Chapter 11
ELEVEN
QUINN
“I still don’t understand why we’re here.” I climb out of the back seat of my older sister’s Range Rover and glare at the beautiful house she brought me to.
“Because parties are fun. You remember what fun is, right?” Harley smirks at me, popping her bubble gum because she knows the sound drives me to murder.
“A Squid party. I’ve been proudly avoiding these since I was sixteen. Water Elementals are more likely to piss me off than cheer me up.” I am definitely not whining.
She shrugs. “Anger is better than sulking. Cat says you’ve barely left your room in two weeks.”
I gasp and then turn my fiery gaze to my younger sister, who suddenly seems to find her turquoise-painted toes extremely fascinating.
“I’ve been working. Remotely.” That’s only partly true. I’ve also been binge-watching superhero movies.
I was partway into my marathon when I realized a certain God of Thunder strongly resembled August. At that moment, I paused the movie, left my room to grab a tub of mediocre ice cream from the freezer, and then resumed watching while drowning my self-pity in frozen dairy.
Dad would be ashamed. Pining after a Viking god? He’d much prefer I choose a billionaire with an obsession with bats or a journalist with a set of thick-rimmed glasses and a fear of green rocks.
But the heart wants what the heart wants.
Harley snorts, returning me to the present, and I’m betting, behind her sunglasses, she’s rolling her eyes at me.
We’ve reached the tall wooden gate leading to the backyard.
She doesn’t bother knocking, just pushes it open and saunters in.
I don’t think my older sister has ever entered a place without complete confidence that she owns every inch of ground in front of her.
It’s a level of confidence neither I nor Cat has ever achieved.
Past the barrier to the outside world is an oasis. Cat and I have a simple kidney bean–shaped pool at our rental, but the water wonderland in this backyard resembles a lagoon. The sides are fashioned out of smooth stones, and there are two waterfalls, one spilling out of a smaller, raised pool.
This setup, paired with the lush greenery, gives a sense of being transported to somewhere outside of our arid Arizona.
But I shouldn’t be surprised when the house is owned by a Water Elemental. Damien has done well for himself. Last time I ran into the Squid, he was just a year out of college and more interested in the Phoenix nightlife than owning a home in a suburb.
“Now this is more like it. Let’s find you a Squid dick to ride,” Harley announces.
I throw up in my mouth. Just a little. “I’d rather live a life of celibacy, thank you very much.”
“Celibacy? We don’t use dirty words like that here.” A deep voice, rife with humor, drifts over my shoulder.
I know that voice. I know a lot about the owner of that voice too.
“Samuel.” I turn to take in the shirtless Squid, who did a subpar job of helping out with my little virginity problem.
“Quinn. Haven’t heard from you in a while.” He smirks before pressing a beer to his lips.
Objectively, Sammy is get all the panties in the vicinity wet hot. Dirty-blond hair, dark eyes, sun-drenched skin, and a voice with a deep smoothness to it that gets you hoping he’ll switch over to serenading you at any moment.
Problem is, Sammy is fully aware of how perfectly formed he is. What some people interpret as confidence, I know for certain is just cockiness. Which, ironically, doesn’t help much in the bedroom.
“And you thought I’d call you, why?”
He stumbles back, dramatically clutching his chest, grinning all the while. “My poor heart. How could you be so cruel?”
A strong arm wraps around my shoulders, and I tense until I catch the scent of hibiscus and glance up to see a striking face framed in long ebony hair. Geneva.
“Sammy bothering you?” She glares at him.
I grin at one of my best friends, enjoying her coming to my defense whether I need it or not. “Nope. He’s just lamenting the fact that he never got invited back into my bed.”
Sammy scoffs. “Don’t you know by now? I’m a one-and-done guy. But if I heard your sister right, you’re on the prowl. Need some help picking out a bang buddy? My cousin is new to town—”
“Hell no. I’m not about to be passed around your family like some kind of party favor.” I give Sammy’s chest a gentle shove. “Go bother someone else.”
“Fine then.” He pretends to pout, but a mischievous light sparks in his eyes when he catches sight of my little sister. He saunters over to where she’s leaning against the DJ booth, chatting with the Air Elemental spinning beats.
“Can’t believe you slept with that guy.” Geneva sounds so disappointed in me that I give in to the urge to pinch her side. She yelps, swatting at my hand as Harley chuckles.
“The girl was desperate.” My big sister, such an ass. “Hence why we’ve come to the domain of Squids. She needs another water man to give her a good dicking without her risking pyrotechnics.”
Goddess, I need to buy her a muzzle. “I am not here to get a ‘good dicking,’ as you so charmingly put it.” I turn to my friend, who watches our family squabble with an amused smirk. “I had a bad date. Just here to let off some steam.”
Geneva’s sharp eyebrows dip, but she smiles and pokes me in the side. “Well, no one better at letting off steam than a Pyro.”
“Oh, we’re playing that game, are we? Well, Miss Petal Pusher, you find a baby daddy yet?” I reach out to pat her flat stomach.
She shoves me away with a good-natured growl. “Fuck you.”
Geneva isn’t like most of her Earth Elemental relatives. In addition to their innate abilities to manipulate all growing things, they also tend to err on the maternal/fraternal side. She has so many nieces and nephews that I doubt she knows the exact number.
In her family, Geneva is the IUD-carrying black sheep.
Well, maybe there are two black sheep. Last I heard, her brother Aspen hasn’t popped out any kids yet either. At one point, a long time ago, I thought something might happen between him and Cat. But that romance couldn’t survive high school graduation.
“Now, children, don’t fight.” Harley slaps my butt in the affectionate way only she can master. “I’m off to locate the alcohol. If I don’t see you chatting up a hunky guy within the hour, I’m going to feel obligated to intercede. Keep that in mind.”
My big sister gives me a finger wave, and I return it, using just one of my own.
Geneva snickers into her red Solo cup. Coming from a large family, she knows the level of annoyance siblings can reach.
When we’re alone, my friend tugs me to a lounge chair, sitting us both down.
“Tell me more about this disastrous date. My love life has been drier than this desert we live in. I want some juicy details.”
I fiddle with the end of my long ponytail where it hangs over my shoulder. “He was a human.”
“Interesting choice. For you, I mean.”
I grimace and spill the rest of the sad story, ending with my chin resting on my fists, shoulders drooping in defeat.
“Wow. You’ve gotta stop taking getting hot and heavy so literally.” Geneva elbows my side, trying to lighten my dark mood with her corny joke.
But I just sigh, stifling the guilt that still spikes through me at the memory.
I can’t believe I was so irresponsible. What if I hadn’t noticed the fire?
I could’ve done even more damage. I could’ve hurt August. A shiver quakes over my body, a pale reflection of the fearful shudders I had to fight off after dousing his dish towels.
In the moment, the stress had me shaking, my mind reeling as I berated myself for being so careless.
Lesson learned. Humans are not for me. Not unless I want to send them to an early, fiery grave.
“So, you’re on the prowl for a Squid? Looking for a man who can put out any fires you start?” Geneva scans the crowd of partiers.
“I’m not feeling a hookup.” That’s only partly true. I’m not feeling hooking up with a random guy. The only person making my lady parts tingle is a particular ice cream shop owner.
“Okay. Maybe don’t sleep with anyone. But it never hurts to chat with some cute guys.
Maybe that’ll help with your control. We just need …
” Geneva trails off, and I glance up to find her mouth hanging open.
Quickly, she swallows and clears her throat.
“Sorry. But I just spotted a gorgeous hunk of man meat. And he looks new.”
I follow her line of sight, only to have my mouth pop open in shock for an entirely different reason. Across the way, holding a beer and chatting with a vaguely familiar Squid, is the cause of my current depression.
August Nord.
“By all the gods and goddesses.” I mutter the oath as I shove up from my seat and stalk around the pool.
I knew Squids were arrogant douchebags who often struggled with responsibility, but I never expected them to throw an Elementals party and then invite a human to it!
If my eyes weren’t so fixated on the Viking of a man on the opposite side of the pool from me, I’d scan the guests to see if I could pick out any other human attendees.
But August has all my attention.
Taking this pool party seriously, the guy only has on a set of swim trunks. The black fabric rests low on his hips, displaying a beautiful set of chest muscles, plus that glorious V that points to all the good bits.
As I approach the two men, a familiar-looking girl skips up to them in a blue polka-dot bikini. She smiles up at August as if he were a marble statue of manliness in need of worshipping, and I wonder if that’s how I stare at him too. Then I remember her face.
She’s the girl who works at Land of Ice Cream and Snow.
So, not only a human, but also an underage one? These Squids need to pull their collective head out of their collective ass.
The teenager rolls her eyes at something the dark-haired Squid says just before I reach the group.
“Stop being such a dork, Damien,” she commands with a confidence I did not possess at her age.