AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lena giggled for the first few minutes of the ride home and then totally passed out. Yep. That’s about how I remember her handling being high. When we were seniors in high school, Lena begged Ezra to get her high. She said she was sick of being the good girl and needed to experience something before she left for college, totally unprepared. Davis took Rhys out fishing so that Ezra, Ruby, and I could get her stoned. She’d complained for twenty minutes that it wasn’t working. She then proceeded to hold her arm up in the air for ten minutes before she realized it was there, while the rest of us tried to hold in our laughs until she figured it out.
Damn, we laughed so much that night. By the end of the night, she’d nearly passed out, her head on my shoulder and her eyes half closed. I can remember staring at the dark fan of her long lashes, the handful of nearly invisible freckles that dotted the bridge of her nose, and the way she smelled like a scent created out of my dreams. That wasn’t the first night I’d looked at her as more than a friend, but it was the night I was determined to stay away from her. She was leaving for school soon after and I didn’t want to hold her back. She deserved to get away from her father and away from Wild Haven, if that was what she wanted.
I carry her into my house with the bittersweet memories swirling in my head. I’d been so afraid to say goodbye to her when she left for school, but honestly, I was just as afraid when she decided to come back here after graduation. She didn’t move back in with her dad, but he was always a shadow lurking on the island. A devil ready to attack with the slightest provocation. We’ve all managed to steer clear of her father for the most part over the past few years, but I don’t know how that might change after tonight.
Lena hasn’t been in any shape to tell us what, if anything, she learned from our outing tonight. I don’t have a good feeling about it.
I gently settle her on my bed, trying to let her sleep. Her mouth is open, and her glasses are crooked on her face. I guess I don’t need to worry about waking her up. She’s out for the count. I take off her glasses and set them on the nightstand. Trying to disturb her as little as possible, I pull off her shoes and socks, knowing she hates sleeping with them on, and tug off her coat.
I don’t know how long I stand there grinning down at her, but it’s long enough that I should be embarrassed. I pull the comforter over her when she curls onto her side like she’s cold. Just as I start to move away, a mumbled stay falls from her lips. How can I possibly deny that request?
I lay above the covers, considering stripping down to my boxers and getting in bed next to her, but I know Rhys will be here sooner or later. I don’t need to get dick punched and I know that’s what will happen if Rhys finds me nearly naked in bed with his sister. We’re just barely on speaking terms right now, and I don’t want to make things worse.
I’m facing Lena, smoothing her hair back from her face. The backs of my fingers trail over her cheekbone as I stare at her. She’s so beautiful it makes my heart ache. Not just her gorgeous face, but her strength, her ability to get up again and again when life knocks her down. I’ve never known anyone like her. Her fierce protectiveness for those she loves, her intrepid curiosity, the way she makes me feel whole. She’s just… everything.
The banging on the front door jars me from sleep. I rub at my blurry eyes, wondering when the hell I drifted off. Lena is still sleeping next to me. Her fingers are laced through mine, and she stirs when the insistent knocking starts up again. Her eyes pop open and she springs upright. Her groan is so loud and long I can’t help but chuckle. She slaps her hands to the sides of her head like she’s holding it together.
“Got a little hangover?” I grin down at her.
“Is that banging happening in real life, or is it just in my head?” Her lips turn down and her face scrunches into a disgusted look. “Water. My tongue needs to be exfoliated.”
“That’s not a thing.”
“It should be. God, what is that noise?” The banging starts again. I sneak a quick kiss to the side of her head before I slide out of the bed. A look at my watch tells me we spent a few hours sleeping. It’s so late, it’s basically morning. The sun is going to be up in another hour or so.
“My guess is your brother. I’ll go answer and get you some water. There’s a new toothbrush in the bathroom if you want to see about scraping off that top layer.”
Lena gingerly climbs off the bed with a groan. “I’m going to kill Miri. What the hell was in that tea?” She raises her fingers up in quotes and I grin at her. She’s so adorably rumpled.
The pounding sounds again, and I leave the bedroom and head toward the front door, opening it with a sigh. The front porch light is on, shining down on Rhys. There’s a wild look in his eyes. His hair is sticking out at odd angles, like he’s run his hands through it about a million times since we left each other a few hours ago. It’s starting to rain, and Rhys is looking a little soggy, but he doesn’t appear to notice that he’s wet. In fact, he looks like he’s been sucker punched.
“Hey, come inside.” I motion for him to come in. He waivers on the front step for a second, probably deciding if he wants to hit me again. He must think better of it because he walks through the door.
“Is everything okay at Ruby’s?”
“I think we just found the eighth person in our Axis.”
We’re standing in my entryway, Rhys dripping onto the small rug by the door. The unsaid part of that sentence is that Rhys just found his imolán. We found a journal the day we discovered the casting room in the tunnels, underneath Miri’s shop. It spoke of the Axis and how there’s a draw to your partner, what the Fae call imolán. It’s essentially a soulmate.
My eyes drift back to the bedroom where I know Lena is washing up. There’s a punch to my chest just at the thought of her. We may have questioned whether all of this Fae, Axis bullshit, was real for most of our lives, but I don’t think there’s any doubt left.
“Do you want a drink?” Fuck, it’s four in the morning. Do I give him some booze, or make some coffee? He can still pour some liquor in there, but it will be more breakfast-like. Rhys shakes his head, peeling off his wet coat and tossing it on the floor. I sigh and hook it on a doorknob while Rhys stumbles into the living room and collapses into a chair. He extends his legs out in front of him, his head tipping back to rest on the back of the chair. He looks as exhausted as I feel.
“No. I’d probably pass out after a glass. Where’s Lena?”
“Miri’s tea turned her tongue into a caterpillar. She’s brushing her teeth.”
Rhys’s eyes fly open and then narrow on me. “She’s keeping a fucking toothbrush here?”
I find my own seat on the charcoal gray sectional, throwing my bare feet up on the leather ottoman in front of the couch. “No, big brother, I had an extra.”
Some of the snarl leaves his expression but I don’t give him any time to relax. “That’s not to say it won’t be happening soon.”
“The fuck it will.”
“Not your call, Rhys,” Lena says calmly as she walks out of my bedroom. Her face is scrubbed clean, and her hair has been pulled up into a high ponytail. Just those small changes make her look pulled together. The oversized sweatshirt that’s she’s drowning in totally contradicts that perfection, and I fucking love it. She must have found the sweatshirt in my bedroom and pulled it on before she came out here.
She walks around me like she’s going to sit on the other side of the couch. I don’t think so. I grab her as she passes me, pulling her down onto my lap. Lena makes an exasperated sound, a blush rushing up to stain her cheeks. With a glare, she pushes away from me. I hum a low, pleased sound when she sits right next to me and sinks into my side. I toss my arm over her shoulders, without thought.
