Zaid. After dinner tonight, Carrick has promised he’ll let me reach out to Zora and I want to be clear-headed.
When the plates are loaded, conversation kicks back up in between bites of food. The clear runner for best conversation of topic is the wedding since Rainey and I chatter on about it and they have no choice but to listen. Tomorrow we have a full day planned of dress shopping, cake tasting, and a fancy lunch down near the water.
Carrick remains conspicuously quiet about his wedding duties, but Maddox can’t resist teasing Myles a little. “Dude… why bother buying when you’re already getting the goods for free?”
There was a time when Myles would get mad or offended by such a thing, particularly from Maddox, who to this day still shamelessly flirts with Rainey. But the Myles sitting with a half-eaten fajita in his hand merely shakes his head with a knowing smile. “I’d try to explain it to you, but you’d never understand it… dude.”
Me and Rainey turn our heads toward each other, smiling at the little slap down to Maddox that was loaded with a lot of love for my bestie.
“But I think there’s someone who understands,” Myles continues, then leans forward on his stool to look past Rainey and me to Carrick.
Carrick, as sexy as he can be in any situation, is bent over his plate, mouth wide open and about to take a huge bite of the chicken fajita he stole from me.
Everyone is silent, which causes Carrick to lift his head and glance around, eyes finally landing on Myles, who was the last that spoke, his insinuation—which would be accurate—being that Carrick would understand about that type of love.
But I can tell Carrick was only half paying attention. It’s not often I see the big guy slightly embarrassed before he admits, “Sorry… what did you say?”