Chapter 18
Blaze
Driving is not my favorite.
I’d so much rather walk, but hauling these statues under my arms the entire way to Hudson’s just sounds uncomfortable enough for me to force myself to drive.
I get stuck at one of the stoplights when two of the Rumpus parade floats are crossing over to get parked in the grocery lot until the morning.
The entire island is covered in decorations for tomorrow.
Ball ornaments hang from the trees, lights wrapped around trunks, cars, businesses, and even attached to the streetlights.
Some of it looks so commercial.
My brother and I may have to spice things up later.
When I arrive at the bar, I see Jasmine pacing outside on her phone, one hand on her hip. She looks frustrated about something. Still, when she sees me getting the statues out of the trunk, she smiles my way and holds up a finger.
“—yeah. Yeah, please do that. I really need that delivery today. Okay. Yes. Thank you.”
She taps the red button on her screen, stuffs her phone in her pocket, then peers me over. “Mr. Blaze. I missed you yesterday,” she says, and my stomach drops.
Goddamn it—
“My fucking brother,” I realize, lips pursed.
Jasmine’s smile widens. “Oh yes. He couldn’t resist showing off a little when I poured him a drink.”
I scoff and shake my head. He couldn’t even last a single afternoon without showing off. “I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not.”
“Here, let me take one,” she says, grabbing the North statue.
My insides twist as I look at her again. “You didn’t say anything to Juniper—”
Jasmine closes the trunk of my car. “No. Not a chance. Girl is taken by both of you. I’m not messing that up. Especially this weekend.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“It’s her birthday weekend.”
I blink, bewildered that I didn’t know already.
“She didn’t tell you?” Jasmine asks.
“It hadn’t come up,” I reply.
I grab the door for her and hold it wide, letting her into the building first. She doesn’t say anything else as she makes her way over to the bar.
I pause in the threshold to take everything in.
North is leaning over the bar, chatting with Juniper, his hand toying with hers. The smile on his face is one I don’t think I’ve ever seen. He appears genuinely happy, like he hasn’t felt such relief and connection in centuries.
And I’m reminded that he hasn’t.
Juniper… If my heart wasn’t already a fucking wreck after spending the night with her, looking at her this now would seal it. She’s wearing my black coat that I left there this morning, green and black striped stockings, a ruffled black skirt, and cropped shirt with a quote from the movie Elf.
Jasmine slides the North statue toward her as she joins them. She says something that makes Juniper laugh, and she finally looks up in my direction.
Juniper’s grin fades. I see her chest fall as if she’s sighing, and she tilts her head with a soft smile as we share this stare.
God, I really think I’m already in love with her.
North sits back and peers over his shoulder to find what Juniper’s looking at. His own smile broadens across his face. “There he is,” North says.
I cross the room, holding Juniper’s stare the whole time. She comes around the bar to meet me. My heart flips when she presses her hand to my cheek and brings me down to her for a kiss.
“Hi,” she says softly.
“Hi, angel… I love this jacket on you. Where did you get it?”
She draws her bottom lip behind her teeth. “I just found it lying around this morning. Someone must have left it behind, running out of the door.”
“Someone left it behind when they were kicked out the door,” I counter.
“How tragic,” she taunts.
I chuckle and kiss her cheek. Before I can get another word out, North clears his throat behind her. My eyes roll his way, and Juniper sinks her head into my chest, snickering.
“Sounds like someone needs attention,” she jokes, twisting in my arms to face North.
“He’s insatiable. Always has been.” I smirk at him as he straightens and steps toward us. “You look uglier than you did early this morning. What happened?”
North reaches out for Juniper’s hip and slides his hand around her waist, bringing her close enough to squeeze her. “Juniper put me on my back. It was quite the struggle,” he says, smiling down at her. “I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.”
Juniper wobbles slightly as she looks between us, her face turning a bright shade of carmine. “Okay… I think… Wow. Sweet Jesus. Um… I feel really small right now.” She backs out of our grasps and laughs nervously, her eyes darting between us.
Absolutely uncanny.
“Damn, there really is two of you and this isn’t a dream. Okay. I think I need to go… Um… Individually, I’m okay with you two. That… wow… Wow, that’s going to take some getting used to. You know what, I’m going to go check on my table’s food before I forget how to breathe. I’ll be back.”
Her nervousness is too fucking cute.
She walks away from us and disappears into the kitchen, and both of us tilt our heads to get a better glimpse of her ass as she walks.
Jasmine snaps her fingers. “Eyes up, Rumpus,” she says, lips pursed.
We chuckle, and I join North to lean against the bar. I see him frown from the corner of my eye and realize he’s staring at the statue. He grabs it up and turns it over in his hands.
“This looks nothing like the drawing I left him,” he says about the artist.
“I think it looks exactly like the drawing,” I retort.
“You painted a mustache on my face,” he says, turning it toward me. “And look, you’ve taken more time with yours.”
“I did yours in a rush this morning.” My jaw clenches at the memory, and North pushes both of the statues away from him.
“More sprites?”
“More fucking sprites.” I lean my elbows on the bar, glancing around for anyone within earshot. “We have a problem.”
North mirrors me. “Yeah. Wait—which problem are you thinking of?”
I squint. “Which one are you thinking of?”
“Just… I was thinking of your little plan. And how you think Juniper is going to agree to it once she finds out we’re demons,” he says, voice low.
He’s right.
I hate that he’s right.
“What were you thinking about?” North asks me.
I reach into my coat and take out the black envelope that was sitting on my stoop when I got back from Juniper’s.
“First letter,” I say, handing it to him.
“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. He quickly opens the envelope and takes the letter out of it.
I don’t need to tell you why you’re getting this. Cut her off, or I will.
“Well. She could have asked how we were. Really rude not to check in on her sons. ‘Hello, how are you,’ goes a long way.” North rolls his eyes and rips the paper in half. “What now?”
I scoff at how cavalier he’s being about this.
“She’ll send three letters before she begins to hunt us. That’s the rule, remember? Three warnings. After that, it’s—”
“Open season,” North mutters.
“Yep.”
“Do you remember when we were the hunters?” he asks, voice filled with nostalgia.
Terrible memories replay behind my eyes, and I pick up the drink North is nursing to take a sip of it. “Vividly.”
“Who does she have under her control now?”
“Likely her new, shiny fae henchmen,” I mutter, and North makes a face.
“Fucking fae,” he hisses, slamming back the rest of the drink.
“Funny how things turn,” I say, recalling how we were once the ones holding daggers against any fae traitor’s throat.
“I miss it some days,” North says, clearly annoyed. “At least we didn’t have to attend Council bullshit back then.”
“No, we just mindlessly followed orders,” I grunt sarcastically.
“Until you became Mister Powerful.”
“Until I became aware,” I say, grimacing at the memory. “What she was doing… What she had us doing and using the Codex as a scapegoat, and then with Adeline, I…”
It’s the first time I’ve said her name since I was imprisoned. Flashes of fighting, of fire and ice entwining… It invades my mind. I’ve suppressed it all for so long that it sends a chill down my spine.
North claps me on the shoulder and squeezes my arm. It helps me exhale, helps the visions subside.
“You’re safe. I have you, brother,” he reminds me. “And I’m sure she’ll have you, too.”
I look up as the kitchen door swings wide and Juniper comes through it. I hear North blow out a breath, feel him straighten and sink back onto the stool.
“I think we need to tell her,” North says.
“Already?” I ask, peering his way.
“You have the first letter. What, Mother will give us two more days? One letter a morning? We’ll wake up the day after the Solstice with fae spears pointed at our faces or ropes around our wrists. We need to tell her before that happens.”
“We have to shield her before that happens,” I counter.
“We have to have her consent, and we can’t do that until—”
“Until she knows,” I finish. My chin hits my shoulder as I look his way. “Tomorrow. After the festival.”
“What’s tomorrow after the festival?” Juniper asks as she reaches us behind the bar.
I’m obsessed with the smile she looks between us with.
“You two look like you’re hiding something,” she says, taking two glasses out and sitting them on the bar top.
“Just figuring out festival plans. What time do you work?” I ask.
“Early shift again. We’ll have more of the family crowd, so… Plus the only thing I really like is watching the night parade,” she explains. “I didn’t realize you two were so… merry,” she adds, pouring us drinks.
“I love the festival,” North says. “The art show is always a favorite.”
“Why? Are you an artist, too?” she asks.
North adjusts his glasses. “On occasion.”
“I don’t have to be here until eleven tomorrow. Gallery opens at nine. Maybe we can explore before I have to be here,” she suggests.
“When do you get off tonight?” I ask.
“Midnight. Why? What did you have in mind?” she asks.
I chuckle softly at the glint in her eyes. “A few things. They were putting the decorations up in the trees downtown. Thought that would be nice to see at night.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever purposefully gone down there at night,” she replies.
“A date then,” I say, and Juniper beams at me.
North sits forward and leans against the counter, eyes darting between the two of us.
“Personally, I don’t think it’s fair,” he says, a brow lifted in my direction.
“You’ve known her two days longer and now you want to steal her when I’ve only just had breakfast. We might have to have a custody agreement.
Two days with you, two days with me, three days together sort of thing. ”
Juniper snorts and quickly covers her mouth, snickering the cutest fucking laugh I’ve ever heard as she looks between us. I feel my heart swell, the perfection of this swimming through me to my extremities.
“I’m sorry,” Juniper manages. “Sorry. It’s just… Honestly, who thinks they’d be in a situation like this? It’s just wild to me. How is there two of you interested in me?”
“We could show you,” North says, and the corner of my own lip quirks.
Juniper’s laugh dwindles into a nervous smile. She bites her lip and clears her throat, then quickly makes herself busy by filling up the napkin holders.
“No response?” I ask, teasing her.
“Ah…” Her face is beet red. “I mean… Wasn’t that what all the—” She looks around us and leans over the bar. “—stretching was for last night?”
“Oh, fuck me,” North groans, his head hanging.
I smirk at her. “You’re not ready yet,” I say as I push her hair off her cheek. “But you will be.”
“And we have a multitude of other games we can play before that one,” North says, winking.
Her chest rises high, a jagged, visible breath releasing after. I smile at the sight, and she swallows. I can see her squeezing her thighs as she bends over the counter, see her pushing her tits together to showcase the most beautiful cleavage.
“Maybe we can both walk you home tonight,” I suggest. “All go see the lights.”
“Are we making it that far?” she asks, her tone going high at the end.
“She’s right. I don’t know how the hell you do this patience thing,” North says.
I laugh. “The end is always worth it.” I regard her again, my own breath shuddering.
“So fucking worth it.”