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Wiley placed the back of his hand to his forehead in a good imitation of a faint. “Baer, my sweet love, you must carry me.”
“I—”
“Gio?”
Lucien froze at the sound of an intruder calling to Gio, but everything within him went on high alert when he watched all color drain from Gio’s face. His entire body had stiffened, and his smile twisted into a pained grimace. There was no question that Gio recognized the person’s voice, and it was not a welcome sound.
Slowly, Gio turned, pinning a tense smile onto his lips. “Dave, Lee, good to see you,” Gio replied, though his tone screamed that it was not good to see the two men at all.
Lucien’s gaze swept over them quickly, cataloguing everything. One man was tall with blond hair and very nice clothes. He looked to be about the same age as Gio, maybe a few years older at most. The other was shorter than both Calder and Gio with brown hair and enormous brown eyes that dominated his thin, expressive face. Definitely younger than Gio. And definitely shocked to see Gio.
“We heard from your brother that you’d moved to Savannah. Are you back now?” the blond asked.
“No,” Gio said, his voice low and rough. He paused and cleared his throat. When he spoke again, it was with a bit more strength, but not his usual confidence. “No, this is only an impromptu trip.”
“A mini vacation, actually,” Calder suddenly chimed in. He stepped up close to Gio, wrapping his arm through Gio’s. “He’s promised to take us out fishing.”
“You? Fishing?” the brunet laughed.
Lucien was nearly grinding his teeth together when he stepped up behind Gio and casually draped his arm across the man’s chest while allowing his fingers to rub up and down Calder’s arm. “Well, I’m sure we’ll get around to some fishing eventually. I was hoping we’d just lounge about in the sun. Have a few drinks. Finally get you and Calder in a pair of speedos.”
Gio turned his head toward Lucien, and Lucien couldn’t help himself; he brushed a kiss to Gio’s temple. He prayed he wasn’t setting them back in their efforts to win Gio over, but everything about Gio’s body language screamed pain. His instincts were demanding he shift straight into caveman mode and stake a damn claim on this man in front of these strangers. Were they former friends? Ex-lovers? They couldn’t possibly be family.
“That sounds like a great afternoon to me,” Gio murmured softly. He turned his attention to the two men and his smile appeared to be a little less tense now. “Dave, Lee, these are my friends.” He lifted a hand. “This is Baer and Wiley.” He placed the same hand on Calder’s arm. “This is my special friend, Calder.” His fingers then wrapped around Lucien’s arm and squeezed tightly. “And this is my other special friend, Lucien.”
“If you’ll excuse us,” Baer said, his deep voice nearly a growl. “We need to get to the hotel. Busy day tomorrow.”
Wiley snickered. “You’re also gonna get busy tonight.”
They all laughed, though it sounded a bit forced to Lucien’s ears. It didn’t matter. It was enough to break the tension and get them moving on the sidewalk again, the two different parties heading in different directions.
Lucien had to relinquish his hold on Gio so they could both walk, but Gio didn’t seem to mind when he grabbed his other hand while Calder continued to clutch his arm.
They didn’t get more than half a block away when two male voices were suddenly raised in horrified shouts and the loud patter of water hit the concrete. Everyone started to twist around to look. Everyone except for Calder.
“Just keep moving. Everyone keep moving,” Calder ordered in a low voice between clenched teeth.
“What did you do?” Wiley gasped.
“Nothing, keep moving,” Calder snapped. They were still walking, but at a slower pace while Wiley kept peeking over his shoulder to look at Dave and Lee.
“Calder,” Gio prodded, his voice somewhat stern but maybe a little curious too.
The Water Weaver huffed loudly and dropped his head back. “It’s no big deal. I just stole some water from a bird bath across the street and dropped it on their heads.” He straightened, his eyes narrowed on Gio. “I’m not sorry about it. Bonded or not, I can feel your pain. They hurt you. Dropping some filthy bird water on their heads seemed a whole lot smarter than letting Lucien set them on fire.”
“Lucien!” Gio gasped.
“What? I wasn’t going to do that,” Lucien quickly countered.
“No, but you were thinking it,” Calder said, meeting Lucien’s gaze around Gio.
“How do you know that?” Because he really had contemplated starting just a tiny fire. Maybe melting those fancy shoes of theirs or burning off a little bit of blondie’s pretty hair.
Calder’s expression turned smug, and Lucien wanted to lean in so he could kiss it right off his face. “I felt your anger. Also, if I was the Fire Weaver, I’d want to set them on fire.”
