Page 37 of Black Curtain

The pain was getting worse.

Maybe for both of us. Definitely for me.

I was in a hell of a lot of pain.

I was in so much separation pain, it was actually making me unstable.

It was affecting my mind.

“Yeah, I know.” Black’s voice rumbled low, deep, intense in that way that drove me crazy. “And no. It’s not just you. It’s both of us. It’s not just the wedding, either. It’s everything. It’s our light being ripped apart and put back together again. It’s that Dragon and Tortoise thing being gone. It’s Charles’ construct being gone. It’s those dark rituals stopping. It’s all of our friends’ lights hovering over us protectively. It’severything,doc.”

I didn’t ask him to elaborate on any of that.

I didn’t need the details in terms of how each of those things affected us.

I could feel what he was talking about.

“We’ll fix it,” he said, holding me tighter.

He pressed his lower body into me, and the pain grew so bad, I closed my eyes.

“I’m really looking forward to fixing that, doc,” he murmured in my ear. “There’s a lot of full-on re-bonding we need to do.”

“Fiji, right?” I asked, speaking as softly as him. “We’re going to Fiji?”

“Yes. That’s what I told the pilot. Isn’t that where you wanted to go? I thought we could go there for a while, then go to the Maldives maybe, if you want a change of scenery… I have a few places on the list.” He leaned closer to my ear, kissing me with his tongue. “A few are surprises. So don’t ask.”

I smiled, pressing against him.

Without loosening his hold on me, he raised his head.

“Who the fuck are we waiting on?” he growled, loud enough to make me jump. “Who hasn’t eaten their goddamned cake yet?”

From the nearby deck chairs, Yarli laughed.

“Boss is getting horny,” she joked. “Check him out…”

“Who are we waiting on, sister?” Black lowered his voice only a little. If anything, it sounded even angrier than before. “Who is it? Who’s holding this up?”

There was a pause.

Looking at Yarli, I realized she was checking, either using her seer’s sight or maybe talking on her headset. I watched her nod, as if forgetting whoever she was speaking to wasn’t standing right in front of her.

She looked up at Black.

“Nick,” she said. “Also Dex. Oh, and Kiko and Jem, but apparently that’s only because they plan to eat theirs at the same time. They said those last two were in the kitchen, waiting for the word from Nick on when to begin.”

There was a silence.

I felt Black scowl, even before he spoke.

“Tell them to hurry the fuck up!” he growled.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“They’ve been told,” Yarli said, rolling her eyes at Black before winking at me. “Nick and Dex are having some kind of staring contest, apparently. We were just trying to decide if we should send Jem up there to deal with them… or maybe Kiko… or maybe Kiko and Jem… or maybe Jax and Kiko and Jem, since apparently both Nick and Jax are having jealousy fits whenever Kiko and Jem look at one another for more than three seconds. Both are apparently ‘already annoyed’ because Jem and Kiko are alone in the kitchen together, even though it’s Nick’s own damned fault––”

I snorted another laugh.

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