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“Ugh. Like shifting a car straight from first to fifth,” Lucien groaned.
Cort scratched his jaw. “I’ve got to admit I’ve never driven a manual. I’ll have to take your word for it.”
Lucien shook his head, but he was starting to feel a little lighter. Well, maybe not lighter, but certainly less angry. Gio’s words were making a hell of a lot more sense now that he’d spoken to Cort. “What are they teaching kids these days? You shift and skip all those other gears, the car is gonna sputter, cough, and die. Like Calder, Gio, and me tonight.”
“Gotcha. Yeah, that sounds about right. From what I was getting from him, Gio does care about you and Calder, but way too much was asked of him tonight. He retreated to safety.”
Lucien nodded. It made sense. He hadn’t considered why Gio was rejecting him. He was immediately swamped by pain and anger. He hadn’t been thinking clearly. Not one of his best moments even if he had a valid excuse.
“What do you think I should do now?”
“First step, you go talk to Calder, and what I really mean is listen to him, especially to what he’s not saying.”
Lucien gave a hard shake of his head. “You’re not making any sense.”
“He’s hurting and feeling rejected, but I’m sure he doesn’t want anyone to know it. Whether you realize it or not, Calder looks up to you.”
Lucien’s mouth fell open for a second. That couldn’t be true. “He does not!”
Cort scoffed at him. “From the first moment he met you, you walked around the house like you belonged there. You’re always confident with your powers, with any problem with the pestilents. He hasn’t figured out that half the shit out of your mouth is cocky bluster. He’s the new guy, and he’s attracted to you.”
“Shit,” Lucien muttered. He’d never shown Calder that he was someone the Water Weaver could lean on, could confide in. No wonder Calder had looked at him like he’d hung the moon when he’d told him how proud he was of Calder’s strength. “I’ll talk to him,” Lucien stated. Things were already fucked up with Gio. He wasn’t going to fuck up what little progress he’d made with Calder too.
“Good. Then both you and Calder could gently talk to Gio. Take the pressure off him to form this bond. Get to know each other. Try to understand where he’s coming from in all this.” Cort shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I mean, you do have this reputation for being a smooth-talking, suave playboy. It couldn’t be that hard for someone like you to woo two men at the same time, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. All right, I got the point. Don’t be an ass. Talk about my feelings. I got this.”
“I’ll agree with the ‘don’t be an ass’ part. I think you need to empathize with their pain. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re both worried about you too.”
Lucien made a shooing motion toward the house. “Got it. Let’s go so I can get back to a point where I can at least cuddle with one of them. Both would be better.”
It was kind of hard to believe, but he didn’t actually feel angry anymore. He was still scared and worried, but somehow talking to Cort had left him hopeful as well. Had he been lying to himself when he said that he didn’t want a soul mate?
Yep. Definitely. And he certainly wasn’t happy with the idea of just having one.
Nope. He needed Calder and Gio.
Chapter Fourteen
Calder walked through the forest, brush cracking beneath the soles of his shoes. Moonlight played peekaboo between the limbs of the trees, providing just enough illumination to light his path. He probably should have stayed closer to the house, but he wanted to go to the pond on their property, wanted to be closer to fresh water. Plus, they still hadn’t refilled the pool after he’d used up all the water against the girl scouts. Being farther away from the others felt necessary right then, so he kept walking.
Once he reached the pond, he breathed out a sigh of relief and found a grassy spot on the bank to sit. He folded his legs and plopped down, curling his fingers in the soft grass. This part of their land was gorgeous with a fairly large body of water surrounded by a thick wall of trees.
Birds flocked to the area for warmer winter weather, and tonight, there was a symphony of twitters and calls. Something plopped in the water, causing ripples to spread out across the still water.
He lifted his hand and called to the water. It rose up in a thin arc and he smiled as it began to dance in the air. Pulling up another, he made them wind around each other until they melded and formed a small wave.
