Chapter 21 Juniper #2
The photo sends, and before I can set my phone down, Nick is calling me.
“Hey,” I answer, frowning.
“Don’t talk to them,” he says, and I hear the panic in his tone.
I turn around, shuffling toward the corner so I’m out of earshot. “I have to talk to them. They’re in my bar,” I counter.
“I’ll be there soon. Can you take a break?”
My phone begins to beep, and I take it from my ear to see that Jax is calling me, too. “I… Yeah, when you get here, I will. What’s wrong? Who are they?”
“Juniper, listen to me. There’s something… Something Jax and I have to tell you. Whatever those two say to you, don’t listen. If they try to make a deal, even if it’s just about drink choice or a now-then statement, don’t listen to them. Don’t agree to anything.”
“Nick, what the hell is going on?” I ask, stomach bottoming out. “What haven’t you told me?”
“Just wait for me, okay? Don’t go anywhere without me. I… Please, angel.”
I gulp and glance over my shoulder, finding the two men moving through the tables toward the bar. One of them glances my way, and I don’t know why I feel a sense of dread when he smirks at me.
“Okay,” I finally say to Nick. “I have… Jax is calling me.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
I flip over to Jax’s call, but he isn’t on the line anymore. However, when I look at my phone screen, I see that he’s texted me.
Jax
DON’T TALK TO THEM
I frown at his message, but stuff the device in the pocket of my sweater dress instead of replying. Jasmine is wiping out a glass, smiling at the pair as they sit on the barstools. There’s an apprehensiveness about the way she’s talking to them that tells me she feels the bad vibe, too.
“—yeah, festival day is always busy around here,” Jasmine is saying. “Is it your first time on the island?”
“It is,” one of them replies.
I cautiously make my way back to my area, trying hard to pretend like everything is fine.
“We heard some friends of ours were here for a few months. Thought we’d pay them a visit.” The second one’s dark gaze swivels to the statues on the bar, and he snickers upon seeing them, elbowing his friend.
“Check these out,” he says.
The first laughs. “Looks like some of North’s shitty designs. He always liked pretending as if they looked like this.”
My eyes narrow, and Jasmine clears her throat.
“Hey, Juni, do you mind checking the kitchen to see if table five’s food is in the window?” Jasmine asks me.
“Juni?” The first one’s eyes light up upon hearing my name. “As in Juniper? The Juniper?”
I pause mid-step and look between them.
“Do I know you?” I ask.
Both grin, and it’s like looking into an endless mirror of teeth. Too wide. Too sharp. Too sinister. The second one taps his fingers on the bar top three times, and I notice his long, opaque nails.
“Not yet. We’re going to be best friends soon, I think,” the second says.
“I’m counting down the minutes,” the first agrees.
I don’t know why I want to vomit.
His gaze is holding mine, and I feel like I’m spiraling, like his inky pools are a black hole swallowing my consciousness.
Snap out of it.
“Hey, are you two getting a drink? Can I offer you our signature shots for the day? Fire and ice?” Jasmine interjects, taking two shot glasses out. “Here, you can have a luge special. Watch this one.” She pours vodka down the North tongue and smiles forcefully. “Fun, right? Juni, table five.”
Her words trigger me out of the daze. I blink twice and inhale, realizing I haven’t taken a breath since our eyes locked.
“Tell you what, Juniper. Why don’t you get that food and come back to us? We’re dying to chat.”
Don’t agree to anything.
Nick’s voice seems to be on the wind.
“I—”
Before I can speak, a shadow passes through the door. It’s across the room within the time it takes me to blink, and when my eyes open, Nick is standing behind the two men.
I’ve never heard the bar so silent.
His presence has everyone holding their breath, most especially me.
He doesn’t speak as he glares at the back of the man’s head, and after a couple of moments, the first man finally scoffs.
He picks the shot up that Jasmine’s just poured, knocks it back, and when he lets out an “ah” after, vapor leaves his lips.
“Blaze,” he muses. “I figured you’d be the first on scene.”
Blaze.
Wait—Blaze?!
Nick doesn’t even blink, and when he doesn’t respond, the man pivots in his seat.
“Where is your twin?” he asks, standing.
They’re face-to-face, and I swear the heat is slowly evaporating from the room.
“You’re not doing this in here, Cornelius,” Nick says, and his voice is deadly. A scratch in reality.
The man scoffs. “Doing what? We’re just having a drink. Talking to your little human. She really is pretty. I don’t blame you—”
“Nick,” Jasmine says warningly.
Human… Blaze… What in the hell is going on?
Another shadow appears in in my peripheral. It moves, and I think my eyes are playing tricks on me as Jax is suddenly at Nick’s side.
The man sighs upon seeing him. “North,” he says, looking at Jax.
I must still be passed out from last night.
North?!
What in the fuck.
“Cornelius. Still licking our mother’s toes, I see,” Jax says.
Cornelius’s lips purse. “You’re still pretending you’re not as ugly as these statues. Did you draw them?
“Get the fuck off my island,” Nick seethes through his teeth, stepping forward.
“Do I need to call the police?” Danielle asks from the door.
The corner of Cornelius’s mouth curls as he peers between Nick and Jax. “No need.” He regards his friend and jerks his head toward the door. “We’ll go.” He peers my way and gives me a smile that has dread crawling up my skin as if I’m lying in a vat of spiders. “See you soon, Juniper.”
The pair push their way past Nick and Jax and make their way to the door. Nick avoids my eyes as they disappear, Jax following behind them until they reach the threshold.
And when they disappear, the room exhales.
Music begins playing on the jukebox. Conversations begin again.
Yet all I can do is stare at Nick.
His lashes lift to mine, and the moment we’re locked on one another, I feel it. The betrayal. The trembling. The fury. I can’t breathe, don’t even know what to say.
“Juni—” Jasmine begins, but I push out of her reach, too.
North.
Blaze.
The statues catch my eye, and it takes everything in me not to throw them.
“I’m taking my break.”
“Shit,” I hear Jax say.
But Nick doesn’t speak.
I slam my hands on the swinging kitchen door, ignoring Chester in the kitchen as he says something about table five’s food.
The door smacks into the person coming in behind me, but I’m already at the exit.
Cold air hits me the moment I step outside.
I’m instantly freezing, wishing like hell I’d grabbed my jacket.
Still, right now, I’m so pissed that my anger might be enough to keep me warm.
“What in the FUCK!” I shout upon seeing Nick and Jax come through the door behind me. “What the fuck—I knew it! I fucking—Oh my god, I knew you two weren’t real!”
“We’re very real,” Jax counters.
“Who the hell was that? Was that the errand you’ve been taking care of?” I almost shout at Nick.
Except Nick still hasn’t said anything. He hasn’t tried to open his mouth, hasn’t reached out or offered up any more than a painful expression.
I glare at him, chest heaving. “Say something, Nick—or which is it? Blaze? North?”
“North would be me,” Jax says. “Give us a minute. We’ll explain. Brother, do you have anything you’d like to—”
“No, he doesn’t have anything to say, does he? He’s been lying to me since we met,” I say, and my heart hurts so fucking bad that I think I might collapse.
“I’ve never lied to you,” Nick—Blaze—says softly.
“No? Let’s start with your name,” I snap.
Blaze’s jaw ticks.
“And what about everything you told me? Your three-legged cat. The woman you lost—”
“None of that was a lie,” he says. “How I feel about you isn’t a lie.”
“How the hell do I trust that? From either of you,” I say, looking at North.
“Because if we weren’t in love with you, we would be gone,” Blaze blurts.
My shoulders sink, heart thumping out of my chest. “Don’t…”
Blaze tries to come closer, and I step out of his reach.
“If I wasn’t in love with you, Juniper, North wouldn’t even be here,” he adds.
“Don’t do that,” I whisper.
Still, he goes on.
“If I wasn’t sure that this, what we have together, was worth all of this, if I wasn’t sure that we were all meant to be, I wouldn’t be standing here begging you to see us. And tonight…”
His voice trails, and North steps closer.
“One look at that bastard in the bar should have us running back to the Nether Realm to tell them we made a mistake. But we’re not going anywhere,” North says.
I huff, nostrils flaring as my insides empty. I’m trying really hard to ignore the first part of his claim, desperate not to see that truth in Blaze’s eyes.
“Who was he?” I ask, voice hoarse.
“A merciless piece of shit without a brain,” North mutters.
“Not your friend,” Blaze says.
I shift on my feet, swallowing hard and rubbing my arms to try and warm myself.
Heat swells around me. It isn’t a harsh heat. It’s the warmth of an embrace, the comfort of someone you care for making you feel a little less alone. My eyes move to Blaze, and I don’t have to ask to know he’s the one responsible.
“Don’t use your magic on me,” I say.
The warmth drops at an instant. I shiver so visibly in its absence that a smile almost reaches his eyes, and it returns before I can make the decision to ask for it.
I grit my teeth and fold my arms over my chest. Looking between their hurt faces, my rage quells into curiosity. It still lingers in the back of my mind, but if this is the explanation for every weird thing I’ve seen and felt this week, then I need to know I’m not losing my mind.
“So… you’re the Rumpus twins.”
“Yes,” Blaze says.
“You’re… what, you’re like fae?” I ask, remembering any stories I’ve read about magical legends and supernatural entities.
“Whoa—” North says fast, brows knitted as if I’ve just insulted him.
“Demons, angel,” Blaze says.
“You don’t get to call me that right now,” I snap at him. “And if you’re demons, then what? Did I accidentally summon you somehow?”
“The shitheads in the bar. They were fae,” North says. “Cowards. They’ll be back.”
“We’ll be ready,” Blaze mutters.
“What’s wrong with fae? Why were they here? I didn’t step into a mushroom circle at some point, did I?” I ask.
“We don’t do that,” North says.
I almost scoff. “No? But the swirls in the sand out front. The shells and stones in patterns for people to follow. The wood and icicle ornaments everywhere this morning. That was you, wasn’t it? And those are… you wouldn’t consider them fairy circles? Fae mischief?” I ask.
“No,” North says firmly, though Blaze seems to be considering it.
“You’ve never stolen children or punished people for the fun of it?”
“We don’t steal children,” North says.
“Well…” Blaze lifts a brow his way.
“That wasn’t stealing. Those kids were being abused at home. They’re much happier in the Nether Realm.”
The Nether Realm.
Oh god, I am losing it.
“And the punishing people for the fun of it? That’s not true?” I ask.
Blaze and North look at each other.
“No, that part is true,” North says.
I stare between the pair, eyes lingering on Blaze for a half-second longer.
“What we are doesn’t change the way we feel about you, Juniper,” Blaze finally says.
The sincerity in his tone has my nose burning. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I should feel. I need to process. I need time to figure out what the fuck is real and what isn’t.
Three days ago, I didn’t believe in fairy tales.
And now, they’re standing in front of me.
“We’re going to talk about this at home,” I say, voice strained. “I have to go back.”