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There is absolutely no way my brother and cousins are going to let me live this down, but for right now, only Kirian wants to be a smartass. “Looks like you handled that well.” He stands, claps me on the shoulder, then pulls me into a brotherly bear hug. “Don’t worry, big bro. We’ll get it figured out. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? You find out she’s your soulmate and fall in love with her anyway?”
“Not going to happen.”
“We’ll think on it.” Leandra is next in line. She hands over the bag of clothes.
Toren and Taylen both slap me on the back. “Yup, we’ll get it figured out,” Taylen says.
“I’ll read up on it,” Toren promises. I have no idea how he’s going to do that. It’s not like the cursed items came with a guidebook.
“We could always go to Granny,” Kirian says after they’ve moved off toward the door.
“No!” I cross my arms. “Not yet. Give me a chance to get it figured out. Granny is a last-ditch option for me.”
Taylen can’t resist one last jab. “I’m sure she’d be pleased to hear it at our next family dinner.”
“Don’t you dare tell her!”
“He’ll threaten you with a wedgie next,” Kirian mutters under his breath.
“I got enough of those growing up,” Taylen groans. He gives me a warning look. “You try it, and I promise I will come here, get all your gotch, and hang them where everyone can see them. Oh, and I’ll smear them with chocolate pudding, so it looks like there are weird stains going on.”
Toren gives me a sympathetic look as they clear out. Leandra is the last one to go. She gives me the same look that, in a nutshell, says, I am so fucked, they all know it, and they’re hoping like hell that the curse doesn’t come for them next.
“I think you should go easy on her,” she whispers. “You didn’t even introduce her to us using her name. You just called her your maid. She was trying to be brave, but I can see she’s scared. She’s not a thing or a problem to be solved, Ash. She’s a person with a life outside of here that got interrupted. She was sucked into this, and probably not by choice. Maybe you should give her a break and work together to try and solve the problem instead of going at war with each other.”
“I would,” I insist, feeling like a giant, hairy ball bag. “But she absolutely hates me for no reason at all. She really did call me a rich asshole.”
She shakes her head. “So what? We’ve called each other a thousand things that are a thousand times worse over the years, and we all still love each other.”
“She said it with malice. And we’re not related. It’s different.”
“Whatever. Just get it figured out. And use a little more sensitivity. I know you have it in you.”
Leandra leaves quietly after that. As a woman, she has a unique perspective the rest of us men don’t have. I can see how she would sympathize with Ellis. It’s not until after I shut the door that I realize Leandra’s advice is pretty much like the reading we went to. Work together for a common goal and try and figure things out cooperatively. Wasn’t that what it was saying? That seems to be what Ellis was trying to explain to me when she was talking about battling forces. Wasn’t it?
I have no idea. I’m not built for this—all the emotional stuff, introspective crap, and soul searching. I stopped doing it a long time ago. I learned early to shut down and focus on the most productive emotions because life is real, and reality is a hard slap in the face sometimes, but there is nothing I can do about it other than survive. It’s what led to the whole pact in the first place. Love isn’t a thing, and I don’t do that. I don’t believe in it any more than I believe marriages can survive the test of time and humanity’s general inclination to be assholes.
Right now, none of what I believe matters. There are feelings, and there are facts, and maybe Leandra was right. The fact is that Ellis is somewhere upstairs, and the ring is stuck on her finger, which sucks all around. And the truth is, maybe I could be less of a douchebag about it, so I guess I’ll start there.
CHAPTER 7
Ellis
I know I left the room like a bit of a spaz, but I guess everything hit me all at once. I’m not one of those people who give in to tears, as I said, but again, they were suddenly threatening, and since I couldn’t continue to be brave and advance into the great unknown with tears and snot dripping down my face, I retreated.
