Falling Into Place (20 page)

Robert nodded. “I will. He’ll get there,
though.”

“I hope so.”

“You and me both.”

Christian came over and placed a hand on
Robert’s shoulder. “So you never told her you’re my uncle?”

Amethyst slid off the stool with wide eyes
and walked away.

“It’s a long story, Chris. We have a
complicated past.”

“You love her.” It wasn’t a question, but
the kid could read emotions. Probably better than Jamie. He could
also see the future, and a lot more clearly than Jess.

“I do, but tonight is about you, and you
having a great twenty-first birthday. So go enjoy it.”

Delilah stepped up behind Christian and
wound her arms around his waist. “Are you going to come play a game
of pool with me?”

A smile broke across his face, and he
nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

She placed a light kiss on his ear and
walked back to the table.

Tremaine leaned against the table. “It won’t
be long before Liz needs a ride home. You can stay with Christian.
I can get her tucked in. Tonight you can come back there.” Tremaine
pushed his fingers through his hair but his gaze never wavered.
“And so you’re aware, I’ve made the basement my home.” He turned to
go.

“Hey,” Robert caught Tremaine’s arm before
he could walk away. “I’m not pushing you out of her life. I doubt
she’ll even have me, but there’s room for both of us.”

“For the record, Robert, I wouldn’t let you
push me out. I’ve always been on the edges to make sure she’s all
right. I can’t help it, and even after she’s back with you, I’ll
watch over her. I can’t not.”

“Don’t do that, Trem. She’ll never push you
out. You’re not the one who has made one mistake after another with
her. You’ve always been there.”

“I’m not the one she needs.” Tremaine walked
away at that point.

* * * *

The bell rang, and Jarvis knew James was
back. He had already heard the reports of the drained mages on
Robert’s property.

Both Emily and Robert had disappeared, and
then the bastard had sent the Silver Council to investigate. Robert
never showed back up, and because Robert and Preston were
investigating him, he couldn’t pick up James.

He still wasn’t sure exactly why he was
helping James. It was a dangerous position to be in. He was known
for turning on those closest to him. For some damned reason, he
wasn’t able to convince himself to walk away and forget about
James. In fact, Jarvis suspected magic was involved.

He opened the door and came face to face
with James.

“You still look like hell,” Jarvis pointed
out as he stepped aside to grant James access.

Hell was an understatement. James’ face was
mottled with pinks and browns from the burns he suffered two
decades ago. His hair only grew in patches on his head, but it was
buzzed close to his scalp. Probably thanks to Emily who had kept
the bastard alive all this time.

“You’re not looking much
better,
old
friend.”

Jarvis growled at James. At least when his
power started to wane, he didn’t start to rip power from other
mages, severing his own tie to his personal magic further. There
were certain things he wouldn’t do. James, on the other hand, stole
power, which only made him a monster. He probably only survived by
gleaning magic off Emily over the years, and anyone she had brought
into the house. When done with small draws, the victim could live a
very long time.

Dark mages were worse than vampires because
instead of living off blood which replenished easily enough, a dark
mage sucked down mana which was basically life force. Take enough,
and you couldn’t save the victim.

He may be cursed thanks to his
miscalculation of Opal Lakes. She had placed a curse on him decades
ago. One that left his own mana depleted. Now he relied on charms
and enchantments to boost his power enough to fortify his own
spells.

Gabriel Sharpclaw had ensured that Jarvis
could never come after Opal when he rescued her nearly twenty-six
years ago.

“What is it?” James taunted. “Thinking about
that lovely little curse a nymph placed on you. They always were
your favorite prey.”

“You always had your own perversions. I
wouldn’t talk if I were you,” Jarvis snapped. At least he chose
women outside of his family.

“You dare to speak? The man who can’t get
off unless he’s forcing his victim?” James glared back.

“Isn’t that what you do to your own sister?
Attempted to do to Elizandra until she ruined you? Can you even get
it up now?” Not that Jarvis suspected he’d had much time to find
out. He had woken the sick fuck up only twelve hours before.

“I am not ruined,” he screamed. “That bitch
will be the reason I am restored. Her magic isn’t simple mage
magic. She’s the key to walking both sides. Her magic will give me
back my own magic and allow me to still gain power from other
mages.”

Jarvis wasn’t so sure of that. He was
starting to have suspicions about what made Elizandra’s magic so
different. Something to do with mixed blood, but if he was right,
they needed to tread very carefully. Hybrids usually favored one
side or another, rarely both. When they did, they had the tendency
to lose control.

“I thought you knew where to find Liz?”
James snapped.

“Of course,” Jarvis answered. “It’s perfect
really, and the one place no one would think to look.”

* * * *

An hour passed and Tremaine sat at a table
next to Clint. They both watched Liz, who was perched at the bar
drinking her pain away.

Clint looked over at Tremaine and asked, “Is
she all right? She didn’t want my kind of distraction.”

It took Tremaine a moment to gather his
words. “This is a hard time of year for her. I don’t expect she’ll
be with anyone for a long while.”

“She’ll be okay though?” Clint honestly
cared, and for that, Tremaine couldn’t fault the guy.

“Yeah. She always pulls through.”

Liz started to slump to the side. Tremaine
hopped to his feet and walked across the bar to scoop her up before
she fell. He gave Jamie a nod before heading out.

Robert caught up to him and opened the door.
“I’ll follow you back.”

Tremaine nodded. “Good. Sorry, she’s a wreck
right now. She has the nightmares for a few weeks every year. At
least it’s not every night.”

“I’m a fool. She said let me leave, don’t
follow, and I did. I really hurt her. I never imagined she would
send me away if she still wanted me.”

“You’re both too damned stubborn. How many
times did I tell you to get your ass over here and fix it? I told
her the same shit, and she didn’t listen either. Let’s take her
home and take care of her.”

“She looks like she may need it,” Robert
said softly before climbing into his car.

Tremaine had no doubt she would.

Someone pulled at her shirt, her muscles
flinched and the pain startled her awake. “No,” she screamed at
Robert, no James, had to be James. “No, don’t.” Liz shoved at
him.

Concern and confusion filled his dusky blue
eyes. Her heart stopped as she realized it really was Robert.

It was too late, her magic had sprung to
life, the wild energy flooding into Robert where her hand hit his
chest and side. He crumpled, the lightning burning the hell out of
him.

Barely breathing, she scrambled out of the
bed.

His chest was still, no heartbeat, no
breath.

Oh no, no, no, no, she couldn’t have killed
him. She rolled him on his back and tore his shirt out of the way.
Two black handprints in a sea of blisters, her hand prints were
charred into his body, and it was all her fault.

She sat straight up in the bed with a scream
blasting from her mouth. Both men bolted up to come to her.

Shit, Robert’s here.

Liz shot past both of them and slammed the
bathroom door shut. Wrapping her hand around the knob, she fused
all the metal together to keep anyone from opening it. She
collapsed at the toilet, just in time to eject her organs, and
probably her brain too.

Her world was still spinning, and she heard
someone pounding on the bathroom door, but she wasn’t ready to deal
with anyone, let alone Robert, or even Tremaine.

There was no denying the breakdown. Robert
was there. She had nearly killed him twenty-one years ago today. A
sob tore through her.

Liz knew that Tremaine would be there. He
was worried about her nightmares, but he always took care of
her.

Robert, oh
fuck
. Her heart twisted into knots. He
still loved her, but she knew Tremaine must too.

She loved them both, but couldn’t have
either. It wasn’t fair, wasn’t fucking fair. Choosing wasn’t an
option. It would only shred the remnants of her heart.

She heard her own heart-wrenching sobs but
couldn’t do a damned thing to stop as she broke down and cried
harder than she’d ever cried before.

There was a pop, and Robert was there,
kneeling down to pull her hair out of her face as he rubbed her
back. He reached behind himself to fix the doorknob.

Tremaine stepped in and she heard the shower
come on.

“No, just go,” she slurred badly, it might
not have even made sense. She knew Tremaine could translate,
drunken Lizanese. Plus, he wouldn’t leave her, no matter what she
said. Apparently, Robert wouldn’t either. “Please, go,” she mumbled
as the tears fell down her face.

Robert’s big hand smoothed over her back,
soothing her no matter how much she feared the contact. “Hush,
Liz,” he murmured. “We’re here, and we aren’t leaving you. We’ll
take care of you,” he promised, even as she threw up the rest of
what was in her system.

Once she was done, Tremaine picked her up
gently and Robert peeled her dress off. He kept full eye contact as
he removed her bra and panties.

Tremaine wrapped his arm around her waist
and carried her into the shower.

Liz felt his naked body and panicked. She
tried to scramble out of his arms, but Robert stepped into the
shower and grabbed her upper arms as he looked into her eyes.

Robert told her, “Come on, Liz. We need to
get you cleaned up.”

Her hands covered her stomach as the tears
came harder. Ashamed, depressed and feeling pathetic, she hid her
scars, those horrible reminders where James had stabbed and tore at
her with that damned blade, stealing her one chance at
happiness.

“Go, please just go. I don’t want you to see
me,” she sobbed.

“Shh, I know. I found your letter today,
Liz. I know now, and I’m so terribly sorry. Tremaine told me about
the scars. It’s okay though. It’s not your fault, baby. I want to
make it better.”

The letter?
He found the letter today?
But the scars, those terrible scars.

Liz had given Robert his own set.

She looked down and saw Robert still had the
marks she gave him. Her handprints lay over his heart and on his
side.

“Oh no,” she whispered, feeling like she was
shattering into a zillion shards. “Why, Robert? Why wouldn’t you
let Emily fix that?” She ran her fingers over those marks on his
perfect body.

There were tears in his dusky blue eyes.
“You healed them fine, Liz. This way, I always have something of
you on me.”

Covering her face, Liz turned back to
Tremaine. He wrapped his big arms around her and pulled her close.
“Liz, doll, don’t cry. It’s all over and done with. You’re okay,
he’s okay. No one cares about the scars. You’re still the most
beautiful creature either one of us have ever laid eyes on. We all
have our own scars. Don’t worry about yours, Liz.”

Yeah, Trem had scars on his hands and up his
arms from pulling Sinclair’s burning corpse from her. How was she
supposed to stop crying when she knew she was the reason they were
both ruined?

“He’s right,” Robert told her. “Your scars
don’t ruin you.” His chest pressed against her back, pushing her
tight into Tremaine.

She had to still be drunk, because she was
seriously getting turned on by all that naked wet flesh pressed
against hers. Then Robert’s hand slid around her waist and covered
all those ugly scars as he pulled her back against his chest.

Shit. His erection was pressed hard against
her ass, and how inappropriate was that after all the crying and
puking, and especially in front of Tremaine.

Her brain must have been mush because she
meant to pull away but melted into his embrace as she looked into
Tremaine’s dark eyes. They burned with desire she had never seen
directed at her.

Embarrassed, she looked down and found his
thick, proud length. Okay, she really couldn’t resist when they
were both right there and ready.

* * * *

Tremaine cursed his raging hard on. He
wanted to comfort Liz, and did his damnedest to ignore the desire
pumping through his veins.

She was falling apart, and damn it, he knew
he shouldn’t be aroused, but he was. Especially seeing Robert
behind her with desire darkened eyes, his hand spread out on her
flat tummy.

Sure. Liz had scars, but they were really
very sexy, especially knowing that she had survived and came out
fighting.

Her dusky pink nipples were so tight and her
breath was coming in great gasps when she looked up and her eyes
locked on his. A blush started across her cheeks and flowed down
her body as she tore her eyes away.

She whimpered when her gaze found his stupid
cock standing at attention.

“Liz,” Robert breathed against her ear. “You
want us both?” Robert’s deep blue eyes locked onto Tremaine’s as
Liz nodded. Robert’s hand slid down between her thighs to cup her
mound, and she moaned deep down in her throat. “Trem,” Robert asked
with a desire roughened voice, “you good with this?”