10. Chapter 10
Bec
The moment Mila answered the phone I started talking. Because she was wonderful, she let me explain everything that had happened, but that wasn't all. After giving her the facts, I vomited out every thought and feeling that passed through my brain.
Occasionally she'd ask a question, but mostly she listened. When I'd finally finished, she let out a long breath.
“That was a lot,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don't be sorry,” she exclaimed and I could picture her adorable frown.
She always thought she looked fierce, but mostly she looked like an angry puppy.
“I was ecstatic when you moved out here, but I also felt guilty that we didn't see each other much. Having you call me like this reminds me of the good old days.”
“Except no giant platter of cheesy fries right now,” I said.
“We could fix that,” Mila said. “I could pick some up on the way over.”
As much as seeing my friend sounded great, I was already interrupting her evening with this phone call.
“Can we do that another night?” I asked.
“Any night you want,” she promised. “Now let’s get back to the two reasons you called.”
“Marduk and Danzig,” I said.
“Marduk and Danzig,” she repeated.
“You’re in one of these magical relationships,” I said. “Tell me what it's like.”
“You jumped right in with a hard question," she said with a laugh.
“If that's too personal you can tell me to fuck off,” I said.
“Never,” she said. “But it's nothing I can explain easily.
I felt a pull to both of them right away, but I tried to ignore it.
They were both so handsome and obviously in love that I couldn't imagine they would be interested in me, other than feeling sorry for me because of all the stupid choices I'd made.”
“They weren't stupid,” I said. “You went after what you wanted. It didn't go exactly as planned, but I'm still so damn proud of you for leaving South Dakota. You're the reason I got to leave. Your bravery helped me to be courageous."
She was quiet for a moment and I heard her sniff. “I never thought of myself like that.”
“Well, you are,” I said. “Bravest person I know. I'll be forever thankful that you basically led me out here.”
“And I’m the reason you're mixed up with Danzig and Marduk,” she said. “Let me try to answer your mate question. It was very different before we exchanged souls and after.”
“What's the after like?” I asked.
“Intimate,” she said, her voice going soft and fond. “I can feel them all the time. Even when we aren't focusing on each other, it’s like they're murmuring in the back of my head. You'd think it would be annoying, but it's not. It's comforting. I think I'd panic if they weren't in my head.”
“You don't feel, I don’t know, limited?” I asked. “Don't Gio and Carter control what you can do or where you can go?”
“A little bit, but not in the way you think,” she said.
“It's more like we need to coordinate schedules because none of us are comfortable being alone. They don't say no or refuse to let me do things. If anything, they work hard to accommodate everything I want to do. Sometimes I feel a little guilty because they’ve made me the center of their world.”
Her words helped me see my situation more clearly. Marduk and Danzig might have invaded my privacy and acted badly, but they'd done the exact same thing; made me the center of their world.
If I asked them, I bet I'd find out that one of them watched the condo all night, every night. That couldn't be fun or comfortable, but they did it not because they wanted to keep me trapped, but because they worried about me.
It was hard to reconcile the feeling of being cornered with the way they wanted to protect me. After what I'd seen today I understood that so much better.
“I can hear you thinking over the phone,” Mila said.
“Sorry,” I said. “It's a lot.”
“I know,” Mila said.
“Any advice?”
“I don't know,” Mila said.
“What will I do with all these amazing words of wisdom," I teased.
Mila giggled. “I don't know what else to say. You're the smartest person I know but maybe in this situation you need to feel instead of think.”
“I hate it when you make sense,” I grumbled.
She laughed and we talked a little longer before ending the call.
I sat on my bed, staring at my phone for a little while. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but the sudden need to set eyes on them hit me hard.
Getting up, I made my way down stairs to find Danzig lounging on the couch and Marduk was in my big, comfy chair. Hugo was fast asleep in his bed next to the couch, snoring away.
Marduk saw me first. Sitting up he pulled earbuds out of his ears. “How's Mila doing?”
“Great,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. Why did I feel so nervous?
Danzig sat up and turned to face me. “There's tiramisu. We haven't opened it yet, I wanted to wait for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, moving into the kitchen. I found a massive container of tiramisu in the fridge. I grabbed the entire thing and grabbed three spoons. Taking those and a roll of paper towels into the living room, I put everything on the coffee table.
Marduk moved to sit on the floor with me. Danzig did the same and soon we were all eating the rich dessert from the container.
“This is good,” I said before eating another spoonful.
After the three of us had eaten about half of the tiramisu, I set my spoon down and moved back to lean against the chair Marduk had been sitting in.
“Thanks for dinner and dessert,” I said.
“We've been talking,” Marduk said, setting down his spoon and moving a little so he was facing me.
I tilted my head. “Yeah?”
“We have an offer for you,” they said in unison.
I blinked, then grinned and did my best godfather impression. “Are you going to make me an offer I can't refuse?”
I'd never seen the movie, but I saw so many references it popped into my head.
Danzig chuckled and shook his head, then looked at Marduk.
Marduk cleared his throat. “We were thinking that we’d never want our mate to be unhappy. Instead of guarding you from a distance, we’d like to be at your side while you do things. We could help you solve cases or go out and have fun.”
I scoffed. “And force me to leave whenever anything gets interesting.”
Danzig shook his head. “No, we wouldn’t. We might put ourselves between you and danger though. That would include letting one of us go into a place first to check for traps.”
“Think about all the things we would see that you’re blind to,” Marduk said. “We could be invaluable.”
It wasn’t a horrible idea. “It’s easy for you to say that now but then go back on your word later.”
Apparently, those were fighting words because both men stiffened and had identical furious expressions.
“How could you think that?” Danzig asked.
“Never!” Marduk spat out at the same time.
I held up my hands, palms out. “Sorry, it's only that I’ve been led astray before. I had a boyfriend promise to change, but it never lasted long.”
Marduk continued to look angry. “Worthless male.”
Danzig’s expression softened. “Aww, you’re putting us in the boyfriend category.”
Their reactions made me laugh. “You guys are kind of cute.”
“Only kind of?” Danzig asked, fluttering his eyelashes. “Wait until you see my naked body by firelight. I’m breathtaking.”
It was difficult, but I managed to keep those images out of my head.
Marduk ignored Danzig’s flirting. “We are J?rmungandr. We don’t lie to our mate.”
I gave him my best no-nonsense lawyer look.
“There are different ways to lie besides speaking an untruth. There are also lies of omission. But the absolute worst is when someone lies to themselves first. They promise they’ll do something but then fail.
I need you to be honest with yourself before you promise something. ”
I expected both of them to deny my claim immediately, but they silently looked at each other. When they looked back to me, it was Danzig who spoke without any of the earlier teasing.
“We can’t know exactly how we’ll react in every situation, but we both promise to do our very best to act reasonably and allow you to lead us.”
Marduk nodded his head as Danzig spoke, agreeing with his brother’s statement.
Those words made me confident that they'd really thought about what they were suggesting. “I accept your offer.”
Danzig’s expression lit up, and he sat up and stuck his hand out across the table. “Shake on it!”
I chuckled and put my hand in his. Then Marduk’s hand was in my face.
“Me too,” he demanded. I pulled my hand free of Danzig’s warm grasp and pressed my palm to Marduk. A look of absolute satisfaction crossed his face.
Feeling a little uncomfortable, I tugged my hand from his. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to touch me, but because I had the urge to pull Marduk close and kiss him to see if he tasted different than Danzig.
Marduk jumped up and went to the kitchen to bring back three more beers. “We need to toast our partnership.”
I accepted and we all clinked bottles.
Waking up, Hugo yawned widely then got out of his bed and moved over to me. Setting down my drink, I scooped up the dog and settled him into my lap.
“He’s cute,” Danzig said, reaching across the table to give Hugo a little pet.
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I said to Em, don’t get attached,” I said. “I’m waiting for his owner to contact me about him.”
“Where is Em?” Marduk asked, taking a turn at petting the solid little dog.
“She’s gone for the week,” I said. I let the next words come out of my mouth without thinking about it too hard. “You guys could stay here until she gets back. One of you could take her bed, and the couch folds out into a bed.”
“I’d love that,” Danzig said.
“Thank you,” Marduk said.
Then they looked at each other and spoke at the same time. “I get the bed.”
I snorted. “I’ll flip a coin to find out who gets it tonight, then you guys can switch off every other night.”
They both blinked, then grinned at me and once again spoke at the same time. “We accept.”
I held up a finger. “One thing, though. I’m going to need you guys to stop doing that.”
“We’ll try,” they responded in unison, making me burst out laughing.