A myriad of expressions crossed his face. “Nothing. She’s my friend.”
“But you like her.”
He shrugged, glancing away, and I went to sit on the couch next to him. “That’s okay, you know? For you to move on and care about other people—to care about her. It doesn’t make me feel any less loved.”
He side-eyed me. “It doesn’t?”
I shook my head. “I think it did before, maybe. I guess that’s why I was acting so funny and not telling you why I was going to the library and stuff. I didn’t realize it until I moved in with Ego, but I think maybe a part of me thought you were leaving me behind.”
He corporealized enough to set his hand on my shoulder blade. “Scotty, I’d never?—”
I held up a hand to stop him. “I know that now. Because even though I’m here, and I’m Ego’s anchor, and I’m…well, I’m studying for my GED. I want to take a bookkeeping certification and maybe start my own business. And I realized, even with all of that, nothing’s changed about how much I love you. How much I still want to see and talk and hang out with my big brother, and tell you what’s happening in my life.
“But I want to hear about yours, too. I want to know if you’ve told Trixie you like her? Have you kissed? I want to know all thethings, and it’s okay that we’re not doing them together. Don’t you think?”
He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and wrapped me in a fierce hug. The big bear hug that I’d counted on through all the years when I needed shelter in the storms of life, and I leaned into it. So happy that this small, magical town with these extraordinary people had given us the opportunity to still have this.
“I think you’re right, little brother. It’s time for me to face the fact that you’re truly grown up. Maybe we can just be…”
“Best friends,” I said.
He hummed with contentment. “Best friends.”
Then I wiped away a few of my own tears before we dove in and caught up on all the things that had been happening in both our lives.
“Areyou sure you can’t stay?” I asked Lysandro as he fastened the button on his shirt after preparing Ego’s dinner.
“I’d love to, but alas, I need to get back to the library. I’ve been neglecting my evening duties, and it’s not fair to expect Benji to keep doing everything.”
“How is Benji?” I asked, wagging my eyebrows.
Lysandro tutted and walked past me. “None of that now. He’s my donor.” He stopped and checked the time. “I’m concerned about how late Ego’s rising. If he seems off when he wakes up, call me.”
“Okay,” I promised, not overly concerned. The last couple of days had been big for Ego. He’d been making tremendous progress since I’d officially become his anchor. It kind of suckedthat all I’d had to do was acknowledge it and move in. I wouldn’t have been mad if there’d been some kind of cool ritual.
“By the way, you did amazing last night.”
I waved him off. “All I did was set things out on trays. Harry and Buck made most of it.”
He smiled fondly, and I couldn’t help but grin back. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Although, you did a wonderful job of arranging everything and inviting all the right people. I mean, you did a great job with Ego.”
“It’s my job to keep him calm, right? Not leaving his side seems like the least I can do.”
“That’s true. But, Scotty”—he came back over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders—“he never lost control, and he wasn’t wearing his amulet. With all of those people here, and as new to this as he is, I would’ve expected him to trip up a little. In fact, once I saw him come back down without his amulet, I was prepared to stop him from attacking anyone.”
He squeezed my shoulders lightly. “But I didn’t have to because he had you by his side. Whatever it is you’re doing, keep it up.”
I forced a smile, hoping it didn’t look like a grimace, while I racked my brain trying to figure out what I was doing to help Ego. Since I didn’t feel like I was doing anything exceptional, I lived in terror that I’d drop the ball and unintentionally stop doing it one day, and he’d end up hurting someone—mostly himself. Hopefully, all that soul and blood stuff were right, and I didn’t need to do more than exist.
After Lysandro blurred out of sight, I headed to the bar and picked up the goblet. Since Ego wouldn’t have training tonight, I’d surprise him with nourishment in bed. It would be a nice surprise that he could take it easy tonight. Between the torture and having a houseful of people, he’d been wiped out when I sent him off to bed right before sunrise.
As I got closer to his bedroom, I heard noises behind his door, so I knocked. “Ego, are you hungry? Lysandro just left. He’ll be happy to know you’re already awake.” When he didn’t respond, I tried again. “Ego. Can I come in?”
Cracking the door open, I peeked inside and found him with one leg out from under his sheet, half-lying on his side, and his head moving minutely as he mumbled to himself. He didn’t appear to be awake yet, which was strange, since Lysandro had explained that a vampire’s internal cycles were set by the sun.
Even more odd was the fact that he was sleeping almost naturally. I’d peeked in on him many times since I’d moved in, just wanting to make sure that I was fulfilling my function of anchor—which still didn’t seem like that big a deal—and I’d always found him lying stiff as a board on his back and hands laced across his chest like he was…well, like he was dead.
This was unusual.
