CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE #2
Kade wants to say no just to spite him but then realises he doesn’t…
know. Does he? He’s never been to a bar, a club.
He’d only drunk alcohol once before, and that was a bottle of whiskey he found in Riley’s room one night well over five years ago.
He’d barely taken a mouthful before he wanted to hurl.
‘Whatever,’ he goes with, a little self-conscious.
There’s so many people around him and this bar has a small dancefloor. Modern and dark, pulsing neon and thudding bass. Lachlan orders two club sodas with lime, plus a shot of tequila.
‘Just one?’
‘I don’t drink.’
‘I meant for me.’
Lachlan smiles and shakes his head. ‘Brat.’
The word makes a spiral of tight warmth in Kade’s otherwise cold interior.
Kade decides to push. ‘Come on, if you’re gonna spend hours trying to convince me I’m a fucking Paranatural or whatever, you might as well—’
‘I’m not trying to convince you of anything,’ Lachlan cuts over, still looking around. ‘You asked me to get you out of the Tower and I did, you can leave. You’re not trapped. You don’t need to bargain with me.’
Somehow that irritates Kade even more. He downs the shot, barely stops himself from gagging because holy shit that is revolting, and then drains half his club soda in one.
‘Fuck you, Bodyguard. My world’s imploding here.’
‘I know.’
‘I need to know things, I want to know everything but it’s like I don’t know where to start and whenever I ask, the shit you tell me just fucks with my head.’ He frowns to himself, gripping the glass. ‘I’m not a Paranatural, though.’
‘Brightling.’
‘You sound just like him.’
‘And you sound like your father’s friends.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Paranatural is a loaded term. It costs you fuck all to say Brightling.’
Kade briefly sulks but then relents. ‘Fine. ‘I’m not a Brightling.’
‘Believe me or don’t. It’s your life, kid.’
‘Fucking call me kid again, I swear to God.’ Lachlan doesn’t react. Kade downs the second shot when it arrives, finds it more tolerable that time though he still has to chase it with his club soda. ‘Not like I don’t know why you’re doing it anyway.’
‘Doing what?’
‘Calling me these things because you’re trying to jog my memory.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Just stop it, OK?’
‘Heard.’
‘So, tell me about you and me.’
Lachlan takes a deep breath, staring ahead at the bar.
‘I was your bodyguard and you were my charge. You hated me. Then you hated me slightly less. Then you kinda got a crush on me and hated me more. The crush evolved. You still hated me, but it was difficult for us both. The night you got your scar, things changed again, and after that I.’ Lachlan frowns.
‘I made a lot of mistakes. But the night before we left for Sable Key, everything changed.’
‘What’s Sable Key?’
‘An island.’
Kade watches him. ‘Why do you dance around it like that?’
‘Dance around what?’
‘I see the way you look at me.’ Lachlan visibly shuts down. ‘It’s not just bodyguard and charge. You said I had a crush, but what about you?’
‘That’s not relevant.’
‘Because you say so.’
‘Yeah, because I say so.’
‘What changed the night before you left for… wherever? And don’t be a fucking smartass and say, everything.’
The older man sighs roughly. ‘Look, if you want me to tell you the whole story it’s gonna take days.’
‘I thought that’s what you wanted, Bodyguard. To tell me who I am.’
‘You’ve had people doing that your whole life.’
‘Then why are you here? What do you want?’
‘All I want is to kick down the fucking doors and set you free. My boy’s in there,’ Lachlan adds, reluctantly possessive. ‘He’s just… hiding.’
Kade orders another shot, waits until it’s halfway down his gullet before he says, ‘Yeah, well. Memory’s a tricky thing. It might not ever come back.’ He then scowls and adds, ‘I’m not a Brightling.’
He heads for the restroom, which is a delightfully filthy experience, and sternly avoids looking in the mirror after he washes his hands.
When Kade returns to the bar, Lachlan is drinking a beer.
‘I thought you didn’t drink.’
‘Yeah.’
‘So.’ Kade sits on the stool. ‘Tell me about this curse then. Riley’s curse.’
‘Maybe you’re right and this is all too much, too fast.’
‘I can handle it.’ When Lachlan says nothing, Kade nudges him, drops his voice soft and pretty. ‘Please?’
Seemingly unable to resist, which was very much Kade’s plan, Lachlan swivels to face him. ‘Harker told me that you two are bound. That for the last seven years you’ve both been…’ He gestures vaguely, frowning. ‘Well, my understanding is that you and he are connected. Tied together.’
We’re not joined at the hip.
‘Tied together how?’
‘That’s all he told me.’
Kade narrows his eyes. ‘But that’s not all you know.’
‘It’s what I know with any certainty. What was he like when you first came to know him seven years ago?’
‘Riley?’
‘Yeah.’
‘He was… nice,’ Kade finishes lamely, can’t think of a better word for it.
‘My memory of the first year is fractured. I can see it, but I can’t really think about it.
I remember Riley staying with me in the Tower.
It was sort of destroyed at first. I remember…
’ He frowns, won’t say cuddling even though it’s true, ‘being close with him right from the start.’