Page 25 of Changeling
Charis laughed—a shy giggle. “You too. I almost didn’t recognize you. The hair gave you away though.” She smirked a little as a hand came up to brush through Sasha’s Crayola red locks.
Their smiles were so affectionate toward each other that Nathan felt his jaw unintentionally clench. He hated being on the inside of the booth, blocked off by Jim. “Hey,” he said, and Sasha and the girl turned to him. “Introductions might be nice.”
“Oh, uhh…right,” Sasha smiled sheepishly, like maybe he had forgotten Nathan and Jim were there. “Nathan, Jim, this is Charis. We grew up together.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jim said with genuine friendliness. “Charis, huh? That’s an interesting name.”
Charis’ smile flashed a little wider. “It’s for Charismatic. I think my parents were being wishful thinkers.”
Jim returned her smile and gave a polite chuckle. “I get the feeling you’re probably being modest.”
“Sort of goes with the territory being asuccubus, right?” Nathan chimed in, noting how startled Charis looked upon hearing that he knew what she was. “Unless there’s some incubus/succubus transvestite thing I’m not aware of.” Nathanimmediately felt Jim’s foot stomp down onto his, and he turned a ready glare on his brother in rebuke.
“What he means is,” Sasha said, before turning back to Charis, “well, before I…I thought I sensed anincubus.”
Charis’ expression maintained its look of unease and her eyes darted from the brothers back to Sasha like she had something to say but wasn’t sure how to word it.
Then a new voice sounded close beside their booth, this one undeniably male. “Youdid,” it said, fiercely low and not at all pleasant.
Nathan saw an arm reach for Charis before he saw the whole man, and when this new stranger stepped forward, jerking Charis away from Sasha to rest securely and possessively against him instead, Nathan knew to be worried.
A quick glance at Sasha confirmed that thought; the redhead looked downright scared now. “Lin…”
Nathan eyed this newcomer and would have laughed if the air wasn’t so thick with tension. The guy looked that same end-all incubus age of twenty-five, but he had white hair—not platinum,white. The hair was longer than Sasha’s, though not quite as shaggy as Jim’s, and his eyes were an angry, intense green. It made Nathan think of nuclear waste or acid. The guy’s expression sure was acidic enough.
“Lindsey, please,” Charis said, turning in her companion’s hold to stare at him beseechingly. He ignored her and kept his eyes dead-centered on Sasha. Nathan almost expected to start picking up on the sounds of growling.
“Okay…” Nathan said, holding up his hands in hopes of deflating things before this guy threw any punches which, for some reason, he looked very close to doing. “Nobody wants a fight here. Why don’t we all just stay calm and—”
“Stay out of it!” the white-haired incubus snarled at Nathan, more than just growling but flashing red eyes and fangs for amoment too. Nathan felt something like fear climb up the back of his neck. He’d be damned if he’d show it though.
Charis was still trying to calm her…well, Nathan assumed Lindsey was more than just her friend. “Lindsey…” she implored again, a hand pressed gently to his chest. “After all this time—”
“Don’t you even begin to defend him,” Lindsey said, his almost neon green eyes looking down on Sasha with revulsion. Looking downliterally, Nathan realized, because Lindsey was just as trim as Sasha but he was at least a couple inches taller. “Sitting here with otherseals, no doubt.”
"Hey, we're not—" Nathan tried, but Lindsey flashed him another glare.
With an arm around Charis, tight in his claim over her, Lindsey snarled one final blow at Sasha before walking away. “Traitor.”
Charis looked back in apology as they left, but she still went with him.
As angry as Nathan was at the encounter, he realized that what bothered him the most was how Sasha had just stood there. Not once had Sasha raised his voice to defend himself. Instead, he had kept his head lowered like a child being scolded, as if he believed he deserved that treatment.
Nathan might have let his anger show if it weren’t for the way Sasha's brilliant blue eyes were swimming. “Hey…” he prompted since Sasha was just standing beside their booth, staring at nothing. He waited a moment for Sasha to turn to him, but when that didn’t happen, he hip-checked Jim in an effort to get out of the booth.
Once they were both on their feet next to Sasha, Nathan forced a smile and said, “So who was that asshole, huh?”
That at least got Sasha to raise his head, but he didn’t look at either of the brothers. A sickly smile crossed his face like he was trying so hard not to cry. It broke Nathan’s heart to hearan exhaled false laugh before Sasha finally said, “My best friend. I need to, uhh…I-I’m just going to…” He trailed, and before Nathan could think of anything to say, Sasha bolted for the bathroom.
“Sasha!” Jim called as the redhead hurried off. He turned back to Nathan almost immediately, expectant.
Nathan pushed Jim in the direction of the bathroom. “Go check on him.”
An almost painful grip took hold of Nathan’s arm before he could take two steps toward the main door. “What areyougoing to do?”
Nathan shrugged, only turning to face Jim halfway. “Just thought I’d get some air.”
“Nathan…”
