Chapter 24
“What did you just call me?” Ashlyn asked as he climbed off the bed, unable to be near her right now as the reality of everything that he’d lost slammed into him.
“It means little flame,” Shayne found himself saying as he made his way to the other side of the room.
“I didn’t tell you the name.”
“What happened?” Shayne demanded, watching as Ashlyn’s expression turned confused.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, frowning as she watched him only to go still at his next words.
“What happened after I left ye with Bécc, lass?” he demanded as her expression went cold.
“How do you know his name?” Ashlyn asked, watching him as she grabbed hold of the comforter and pulled it over herself.
“I need ta know what happened after I left,” Shayne bit out as he struggled not to lose his fucking mind.
“He killed me,” Ashlyn said as all the air in his lungs rushed out and-
“Shayne?” Ashlyn asked, moving to climb off the bed and come to him when he was forced to reach out and slam his hand against the wall when his legs threatened to give out on him, only to stay where she was when he shook his head.
“Tell me everything,” Shayne said, needing to know how he’d lost everything.
“About the dream?” Ashlyn asked after a slight hesitation.
“Aye, about the dream,” Shayne said, swallowing hard as he told himself that this wasn’t fucking happening.
“After you left, he stabbed me twice before laying me on the bed and placed a rock in my hand, courtesy of the king,” Ashlyn said as he slowly nodded.
“Yer father,” Shayne said, knowing in that moment that his suspicions when the bastard came to him to kill her had been right.
The asshole tried to send him to kill his fucking daughter, Shayne thought, laughing without humor as he pushed away from the wall and rubbed his hands roughly down his face.
“Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Ashlyn demanded in that tone that he knew so fucking well.
It was the same one that Lasarín and Aileen used to use when he pissed them off, making him wonder how he’d missed just how alike Lasarín, Aileen, and Ashlyn were.
All three of them managed to wrap him around their little fingers, stole his food every chance they got, and all three of them drove him out of his fucking mind.
But then again, maybe he didn’t want to see it.
“How long have ye been having the dreams?” Shayne asked as he dropped his hands away so that he could watch as she thought that over only to answer his own question before she got the chance, “Since ye met me?”
After a slight hesitation, she nodded.
“If I had ta guess, ye’ve probably been dreaming about our life together when I was forced ta work for the king and then when I was Thomas and my family owned the tavern in Boston,” Shayne said, knowing that he was right when he saw her swallow hard.
“How did you know about the dreams?” Ashlyn asked, her gaze turning assessing as she watched him.
“Because they weren’t dreams, lass.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Of course, they were dreams,” Ashlyn said while he debated the best way to do this.
After a moment, he realized that there was only one way.
“Quinn?” Shayne said, never taking his eyes off her as his brother appeared in the room and-
“What the hell just happened?” Ashlyn asked as her terrified gaze shot from him to Quinn, who looked resigned to the bullshit ahead.
“Those weren’t dreams, lass. We’re cursed,” Shayne said, not bothering to wait around to see how she took the news. “Watch over her,” he told his brother as he made his way to the bathroom, closed the door behind him, and-
“Fuck!”
-lost his fucking mind.
She should have been safe, Shayne told himself as he placed his trembling hands on the bathroom counter and tried to figure out how this was fucking happening.
He should have given in to the pull the first time that he felt it. He should have gone to her and made sure with his own eyes that she wasn’t Lasarín instead of hiding behind the fucking guilt tearing him apart over this curse. He should have been there. He should have protected her. He-
“Goddamnit!”
-felt the panic that used to threaten to swallow him whole when he was a boy.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened the browser, found the list of porno videos in his favorites, and hit play before he placed the phone down on the bathroom counter.
Slowly exhaling, Shayne placed his hands on the edge of the bathroom counter as the sounds of women moaning and men groaning filled the air while he struggled to stop thinking about just how fucking badly he’d screwed up.
“Don’t go in there, lass,” he heard Quinn say, only to hear the bathroom door open a few seconds later.
“Don’t,” Shayne said when he felt her move closer only to have her ignore him and turn off his phone.
“Ye always were a pain in my ass, mo bheag mhuirnín,” Shayne said as he opened his eyes to find her standing next to him with a sheet wrapped around her.
“Start talking,” Ashlyn demanded as she folded her arms over her chest.
“Which part do ye want ta hear first, lass? The part where I fucked up and ended up getting us all cursed or how I fucked up and left ya at the mercy of the curse?” Shayne snapped as he pushed away from the counter and faced her.
“How about we start with the incredibly hot man that magically appeared in the bedroom?” Ashlyn said, making his lips twitch despite just how fucking badly he was struggling not to fucking lose it.
There was a heartfelt sigh from the other room, followed by a murmured, “I knew I liked the lass.”
“What is he?” Ashlyn asked as she reached over and closed the bathroom door.
“Besides really fucking annoying?” Shayne asked, before adding, “He’s my brother.”
“He’s more than that,” Ashlyn pointed out.
“He’s a ghost,” Shayne said, watching her closely to see how she would react to the news.
“A ghost,” she repeated back slowly, seeming to think that over. “And what does that make you?
“I have no idea what that makes me,” Shayne admitted.
“And Tristan?”
“He’s very much alive,” Shayne said only to watch her gaze flicker to his phone.
“And your deeply disturbing need to listen to porn at a time like this?” Ashlyn asked, blinking at him as he bit back a sigh.
“The sound soothes me. Always had. I need chaotic, predictable sounds so that I don’t lose my fucking mind, which is why ye found me in the emergency room that day,” Shayne said as he watched her think that over.
“So, that bullshit story that you tried to spin about a drug interaction that sent you to the emergency room?” Ashlyn asked as she hopped up onto the bathroom counter.
“A necessary lie,” Shayne said as he kept his gaze locked with hers.
“And the ghost with the food channel obsession that’s been bugging the shit out of me for the past two weeks?” she asked, making his lips twitch.
“That would be my brother Declean,” Shayne said as he sat down against the wall across from her.
“And just so we’re on the same page here, I’m not going insane,” Ashlyn asked, making him sigh.
“No, lass, ye’re not going insane,” Shayne said, watching her nod as she slid back off the counter.
“But you are an asshole,” Ashlyn said as she made her way across the room.
“Aye, I’m definitely an asshole,” he said, watching as she adjusted the sheet wrapped around her as she sat down on his lap so that she was looking him in the eye as she said, “Now, tell me about this curse.”