Chapter 1 #2
I got to the steakhouse I was meeting Sam at with just enough time to catch the end of happy hour at the fairly busy bar.
It was one of my regular haunts, but I'd chosen this spot for another reason.
I looked around for the face I was seeking but it was hard to see through the crowd of people.
It was busy evening in the popular space.
All sleek wood, dark lighting, heavy curtains with low jazz music playing, and TV screens filled mostly with sports and news.
The crowd was a mix of paranormal and human professionals and tourists there for the acclaimed steaks.
When I saw my little brother, he was already seated at the bar and draining back the last of a short glass.
Sam and I resembled each other the most. Angular features, a Roman nose, icy blue eyes, square jaw.
We were tall with toned physiques, and our skin was a lighter shade of green than our middle brother, who was built like a wrestler and was slightly taller than us.
The major difference between Sam and me was the hair.
He wore his short, messy, and cropped on the sides.
I wore my hair long and straight, usually braided back or in a low bun.
We were nearly ten years apart, but, like most paranormal beings, we aged incredibly slowly.
I believe it was how I carried myself that anyone even knew who was the oldest. Sam was carefree, even now that he’d finally gotten his life on track.
I…not so much. Such behavior could mean death for me. At least with my current lifestyle.
I came to the steak house alone, but I knew people there.
My family was now three generations into our “business”, which consisted of selling black market supernatural items and spells, among other activities, and along the way, we’d gotten many enemies.
While I’d resolved many of our generational disputes, this life could never be enemy-free despite my hard work.
Therefore, I could never let my guard down.
Even if I left this type of life, it would follow me somehow.
It had been for my brother Marcus, although not often, and I could see that he had built a life that could actually set him free one day.
I was jealous of that. Jealous of both my brothers.
I knew that if I left, it would put them more in danger than safety.
As long as I was around, I had the most control I could possibly have for all our lives.
I sat down in an empty bar stool beside my brother just as the bartender was giving him another glass of what appeared to be a whiskey drink. I took it before my brother could lay his hands on it. Sam shrugged and ordered another.
I raised the drink to my lips, inhaling a smokiness. I nodded in approval before sipping it. A smoky old-fashioned, and just my style. I was mildly impressed by Sam’s choice. I looked him over, narrowing my eyes. And that’s where my approval ended. “I thought I told you to dress up.”
Sam tossed his hands out to the side, brows raised. “This is dressed up.”
He was wearing jeans and a black polo shirt. At least it wasn’t wrinkled, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a compliment. Bare minimum was not the goal. I cocked a brow as I sipped my drink, not speaking.
Sam rolled his eyes. “Look, I came all this way to visit you, and this is how I get treated? I should have stayed in Baltimore.”
“You can go back.”
“You know, sometimes I think you hate me. Like the time you almost let me die when I was kidnapped by that demon gang.”
I lowered my drink on the bar counter and closed my eyes, exhaustion starting to creep in. Or had it ever left? “You’re going to have to get over that.”
Sam snorted. “Well, that’s fucking rude. You almost let me get killed. Thankfully, I have another older brother who gave a shit.”
I opened my eyes and gave him a stern glare. “I was trying to teach you a lesson. Marcus didn’t know how bad you’d gotten, and if he’d let me do what I needed to do, it wouldn’t have gotten as bad as it did.”
“I thought you’d changed.”
“Who told you to think that?”
“That’s fucked up.”
It was, I knew that. I also knew that the path my little brother was headed down would get him killed.
I’d like to believe that it took him almost losing his life to set him on the right path.
I hadn’t been wrong about that, and if being considered the asshole brother was the price I paid, well, I was fine with that.
I waved my hand at him. “Dinner and drinks are on me.”
He gave a dry laugh. “This whole weekend is on you, bro. Thought you knew.”
I did. I had no doubt that I’d be paying for my little brother for the rest of my days. I raised a finger and immediately got the bartender’s attention, requesting a menu. As we considered what we would eat, I decided to poke into my brother’s life. “How’s work?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Partying my days away was way more fun.”
I side-eyed him, and he shrugged. “Just telling my truth. Not that I’ll go back to the old life. It kind of feels rewarding to help people.”
Sam worked as a counselor at a rehabilitation clinic and was focusing on getting into hospital administration.
I was mildly proud of him. I’d hold off telling him that.
It was too soon. We put in our food orders, and I leaned back in the stool.
Another thing I liked about this place. Stools with backrests.
I was getting too old to perch on a little piece of wood without back support.
“How’s business?” Sam asked before picking up his drink.
I crossed my arms, looking around the space. I was always on edge, assuming someone was listening in. Enemies, police. “Which one?”
He gave a dry laugh. “The one that you can submit for taxes.”
“Great, actually. I could retire from my other…business if it was feasible.”
Sam’s eyes rounded. “We’re doing that well?”
I scrunched my face. “We?”
He slapped me on the back. “We’re family. What’s yours is mine.”
I looked at him blankly. “Aren’t you missing the ‘what’s mine is yours’ part?”
Sam shook his head, giving me an exaggerated, confused look. “No, I don’t think so.”
I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, between my club and my wise investments, I can pursue a life.”
“You mentioned this before, but I just can’t see the family letting you step down.”
“No, and I wouldn’t. But I will keep changing things. I’m not going out like Dad and Granddad. The goal was always to expand and be better. Shit gets old otherwise. Paulo can take on more responsibility if needed. I won’t let that life consume me like it did Dad.”
Sam gave a contemplative look, which was quite unlike him, and nodded his head.
“I think you’ve been changing things for the better.
You can be an asshole, but you’re nothing like Dad.
He was a fucking monster. I don’t even think he said three words to me after I graduated from college.
I don’t think people have to be scared of you all the time and watch you dismember people left and right to follow you. ”
I agreed. “And the family will have to accept it or just die angry. We’re still at the top.
We don’t need to have a collection of enemies to do well.
We don’t even have to be number one. I want loyalty from my people because they feel they are part of something they can get invested in.
I want to provide a real career for folks.
Something they are proud to say aloud. And whoever takes it on after me, they won’t have to deal with the shit I do. ”
Sam tapped his glass with mine. “I respect that.”
“Sammy?” called a female voice behind us.
My heart instantly felt like it was constricting, coupled with a fluttering in my stomach at the same time, causing me to set my drink down.
Sam turned in his barstool before I did, and I heard him give an exaggerated exclamation. “Camilla Robinson! Long time no see!”
I heard her giggle in response, and just the sweet sound made me clutch my stomach. “Sammy Tolsen. So good to see you. You look well. Being good, I hope.”
I turned to my left to see my brother hug the woman, and I ignored the slight jealous stab that tried to make its presence known in my chest. It had been years since I touched her.
The number of years I had craved her comforting touch felt impossible.
She pulled back, and I got to see the beauty I’d known almost all my life.
Glimmering brown skin, bright chocolate eyes beneath long dark lashes above high cheekbones, and full painted red lips.
Her hair was now in long, almost waist-length black braids that complemented her.
She was dressed professionally in a mid-length blue dress that flattered every part of her thick curves and black heels that gave her a statuesque appearance. She was a damn goddess.
She turned to look at me and gave me a wide, sparkling-toothed grin, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her eyes that I didn’t miss.
Nor was I upset; I understood it. It’d been over fifteen years, but still, she had a magic to her without even needing to say words.
She opened her arms, and I don’t recall even getting out of my chair to hug her.
I just blinked, and I was wrapping my arms around her without thought.
It was as if I had no other choice. As if touching her was as easy and normal as breathing.
All the while, my heart was thumping so loudly in my ears it was becoming my own personal soundtrack.
Fuck, she even smelled good. Citrus and flowers.