Page 114 of Changeling
Sasha gaped and hung onto Nathan by the shoulders. “Am I okay? Nathan, you were shaking and screaming and… What the hell does it matter ifI’mokay?”
“You said…worst hangover ever, right?” Nathan shrugged. “Just wanna be sure you’re not gonna puke all over me suddenly.” He gave a little push at Sasha’s chest and a small bit of the tension drained away.
“I’m fine,” Sasha said. “I can handle a little nausea. Now why don’t we get you into a hot shower or something, okay? You’re still shaking and your skin is freezing.”
“Trying to get me into the shower already, are ya? Horny freak.”
“Nathan,” Sasha said in a gauging, tender voice, “do you want to…tell me about it? What he said? What he…did to you to make you react like that?”
It sounded like Sasha was trying to coax out a confession of Nathan having been violated, though he supposed on several levels that was exactly what had happened. But he said, “Not really,” hoping he could get across that he justcouldn’tright now, even though he didn’t want to hurt Sasha’s feelings by keeping quiet.
“Okay.”
Nathan looked up into those cobalt eyes and smiled gratefully. “I’ll never let him touch you,” he promised with the sharpness of both love and anger on his tongue.
“I know,” the incubus said, cupping Nathan’s cheek. “Now come on. I need that hot shower too, and we want an early start, don’t we?”
“Definitely. And hey,” Nathan couldn’t help grinning, this time for real, “somebody’s gonna have to go wake up Jim.”
Itwasstillridiculouslyearly when Nathan walked up to Jim’s motel room door. Breakfast had started in the little motel nook that served continental and Sasha had grudgingly gone ahead to make sure there was actually some coffee brewing.
Nothing could wipe the smirk from Nathan’s face as he raised a hand to knock, not even the lingering shuddery feeling left over from Malak’s visit. Nathan was quite surprised though that after only two swift knocks, a couple moments was all it took before Jim opened the door.
He looked much as Sasha had, worn and drawn like he hadn’t really slept. “Nathan,” Jim said, maybe mildly surprised, “if this is my wake-up call, I’ll be down in a couple minutes.” He then moved to promptly shut the door.
Nathan wedged his foot just enough to keep the door open, much to Jim’s obvious annoyance. He couldn’t see into the room, which still seemed to be dark, but he could tell by Jim’s demeanor that the twins had to still be in there. “Not so fast, Quick Draw, I’m just checking up on you. Sasha’s got one hell of an energy hangover. You?”
Jim’s deep blue gaze eyed Nathan for a minute, unreadable and guarded. “Uhhh…yeah, I guess. Sure.”
Nathan frowned. “What’s going on? You better not have ditched the girls and slept alone or I might just have to kick your ass for being the biggest damn idiot on the planet.” He knew when there was something off with his brother, and either Jim didn’t have the same hangover as Sasha, which was possible, or he was too preoccupied with something else.
“Jim,” Nathan pressed, pushing on the door to get Jim to stop hiding behind it.
Jim allowed the simple action, but he still scowled. “No, Nate. I didn’t sleep alone,” he all but growled even as the unmistakable sight of the twins still in bed materialized behind Jim in the darkness when the door swung open a little, “but I also didn’t have sex with them. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“You didn’t? Why the hell not?”
“Because when we got back here, wetalked, and I told them about Alex, and they…said they couldn’t.”
Nathan blinked dumbly at him.
With an exaggerated sigh, Jim stepped out of his room, nearly closing the door completely behind him, and got right in Nathan’s face. “They said it wasn’t right to take advantage of me when I was in love with someone else, that I’d regret it and lookback wishing it had been Alex. And they were right. So we just went to sleep.”
Nathan let the explanation wash over him. “So…does that mean you’re going to get your act together forAlex, because if you missed out on twins for nothing…” Then Nathan grinned and poked Jim in the stomach, understanding his irritation—he’d probably been up all night thinking about Alex and didn’t know what to do. “Maybe we need to make a detour before we track down our next sidhe.”
“Nathan…” Jim looked away, hiding a blush.
“Why don’t you wake them up,” Nathan said, patting Jim’s arm supportively. “Maybe they’ll share some crappy hotel breakfast with us before we go.”
Any remaining anger on Jim’s face melted into mild annoyance which then quickly morphed into a look of something like gratefulness. “Yeah. I’m sure they’d really like that.”
In fact the twins were practically too bouncy and energized to be contained. Nathan couldn’t understand how they had gone from being totally out on Jim’s bed to being awake and ready—granted, in their clothes from last night—like they couldn’t wait to start the day.
“You boys are a bunch of laughs,” Attoinette giggled. “I wouldn’t want to get all caught up in a hunt for sidhe or anything like Cam did, but joining you for the after party’s great. Of course don’t you think for one second we wouldn’t come running if you called and needed our help. We still pack a pretty mean punch, you know.” She winked.
“Keep in touch, Sash,” Epica added, giving Sasha a firm smack on the back.
They saw the twins off after breakfast, saying quick but thoughtful goodbyes. Though Nathan could have sworn Epica shot Jim a look that was all longing and regret, regardless of the twins being supportive about Alex.
