Our House
ARCHER
I’m happy to be stripping, too. That meeting left me feeling filthy as hell just by being in the presence of those assholes.
“Meet downstairs in ten?”
The shouted question comes from Angelo’s room, and I chuckle to myself.
He’s gotta be losing his mind knowing his old man has been slipping this shit past him and D for decades.
Angelo hates losing control and Damon despises being out of the loop.
Both twins have had their world rocked off-kilter pretty hardcore, and so have our Fae family members.
Only Javier and I were left out of the ‘bosses lying to us forever’ club, which means we’re the least emotional right now.
It’s not uncommon for the twins or Rebel to be furious and illogical, but when it includes Rogue, we have to help balance the strain.
“I’ll be there!” I yell out my door as I head for a quick shower.
As much as I would have enjoyed showering with a plus one or two, this needs to be quick.
Running down everything while it’s still fresh will help us form a plan—we’ve been waiting for this damn event and now that it’s over, we have to decide how to proceed.
“Got it!”
“Okay!”
Turning on the water as I hear Damon and Javier reply, I test the temperature, then shed my clothes.
They land on the floor of the bathroom in a heap, and I kick them away to the bedroom so I can step into scalding hot water.
Sighing as it hits me, I wonder why Reb and Rogue didn’t answer, though I suppose maybe they were already in their showers.
Rogue will definitely want to get all the makeup and hair stuff cleaned off as quickly as possible.
Our girl can do fancy, but she loves being alfresco more than anything else.
She adores hanging out in comfy clothes with her hair out of her face—and it looks just as hot as when she’s dolled up.
I’ll take my mate anyway I can get her, and I won’t utter a word of complaint.
I run through the mechanics of my shower as quickly as I can, getting the grime from being amongst that many people off of my skin.
Once I’m done, I step out, wrapping a towel around my waist as I head to my dresser to pull out lounging clothes.
Rogue likes when she can see our bodies—even if she won’t say so—so I grab a white tank and sweats.
Yanking them on without a thought to anything underneath, I look in the mirror.
My hair is wet and crazy, so I run my fingers through it until it’s not ridiculous.
“Okay, Archie… You don’t smell like nasty, sweaty crowds and you’re not bound up in dress clothes.
” I don’t talk to myself a lot, but as I stand here looking at my reflection, it feels right.
“Your mate and your… boyfriend… are waiting for you. You need food and booze and sex… in whatever order you can get them, because there’s serious shit afoot.
Focus like you’re on the line until you reach the goal. ”
“Dude, what the fuck?”
Whirling around at the amused tone, I glare at Angelo. “Shut up, man. I’m getting my swagger on.”
He snorts, shaking his head at me. “Is this what you do before games?”
“Usually not out loud, but I’m trying something new. Fuck off.” My growl isn’t really one of anger, but embarrassment, and I want him to take the hint.
“Okay, dude. But it’s time to get your ass in gear whether you’ve got your ‘swagger’ or not. D and the Fae are already down there waiting.” The elder demon smirks, amusement still flittering over his features. “Javier is in the kitchen, unsurprisingly.”
I thought I was super fucking quick, but I’m almost the last one. How is that possible?
“Fine, I’m coming,” I reply as I step back and walk out of my room to follow him. “But quit ribbing me, Ang. We’ve all had a bunch of shit thrown at us in the past day—hell, weeks. I’m not the target you want to aim for, not really.”
Sighing, he jogs down the stairs in front of me with slumped shoulders.
“You’re right. I’d like to beat the shit out of a lot of people, but you aren’t one of them.
We share a mate, we’ve been friends forever, and you’ve made my brother happy as shit.
I think that means you’re on the good list for a while. ”
My face turns red; I can feel it. “Thanks, man. I mean, I’m just glad it’s not… weird for you.”
“Uh, it is pretty fucking strange, but… how could I possibly miss the affection? My twin and my friend are fucking and it brings them both obvious joy. I’d be a super dick if I took issue with it.
” Angelo gives me a wicked grin. “Plus, our mate loves it, and loves that you two are enjoying yourselves. That’s like… a triple play of good shit, you know?”
When he puts it that way, I feel stupid for even asking.
“Luca and Lola would be horrified at how fucking great you two turned out. I’m sure they did their damndest to make you both uber shitheads like them.” I grin at the vengeance demon and he turns to bump fists with me when we get to the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah, it’s probably why we were maneuvered around for years while he set that little production up.”
We round the corner from the foyer as we move to the kitchen, and the noise coming from it makes my heart thump.
My parents formed a large pride together around my mom, and as each sibling was added, the general noise and chaos increased.
I thrive in that atmosphere and now that we’ve won over Rogue, this house finally feels like my home.
I have my own pride—different but equally amazing—and the lion inside me is so pleased that I have to stop myself from letting out a roar of triumph.
“What’s with the ‘grr’, Archie?” Rogue says as Angelo and I join the ruckus.
My hand flies to my face and I realize the big cat shifted a little of it while he was preening. “My lion really enjoys having our whole family together in the house. He thinks of this like my pride—you know, like my mom has.”
Rebel and Rogue share a look, and I know that’s because out of all of us, they had the least ‘family’ atmosphere in their home.
Their adoptive parents need to be hung by their toes and bled out, but that’s a ‘later’ idea.
We can’t deal with Graciella and Odhran when we have total world chaos on the horizon.
They’re not important enough to worry about now.
But mark my words, for the way they broke my friend and my mate, I will eventually make them pay.
“I know that feels off to you,” I say as I meet Rogue’s gaze. “But you’ll get used to it.”
A beeping on the stove interrupts and Javier says, “I’m cooking, so you need to set the dishes and flatware out. You know the rules, folks. If I make the food and drinks, everything else is on you.”
My lips curve up at his firm admonishment. “I’ll get the plates if the twins get the other stuff.”
“I’ve got glasses,” Rogue jumps in, walking past me with a hip bump. “After all, I’m a lioness now.”
Laughing, I shake my head. “Definitely not, babe. But you rule the roost here, and I won’t ever say otherwise.”
Rebel finally finds his tongue, grunting, “We’re not eating at the table, Javi. I know you like shit to be just so, but… we deserve to be comfortable as we digest all this shit. The living room has all our notes and the boards we’re pinning things on. It will be easier if we eat there.”
The phoenix blinks at his gruff tone and pauses in his chef duties.
“Reb, I don’t actually give a fuck where we eat.
I only insisted on it before, so we’d all eat together.
Before Dragonfly moved in, everyone would grab shit and run off.
It was the best way to keep us all together with our crazy schedules. ”
Oh, that sneaky fuck. Maybe phoenixes aren’t the most rigid fuckers on the planet after all.
Rogue looks at him, then back at the rest of us, then she snorts. The one snort becomes a laugh, then she devolves into giggles as she clutches her stomach. “I… I can’t believe… Javi tricked you all into this whole group thing by acting like the prissy bird you thought he was. And you fell for it…”
That makes Reb scowl darkly, and he strides toward the island. “You are a son of a bitch, King. You could have just said you wanted to eat together.”
Turning back to the stove to flip something in a pan, Javier shakes his head.
“I did that. But you guys were all on missions to self-destruct or something. Reb was always rushing out to his car. Arch was always at the rink practicing. Damon buried himself in his room and Angelo took off to do whatever Luca wanted. I couldn’t get you guys to see that we were sort of…
I don’t know. Marching in place, maybe?”
I think about what he’s saying, trying to be honest with myself.
Before the night Mina attacked Rogue, I spent a lot of time at the rink even when there wasn’t practice.
We went out on the weekends, but during the week?
We all headed in different directions except for when Javier was off.
We all knew he'd throw an absolute fit if we weren’t at the table when he was ready to serve.
My friend might be cranky, but he’s got us nailed.
“I didn’t realize you guys were… not hanging as much?” Rogue says with a frown. “Why? You’re all busy, sure, but why did that cause you to live together but drift apart? Why did Javi have to force you all together?”
Rebel dips his chin, looking at the ground. “That’s my fault. I couldn’t admit how I felt, and that meant we never brought you to this place where we’d built a damn room for you. It must have made us all pull apart to do our own thing, so we could avoid having that conversation.”
“Yeah,” Angelo agrees. “It did. I wanted to keep Luca away from Damon and I focused on that instead of the fact that I was pissed we didn’t follow through with asking you to move in. I couldn’t force Rebel to do anything he didn’t want to, but I also couldn’t help resenting the absence. I think.”
Damon nods. “You were always our glue, Sparkles, even as kids. I mean… how many other kids your age had an older group of guys ready to beat down the universe every time someone upset you? Only you, as far as I know, and that’s because this was meant to be. All of us, I mean.”
She flushes bright pink, swatting at the nearest person—which is me. “You can all stop this shit right now. I won’t be able to eat if you don’t quit making me mushy, and I definitely won’t be able to talk about this bullshit we just endured to make a plan. I have to focus.”
That’s fine for now, but as soon as that shit’s done? Her pretty pink skin is going on display or I’m going to riot in my own house.