Ever Marked (Mystics of Mercy Ridge #1)

21. Ever

Chapter 21

Ever

“ H ere.” Ledger hands me my notebook from work, adjusting the pillow under my feet on his couch. “Just do me a favor and burn that when you're done studying it. Last thing we need is for it to end up in some human's hands.”

Flipping it open, I find every single one of my questions answered. This must have taken him hours , but he stayed up last night doing it anyway.

“Deal.” Mentally, though, I weep at the thought of destroying all this information. What if I forget something? Having a cheat sheet to reference would be a game changer.

“Also,” he pulls out an e-reader, setting it on the end table next to the couch. “I changed your job description so that you can work from anywhere.” He fake coughs into his fist and adds, “That I am.”

I raise an eyebrow, silently calling him out, and he scratches the scruff on his jaw, suddenly finding the ceiling fascinating.

“So I’m supposed to just follow you around everywhere and sit in a corner to read while you’re busy?”

I mean, with what he’s paying and how little actual work I really do, it really doesn’t matter. Mostly, I just want to know what to expect a typical workday to look like.

“Of course not. I’d never stick you in the corner, you’ll be right next to me. Or if I’m lucky, on my lap.”

I snort. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I think you mean determined,” he corrects. “Honestly, the place can run fine without me, especially now that Kai has the business card. I was just so hands on because I didn’t have anything else in my life. Now that you’re here? I’d be a fool not to promote him so that I’m free to spend my time on more important things.”

My stomach flutters with something dangerously close to hope. “Careful there, all that flattery might go to my head.”

“Good, thinking about you certainly goes to mine.” With a wink, he picks up a book and takes a seat in the recliner, giving me the illusion of space. A calm, steady comfort, keeping the silence from becoming overbearing.

My headache is gone by the time Arson and Myles roll out of bed and join us downstairs. Making himself right at home, Arson picks up my legs and flops dramatically onto the couch, pulling my blanket covered legs back onto his lap and resting a hand on my shin. “Angel, tell him that brothers have threesomes all the time and you’d totally be into it.”

Myles’s face is beet red as he argues, “That’s not what I said and you know it!”

Arson smirks, thumb lazily stroking the top of my leg. “Fine, fine. Then at least reassure brother dearest that you’re not mad you woke up pinned between the two of us this morning.”

I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at how flustered Myles looks, but I don’t want him to take it the wrong way. It’s just… endearing. And a bit of a turn on seeing how nervous he gets around me when he’s sober. I like seeing that I affect him.

“Not mad at all. Though, I really should apologize.” That gets his attention snapping up to my face, confusion tempering his embarrassment. “Apparently drunk Ever is pretty handsy. Sorry for hanging all over you last night.”

His ears join his flaming cheeks, and he fiddles with his glasses. “That’s okay. Um, I mean, no need to apologize. I didn’t mind. I know it was only because you were tipsy. I don’t usually drink either, so we can just forget last night ever happened.”

“And forget the way you stood up for me to my ex? Nope, that’s living rent free in my head from now on. Besides, if he calls back, I’ll have to pass my husband the phone to keep up our cover story, right?”

His swallow practically echoes in the otherwise silent room, Ledger and Arson hanging on every word and watching him squirm with shit-eating grins. “O-okay. Yeah, I can handle that if he calls again.”

Ledger waggles his eyebrows. “Oh, I’m sure Ever would be happy for you to handle anything she needs- hey!” Rubbing his chest, he picks up the book Arson whipped at him and sets it aside. “What was that for?”

“Nobody picks on my brother but me.” Arson is busy shooting daggers at Ledger, so he misses the look of surprise on Myles’s face, studying his older brother curiously.

“How’re you feeling?” I ask to break the tension mounting in the room.

Shaking off whatever rabbit hole he fell down, Myles offers me a wry smile. “Honestly? Embarrassed, more than anything.”

“Don’t be, we both were dealing with some heavy shit, it’s okay that we took a night to be hot messes to process. Besides, I had fun. And it’s not like we got too carried away.”

A darkening haze in my peripherals catches my eye, Arson’s shadows clinging closer like a second skin more than the tendrils he seems to favor.

“You okay?”

His thumb pauses mid-stroke. “Me?”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t blame you if you were annoyed. I never really thanked you for hauling my drunk ass home last night and making sure I didn’t do anything I’d regret.” I grimace. “Not to mention you just met your brother, and I pretty much stole all of his attention and you wound up babysitting us the rest of the day. That was a dick move on my part; I’m sorry. I genuinely got caught up in the moment and wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

Some of that haze blurring his features thins. “ Never upset with you. I told you, I’m here for whatever you need. Last night, you needed a bodyguard and a ride home. Who knows, tonight you might need a cuddle buddy.”

So they do get jealous. They’re just too afraid of being rejected to tell me.

“You know what, I think I just might.”

“Wait, really?” The wicked scar on his cheek pulls tight with the smile that splits his face.

“Yeah. In fact, how about we sleep at your place tonight?” I challenge.

He stiffens, all but confirming my theory that I don’t actually have a ghost, I have a demon stalker with boundary issues.

Myles clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably, but chiming in to save his brother. “What about you, Ever? Feeling okay?”

Note to self: Arson won’t lie, but he’ll deflect and avoid questions he doesn’t want to answer.

Letting it go for now, I let Myles change the subject. “Still kind of tired, but Ledger fixed me right up this morning. I wouldn’t turn down some caffeine though.”

Ledger puffs up his chest at my words but as soon as he sees me starting to get up, rises to his feet. “Don't even think about it. You're staying off that foot until it’s healed.”

Arson tenses beneath my legs. “What’s wrong with her foot?” The blanket goes flying as he frantically starts searching for injuries like he expects my whole leg to be charred or some nonsense.

Myles crosses the room, looking concerned at my bandaged foot and ankle. “Does it hurt?”

Now my cheeks are the ones heating at the attention. “It's nothing, he's overreacting. Some coffee splashed on it and I stepped on something, I don't even feel it anymore.”

“That's a sign of nerve damage.” Frowning, he looks to Ledger. “Should we take her to the hospital?” The words are barely out of his mouth before Arson is picking me up.

“Guys! Seriously, calm your tits. It isn’t bad, and Ledger already smothered it in burn cream and triple antibiotic. I’m fine .”

Myles steps closer to Arson. “She has a point, he would have immediately taken her in if he was concerned.”

Ledger returns from the kitchen, setting a can of soda on the table beside my seat. “First degree, and the cut wasn’t bad enough for stitches, but she should stay off of it the rest of the day.”

Arson scowls, but sits down and tucks the blanket back around my legs, wrapping them up so I’m thoroughly trapped.

You’d think I broke my damn leg, they’re being so ridiculous.

As Arson and Ledger circle back to the topic of how long it took the bruise on my face to heal when I first showed up in town, I lob out the first distraction attempt that I can think of. “So what kind of supernatural is the strongest?”

It works like a charm, the three of them devolving into a heated debate while I slump back into the couch, getting a front row seat to how having multiple mates would work.

The jerks would gang up on me.