Chapter 14
Why couldn’t Rayn just take it easy? What was he trying to prove? He knew that Ward wasn’t going to push Rayn to come to work, and God knew he and Violette—who was a very odd girl—had spent several hours trying to talk him out of it.
He’d even contemplated trying threats or possibly handcuffs, but he knew very well that doing that was not the way to convince the man he cared about not to put himself in even more danger by going back to the job where he’d been hurt while he was still injured.
Because it was clear that he still had a headache.
Why couldn’t Rayn just let him take care of him? Why—
“Seriously, you can’t go in,” Vi argued, interrupting the thoughts that Raj had left on the coffee mugs that he’d pulled down from the cupboard.
It probably wasn’t a good sign that I’d let them in, but I could always put my gloves on to go to work if I didn’t manage to get that particular susceptibility under control.
At least it felt like my brain was working better, even if I hadn’t quite managed enough focus to block out thoughts.
In my defense, the emotions behind them had been pretty strong, even if Raj’s contact with the ceramic had been brief. But if I hadn’t had the throbbing headache, they probably wouldn’t have broken through.
“I can,” I said to my sister. “And I will. You, however, are not scheduled to work because you have an exam tomorrow that you need to study for.”
“I can skip that.”
I fixed her with a stare that I hoped communicated that I didn’t think much of that idea.
“I’ll just tell my professor that my brother was in the hospital—”
“I’m fine,” I interrupted her. “And I don’t need you to do anything.” I let out a little sigh, even though I’d tried to smother it. “Besides, Raj will be here when I get back, as well as all day tomorrow.” Whether I wanted him to be or not.
I wasn’t being very nice, either out loud or in my own mind.
Raj wanted to take care of me. Wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to suffer any further ill effects from my concussion.
And, presumably, that I wasn’t going to suffer from any additional injuries or threats, either. Vi was thinking the same.
And I just wanted to try to keep living the life I’d managed to build for myself, such as it was.
“Rayn,” she wheedled.
I glared at her as I poured creamer into my mug. “Violette,” I countered.
“You’re my brother,” she told me. “I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I am fine,” I repeated. “If I weren’t fine, they wouldn’t have released me from the hospital. And besides, I will be constantly watched for any sign of problems.”
A squeak came from the kitchen table, and we both looked over at Victor, who was watching me intently.
“You can feed him, if you want,” I told Vi.
She sighed, then went to pull a small container of food out of the fridge.
I’d been reading about the health and economic advantages of meal prep, and I’d decided that having my lunches and dinners pre-made at the start of a week would probably lead me to having better nutrition than otherwise.
And since I’d made them for myself, I’d done the same for Victor, mixing peas, canned chicken, and sunflower seeds into something that vaguely resembled a salad.
He didn’t actually eat a whole one, even though the little containers were small, so there was almost certainly some left over from when she’d fed him the night before.
“You’re trying to distract me,” Vi accused, although she went into the fridge and pulled out the little container, taking the lid off before setting it in front of Victor. The undead rat reached in and pulled out a pea before stuffing it in his little bony mouth.
“I’m trying to go about my day,” I retorted.
“He’s going to do what he wants whether we like it or not,” Raj said, coming to stand in the kitchen doorway, his dark hair still wet from the shower he’d just taken.
He sounded annoyed, which was honestly a slight improvement over the level of anger he’d been exhibiting since the hospital last night.
Vi looked from me to Raj. “Can’t you, like, arrest him or something?”
Raj’s eyebrows rose. “Not legally,” he replied a little darkly.
“I didn’t ask about legally,” Vi muttered.
Raj snorted, although there was very little humor in the sound. “Believe me, I’m tempted,” he replied.
I had the feeling they were bonding over shared frustration with me, which was not how I wanted my sister and my boyfriend to form a friendship.
“I am being a responsible adult and going to work, like I said I would,” I told both of them, not understanding why this was so difficult for them to understand. “I am not dying. I am capable of driving a car.”
“You are not driving,” Raj interrupted.
I glared at him.
“If you’re going to insist upon this, I will drive.”
I closed my eyes, drawing in a long, deep breath, the way Mason had explained I should do to keep my emotions under control. In this case, irritation. Extreme irritation. “You also have to go to work,” I told him, but even as I said it, I realized that he should have left at least an hour ago.
He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression serious. “I called out.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from saying something rude. Specifically, from pointing out that if I didn’t go to work, nothing significant happened. If he didn’t, someone might be murdered who otherwise wouldn’t have been. And there was no point in him not going to work, because I was.
He blew out a huff through his nose. “I’ll go in while you’re at work,” he replied shortly. “Given that this séance is supposed to last for five hours.” He grimaced. “Why is it five hours?” he asked.
I sighed. “Because Mrs. Van Dyre wants to contact multiple generations of her family,” I replied. “So that she can commune with them on All Hallow’s Eve.”
“So that she can… what?” Vi asked.
I shrugged. “That’s what she said,” I told them. They both stared at me. “I don’t actually know what it means,” I admitted. “Ward said it didn’t matter because she has the magical ability of a particularly mundane rock.”
Vi snickered, and even Raj’s lips twitched behind his dark beard. He sighed. “I will take you to work, then drive you and Ward to your séance, and then after five hours, I will pick you up and drop him off again.”
It was probably the best I was going to get, although I was a bit annoyed that he was telling me, not asking or even offering. “Fine.” I didn’t bother concealing the resentment in my voice.
Vi looked back and forth between us for a second. “You’ll take care of him?” she asked Raj, which irritated me even more.
He nodded, although the glance he gave me seemed to suggest that he understood that I was getting angrier by the second. “Of course,” he told her. “Always.”
She sighed, then walked up to me and threw her arms around me. “Be careful, okay, bro?”
I couldn’t help hugging her back. “I’ll be fine,” I told her. “Drive safe, and I’ll see you next week.” She let go. “And good luck on your test.”
She flashed me a smirk. “I’ll be fine,” she echoed, then walked out of the kitchen. Raj glanced at me, then followed her.
I leaned heavily against the counter, finally pouring coffee into the mug, letting the action of pouring stir the creamer into it.
I sipped as I listened to the sounds of Raj’s and Violette’s voices, although I couldn’t tell what they were saying as Vi gathered up her things and Raj walked her to the door. I heard it open, then close.
I didn’t hear him come back into the kitchen, but that no longer surprised me.
Raj was silent on his feet, whether in shoes, socks, or—like now—barefoot.
He was otherwise fully dressed, wearing a pair of dark-washed jeans and a navy polo shirt striped with thin lines of orange. I waited, sipping my coffee.
“She’s worried about you,” he said, finally.
“So are you,” I pointed out.
He sighed. “I don’t want to argue about this,” he said, then.
I looked up at him. I didn’t particularly want to argue about it either. Or maybe I did? I was angry, but even I wasn’t entirely certain what I was angry about or at whom I wanted to direct it. “I’m going to work,” I told him.
He didn’t look happy, but he nodded.
I should have been glad that we weren’t going to keep arguing about it, but I mostly just felt exhausted and irritated. And my head still hurt.
The doctor had told me that I could take acetaminophen or ibuprofen if I needed to, and I had, although it hadn’t actually done much of anything, and there were another three hours before I could take more.
I sipped more coffee.
“You should eat breakfast,” he said, then.
I thought about that. One of the nurses had said that sometimes concussions came with nausea.
I didn’t feel particularly nauseous at the moment, but I hadn’t tried eating anything yet today.
I wasn’t really hungry. The coffee didn’t seem to be bothering me, though, and it was a way to compromise with Raj.
Sort of.
“Okay,” I said out loud.
“I’ll make you some eggs,” he said, immediately moving into the kitchen and starting to pull out pans. “And toast. And bacon.”
“I don’t have bacon,” I told him. “I think there might be some sausage links in the freezer, though.”
“Do you want me to go get some bacon?” He sounded oddly urgent.
I shook my head. “Sausage is fine,” I told him.
“Potatoes?” he asked.
“If you like,” I replied, moving over to the table to get out of his way. Victor let out a little squeak around a mouthful of something. I held out a finger towards him, and he stepped away from the little dish to rub his head against my finger.
I felt oddly emotional about that—the fact that an undead rat that I’d accidentally raised actually liked me.
“He’s getting more… normal-rat,” Raj observed as he pulled the sausages out of the freezer.
“Mason thinks it’s because I raised him with life magic.” I couldn’t remember if I’d told him that already. Thinking was difficult through the headache. It was probably good that nothing I had to do at the séance required extensive recall.