Page 6 of TBR: Dead But Well Read

“You’re not wrong.” I ran my thumb over the faint scratches on the table’s wooden surface. “I’m fulfilled by the work we do. Chatting with you two is more than enough socialization for me. And that’s what surprised me most at the library. I had to physically restrain myself from touching her.”

Lochlan’s laughter filled the kitchen. “Or maybe you’ve gone so long without getting your rocks off that you could barely keep it together when you met the pretty ghost girl?”

My jaw clenched at his vulgar comment, but I forced myself to relax. Loch wasn’t entirely wrong.

“It wasn’t just sexual. I wanted to touch her hair, hold her hand, stroke her cheek. It was an intense longing to be closer to her.” This time, both Loch and Ev’s eyebrows shot up nearly to their hairlines.

“She made you sentimental?” Lochlan’s jaw hung slack. “So you’re saying you didn’t want to wrap her legs around your waist, pin her against the bookshelves, and take her on the spot?”

Dropping my eyes to the table, I avoided their gazes, trying to keep them from reading the truth written across my face. I was glad the table covered my lap so they couldn’t see how a certain part of my anatomy had reacted to the mental image Loch painted.

I wanted her. Badly.

“She must be some ghost.” Ev whistled and ran his fingers through his hair. “But bro, you know we don’t have sex with ghosts. We find them, help them get to the other plane before they disintegrate, and then we feed from the energy they leave behind. Doing the deed with a ghost just isn’t part of what collectors do.”

“I know that, Ev. Believe me, I know.” Leaning back in the chair, I rubbed a hand down my face.

“Yeah. I haven’t even done a ghost,” Lochlan added, unhelpfully.

“She’s different.” I opened and closed my mouth, unable to find the words to describe the beautiful woman who’d stolen my breath. “She’s… special.”

“Then I can’t wait to meet her in the morning.” Lochlan gave me a crooked smile. “I need to see what kind of ghost can melt the heart of the ice king.”

“Don’t try me, Lochlan,” I warned, sending a blade spinning across the room to embed itself in the wooden cabinet between his legs.

Unbothered by my threat or the blade that was a mere inch from his family jewels, Lochlan laughed. “Oh, don’t look so worried, Rhodes. I won’t steal her away.” Pushing away from the counter, he headed toward the stairs, but paused and winked. “Besides, I’m fine with sharing.”

I sent a second blade singing through the air, but Loch caught it mid-air, and with a flick of his wrist, sent it flying back at me.

It was an impressive feat, and pride swelled in my chest that he was part of my circle. We were three of the most powerful collectors on earth. Even the reapers, who enjoyed messing with my species, avoided ticking my circle off.

But just because I could appreciate his abilities and trusted him to have my back in battle, it didn’t mean I wanted to share awoman with him. We’d bandaged each other’s wounds and been in countless situations where privacy wasn’t an option, which meant I could say with certainty that the male body did nothing for me. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t see any reason I’d want to share a woman with him.

“Some collectors share a wife. It isn’t unheard of,” Evander mused out loud.

“What?” Pulling my gaze from the dark stairway Loch had disappeared up, I squinted at Ev. “You’d seriously consider sharing a wife with Lochlan? With me?”

Ev shrugged. “I was raised by three dads and my mom, so the concept isn’t strange to me. But honestly, it isn’t something I’ve given much thought to. Probably because I figured Lochlan would never settle down with one woman, and I didn’t think you’d ever get a girlfriend, let alone a wife.”

Ev rarely offered personal details, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to press for more.

“Did it work for your parents?” I asked.

Ev huffed out a soft laugh. “Mostly. My three fathers had separate rooms, and my mother would alternate which room she slept in. The problem was she made no secret of the fact that she had a favorite partner and a least favorite, so two of my dads never felt as though they were equally loved by her. But they made it work.”

I’d grown up with a single mother who didn’t know who my father was, so I couldn’t imagine growing up like Ev. And knowing the extreme pressure they’d placed on him, I suspected that growing up with no dad was easier than growing up with three overbearing fathers.

“Rhodes, I’ve seen how girls look at you and Loch, and I know I can’t compete with that. But if you or Loch took a wife, and she was happier being the only woman in the house, andyou two agreed that sharing was the best for our circle, I would accept it.” Ev fiddled with the edge of his book.

“Well, I don’t think you need to worry about that. Despite what Loch says, I don’t think either of us are the sharing type. You know we’re too possessive and needy. We’d drive a woman crazy.” Standing, I made my way to the fridge and pulled out two beers. “Enough about that. I want to know if you’ve made progress figuring out why the ghosts are flocking to this city.” Grinning, Ev flipped open his notebook and began to go over the intel he’d gathered that afternoon. I sipped my beer and did my best to pay attention, but my thoughts kept drifting back to the sassy little ghost from the library.

Biting down on my tongue, I squinted and concentrated hard on the rat trap in front of me. Apparently, Bertha the librarian was up to her tricks and trying to off Wasabi.

“If we don’t get pest control to come in and take care of the problem, we’re going to have rats chewing up all our books.” Bertha tapped her fingernails on the countertop as she addressed the regional library director.

“Bertha, pest control was here three months ago, and they didn’t find any signs of rats or mice. Are you positive you saw a rat in the break room? Maybe it was just a dust bunny that got stirred up by a draft?” To her credit, the director was trying her best to be patient.

The director had arrived that morning to do her bi-weekly check-in at our branch, and like every other visit for the past six months, Bertha was determined to convince her we had a rat infestation. Except we didn’t.

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