29. Sedrick
Sedrick
I laid awake all night.
Dillon and Ruthie had been confused and worried when I’d told them to go to bed last night.
Phil knew werewolf hearing was far better than his pixie ears, but I doubted he truly understood what that meant or the scope of it.
He’d proved that when he’d tried to hide his parents’ side of the conversation from me.
But I’d known. I’d had a niggling, horrible feeling when Phil had answered that phone that it would be shitty news, and I’d sent Dillon and Ruthie off before their young ears could pick up on it too.
I wished I could have left the house, walked outside, and eliminated the words from my mind.
But I hadn’t. I’d stayed and listened to every single one of them.
And what I’d heard had been anything but encouraging.
Ray was right. Did I know for certain Arie was behind what was going on with Phil’s parents?
No, but this wasn’t a court of law, and I didn’t need the kind of airtight proof required there.
Arie was going after Phil, using his parents, their lineage, and their very lives as his starting block.
I had no idea if there was anything in Phil’s past or not.
In the end, it wouldn’t matter. If there was nothing there, Arie Belview would manufacture something.
And he’d go after Phil’s certification too.
He’d find something or make something up that would get Phil banned from being a home-and-hearth pixie.
I didn’t need to know all the ins and outs of how that was possible to realize that Arie would find a way to make sure it did.
And he’d use that to discredit Phil and to cast doubt on my judgment for hiring him to watch over and care for Dillon and Ruthie.
It was a wedge of distrust, and Arie would hammer that wedge until it was planted deep into the earth of doubt.
As I lay there, I could hear the steady rhythm of Dillon’s and Ruthie’s heartbeats just down the hall. It had taken them longer to fall asleep, but kids were resilient, and they’d slept deep and sound all night. The same couldn’t be said of Phil.
My pixie. I couldn’t remember when I’d started thinking of Phil that way, but it felt right.
I rubbed my chest over my heart. My wolf paced my mind.
It was just as unhappy as I was. I hadn’t thought it possible to hate Arie any more than I already did.
It was amazing. Hate and love were on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum, and their wells ran far deeper than any of us thought.
I’d tossed and turned all night, wondering how I’d have the strength to let Phil go. I didn’t have any more answers at the crack of dawn than I’d had in the deepest depths of night. Something died in me a little more with every turned-over thought.
Phil hadn’t gotten any more sleep than I had.
I’d left him unsettled. I hadn’t been able to control myself well enough, and Phil had suffered.
I could have handled last night better—given Phil at least one last night of peace within these walls.
Maybe, on some level, Phil would be prepared for what was coming.
I grunted as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Who was I kidding? There was no way Phil would be prepared if I fired him. How could he? He hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, he’d done everything right.
I slammed my hand against the bed and heard the frame crack. “Fucking Arie Belview,” I growled, low and with as much venom as I could muster. Ray was right. I stood and threw on the first shirt I found. I hadn’t bothered to take off my pants last night. I hadn’t showered either.
“I’m going to fucking bury you, Arie,” I promised myself and my wolf. It was a poor excuse for the salve I truly needed to cover the wound I was about to inflict upon myself, but it was the best I could muster.
* * *
T he sun had barely reached the horizon when I walked through the doors of my office.
I looked and smelled like shit, and I gave even fewer shits about that.
My bearded scruff was as unkempt as ever, and my bloodshot eyes suggested I’d spent the night drinking instead of tossing and turning.
It was a rare day when I showed up dirtier and earlier than Burt and Ollie.
I walked into the small half bath attached to my office and splashed cold water on my face.
I hadn’t bothered to grab anything to eat before I walked out the door.
I’d been a chicken shit, afraid Phil would hear and come out of Ruthie’s room.
He was awake when I left, just like he’d been all night.
I knew what I had to do—what was right and needed.
But knowing and doing were two different things.
I clutched my chest. My heart raced. It felt like I was in a fight to the death, and I had no idea why.
Did Phil really mean that much to me? It was the dumbest question I’d ever asked myself.
It wouldn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense to any other werewolf, but Phil didn’t just mean more to me; he was everything.
My love for Phil was far different from what I felt for Ruthie and Dillon, but it was no less powerful.
Staring into the mirror, I barely recognized the were looking back. Not bothering to glance at the clock and check the time, I strode back into the office and picked up my phone.
Ray answered on the second ring. “Mr. Voss.”
Ray sounded and looked the same, no matter the time of day or night. Sometimes I wondered if fairies slept.
“Come to the office.” I didn’t care about Ray’s other clients. As far as I was concerned, I was his only one.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Silence engulfed my ears and office. The screen on my phone slowly went dark, and I realized I hadn’t bothered to turn on a single light when I walked through my office door.
My wolf was riding me hard enough I didn’t need artificial light.
I could see the shitty direction my life was headed without flicking the switch.
* * *
R ay’s crimson eyebrows arched. He was dressed as immaculate as ever, not a wrinkle to be had at 7:45 a.m. Ray smelled good, too, like fresh apple blossoms. The scent made me think of Peaches and his upcoming bonding ceremony. The apple blossoms had just begun to pop.
“Interesting.” Ray’s comment after I spilled the conversation I’d overheard Phil and his parents have last night was underwhelming.
“ Interesting ? That’s all you’ve got?” I was less than impressed and more agitated than ever.
“The law is always interesting to me, Sedrick.” Ray’s tone remained even, but I heard the rebuke.
“Arie Belview is a worthy adversary.” Ray’s long fingers steepled as he rested his elbows on the armrests of his chair.
“It’s been some time since I’ve had a case that’s truly challenged me.
” Ray sounded oddly satisfied, which just pissed me off.
“I’m glad the clusterfuck that’s my life has been so mentally stimulating.” I felt like my scathing tone was more than justified.
Ray felt differently.
Narrowed, slightly angled eyes stared at me through lowered lashes.
Fairy eyes were deep pools of black until they were riled up.
Ray’s pupils thinned into slits while his fiery red irises bled into existence.
Tone chillingly smooth, Ray answered, “You should be exceedingly glad, Mr. Voss.” Ray hardly ever called me by my last name, and I knew I’d stepped over some imaginary line.
“If I didn’t find this case so engaging, you’d hardly be able to afford my services. ”
Ray was right, or he’d been right before we hit that palladium vein. It was hard, but I swallowed my rage and gave the barest nod of understanding, if not total agreement. The red in Ray’s eyes diminished as his black pupil swallowed it whole.
“Now,” Ray started, the pads of his fingers tapping, “it looks like Arie Belview is expanding his game. I had anticipated this as a possibility and took the liberty of securing the legal documents in question.”
It felt like my mind was on a ten-second delay. Exhaustion and stress will do that to you. When Ray’s words finally registered, I sat up straighter and stared. “What do you mean?”
Ray’s lips twisted into a satisfied smile. “What I mean, Sedrick, is that I took the liberty of looking into Phil’s heritage when questions arose. The obvious first stop on that journey was investigating his parents, Penelope and Pip.”
I realized that until then, I’d had no idea what Phil’s parents’ names were. He’d simply called them “Mom” and “Dad” on the phone.
Ray didn’t wait for me to get my collective shit together and rattled on.
“Penelope and Pip live in San Diego, California. As far back as the records I can locate indicate, their heritage and lineage stem from that area. Phil is a bit of an oddity in more ways than size alone. Like most species, pixies rarely have more than one or two offspring, so in that vein of thinking, Phil’s family is very typical.
Beyond Phil’s size, what isn’t typical is that he moved so far away from his roots.
Most pixies don’t do that.” The slightest frown touched Ray’s lips.
“Most likely, one is the product of the other. From what I could find, Phil’s childhood wasn’t always.
..pleasant. That unpleasantness didn’t come from his parents but from the pixies he grew up with.
I would imagine part of Phil’s reason for leaving was to try to get away from that toxic environment. ”
I wasn’t sure if moving to Virginia was better or not. Given what Peaches had told me—that Phil hadn’t been able to find work as a home-and-hearth pixie and had taken a job as a bouncer at Dusk—it made me think regionality hadn’t been the catharsis Phil had hoped.
Ray didn’t reach for his briefcase or his tablet. Since I hadn’t been forthcoming about why I wanted him here this morning, he hadn’t had time to prepare. That didn’t mean he didn’t have everything he needed stored in his brain.