Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
GABE
“Soooo,” my beloved but annoying little brother starts, “you’ve been fobbing us off all day. Are you finally going to tell us what’s going on with you and Tom?”
I deliberately don’t look at him sprawled out on his back on the rug.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many places I can safely look—this was totally a planned attack.
I knew it was coming from the second he and Ian pleaded for some “brother time” at dinner.
Which is how the four of us are here in my cabin and the others are all at the manager’s cottage.
Except Marc. Connor told him to fuck off and only come back before Monday if there was urgent news.
Weekends here at the estate are always busy, and with so many visitors roaming around, it doesn’t feel safe to have a demon hanging out too.
It’s not like we were making groundbreaking strides.
Marc’s shared the results of the research he and his friends have done, and yeah, their theory is sound…
but nobody has a clue how to implement it.
A single gatekeeper—in this case, me—has only so much strength and power.
I can manage a large, complex gateway, but that’s just a drop in the ocean compared to completely rebuilding the barrier between worlds.
I don’t have that kind of power, and neither does any other gatekeeper in the world.
It’s funny, actually. Just days ago, we were desperate to know what Cato’s plans were so we could stop him. Now we know, but we’re not any better off. We’re all desperately trying to think of a solution, but I’m not convinced this problem has a solution.
“Nothing to tell,” I finally reply to Matt. “I hope you were nice to him today.”
Ian, stretched along the length of the couch, scoffs. “Since when aren’t we nice?”
Neither Connor nor I respond to that, and both our brothers simultaneously say, “Hey!” It makes me smile. I love how close they are, as close as me and Con. Having the three of them is possibly the only thing that’s kept me from losing my shit over our parents.
“But seriously,” Ian adds. “What’s going on with you two? He wouldn’t tell us anything, just laughed and said we remind him of Connor. Which, gross, by the way.”
It’s Connor’s turn to say, “Hey!” He stretches out a leg from the armchair he’s sitting in and lightly kicks Ian’s foot.
“Be serious, Con,” Matt orders. “We’re way better than you. You’ve only done two smart things in your life.”
“Only two?” I ask, amused. This’ll be good.
“Yep. First was tattooing the ways to deal with demons on yourself so you don’t have to remember them under pressure.”
“That was smart,” Ian agrees. “Good job with that one.”
I meet Connor’s gaze and start to laugh at the indignation I see there.
“And second,” Matt continues, “was hooking up with Kieran.”
“Yeah, that was a massive win. He’s way out of your league, Con. You better hope weird stuff keeps happening here so he doesn’t realize he can do better.”
“Oh my god,” Connor says. “You’re my brothers. You’re supposed to think I’m the one who settled!”
As though they planned it, both boys lift their heads and look at him, then say, “Nah,” and return to their sprawled positions.
“We’re getting off topic,” Con protests. “We were talking about Gabe.”
I flip him the bird, and he grins smugly.
“That’s right.” Matt sits up and wraps his arms around his knees. “So, Gabe… you and Tom.”
I stare at the face that has so many similarities to my own and sigh. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Nope. We’re not the only ones dying to hear what’s going on, either. Uncle Norval cornered me in the bathroom before to see what I knew.” Ian shakes his head. “At least at school, we could mostly keep him out. Here, he’s everywhere.”
I try not to snicker. Really. I try hard.
Okay, that’s a lie. But I’ve had Norval invade my personal space too many times in the past to just ignore it. “Con will talk to him,” I promise, and Connor makes more grumbling sounds. “It’s his penance for only booking two rooms last night.”
“That was Kieran’s idea!” he protests. “And the hotel only had two rooms left.” The last bit is added hastily, and with only a tiny bit of guilt.
“There are other hotels in Chicago,” I remind him sarcastically. “It didn’t occur to you that if there were only two rooms left there, it might be a good idea to look elsewhere?”
He shrugs. “It occurred to us, but after I told Kieran that you and Tom were making eyes at each other yesterday, he told Skye, who said he thought Tom might have a low-key thing for you, so we decided to throw you together and see what happened.” He pauses.
“I’d never wish bad luck on innocent people, but the rig overturning and the weather being shit were like signs from the universe that we needed to step in. ”
Ian starts to laugh so hard that he has to sit up to avoid choking, and Matt snorts. “Dude. Well played.”
“Not well played,” I insist, though it really was. “There was only a king-sized bed. You trampled all over our boundaries.”
“Oooh, here’s the good stuff. Only one bed, huh? Tell us more.” Matt grins at me.
I tip my head back to look at the ceiling. “What did I do to deserve this? No, really.”
“Gaaaaaabriellllll,” Ian says. “Just tell us. Are you playing with Tom, or is this lurrrrve?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” a gruff voice says, and we all startle as Norval pops into the room. “Giuseppina says she told him to ask you on a date.”
My mind blanks. Who? Oh my god. “You mean his grandmother? The same one who hates me?”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Norval scoffs. “She just thought you had the devil in you. She knows better now.”
“There’s a story here that I have to know. Right now. Please,” Matt says.
“There’s no story,” I insist. “None. Tom’s grandmother is a ghost, and the first time I came here, she was in his car when he picked me up at the airport. She was religious when she was alive, and she… didn’t know what to make of me.”
“She spent the whole car ride calling him names,” Connor explains.
“Ooooohh,” both boys chorus.
“Look, it doesn’t matter. Tom and I got off on the wrong foot because I couldn’t tell him there was a mean ghost in his car, and then when he realized, I found out it was his grandmother. You don’t bitch about a guy’s dead grandmother and then ask him out.”
“So you did want to ask him out,” Ian says, like he’s caught me.
I shrug. “For the first two minutes before his grandmother started talking, sure.”
“I’m not interested in any of this,” Norval interrupts. “I want to know what happened last night. The others are waiting for me.”
Of course they are. Because what’s life if ghosts aren’t gossiping about you?
“Nothing happened.” Something definitely happened, but they don’t get to hear those details.
“We talked, and since we’re both interested in getting to know each other better, we decided we would.
” There. I can’t make it sound any more boring than that.
Norval’s bushy beard twitches. “What does ‘getting to know each other better’ mean?”
Ian puts the tips of his right forefinger and thumb together, then thrusts his left forefinger through the hole, making Connor laugh. I throw a pillow at him.
“It means we’re going to spend time together,” I tell Norval, and Matt cackles.
“That’s right. Spend time together.”
“I hate you all.”
“No, seriously, Gabe,” my baby brother continues, face getting serious, “we’ve got your back. Tom seems like a great guy. Right, Ian?”
“Yep,” Ian confirms. “We spent most of the day with him, and I liked him. Are you guys just DTF, or is this serious?”
“DTF?” Norval asks, and we go quiet. Nobody wants to explain that one to a thousand-year-old ghost. “Someone tell me right now.”
“I’m not embarrassed,” Ian declares, even as his face goes red. “It means down to fuck.”
Norval frowns, his spectacular brows pulling together. “Down to fuck? Is that like going down on someone?”
I choke on my own spit.
“Something like that, Uncle Norval,” Connor says. “It’s… You know what, Ian will explain it to you later.”
Ian opens his mouth to protest, sees the glares aimed at him by the rest of us, and closes it again. This is all his fault.
“Tom and I are just taking things as they come,” I say, desperate to get the conversation away from a place where Norval talks about going down on people. “We’re both aware that the current situation sucks, and we decided there was no point putting things off when tomorrow might not come.”
“Smart,” Matt approves. “Totally all ‘tomorrow I may die, so we gotta fuck tonight.’ Only because it’s you, you’re not gonna ghost him after.”
“Do people really do that? Lie to someone to get sex and then ghost them? I thought that was something made up for TV and the internet.” Surely it’s not real?
The three people in the world who I’m closest to—and the ghost I know best—all sigh. “Oh, sweet summer child,” Ian says, making us all crack up.
Matt scoots across the rug and hugs my shins. “I love how sweet and na?ve you are, big bro. If anyone can work out a way to save us, it’s you.”
And just like that, my mood plummets. I swallow hard. “I’m definitely going to do my damndest,” I promise.
“And then ride off into the sunset with Tom,” Ian adds. “He can be your reward. Except not in a non-con, taking away his free will way. That would be gross.”
“It would,” Matt agrees, while Connor’s gaze meets mine and we exchange a “what the actual fuck” look. “If Gabe wants his reward, he’s got to put in the effort now.”
“We can help,” Ian assures me.
Uh-oh. “Help with what?”
He rolls his eyes. “Help you get the guy. Tom, remember?”
I laugh. “I’ve got the guy. That’s what we’ve been talking about for the last fifteen minutes.”
As if they rehearsed it, Ian and Matt both say, “Ehhhh,” and grimace. “Have you, though?” Matt adds. “You said you’re taking it as it comes.”
Ian nods. “You should let us help. We’re semi-experts at romance.”
“Semi-experts at romance?” Connor asks. “What the hell are they teaching you at college?”
“Not as much as you think. But our friend Liam makes serious money from being romantic, and we’ve picked up some tips.”
I close one eye and think about the best way to ask without sounding judgmental. “Is Liam a sex worker?”
“Romance, Gabe. Not sex,” Matt says, sounding all kinds of condescending. “You really need our help.”
I’m pretty sure I really don’t, but I’m not sure how I’m going to stop them from trying.
“I met Liam, right?” Connor says. “He and his boyfriend came to JU with us for spring break?”
“Yep,” both boys say, and Connor turns to me.
“Maybe you should listen. Kieran’s old boss said that kid was the most romantic person he’d ever met.”
Before I can even begin to work out why Kieran’s old boss would know that, Ian interrupts. “That was his boyfriend. But Liam’s even better. Trust us, we got this.”
Trust is the last thing I feel right now.