Chapter 23
“Where were you last night?”
Acton looked up very slowly; Asher knew very well where he had been. He just wanted to make him say it out loud.
“I was with Ember,” he said plainly. “Here.”
“Doing what?” Asher leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms. “Screwing her?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.” Asher sighed, throwing his hands in the air before taking a seat at the table across from Acton. “Acton, what are you doing? You’ve picked a very inconvenient time to start acting your age, and it’s annoying.”
Acton turned his slow gaze on Asher, staring just long enough to make his brother shift uncomfortably. He stood back up from the table. “Acting my age?”
Asher’s lip curled just a little, but then he snorted. “You’ve finally found a girl you want to chase, and you have no idea how to go about it, so instead you’re wasting time while Joseph is out there jacking around with everyone. Half of them don’t even know what day it is, because you’re too obsessed with your new plaything to care.” He leaned against the refrigerator and made a mocking gesture with his hands. “Zinny is just over the moon with how cute it is, and Isaac has so jealous I’m surprised he hasn’t taxodermied her into a—I don’t know—an end table, or a freaking chandelier, or something. You’re children. Both of you.”
“So?”
“So,” Asher said with force, “you built an empire here. Being the king comes with responsibilities. You don’t have time for a teenage courtship right now.”
Acton walked to the window, trying not to let Asher catch a glimpse of his uncertainty. He was very perceptive, and not for the first time, Acton found that he was jealous of Asher’s experience. Asher knew what came next in the pursuit, and even young and naïve, Ember seemed to know, too. “What do I do?”
“Just screw her already.” Asher’s voice was filled with exasperation. “And then move on. You won’t be half so interested when she’s turned hunter like Gina, so just do what you have to do and move on with your life.”
Acton swallowed, and tried to stop himself from shaking his head. Asher was wrong. She was nothing like Gina. She was nothing like Delia, either. “She’s going to be around for a while.”
“Fine.” Asher nodded, wiping his hands compulsively on the front of his shirt. “Do what you want. But this is weird, even for you. If you’re not going to screw her, just go back to Delia and get it out of your system—”
Without another word, Asher stopped, turned, and walked from the room. Frowning, Acton went back to sit at the table as he continued looking out the window. He had known for some time that people found his hobbies unusual. It had never bothered him before, and it didn’t bother him now. Asher had made it evident that he was bothered by his interest in Ember Gillespie. What bothered Acton was that he was bothered by his interest in Ember Gillespie.
Asher came walking back through the door, straightening his shirt and pursing his lips as he glared.
“You know I don’t like that, Acton,” he said, walking back to the table. “You don’t want me stealing Isaac’s toys again, do you?”
Acton’s eyes flicked up. He sat back in his chair. “Isaac is over what you’re doing with Kaylee. He thinks she’s in on it. He doesn’t care, and neither do I.”
“He’s smart.” Asher crossed his arms and lifted his chin, but his frown showed the dent in his ego. “Maybe I should aim higher, then.”
“Touch her, and you’ll never see it coming, Ash,” Acton said with a serious frown. “I’ll let you do it, and I’ll let you get away. I’ll wait for some day when you aren’t expecting it, when you think I’ve forgiven you, and I will skin you alive and give your hide to Isaac. He’ll probably make a quilt out of you. Then I’ll take whatever is left, and—”
“Yes, yes, I get the picture, but I hardly take it seriously. You forgave me for Delia.” Asher sat down. When Acton didn’t respond, he sat back in quiet contemplation. “But Delia was a whore. Who is Ember Gillespie to you?”
Acton closed his eyes, shaking his head. Asher was amongst the most merciful demons he had ever met; it was a subtle irony of the universe, given his sordid first life. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to kill a girl since he had turned, except for the ones that reminded him of the girl who had bitten him. He let them go. Acton had asked him why once, and he said that the guilt was too much. He saw his victims in his quiet moments, screaming, and pleading, and they haunted the faces of the living.
“She’s no one,” Acton insisted, looking sharply back at him.
Asher stared at him, and nodded. His joking smile fell into a careful expression of indifference as he slowly rose from the table. He brought his hand to his face again, and then dropped it back to his side as they both looked up to toward the stairs toward the noise. She was awake.
“Is there anything I can get for you?” Asher asked. He looked back at Acton, taking a deep breath, and trying not to shake his head. “Or for her?”
He didn’t know who Ember was to him, or why he enjoyed her so much.
“No,” he said. “Just keep Zinny away from the house today.”