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Caleb followed next to me as I led us to the front of the castle. I wondered if he felt as light as I did. Every step I took made me think I was about to come unmoored from the ground and take flight. We took a turning path and entered the central hall. I hopped down the stairs, Caleb craning his neck so he could look up at the painted ceiling depicting my family in our different-colored dragon forms. Footsteps sounded from the arching entryway before my brother Xavier appeared in the hall, chugging down a Gatorade and wiping sweat from his brow. He had a golden and glittering recurve bow attached to his back. Without closer inspection, anyone would have assumed the weapon was made from some expensive and hard-to-find wood, not realizing that the entire thing was made of sand.
“Sup.” Xavier stopped at the foot of the stairs, hands in the pockets of his light blue shorts. “And hello, new friend. Where you guys headed off to?”
Caleb held out a hand and shook my brother’s, introducing himself.
“Just walking Caleb out,” I answered. Xavier gave me a knowing look before bumping me with a shoulder. It wasn’t always this easy with my little brother. I had a hot temper, and Xavier knew exactly how to make it boil over. When our mom passed, our relationship became more strained than it ever had been, but our brotherly bond only bent and didn’t break. “You? I didn’t realize you were getting into archery.”
“It’s something new,” Xavier said. He held out a hand, a lethal-looking arrow made of sand appearing in his closed fist. He poked me in the chest with the sharp end. “I’ve got a new client coming, and he’s going to need all the stops.”
“Client?” Caleb asked, curious but also wary of the arrow my brother swished around in the air.
“I’m a bodyguard,” Xavier explained, the arrow falling apart into individual grains of sand, which disappeared into thin air before they touched the ground.
Good. Warrick would have killed him if he dirtied the freshly cleaned floors.
“Who’s the client?” I asked.
Xavier cocked his head and smiled. He had a diamond stud earring in one ear that glittered under the bright light. “You guys won’t believe me if I say it.”
“Try me,” I challenged him, crossing my arms against my chest. “We’ve had some pretty unbelievable moments these last twenty-four hours, anyway.”
“I’m supposed to be guarding the vice president’s son.”
My eyebrows jerked up toward the domed ceiling. Caleb said, “Oh shit,” under his breath, Xavier only shrugging. “I told you guys you wouldn’t believe me.”
My brother had been a professional bodyguard to the rich and famous for years now. He’d always been in high demand; his special skills, which allowed him to rewind time in three-second intervals, could be the difference between a successful and a failed assassination attempt. He had worked for A-list actors, musicians, businessmen, and rich oil heirs who couldn’t spend all of daddy’s money if they were on a mission to do so. But the vice president’s son? That was new.
“He’s apparently coming to college here in California, so I’ll be keeping an eye on him. My initial research shows he’s an entitled prick, but I’m holding my judgment until I meet him.”
“Damn,” I said, feeling a burst of pride for my little brother. “I’m sure you’ll be able to handle whatever kind of attitude he has.”
“Oh, for sure,” he replied. “I’ve been able to handle your attitude all my life. He shouldn’t be an issue.”
I slanted my smirk and rolled my eyes. “Don’t make me argue with you in front of Caleb. I don’t want to scare him off so soon.”
“Judging by the way he keeps looking at you, I don’t think scaring him off is an option.” Xavier gave me a wink and started up the stairs, leaving Caleb behind to blush like a field of ripe strawberries. “It was great meeting you,” Xavier said, looking over his shoulder and waving at Caleb before taking the steps two at a time, the bow of sand falling apart and disappearing behind him like a trail of golden glitter.
“Ignore him,” I said, snapping Caleb out of his embarrassment. “He likes to fuck around with people.”
“Only the ones I like!” Xavier called out from the top landing.
I chuckled and continued walking Caleb toward the exit. Part of me wanted to ask if he would come back after feeding his dog. I didn’t want to end the night just yet. Not after the taste I got of Caleb. Thinking about getting him underneath me made my cock twitch and harden. I stuffed a hand in my pocket and held my growing dick down before Caleb noticed the bulge. Although another part of me wanted to say “fuck it” and press my bulge up against him as we reached the main entrance. I wanted to push him up against the wall and show him how hard I was getting just from thinking about him.
