Chapter 11
Scotty
Satisfied, I sat back as Ego’s body moved through the room so fast it was as if he was flying. My pulse sped up with excitement as he tore pictures off the walls, threw the wingback chair next to me across the room, flipped an end table, and then crushed his goblet with one squeeze of his hand.
Damn, he was strong now. When he headed to the pillar, the one that had alerted me to Dead Air and Ego being one and the same, I jumped up and bolted across the room, laying a soothing hand on his shoulder when he made a fist and pulled back to punch it.
I wasn’t sure if that column was decorative or if it would bring half the room down if he punched it with his considerable strength.
Ego stopped mid-throw. “Why are you still here?”
“Where else would I be?”
He ripped away from me, striding to the other side of the room. “You should be scared of me,” he said with his back to me.
Deciding that touching him again in this moment might be a mistake, I made my way back to my chair and dropped down. “Why?”
He turned, eyes flashing red instead of the green I was used to, and roared, “Because I’m a monster.”
Staring him in the eyes, I waved him off. “You’re Ego.”
He scoffed. “I don’t even know what that means anymore.”
“No, I suppose you don’t.” I shook my head. “I’m not sure either, which is why I’m here.”
“You make no sense,” he said, snarling.
“No, I suppose I don’t.” I swallowed and licked my lips. I’d never been the best at eating crow. Honestly, in my life, I’d rarely been the mean one. I’d been bullied and mistreated more times than I liked to remember, but that was what made what I said—and how I handled Ego—next so important.
“Ego, listen.” I paused, watching him study me from the far wall. I sighed. “Can you sit? Please.”
He crouched down to his haunches, right where he stood. Okkkay. Fine. This was his time to freak out, not mine, so I’d have to roll with whatever made him comfortable. Plus, I was the one here to shake him out of it, wasn’t I?
“I want to start by apologizing to you.”
He scoffed. “For what? You don’t owe me anything.”
“I do. I was an asshole to you from the second we met, and you didn’t deserve that. It’s just…well, you didn’t meet Niles. He was my boyfriend who supposedly brought me to Willowhope Manor for a vacation to celebrate our anniversary.”
He nodded. “I’ve heard about him. He sounded like a real douche. How’d you even end up with something like that?”
“That’s a long story, but suffice it to say that Niles was the first man who’d ever shown me any real attention. We’d barely been able to make it as it was when Stevie was still alive, but after I lost him…it was hard. Really fuckin’ hard.
“I didn’t have a high school diploma, so I worked minimum wage jobs just trying to get by. I’m sure you know how expensive New York City is, so…” I trailed off, trying to collect my thoughts.
Ego didn’t need my life story. He only needed enough to understand why someone so confident, so sure of themselves, and their appeal like he was would make me uncomfortable to the point of acting like a dick.
“Anyway, Niles was a corporate guy. A real go-getter, and he was making a name for himself. He wore designer clothes, attended fancy parties, and moved through the world in a way I’d never even considered. So when he showed an interest in me, I don’t know. I lost part of myself.
“No.” I shook my head. “I gave up part of myself because if he said I needed to lose weight, dress a certain way, do this or that, then I figured he knew best. Does that make sense?”
Ego sat back on his butt, pulled his legs up, planted his feet on the floor, and rested his chin in the space between his knees. “Yeah, I can understand. He was manipulating you, though.”
“That’s the understatement of the year. He was totally gaslighting me.
Every decision he made, every nicety he extended, was a means to an end.
Like dating me. Looking back, I know he knew that Chance had bought Willowhope Manor.
He started giving me scraps of his time just to have an excuse to come here with a boyfriend.
I was never more than a disposable date. I’m such an idiot.”
“No,” Ego said firmly, sounding more like his old self. His fangs must’ve receded back to wherever they went. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Him mistreating you like that is on him.”
Yep, there was the Ego I’d observed all those weeks at the manor. Once I’d taken off the lens I’d been viewing him through, I immediately saw how badly I’d misjudged him.
“You’re right, but he’s not why I’m still an idiot.
” After clearing my throat—because this was so uncomfortable—I plunged on.
“I’m beating myself up because of how I treated you.
Can you be a bit of a tool? Yes.” I held up my hands.
“Sorry, but that’s just the truth. Your flirty banter kinda made me gag. ”
A complicated series of expressions crossed his face, but I didn’t give him a chance to answer.
“But other than that, I was totally unjustified in the way I treated you. Being confident isn’t a crime.
Taking care of yourself and doing the things you enjoy isn’t a crime either.
The truth is, I had an attitude toward you before I ever laid eyes on you in person.
“You had so many of those qualities that I’ve never had, traits like my narcissistic ex, that I never gave you a chance. And the reality is, you’re nothing alike. He’s dead inside, Ego. A piece of shit person. The exact opposite of you.”
“Maybe before, but I’m pretty sure I’m dead inside now,” he muttered. “And I was vain.”
I stood up, approaching him hesitantly. Gesturing toward the floor next to him, I asked, “Can I sit?”
He nodded.
“You were, but I think anyone would be in your shoes. The public adores you, your fanbase thinks you float amongst the angels, and from what my Google search revealed, you’re loaded.”
Ego barked out a laugh, then jumped like he’d surprised himself. “You looked up my net worth?”
“Sure did. I knew what Nile made because he bragged about it constantly. I wanted to get a general idea of how much worse you were going to be.”
Letting a little grin settle on his face, he asked, “So what had your expectation been?”
“That you were going to be the worst human who’d ever humaned in the history of man.
” I smiled ruefully. “I…I really don’t know why I came at you so hard.
You’re Sky’s cousin, and I love that guy.
I should’ve been kinder based on that. Or the fact I work for the manor and guest services is part of my job description.
I wouldn’t have ever treated another guest that way. ”
“Aw, stop beating yourself up.” He leaned into me, quickly bumping our sides together, then leaned back up. “You’re completely forgiven. In some ways, I think it was good you were so hard on me. It made me examine myself—my motives, my actions, how I was treating my employees and fans.”
He’d just made that way easier than he had to. Didn’t that speak to who he was? This man literally felt like his life had been ruined. He was shattered by his transformation. Half an hour ago, he’d been destroying his own house in his rage.
But now, here he sat, instantly forgiving me. “You’re wrong about one thing, though.”
He snorted. “I knew it was too good to be true.” He laughed, taking away the guilt as it started. “Lay it on me, Scotty.”
“You might not be alive the way you were before you were bitten, but, Ego, your soul’s not dead.
Your heart hasn’t hardened to blackness.
You’re still you, whether you want to believe it or not.
” Inspiration struck, and I turned to him.
“Didn’t Lysandro say that after the change, all of his senses were amplified? ”
“Yeah, but he meant like, the food he liked before, he liked better now, and if he didn’t like it before, he can’t tolerate it at all now.”
“Right? But isn’t it possible that it goes for who you are inside, too? Like, I don’t want to stroke your little ol’ ego—” I cut off, horrified by the way that sounded.
A small hiccup-giggle came out of Ego, then a chuckle, before he was full-belly laughing. “I’m…so…sorry,” he managed to get out. “I didn’t realize I asked you to…to…to…stroke…” He broke out into a new wave of laughter.
Pretending to be aggravated, I stood up and glared down at him. “Fine. No compliment for you.” Then I stormed back to my chair with enough sass that he’d know I was kidding.
I wasn’t lying. He’d lost his chance at drawing a compliment out of me today, but there would be another time and another opportunity.
Now that I’d prepared his sustenance, pissed him off, and apologized—sort of—it was time to address why I was really here.
He had to listen to his mentor whether he liked it or not.
And he needed to trust his family. Hopefully, he’d be reasonable.