33. Erin
Chapter thirty-three
Erin
“I told you. I eat twice, if not three times, what you do, Rin. You should know this by now.” Seth leaned back in the booth, his arm hanging over the edge. Triumph laced his voice, the corner of his mouth tilted upward.
“I eat like a horse though. It’s not my fault you can take down three,” I flicked a speck of chicken parm off my fork, landing it on his nose. “Ha! Got ya!”
“You want to play that game, huh?” He grabbed his unwrapped straw, tore off the top, and blew through it, shooting the wrapper at me and hitting me right in the center of my forehead.
We’d landed on a local Italian place. I was craving pasta and breadsticks, and he had a hankering for anything Italian. Seth ordered two plates of Chicken Alfredo and I went with one of my favorites, Chicken Parmigiana; he alone choked down two breadbaskets, the third was all me. I felt like I was going to pop.
“Rude.” I scrunched it up, tossed it back at him, and missed. I blamed my poor aim on the overload of delicious food in my system.
“Psh, you shot first, Rin.”
“Only because you provoked me. I feign innocence.”
He snorted. “Yeah right. You’re as innocent as Derik.”
“Excuse me, how dare you.” My gaze narrowed.
Seth shrugged. “I dare because it’s fun,” he shot me a wink and I rolled my eyes. “Do you want dessert or anything? We have all night. The crew went to their places for the night,” he grabbed the small pocket menu off the table, scanning it. “I might get a beer or a Peach Bellini. You want one?”
I wiggled in the booth, testing my stomach to see if I could handle anything else without needing to shove tums down my throat. “Sure, I’ll take one. Since when do you like Peach Bellinis? You usually stick to the hard stuff or beer when we’ve gone out.” All the years we’d known each other, Seth would pick on me about my fruity drinks, switching between peach and strawberry—most of the time—with an occasional wild card.
“Actually, I’ll have you know they’re one of my favorites. I just don’t get them that often because I’ll wake up with a major hangover most of the time,” he waved our waitress over and put in an order for our drinks. “But I’ll make an exception.” He winked at me again.
“Of all the drinks out there though, why that one? I mean I absolutely love it, but I’d expect you to be more of a ‘on the rocks’ type of guy.”
Seth set his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Rin, we might’ve been friends since we were toddlers, but there’s a decent amount you don’t know about me,” I narrowed my eyes at him, and his darkened. “Nothing you’d consider important, I promise. One of them being that peaches are not only one of my favorite fruits, but also a favorite scent, and flavoring of mine.”
His eyes held mine as I gulped. “Oh really? Since when?” I had to be reading too much into it.
There’s no way in hell, Snow. Calm yourself.
These ever-growing feelings towards your best friend? One-sided, remember? Always have been, always will be.
He caught my eye once more as our waitress brought our drinks to the table, setting one in front of each of us on a pale, cream napkin embossed with the restaurant’s name. He thanked her before turning his attention back to our conversation.
“So, how’d training go this morning? Heard you got a knife thrown at you.”
I blinked at the abrupt subject change. “What?”
“Your training? With the almighty Josh? How’d it go? Did you land any hits on the guy?” His eyes had returned to their typical glimmer and expression remained neutral, although he continued to lean forward.
“Are…Are you going to ignore the whole peachy thing? I want answers, Seth.”
“Eh, there’s not much to tell, Rin,” he pointed a finger at me. “Training. Speak.”
I harrumphed. “I’m not a damn dog”—I crossed my arms over my chest—“but it was fine. Josh wore me out and I was about ready to collapse afterward. My little nap I tried to take got interrupted by another dream. Apparently, according to whoever the dude is that continues to show up, my whole picking a weapon experience was a bit of an anomaly. So. Yay.” I added a flare of jazz, my hands waving in the air.
He quirked his brow. “What do you mean? What happened in the dream?”
I relayed the whole story, his brows furrowed. I finished with the whole sword and dagger trio situation as he waved the waitress down for another round.
We sat there staring at one another as we waited for our refills. His hands were clasped in front of his face, hiding his lips, his eyes trained on me. I stared back, gathering his reaction.
He thinks I’m some kind of nutcase. There has to be something wrong with me.
“Interesting.”
I craned my neck. “That’s it? ‘Interesting?’ You’re not high tailing it? Running to Derik or Libby to see what’s wrong with me?”
He gave me a dead stare. “Are you trying to be funny?”
“No. I’m serious.”
He shook his head, the light-heartedness dissolving. “Erin. You should know me better than that. Yeah, it’s unusual. Especially how much this guide has been popping in on you, and the weapons. But why in the hell would you think I’d high tail it out of here? When have I ever done that to you? Not talking about when we were younger. That was different, we were both minors and had no idea.” Seth’s eyes flared.
“I should but they seem to know you better than I do. Even though we’re supposed to be the best of friends.” I tore my gaze from his. Avoiding the sudden turn we took.
Seth sighed, the flare of anger softened. “Erin, I’m sorry. I’m just…I’m just concerned. And confused. You don’t deserve for me to act that way.”
Oh but I do. I deserve the worst. And you deserve the best.
I swatted the thought away. “It’s fine,” I faced Seth, searching his eyes, finding hints of pain. “Can you tell me a bit more about these ‘guides’? Is that what, or I guess who, has been visiting me?”
Seth smirked. “Do you not remember when I explained all of our Nephilim stuff to you?”
“Honestly, it was information overload. So. No.” I grimaced.
Seth shook his head. “The figure who’s been visiting you in your dreams, yes. That’s a guide. They’re typically Angels, either those who have been slain or who never made it to Earth and instead chose to stay behind in their realm.”
“Heaven?”
“Not necessarily. If it’s easier, sure. But it’s another realm that the Angels originally come from. And that’s where the guides are. Hence why they only visit in dreamscapes. Usually.”
I sipped the refreshed Bellini our waitress brought. “Define, ‘usually.’”
He studied me before speaking. “There are various realms. Ours, Hell, the ones the Angels’ dwell in before they come to Earth, the afterlife, and the inter-realm. Which honestly is what it sounds like: the in between. Purgatory, if you will.”
“Well. That’s fun. Great. Fantastic. Ten out of ten.”
Seth blinked. “What?”
“That sounds like a lot of work. Keeping all these different realms separate. And keeping tabs on them.”
Seth looked at me like I was an idiot. “What. Erin. No. We focus on the Angels and Demons. The others are simply other levels or interconnected. Angels do the dirty with humans and we’re born. Demons want to destroy and rule the human realm. The others are extra. Okay, not really, but that’s not our concern.”
I slugged back the rest of the peachy deliciousness. “Yeah, yeah. Okay. Got it. Demons bad, Angels, including the ones who haunt my dreams, good.”
He just stared at me.
“What?”
“Are…Are you drunk? Or processing?”
“Yes.”
He blinked and shook his head; his smirk returning. “You’re fucking ridiculous, Snow.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Draven .”
“Okay. Fine,” he sat back in the booth, tossing his arms over one another. Challenge lining his features. “You’re adorably ridiculous.”
I choked. “Well. Excuse me, Sir. Adorable? That’s a bit much. Ridiculous, absolutely. Adorable? Did you hit your head when you took a leak earlier?”
Seth busted out laughing. “Jeez, Erin,” he snickered once more as I shot him a half-hearted glare. “You ready to head out?”
I dramatically whipped my head back then towards him once again. “Are you? Sir, Knight?”
“What. What does that even mean? You’ve had two. Two. Peach infused drinks. How are you this tipsy?”
“It’s called forgetting to eat most of the day due to stress.” I shot him some finger guns and he waved for the check.
“Dear God,” Seth shook his head, shoulders bounced as he laughed. “I’m going to have my hands full.”
“Hell yeah, you are.” I shot him a tipsy wink. His cheeks flushed. Then he rolled his eyes.
“So, handsome, childhood friend of mine. What are our plans for the remainder of the evening?” I slurred.
Shit. These Bellini’s really are hitting me hard.
His eyes darkened. I felt my nether regions sob in response.
Nether regions? Really? What is this the seventeenth century?
He ignored me. Slipping his card into the card pocket of the bill holder. I scoffed.
“What?”
“You ignored me.”
“You’re drunk. Off of two drinks, nonetheless.”
“So? You could still respond.”
His smirk returned. “Well, Erin. What did you have in mind?”
I clicked my tongue. “A competition. Who can drink who under the table while maintaining their control?”
He eyed me suspiciously. “What do you mean by control?”
I batted my lashes. “Of our abilities of course. Let’s see who can battle and hold out the longest.”
He licked his lips. “You’re on.”