30. Tangled Thicket
TANGLED THICKET
LEV
A sher’s cheeks were flushed when he strode into the dining room. Julian and Theo arrived hot on his heels sporting matching frowns.
What the hell happened?
Lev pushed his chair back and stood as Asher dropped into a chair beside Daria and crossed his arms over his chest. Julian tried to take the seat on Asher’s left, but Theo intercepted him.
Asher leaned toward Theo, hiding his lips behind Theo’s cheek and whispered something to him.
Jealousy shot flames through his bloodstream. Was Theo back in the running? Asher had asked to sleep alone earlier.
Asher kicked Lev’s shin and reached under the table.
What? Lev mouthed.
Asher looked pointedly at the table.
Oh.
Lev slipped his hand under the table, and found Asher waiting for him. Asher squeezed, reassuring him with such a tender gesture that Lev’s heart swelled with the overwhelming sense of his soul being known by another person.
Lev squeezed Asher’s hand back, and mouthed— Are you okay?
Asher nodded. Thank God.
Sunlight, ordinarily so scarce this time of year, ignited the embers in Asher’s irises as Lev stroked the back of his hand with his thumb. Their chemistry was so magical that even sustained eye contact and secret hand holding was sacred.
Lev nudged Asher’s legs wider with the tip of his shoe. So much fun could be had playing footsie under the table. He licked his bottom lip just to toy with him, and sure enough, Asher’s clever eyes dipped to Lev’s mouth and mirrored the motion.
Luna entered carrying a platter of vegetarian lasagna made with veg grown in the conservatory. Lev jumped from his chair and rushed to take the platter from her.
“Thank you, love.” Luna’s smile emphasized the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes.
One day he’d lose his fourth parent, the one who’d loved him longer than all the others, and he’d never survive it.
“I’ll be back with the bread,” Luna said.
He followed her to the kitchen and hugged her, planting a kiss to her hair. The heady scent of lilac launched him back in time to when he was a boy missing a mother who hadn’t left yet, but wasn’t there anymore.
“Thank you, Mum.”
He seldom called her that anymore. She’d never invited it, but the first time he’d called her mummy as a lad, she’d cried. Lev, only eight at the time, had panicked until she explained what good tears were. Lev had only witnessed sad tears before then.
In a way, Lev had claimed Luna like Silas had claimed Father.
“It makes me happy to see you taken care of, to know you won’t be alone.”
“He’s not staying forever.”
“No, but he could. ”
Perhaps if Lev was lucky. “Eat with us while you wait out high tide?”
“Another time. I’m going to dust the library.”
“Why bother when the dust bunnies return overnight?”
Luna pushed the breadbasket into his hands. “Go.”
Lev returned with the bread basket and another bottle of pinot noir to find Theo gesturing so animatedly, the wine glass in his hand sloshed perilously close to Asher’s lap.
“You can’t imagine,” Theo said. “I was only sixteen, living on the streets of Paris. Me!”
Lev hid a yawn behind his hand, relishing the way Asher’s eyes followed him as he lowered into his chair.
Asher lifted a single brow and said without words, What’s wrong, old man? Too tired to stay up with the kids? Lev narrowed his eyes, smiling ruefully, a nonverbal reply: Don’t test me or I’ll show you who can last longest.
Silas materialized behind Asher, neck craning to peer down at Asher’s untouched lasagna.
“Oh dear. It looks as if our Ashy has lost his appetite again. Maybe when Julian and Theo spit-roasted him earlier they stuffed him so full he spoiled his appetite.”
Lev refused to entertain such a vile notion.
“Do you want to eat something else?” Lev asked Asher.
Asher looked at his plate. “No.” He leaned across the table and whispered, “I want to get this over with.”
“You’re sure?”
Asher nodded and leaned back in his seat.
Lev straightened. “I have an announcement to make. I’m sure you’re all wondering who I’ve selected as my protégé.”
“I’ve been on pins and needles, myself,” Chuck said with dry sarcasm, ever faithful to his wanker persona.
“A total mystery,” Lars added.
Theo drowned out their shtick, tapping a drumroll with his fingers on the tabletop. Asher rolled his eyes, but his lips tipped in a nearly undetectable smile—a very platonic smile. Lev’s heart thawed slightly.
Julian dropped his fork on his plate with a jarring clank. “Congratulations. You must be happy.”
“Thank you. I am quite happy actually,” Lev said with equal sarcasm and far less petulance. “Though I don’t understand your tone.”
“You can’t order a companion like a meal,” Julian said. “That’s human trafficking.”
“Excuse me?” Fury gathered at the edges of his decorum like storm clouds on the horizon.
“Julian,” Theo groaned, massaging his temples. “You’re giving me a headache, and Lev looks like he’s going to give you a headache with his fist if you don’t drop this.”
“What exactly are you accusing me of?”
“It’s never been a contest,” Julian said. “We never had a chance. We were props in a play we didn’t know we were acting in.”
“For fuck’s sake, take the ‘L’, Julian.”
Silas circled Julian with a suspicious self-satisfied smirk. “Either Julian’s more clever than he looks, or someone told him.”
What the fuck was Silas playing at?
“He does have a certain appeal, Levvy.” Silas hopped onto the table beside Julian’s plate and trailed a delicate finger down his bicep. “In a bearish, daddy sort of way.”
Asher kicked Lev’s calf. How long had he stared vacantly in the middle of a dinner argument?
“If I only hosted the retreat to find a companion, why would I invite the walking bellend that is Chuck? What about Daria and Melody? I’ve never even kissed a woman. Not to mention, I find Daria quite frightening, and you’re fucking married.”
Daria laughed. Lev tucked that minor victory away to use the next time Asher claimed he had no sense of humor .
“I chose each of you because your work is so brilliant I want to watch you create it, and while I hate to admit this, Chuck is very talented.” Knowing how much Chuck liked to hear his own voice, Lev added, “Never speak of this again, Mr. Boorman.”
“Was the retreat a competition or not, Lev?” Chuck asked.
“Lord, deliver me from these calamitous dinners,” Lev muttered. “In the spirit of honesty, I must confess that I invited you at your aunt’s behest. Quite an error on my part. Had I known better, I would have declined.”
“Fuck off, Lev. I don’t have an aunt,” Chuck said waspishly.
“It’s not true.” Melody fussed with the crown of plaits she’d braided her golden hair into.
Lev was such an arsehole. “No, love, it’s not true. Julian is being a sore loser.”
“Careful you don’t get mauled, Levvy,” Silas said.
Melody bit her glossy bottom lip and bobbled her head in a nod.
“You can’t lose something that was never a competition,” Julian argued. “Lev picked Asher from the start.”
“Julian, shut the fuck up,” Daria snapped, and took Melody’s hand. “Mel, listen to Lev.” She shot Julian a deathly look, daring him to disagree.
Lev shivered. She was even scarier when incensed, and she was definitely dating Melody.
Asher’s gaze slid to his plate. Did he believe Julian?
“Blakely, your art brought you here. Your art is the reason I chose you.”
If only Lev could drop to his knees and vow his fealty, and make Asher believe him. Perhaps he should try anyway.
Julian snorted. “Right. It had nothing to do with how young he is or how easily you could manipulate him, or how little he’d be missed.”
Asher flinched.
“That’s enough.” Lev pressed his palms to the table and stood, nostrils flaring as he inhaled, anger tethered by a fraying rope. “Blakely is twenty-five, not twelve.”
“I’ve had enough too,” Asher said, voice starved of all warmth. “Listen to what you’re saying, Julian. Celebrity artist, heir to fortunes, owner of land gifted by royalty. You think Leviathan Marks combed the world for a potential suitor and settled on me?”
“It wouldn’t have been settling,” Lev said.
“Then, instead of asking me out on a date or inviting me here like a normal person would, Lev hosted an art retreat and invited six other artists to ruin the mood? Don’t you realize how stupid that sounds?”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt,” Julian said.
Asher shook his head once, a sharp, violent jerk that would have stung were it directed at Lev.
“Treating me like a child incapable of decision doesn’t protect me,” Asher said. “Suggesting that I’m only here because Lev wanted to sleep with me insults my artistic achievements, my intelligence, me.”
Asher tossed his napkin beside his bowl and sped from the room.
“Asher, wait,” Julian said.
Lev shook his head at Julian. “If you so much as follow, come hell or high tide, I’ll send you home tonight, even if I have to summon the Royal Navy to collect you.”
The hall was empty, all the lights dimmed for the evening. Where the hell was he?
“Blakely?”
“Perhaps he’s popped to the ballroom for a midnight swim,” Silas suggested, appearing at his side. “Diving from those window ledges is an excellent way to pass the time.”
Lev ignored him. The only danger Asher presented to himself was obstinacy paired with a terrible sense of direction.
“Blakely,” Lev called louder this time, distress sneaking into his voice .
Should he dispatch search parties again?
A distant squeak like a branch against a window pulled Lev’s attention away from the stairwell that led to their bedroom. Lev swung his head toward the sound and hurried down the east wing corridor. For all he knew, the sound was just a branch scratching glass, but it was the only lead he had.
“Baby, please don’t hide. I’ll go mad if I can’t find you again.”
Asher stepped out from behind a suit of armor guarding the shadowy hallway leading to the chapel.
Silas flinched cartoonishly and clutched his chest. “Jesus. He’s a better ghost than I am.”