Page 100 of Living Legend

“He just gave me a weird vibe, that's all. I’m allowed to make judgment calls.”

I looked back towards the photos. “That you are, and you probably made a good one, because we don’t know what any of those fuckers are capable of…at least not officially.”

I heard movement behind me and feet shuffling. His presence next to me was like a powerful cloud I could stand in for hours. He was calmer right now than I had ever seen him, but it was more than his relaxed clothing or the way he casually stood near me. It was the way his body seemed to be less overwhelmed with the circumstances we found ourselves in. He was home, in a place where he always knew he would be forever safe, and I envied him. Fuck, did I envy him.

I started scanning the photos again, watching as Nicholas grew up and gazing at the way his father grew up right along with him. Maurice Cassial was certainly the kind of man who aged like fine wine. There was a photo of him holding his son over his shoulders and you could just tell that Nicholas would end up looking just like his father. Their smiles made my lips perk up. “Your dad is hot.”

Nicholas groaned against the lip of his bottle.

“I’m sure you’ve had to deal with girls throwing their pussies at you dad your whole life,” I giggled.

“Gross. Okay, the main rule for staying here is you can’t use pussy and my dad in the same sentence.Please.”

I waved my hand at him, focusing on the row of pictures again. I stopped at one that hadhim and his dad, but also a woman who hadn’t shown up in the photos until now. I quickly looked down to the other photos and saw she was in three or four, but that was it. The rest were of Nicholas alone or included his dad or Reese or other people involved in his life. I plucked the photo from the mantle and traced my fingers along the glass frame. The woman had her arms wrapped around Nicholas from the back, laying her head on his shoulder. Her strawberry blonde hair flowed around her face in waves and cascaded down his tiny shoulders. They looked as if they had been giggling right before the photo was taken. She had happiness in her eyes and the way she hugged him was so loving and protective. “Is this your mother?”

Nicholas pushed his tongue out to swipe at his bottom lip. He nodded.

“She’s beautiful.”

He took the photo from me and stared at it, like he was trying to burn a hole through the frame, the glass, the photo itself. I thought back to our first meeting with Natalia, the way Nicholas seemed to tense but then dismissed any acknowledgement of his mother.

“What happened to her?”

He pressed his lips together for a moment as if thinking of what to say, but he didn’t have an answer, so he just blew out a breath. “I don’t know.”

“Does your father?”

“He doesn’t love talking about her and I don’t push. She left when I was little, so that’s all I know and all I need to know.”

I watched him look at the photo one more time before he placed it back on the mantle. I clucked my tongue. “I assume you don’t know why she left?” I glanced back over to the photo. She looked way too happy with her son to have any reason to leave.

“Nope.”

“Is she the reason why your dad left The Skies?”

Nicholas looked down at me, his tall frame hovering over me. The lightning that lit up the dark night outside the window behind him sent a temporary glow around his body. “No, he had already left before they got married and had me.” He gave me skeptical look. “How did you know he left The Skies?”

I shrugged before leaning in closer. “I have a feeling you got your fighting skills from your dad, so he must have been great. Why isn’t he still there, swinging a sword around? Ariel, Jonah, and the rest of them are still there. Unless your father left with your mom or something. Logical reasoning.”

Nicholas pulled his eyebrows down as if considering this. “Hmph, well, I don’t know. He just always told me he left for his own reasons. You may come to learn that you don’t push someone like my father because it will get you nowhere and you’ll just end up exhausted.”

“Does Jonah have anything to do with her?” I pressed, nodding towards the photo of his mother.

“You are full of questions tonight. Maybe it’s time we both go to bed,” Nicholas said, draining the beer and leaning down to place it on the coffee table.

“You literally aired your dirty laundry in that meeting before shit went down.”

“I absolutely did not.” His biceps flexed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Oh, come on, you asked Jonah if any of this had to do with your mom. Maybe your father should know about that.”

“Maybe you should stop talking about things you know nothing about.” He said it so matter of factly, I looked directly at him. This was actually something he didn’t want to banter about. I moved my weight to each of my feet, trying to find something to say.

He pressed his palm to the back of his neck, sliding it back and forth. “Sorry. This is just a lot for one day. Not to mention the fact that I have no idea if my best friend is still hanging in there after spending almost a whole day in close proximity with Elise.” He tilted his head to the side and smiled at me.

I playfully shoved his shoulder and shook my head. “She isn’t as bad as you think.”

He nudged one shoulder up to saywhatever. The silence surrounded us like a massive blanket, almost suffocating. I didn’t want to leave for bed like this. I had let our time together in the training room slide because I wasn’t the sentimental sex type. I believed that, male or female, anyone should be able to fuck and fuck without consequences, but this—whatever this was— was begging to be poked like a sleeping bear. I took a step towards him and then another. I saw the hairs on his arms begin to stand up a bit and the pulse in his neck pushed out harder. “You really don’t have to sleep on the couch, you know. I feel bad.”

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