Page 11 of Custodian

“What? Chat? Now?” Lark gasped out, completely bamboozled over the sudden turn of events.

“Yes. Chat. Now. About you defiling my sister,” Beyden responded.

Lark felt sure his eyes nearly bugged out of his head, “What?! I’m not defiling your sister!”

“That’s right,” Ivy interjected from the sidelines where she was nonchalantly sharpening her sickle now. “I’m defiling him.” Her lips twitched into a small but decidedly wicked smile.

“Not helping, my love,” Lark managed to gasp out. Breathing was beginning to become a problem. Probably had something to do with the six-foot-four giant currently taking up residence on his chest! “Since when do you have a problem with me dating your sister?”

The big idiot on top of him crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, “Since I want to hear your intentions; where is this going? Are you thinking casual hook-up or marriage?”

“Marriage?!” Ivy positively screeched, the disdain and fear in her voice made the word sound like a curse rather than a commitment.

Lark rolled his eyes at the panic plain on his lover’s face. He had no intention of proposing anytime soon – if at all. Not that he had a problem with the institution of marriage. In fact, if Ivy wanted to, he would have her down the aisle in a heartbeat. But she didn’t. And he was content to do whatever made her comfortable. He knew his woman and he loved everything about her – even her commitment-phobic ways.

Seeing her dark eyes still wide on her gorgeous elfin face and her chest rising and falling quickly, he figured she was about one ‘m’ word away from hyperventilating. “Ivy, I –” he began.

“Don’t! Don’t you dare say it!” she exploded, gripping her sickle like a lifeline.

Lark huffed; the stoic woman could be just as dramatic as the rest of her species when the right button was pushed. And this was definitely one of her buttons. It –wait a minute,he stopped his thought process,is that a smirk I see on Beyden’s face?His friend wasn’t much of a smirker but the way his lips were tilted up to one side and the glint of humour but also satisfaction in his whiskey irises looked remarkably like a smirk. He squinted his eyes at his friend, only to receive a wicked wink. And that’s when it hit him; Beyden wasn’t trying to bust his balls. This was about his sister. A form of torture between siblings.

Beyden might look and sound sweet but he had a devilish streak a mile wide. Beyden’s teasing and pranks leant toward subtle, but they were always damn thorough. If he weren’t on the verge of suffocating, Lark would have found more pleasure in the two acting like normal siblings. He loved that his friend could now spend more time with the sister he was once so close to. But as it was, he was having a little trouble breathing. Besides, Ivy was already up on her feet and backing away.

“I mean it, Lark. Don’t you dare propose! I’ll say no. In fact, hell no!” she practically shrieked before fleeing the gym.

Lark simply sighed. A lot of men would have been insulted or angry or hurt over such a forceful and negative reaction from the love of their life. But not him. He wasn’t worried in the slightest. He trusted her love for him and knew she felt the same – despite her meltdown. Lark didn’t blame her for her reaction. Being in a relationship, being in love, having someone to rely on? It was still shiny and new to her. No, he didn’t blame Ivy; he blamed her brother.

Lark growled and pushed ineffectually at Beyden’s bulk, “Dude! That was low. You couldn’t have left me out of this sibling-torture thing you have going on?”

Beyden raised a dark brown eyebrow, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is about you and me and my brotherly duties.”

“Bullshit! You’re reaping your vengeance from any number of Ivy-inflicted incidents. Don’t deny it. I can see it on your face.” He quickly bucked his lower body, hoping to surprise the beast paladin and unseat him. The guy didn’t move so much as an inch and Lark growled feeling like an ant with an elephant holding it down.

“What are you doing?” Beyden asked, looking curious and completely clueless.

“I’m trying to get you off me!” He was beginning to feel embarrassed. He knew he and Beyden were usually evenly matched when they sparred. Where Beyden had the muscle and the strength, Lark had the speed and flexibility. But get him down and get Bey’s big butt on him and Lark knew he would always be the loser. There was no beating those muscles – unless you were Ryker or Darius. The three men were fairly close to being the same ginormous size. Ryker topped Beyden in height ever so slightly, but Beyden was far broader. And Darius was shorter than Bey, but had the same stocky build. It always amused him to see Darius standing next to his much older and much more powerful brother. Dex was not only shorter than his baby bro, but also far leaner. In fact, he was only slightly more built than Lark himself and he figured even the powerful ex-warden of the air would have a hard time bench-pressing Bey.

“Huh,” was Beyden’s ingenious response. “You’re right; I was just teasing Ivy. She told Cali about how much she liked my baby-butt. Told her she wanted to touch it, bite it, or blow raspberries on it all the time because it was the smoothest, cutest little bubble-butt she had ever seen.”

Lark gasped out a laugh, quickly choking on his own saliva. The disgruntled look Beyden gave him had him quickly closing his mouth. He had been about to admit that he and Ivy had shared many such conversations about his booty when they were on their chade road trip.

Beyden huffed, “Yeah, laugh it up. It’s not funny. Now every time Cali walks past me, her eyes go all dewy and she says, ‘aww’, all dopey-like. It’s embarrassing,” he muttered.

“I’m sure it’s just the hormones. You know – baby brain and all that,” he offered, trying to be supportive. “So, you don’t really have a problem with Ivy and I, do you? I came to you about it before …”

“Well, kind of.” He seemed to think about it for a minute, before surprising the hell out of Lark; “I mean, what about besties before testes?”

“What?!”

“You know – bro’s before hoes,” Beyden clarified.

“Testes? Bro’s?” Lark repeated, not sure if he found the entire conversation hysterical or extremely disturbing. “You’ve been talking to Axel again, haven’t you? What have we all said about that?” Lark lectured, sternly.

“Um, that Axel is a sick and twisted influence and to smile and nod when he offers advice,” Bey recited by rote. Then he shook his head, a small frown appearing on his forehead, “No, wait. That’s what we say about Max.”

Lark blinked once. Twice. And then hysteria won out and he found himself laughing so hard he heard actual snorts. Beyden was quick to follow, his booming laugh echoing in the large, high-ceilinged room. It took them a few minutes to calm down enough so Lark could actually speak;

“Dude, not that I don’t love you. But do you think maybe we could have this conversation without you potentially causing me a pneumothorax?”

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