“W-w-would that be so bad?” Aaron interrupted. The line for coffee had dwindled, and the other barista was handling it.
Aaron stood by Timothy, and again, a palpable tension of sex, want, and frustration vibrated between the two them. Aaron’s brilliant aquamarine eyes pinned Timothy down with a silent accusation.
It made me want to push my chair back a couple inches.
Timothy’s tongue poked at the inside of his cheek as if he were trying to compose himself. “Yes. It would be. She is a human, and he is an immortal. Mixing the two worlds is a bad idea.”
“Vivien and Grim seemed to have m-managed just fine,” Aaron countered.
Timothy was back to pushing at that spot between his brows. “We are not having this argument again.”
Though they were clearly having their own not-so-subtextual conversation, I felt chastised by Timothy. It wasmyhand in the cookie jar now. I was making things complicated with Xander, and if I hadn’t told big-fang-Macgee over here, no one would have known.
Before they could get into it further, I turned to Vivien. “Xander asked me himself. He’s in pain. He needs to be released from that.”
Though recently he seemed to be less. He wasn’t losing control; he wasn’t radiating the small hairs off my body like when we’d first met.
She released her drink to cover my hands with her icy cold ones. “But you are easing his pain just by showing up. He’s been an immortal, alone all these years. Do you know every baby vamp fears is? Being alone. They'll watch everyone they care about die. For the first time, you are giving him companionship and maybe. . .more.” she threw me a sheepish grin, having guessed what had been going on.
Timothy stiffened at that, as did Aaron for, I’m sure, an entirely different reason.
“He still has to die,” I said to her quietly.
Her face twisted up in anguish. “Does he? Even Bianca said killing him could have a catastrophic outcome.”
“Bianca?” Timothy asked, his body turning stiffly toward me in alarm.
I quickly explained what she’d told me about killing Xander leading to a terrible, end of the world event.
“But Xander said her visions aren’t always cut and dried. That it’s too vague. He swore there was no way his death could cause such a thing.” I rubbed my palms on my thighs, they were suddenly sweating. Had I been compartmentalizing too much?
I’d told myself she was wrong and I was doing the right thing, but bringing the prediction of doom back up made me question it all over again.
Not to mention a tiny spark inside me came to life, hoping Timothy would agree it was too dangerous. That I needed to stop.
Then what? Xander would remain caged in the Grim Reaper’s basement, and I’d occasionally go down to bang the gong with him in between his monstrously painful episodes? A bunch of worms squirmed in my stomach. That didn’t feel right either.
Timothy’s expression turned to stone, and I could tell he was going inward, debating something. Aaron watched him with rapt attention. The fingers on his right hand twitched, as if he was dying to reach out to Timothy. But the god would keep Aaron at arm’s length as long as Aaron was a mortal. Or maybe as long as Aaron was a loose cannon, adrenaline junkie. Timothy liked things orderly, predictable, and under his control.
Aaron wasn’t any of those things.
When those dark eyes finally blinked, Timothy said slowly, “Xander is correct. Bianca’s visions don’t always mean what you think they do on the surface.”
“She said my bringing back Grim would have dire consequences.”
“Don’t you mean pillowy consequences?” I asked, unable to keep myself from the dig to lighten the mood.
Vivien lips parted in surprise even as she glared at me in disbelief that I’d gone there. I half expected Grim to materialize and swat her with another pillow. Or maybe I was just hoping for it to get out of this conversation. I felt pinned and it was hard to breathe.
Then her teeth clicked shut before she went on to prove her point. “Vivien argued, her fingers digging into the table. “What if the end of the world is barreling toward us because of what I did? What if this is another link in the chain to a catastrophic event?”
“Is Vivien right about you and Xander?” Timothy asked, training all his attention on me again, making my skin prickle with an uncomfortable, shameful heat.
“We have spent a lot of time together.” I licked my lips trying to buy myself time to find the right words other than,yeah, we fucked and it was earth shattering and I don’t think I can stop it from happening again.
I was learning the harder I fought him, the faster I fell into him.
“I wish I didn’t have too. . .” I quickly redirected my sentence when I heard the affection and sadness mingle in my own voice. Tightening it up, I said, “But I understand my duty, not only to Xander and Grim, but to the blade.”
