Chapter Thirty-three
‘Why are you pouting?’
‘No reason.’
Emberlyn sighed at her friend, easily guessing . . . ‘You wanted a pony ride but were told you’re too old. Am I right?’
Paisley sniffed. ‘Perhaps.’
Logan snorted from his seat beside Emberlyn – one that Ripper had recently vacated, needing to relieve his bladder. He’d asked his brother to stay with her, not wanting her to work her market stall alone, even though she needed no help.
All stalls were narrow, only featuring a table to display your for-sale items. Emberlyn offered things such as potions, homemade candles, herbal tea balls, healing salves and packs of oracle cards.
‘What happened?’ Logan asked Paisley, tipping his chin at the Band-Aid on the back of her hand.
She only pulled a face.
Beside his sister, Kage sighed. ‘She got bit by a goat.’
Emberlyn lifted a brow. ‘She went to the kids’ petting zoo, I take it?’
Paisley inched up her chin, belligerent. ‘I reserve the right to regress during county fairs.’
Well, she certainly looked as though she’d regressed. She’d had her face painted like a tiger, was cuddling a stuffed frog she’d likely won, and had the string of a pink balloon tied to her wrist.
Each time the annual county fair rolled around, Paisley turned into a seven-year-old child trapped in a woman’s body. Emberlyn shrugged. ‘So long as you’re enjoying yourself . . .’
‘Oh, I am,’ Paisley assured her.
Everybody appeared to be. The grassy stretch of land had been completely transformed. Carnival games were set up. Food carts were parked in various spots. Market stalls were clustered together selling everything from fruit and honey to purses and art.
Folk music played, not quite overriding the laughter and shouting and ringing carnival-game bells.
There were craft workshops, baking contests, blacksmithing demonstrations and live painting. Canvas tents had been put up to shelter healers, who invited people inside for treatment or consultation.
The kids were in their element. Inflatables were available, including a giant slide, a bouncy castle and an assault course. Many children went back and forth from the petting zoo.
Paisley plucked a particular candle from the table and sniffed it. ‘Ooh, I like. How much?’
‘You can have it for free if you buy me some funnel cake.’ Emberlyn was famished, her stomach haunted by the mouthwatering scents of caramel popcorn, corn dogs, fried chicken and cotton candy. But it was the smell of the cake that really tugged at her appetite.
‘Deal.’ Paisley allowed Emberlyn to wrap the candle and then plopped it in her purse. Her attention zipped to a passing she-wolf who sent Kage an unfriendly look. ‘What was that about?’ she asked her twin.
He scratched at his temple. ‘We fucked during the last full moon. I only meant for it to be a one-time thing. It turns out that she thought there’d be a repeat. When I gently disabused her of that theory, she lost it with me and called me a total asshole.’
Paisley gasped in a mix of horror and anger. ‘The bitch dared say that to you?’
He blinked. ‘You say it to me all the time.’
‘I’m your sister. It’s my right and privilege to fuck with your self-esteem. She doesn’t get to do that.’
‘I’m sensing you think I should feel warmed by that comment.’
‘You can’t feel the love and protectiveness rolling off me?’
‘No.’
Letting out a pfft sound, Paisley turned back to Emberlyn. ‘Where’s Ripper?’
‘You just missed him,’ Emberlyn replied. ‘He went to answer a call of nature.’
Paisley looked at Logan. ‘You sticking with her?’
‘I am,’ he confirmed.
‘Good. I’ll return with cake soon.’ With that, Paisley skipped away.
Kage gave Emberlyn and Logan a quick raise of his eyebrows and then followed his sister.
Reaching into a box beneath the table, Emberlyn grabbed a candle identical to the one she’d just given to Paisley and set it in the now-empty spot. ‘You don’t have to stay with me,’ she told Logan.
‘I know. But you see those two wolves over there?’ He subtly indicated where the Reeds were eyeing jam jars at another stall.
‘They’ve been very slowly making their way around the market, sliding you brief glances.
They’re waiting for the right moment to come over here.
It’s best to make sure that they have a reason not to do it. ’
Emberlyn had noticed that they kept sparing her too-quick looks. She momentarily cut her gaze to someone on their far right. ‘The Reeds aren’t the only ones lingering.’ CeCe had been hovering by nearby tents ever since Logan had made his way over.
His lips thinned. ‘Everywhere I turn today she seems to be right there.’
‘It could be that she has something she wants to say to you.’
‘There’s nothing I want to hear,’ he said, his voice grim. ‘Not right now. Maybe some time in the future.’
Emberlyn gently bumped his shoulder with her own. ‘I’m sorry that she hurt you.’
‘It’s like Yvette said – someone can be a close friend, but they won’t necessarily suit you as a partner.
In the past, I never had cause to see the sides of CeCe I’ve seen lately, because we’d only been friends.
I recently spoke to a couple of her exes – they said they weren’t at all surprised by how she’s acted recently toward me and Ripper.
They claimed that she’s pretty demanding in a relationship.
It’s her way or no way at all. She expects to come before everything and everyone, including your kids from previous relationships. ’
‘She has to be the center of her partner’s world and feel in control of the relationship,’ Emberlyn reasoned.
‘She wouldn’t have had that control with me.
We wouldn’t have gone the distance – there’d have been too much push and pull, we’d have found no balance.
Me and CeCe worked as friends. She makes a good friend.
But that was all we were ever meant to be,’ he added with a shrug, seeming to have made his peace with that.
It still had to suck that things had played out the way they had.
Right then, a werewolf couple arrived. They smiled, idly browsed the selection of items for sale and settled on potions that aided with joint relief.
As they left, Emberlyn leaned forward in her seat to idly rearrange the potion display. Catching sight of Clem off in the distance, she nudged Logan and casually tossed out, ‘I hear you and Clem see a lot of each other.’
He gave her a sideways glance. ‘You’re not gonna do that thing, are you?’
‘Thing?’
‘People who are loved up often start matchmaking.’
A potion bottle somehow slipped out of her grasp. ‘L-loved up?’
He laughed. ‘Emberlyn, I’ve seen the way you look at my brother. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I’ve seen how you two are with each other. Maybe you haven’t admitted it to yourselves yet, but you’ve been hit by the big L.’
Feeling a little too exposed, Emberlyn moodily righted the bottle she’d knocked over. ‘Maybe you’re the one who’s loved up and so you’re seeing love everywhere.’
He grinned. ‘Nope. I like Clem. She’s what I need right now – someone fun who isn’t looking for anything complicated. What we have ain’t serious, or moving in that direction. You and Ripper? Different story.’
‘That’s . . . well . . . You’re enjoying my discomfort, aren’t you?’
His shoulders shaking with a silent laugh, he unrepentantly inclined his head. ‘As you once told me, you ain’t daunted by much. Seeing you all rattled just feels like further proof that I’m right.’
He was right, dammit. Or, at least, he was right about where Emberlyn emotionally stood. She didn’t know if she could say the same regarding Ripper.
He leaned into her, his expression soft but serious. ‘He never once looked at a woman the way he does you. I’ve honestly never before seen him so open, relaxed and tactile with anyone. That’s how I know this is the real deal for him. So make an honest man of him already.’
Her gut twisted so sharply it hurt. ‘You can’t be certain he wants to take things that far.’
‘Oh, I can. I know my brother better than he knows—’
‘Well, don’t you two look cozy,’ a voice cut in, its tone ugly.
Emberlyn looked up, inwardly sighing as she noticed CeCe approaching.
Coming to stand in front of the table, the woman glared down at Emberlyn, her expression sour. ‘Have your eye on both brothers, do you? Watch out. They might share you for a night, but trying to keep them both is a fast way to end up alone.’
‘CeCe,’ Logan rumbled in warning.
The bitterness in the werewolf’s face drained away. ‘That was uncalled for, I’m sorry.’
‘Are you?’ Doubtful.
‘Yes.’ CeCe’s gaze zipped to Logan. ‘Can we talk? Alone?’
‘If you have something to say, you can say it in front of Emberlyn,’ he replied. ‘She’s practically family at this point.’
Ouch.
The dart hit its mark, making a hint of pain crease CeCe’s face. ‘I suppose you’re right. Ripper is certainly serious about her. Now that I see it wouldn’t hurt him if you and I were together, I don’t see why we can’t make a go of things.’
Oh. Wow. Emberlyn stared up at her, her lips parted in sheer astonishment. Because CeCe spoke as if Logan should be thrilled; should trip all over himself to agree.
‘I know I’ve been something of a bitch lately – I’ll make up for that. The person I’ve been . . . that’s not who I am, Logan.’
‘It’s who you are when you’re not getting your way; when the people you consider yours aren’t dancing to your tune,’ he accused.
CeCe frowned. ‘No. No, I just—’
‘I’m not interested in dragging this conversation out, so I’m gonna be straight with you.
’ He leaned forward slightly. ‘The days where I wanted us to be together are gone. That ship has sailed. It will not make a U-turn and come back. Friendship is all we were ever meant to have. I just didn’t see that until recently. ’
Her face tightened. ‘That isn’t true. You only feel that way because I hurt you. Which I’m so sorry for, Logan. Sorrier than you’ll ever know.’