65: Entanglement

Quincy St. Martin

It’s after 5 p.m. by the time we arrive back. Serena, Genesis, Constantine, Darius, and Lazarus are there. Serena, Penny, and Genesis attack us with hugs as soon as we open the front door. I wonder if they’ve been waiting to ambush us with those hugs all day.

The men give Caspian manly hugs along with congratulatory pats on his back.

Lazarus breaks open a bottle of Château Cheval Blanc from their cellar, while the girls continue to admire my engagement ring.

“Hey, since you’re engaged, why don’t you guys get married?” suggests Genesis.

“It’s not like you need to since you’re fully mated and marked, but it’ll be so much fun to plan a wedding,” agrees Serena.

“Why plan a wedding? Let us all go to Vegas,” says Penny. “You can get married in one of those little chapels by a fake Elvis.”

I study their excited faces. I’ve never been to Vegas. “I don’t know about being married by Elvis, but Vegas actually sounds like fun.”

The girls squeal excitedly. Then they start chattering about the wedding dress and the fun stuff that we could do while we’re there.

“Sweetheart, we’d better go upstairs and get cleaned up before dinner,” says Caspian.

The fire in his eyes when he locks eyes with me and the hunger that I sense coming from him tells me clearly that we’ll be doing more than cleaning up when we get upstairs.

“Ooohh, look at you, being romantic and stuff,” teases Genesis, grinning mischievously at him. “Besides, dinner is not for another hour.”

“Shut up, Red,” he says. His answering grin is equally mischievous. “Don’t you have a painting session or something to do with my cousin?”

That earns snickers from the others, while Genesis’s cheeks turn a shade red.

“Your commitment to art is very admirable,” I tell Genesis earnestly.

At the raise of an eyebrow, I elaborate. “Your passion for art, you know, to be constantly painting. Night and day. Tirelessly.”

Penny lets out a loud snort, and Constantine starts coughing, while the others burst out laughing. Genesis gives me a wide-eyed stare. Her cheeks turn even a brighter red.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” I look at Caspian for help. He’s biting his lower lip, but his shoulders are shaking.

He steers me toward the stairs while the others are still laughing.

“Honestly, I support great artwork. I’d love to see her paintings one day.”

He lets out a funny noise. For a second there, I think he’s choking. When he recovers, he hollers, “Oh, Red, we’d like to see your painting one day!”

I watch Penny rolling on the floor.

“Come on, my love. Let’s go upstairs.”

“Actually, you go right up first. I need to see my cousin about something,” I tell him, still baffled by the whole situation.

“Okay, don’t be long.” He drops a kiss on my lips. That little kiss heats up my blood all the way down to my toes.

The husky intimate sound of his voice promises all sorts of naughty. I almost cancel my plan to see Jorden. I am addicted to Caspian. I’m so in trouble.

I walk around the pool to get to the pool house. It’s a small white building facing a giant in-ground hot tub. I’ve never set foot in the pool house before. There are two doors. One is a storage area where they store the equipment for the pool, while another is a living space and changing area.

I rap on door number two until I hear movement inside.

“Hey, J, whatcha up to?” I ask Jorden as I shoulder my way in as soon as he opens the door.

His eyes are dazed and his hair all mussed up. It looks like I just woke him up from a nap.

“I fell asleep while watching a movie,” he says, yawning.

“This place is sweet,” I comment, looking around.

It’s a nice space with a living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom. The decor is almost like a replica of the main house on a much smaller scale.

There’s a cluster of chairs and a sofa facing a big screen TV in the living room. The closing credits of a movie are rolling on the giant screen.

I lift my nose up and take a deep breath as I walk farther inside. I sniff again. I smell Jorden and another faint scent that I come to recognize and dislike. Sweet and flowery.

My eyes snap to Jorden’s. “What was she doing here?”

Jorden looks surprised. I guess he’s not used to me being able to smell even the faintest of scents. As soon as he recovers, he answers. “Q, nobody else talks to her, and she was feeling bored.”

“So, ~you~ have to entertain her?” I don’t know why, but it feels like Jorden is betraying me just by talking to her.

He’s my cousin. My family. He’s not supposed to talk to my enemy.

“Come on, Q. We were just watching a movie together.”

How cozy. “Okay, I’m here to get my backpack and Oliver,” I tell him and snap my mouth shut.

“Quincy,” he says. He’s being serious when he says my name like that, but I’m not in the mood to talk.

I’d say things I might regret later if I opened my big mouth right now.

Things like, “Lady Celeste is Satan incarnate, and I want to stab her with the pointy end of her own tail and stick her on the pitchfork and roast her like a marshmallow over an open fire until she’s a charred, unrecognizable blob.”

After a long silence, he sighs and leaves me to get my backpack from his room. When he comes back, he silently hands it to me. Then he stands there, still waiting for me to say something.

“Thanks.” My voice is curt. He shakes his head like he’s disappointed in me. Whatever. It’s just so typical of Jorden to be nice to everybody.

I walk out without another word. Maybe when I’m not feeling as pissed, I can see him being nice to everybody as a positive trait. Right now it sucks.

Her scent fills my nostrils again when I ascend the stairs to our suite. I slow my steps as I approach the top stairs when I hear voices in our room.

Lady Celeste’s voice carries through the air.