Page 39 of Awakened and Betrayed
He tilts his head from side to side as he takes me in, making a show of contemplating Ryker’s questions. “Yup, she’s happy-pie drunk. I’d say it’s a pretty severe case of the mellows we’ve got on our hands.”
I laugh and elbow them both as I shovel the last of the piece of pie into my greedy mouth. I hum my approval and wonder if I’m close enough with their family to be able to unbutton my pants and let my food baby out in all its glory.
“No wonder you and your brothers are so massive, with food like that, you’d have to spend all day in the gym just to work the calories off of one meal.”
Ryker and Knox chuckle, and I kick my legs out getting as comfortable in my chair as I can. I look around us to make sure no one is paying attention to us and dive into the question that’s been eating at me since I met the family.
“So, don’t judge me too much, but how did it slip past me that you guys are brothers?” I ask, dropping my voice to almost a whisper.
Ryker smiles sweetly at me and chuckles as he shakes his head. “We’re not related. We’re brothers by soul and circumstance, but not blood.”
He and Knox touch knuckles, and I wrinkle my eyebrows in confusion. Ryker pulls me into him and sweetly kisses my furrowed brow.
“My mom and one of my dads died in an accident when I was four; she was pregnant,” he starts. “My two other dads didn’t take it well. One left Solace for reasons unknown to me, and my sole remaining parent just didn’t really know what to do with me. He tried, in his own way, but he was depressed and had lost so much. Unfortunately, it seemed to break him in a way that he just couldn’t come back from.”
I lean towards Ryker, drawn to the hurt that I hear just under the casual words of his story. I know what it’s like to talk about something like it’s normal, because it is normal to you, and yet you know the wrongness of it, feel the ache of it, in a way that can never be undone.
“I was seven when the elders rescinded my father’s claim on me. I was friends with Knox through school, but we never had any contact outside of classes because of my home issues. But when I needed a place to go, they stepped up and asked to be given guardianship. I’ve been with them ever since. Reese is my mom, and they are my dads in every way, aside from biologically.”
“Do you see that dad at all, the one who stayed?” I ask hesitantly.
Ryker’s eyes drop from mine for the briefest of seconds, and when he looks back up, I fall into the depths of his blue-tinged pain.
“He killed himself a couple of weeks after he lost me.”
I’m up and out of my chair before I even know what I’m doing. I move into his lap, and he pulls me into him and secures me there.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper to him, and the words are filled with all the ways that I wish I could take the hurt away.
He gives me a small smile, the broken kind you give when nothing can be done or said to change the fucked up shit in your life, so you try to dismiss it and tuck the pain back into yourself. I know that smile. I give it every time I talk about Beth, or Laiken...and now, Talon. It’s the smile that gives the others that know it a peek at the scars you wear on the inside. I hate that he wears this smile.
I smooth back his almost shoulder-length blond hair from his face. I run my fingers through the soft strands and wish I could say something that would make this better. But I know that words can never smooth away the gouges that life gives us. I lean in and claim his lips. Gently, and purposefully, I let my kiss tell him how incredible I think he is and how much better he deserved from life. It’s not enough, but it’s all I have to give; it’s all I have to show him, that I’ll care for his heart and soul and treasure him the way he always should have been.
Ryker’s hands run up my back, caging me in and keeping me from moving too far away as I pull my lips from his. He gives me another smile, and this one radiates happiness and appreciation. I vow to myself that whenever that broken smile returns, I’ll do everything I can to fight forthissmile instead. Knox clears his throat, and I look over to him, realizing that Ryker and I, at some point, have acquired an audience. Reese is cuddled up to the side of dad three, but the whole family is looking at me and smiling in a way I can’t interpret.
I give them an awkward close-lipped grin and a weird wave, not sure what else to do. Ryker chuckles and Knox comes to my rescue.
“So, uh, should we play some music or something?” he asks, that cheeky twinkle I love in his eyes.
His words must be laced with magic because they pull everyone out of their fixation on Ryker and me. Skylar—the other pie toting female caster, and Kace’s mate—starts clapping and begging Knox and Ryker to play Photograph. She comes over and grabs my hand, pulling me away from the guys and down into a seat next to her.
“Have you seen them play together yet?” she asks me, her excitement contagious.
“No, but I’ve been told they’re both amazing.”
“It’s like having Ed Sheeran himself give you a private concert. I can’t wait to see your face when you hear Knox and the others. It’s my favorite part of family get-togethers!”
Skylar lets out an adorable squeal of excitement and keeps a firm grip on my hand. I laugh as she bounces in her chair, and Reese walks over and claims the chair on the other side of me. Kiere comes from the house and hands Ryker an acoustic guitar, and then he proceeds to sit down on a white wooden box next to Knox. Ryker pulls a pick out of the strings and plays a cord before adjusting the tuning of the instrument. When he finds the sound that he’s looking for, he gives Knox a nod and then starts to play.
I don’t recognize the song until the first line of lyrics flow out of Knox. My mouth falls open of its own volition, and I’m completely blown away by the incredible voice pouring out of Knox. Skylar giggles and I can feel her eyes on me, but I can’t take mine off of Knox and Ryker. Ryker plays like he was made for it. There’s soul in Knox’s voice, smooth, silky tones touched by a hint of grit. He’s incredible.
One is the perfect complement to the other’s talent. Just when I think it can’t get any better, Kiere starts pounding a rhythm into the box that he’s sitting on and it takes the song to a whole other level. Knox’s voice goes up, and Kace starts singing, his lower tone creating a perfect harmony with Knox, and goosebumps rise from my skin.
They sing and play together, and I’m now in complete agreement with Skylar, this is my new favorite part of family night. The song ends, and she turns to me, expectantly.
“Incredible, right?”
“Understatement of the century, I definitely owe Knox my panties now,” I mumble, and she breaks into a fit of laughter.
