Page 76 of You Only Love Twice
They'd need another bottle if this continued.
"Oh, my goodness." Ava fanned her face. "Stop it. You're both going to have me sobbing, and then Kincaid will want to know what's wrong, and I won't be able to explain it, because he has the sensitivity of a rock sometimes...."
"You should try living with Byrnes." Ingrid lifted the bottle and snorted. "He'd be trying to sort out the problem and coming up with analytical explanations for why I'm crying. If he asks, I'm merely going to remove my gown. That distracts him in no time."
And Gemma suffered another little moment of aching pain as the pair of them bantered back and forth, because if she was being honest with herself, the need for family wasn't the only ache that pulsed within her....
She wanted this too.
Chapter 16
Obsidian stared across the crowded tavern, watching as humanity laughed raucously and swilled beer. The noise enveloped him, but he was very aware he didn't belong here. The smell was quite overwhelming: the press of human body odor, the likes of which had rarely met water if he wasn't mistaken; rotten teeth; and a certain yeasty scent which underlaid everything.
He honestly couldn't fathom why Silas liked this place so much.
Tapping the blunt end of his cheroot in the tray, Obsidian lifted it to his lips and inhaled, considering his next steps. Every inch of his body ached. Whatever Malloryn had shocked him with, it had sent his heart stammering for a good hour afterwards. His fingers were burned, though the craving virus rapidly healed him.
And Gemma was gone.
It was that, perhaps, that hurt the most.
Perhaps?Even his inner voice mocked him.
What the hell had she been thinking, throwing herself between him and the duke? She could have been shot.
And hell, if there was anything that could convince him she spoke the truth about the past it was what had happened tonight. Gemma had risked her life and everything she stood for in order to protect him. Obsidian's hands shook a little as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. His heart skipped a beat, and instantly he sought to master himself again; to still his breath, taking a long slow inhale of air, much the same way he prepared to pull a trigger, but different now, for the turmoil was inside him.
There was no future with Gemma.
There never had been, but despite all that was lost to him, the sudden sharp ache of yearning took him by surprise.
He barely remembered her, and yet, some part of him felt like he'd known her for years. To be in her company was like stepping into warm, golden sunlight, a welcoming embrace of heat he hadn't felt in years. Like being a marble statue brought to life; a man whose heart finally beat in his chest after years of stillness.
He missed the sunlight.
He missed warmth.
He missedher.
And he couldn't go back to his brothers.
If there'd beendhampiragents in Mably House, then they knew what he'd been up to with Gemma.
And if they knew, then Ghost was aware of everything.
The door crashed open, letting the blustery wind of night inside. Barely anyone glanced that way, but Obsidian ground out his cheroot as Silas finally slipped in through the front door.
Silas paused when their eyes met. He nodded, dragging his long scarf from his throat, and then crossed the packed tavern to slink into the other side of the red leather booth as if he'd been expecting to see Obsidian here all along. This was his favorite drinking hole, a vice both Obsidian and Ghost abhorred.
"What the hell was you thinkin'?" Silas growled, shoving the damp wool scarf on the table. "Are you mad? Ghost is furious."
Fury never quite described Ghost's rages.
"Hence why I haven't returned," he said, with a faint, unamused smile though his fingers still shook with the shock of it all.
"I swear to God, you're goin' to put me in an early grave." Silas shook his head. "I knew it seemed unusual. Twodhampiragents sent after Gemma Townsend and none of them survived? I kept askin' myself: Is she that good? Trained ex-Falcon or not, she's still only a blue blood. But then I began to wonder... what if there was someone watchin' over her? A guardian angel, if you will? Someone who could handle twodhampirwith ease. Someone with an interest in keepin' her alive."
"Youbetrayed me to Ghost."
