Page 72 of Incubus
The tension in Nathan’s shoulders tightened. “Don’t worry about it. Unless you’ve developed another power I don’t know about, you aren’t exactly a psychic here, Jim, so leave it alone. Besides, you wouldn’t look nearly as good in those leather boots Wade’s always wearing.”
Jim was too busy scowling at Nathan to find the comment amusing.
“Oh quit being a girl, Jim. I’m just teasing you.”
“Teasing me? Or teasingSasha?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Nathan snapped. He didn’t like the look Jim was giving him, a holier than thou expression he knew only too well.
“Nathan, you know Sasha has feelings for you. It's pretty obvious. If you’ve been doing something to lead him on—”
“Who’s leading who on?” Nathan shot back. “Mind your own business.”
“I don’t have to be psychic to know that Sasha is upset with you. I'm used to what that looks like.” With anger still tainting his tone and expression, Jim reached for his drink. It was still six inches away from his hand when the glass suddenly suctioned into Jim’s palm.
Nathan did his best not to stare, but Jim’s eyes were pained and focused intently on the drink that had moved seemingly on its own.
Small things like that had been happening more often ever since their run-in with Gabriel at the Gatehouse. Nathan tried to ignore it, but he knew his brother was preoccupied with what it meant that his powers were occurring more frequently. Strong emotion seemed to be the easiest trigger, and Jim wasn’t very good at remaining calm lately.
Slowly pushing the drink away from him, Jim looked back up at Nathan somberly. “Sasha might need to feed regularly from other people, Nathan, but just because he’s an incubus doesn’t mean his feelings for you aren’t real.”
Nathan knew that. He wasn’t trying to lead Sasha on at all. But if he came right out and said that, Jim would start asking questions Nathan was not prepared to answer.
Then Nathan thought about what Jim had just said, about Sashafeeding, and realized he couldn’t remember the last time Sasha had fed. Sasha had said he needed to have sex at least once a month or things got scary. The last person Nathan knew for certain Sasha had slept with was that college kid in Minnesota.
“There’s a relief at least,” Jim said, nodding toward the bar. “I was starting to worry Sasha might be pining over you so much he’d forgotten to feed for real. That wouldn’t have been good.”
Nathan turned sharply toward the bar, spotting Sasha easily by his too red hair. He was talking to an attractive older woman in a short skirt, who was leaning in close to Sasha like she was very interested in getting out of there, and not alone.
A twinge in Nathan's chest caught him by surprise. At the back of his mind he knew the right reaction should be relief. Sasha needed sex to survive. And it wasn’t as if Nathan was ready to offer himself.
Then, as Nathan continued to stare, Sasha’s attention shifted toward their table, almost as if he could sense Nathan's warring emotions from all the way across the room. Their gazes met. Maybe if Sasha had smiled, waved, anything else, Nathan couldhave forgotten the confusion stirring within him and just gone back to pretending they could be friends. But Sasha’s eyes flashed with that sadness, with regret he could do nothing about.
The twinge Nathan had been feeling grew into an ache, and he realized just how screwed he was.
ThenextmorningNathanwas exhausted, having been unable to sleep, plagued by thoughts of where Sasha was and the woman he was with. Which was probably the only reason he was thinking of doing what he was about to do.
Keeping his voice as quiet as possible from where he was crouched in the corner of the bathroom, Nathan dialed the number and waited.
"Wow. You actually resorted to callingme?" Wade said without so much as a 'hello'. "You must be desperate. Jealous he had to sleep with someone else last night?"
"I hate you so much," Nathan growled.
"Sure you do. So what do you want?"
"Like you even have to ask. You knew about all of this from the beginning, didn't you?"
"You mean about Sasha being a man? I had an inkling. Your crush seems to be a new development."
"Don't play dumb, Wade."
"I never play dumb, Nathan, only shrewd. Did you have something you actually wanted, or is this call just to annoy me? I didn't have to pick up the phone, you know."
"Don't hang up! Just...give me something I can use here. Please."
"You want relationship advice?"
Nathan could hear the smile in Wade's voice over the phone. "Not justSasha. The whole thing! Sidhe have crossed over from the Veil unsummoned, in case you didn't know, and we're no closer to getting rid of my mark. The world is collapsing around us!"
