Page 6 of Firestorm
I snorted. “She’s supposed to have been here every day this week. You’re just now noticing her absence?”
Lyla squeaked from beside me and I almost laughed. Our newest hire wasn’t used to our arguments yet. She’d been working here for two weeks and she was still terrified of Zephyr.
If only she’d seen him in his bonnet this morning, she might realize howun-scarymy brother actually was.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Zephyr sighed, sounding beyond exhausted. I would have laughed again if his exhaustion wasn’t from prowling the bars all night while I made sure everything was set in place for the café to open on time. He hadn’t seemed this tired when we had breakfast, though, come to think of it, he’d probably only been home for an hour or two.
“It means, you haven’t noticed she’s been gone, and you’re still paying her.” I replied, washing my hands in the large industrial sink we had in the kitchen. “I actually prefer it. I have way less work to do when she’s not here.”
Zephyr turned his glare on Lyla, who squeaked again as she used a bit of her air affinity to zip out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. Idried my hands before facing my brother, who stared me down with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Skye, you’re allowed to enjoy yourself.”
My jaw dropped. “What the fuck?”
“That’s what this is, isn’t it? You’re mad I go out and have a good time and you don’t?”
“Oh my God– what?” I tried not to laugh. “You’re kidding, right? I’m mad that you’re hooking up with the worst employee we have, and you keep paying her even though she sucks at her job and is hardly here now that she’s banging the boss.”
Zephyr’s shoulders hunched slightly, his nervous tell. He blew out a breath and then dropped his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she hasn’t been coming in.” he said.
I shrugged. “I have work to do, Zeph. Please don’t yell at me about how I need to get laid. That won’t solve anything, and I’m already exhausted.”
Zephyr pulled me in for a hug. I didn’t even try to fight him. “He was still in a mood?” he murmured.
I sniffed, my swollen eyes nearly numb to the sting of new tears. “He’s always in a mood with me.” I whispered.
“I love you, Skye. It’s not you. Everything will work out,” he said, squeezing me. “You never know. You may run into one of your Links and your whole life could change.”
“Ew, what the hell?” I pushed him off me while he cackled, my tears evaporating in an instant. He’d never broughtthisup before.
“What? Mom was a Key, you think you won’t be?”
I shrugged the rest of the way away from my brother, shivering.
“I certainly hope not.” I mumbled.
“You’re telling me you’ve never imagined a life with two Links, totally devoted to you? It would help us out here quite a bit.”
I shivered again.
Hellno.
The Key was always at the center of a family Chain, with different Links attached to them. Mom was a Key, barely keeping Ben and Levi in check, and that’s that she only hadtwoLinks. God forbid I havemore than that. No, I would be happy to findoneman I could tolerate, besides my brother of course.
After my affinities had awakened, our parents had made the decision not to enter either of our DNA for testing to find our Chains. It was just one more thing my affinities took from us.
Nothing was stopping us from testing now, though, including money. We had plenty. But the idea of having anyone completely devoted to me purely based on our biological compatibility rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to love whoever I wanted, regardless of what my biology decided, regardless of howperfectfor me they may be.
Zephyr was still speaking, and I’d completely zoned out.
“Anyway, I wouldn’t mind sharing with another dude or two. I know some guys get weird about it, but I totally wouldn’t, you know? I’m like, super comfortable with my sexuality. You think you’d care if there was another woman involved? As powerful as you are, I can’t imagine you not being a Key, but–”
“Ohmygod,” I groaned, almost laughing at how his statement answered my earlier thoughts. “Please, stop. There’s people at the counter.”
“Ohmygod,” he mocked me in a high-pitch, girlish voice. “Let Layla handle it.”
“Lyla,” I corrected, and Zephyr cackled again as I slipped through the kitchen door, back into the café.
