Page 92 of White Raven
“Welcome. Now, is somebody gonna tell me what the fuck I missed? Rhaena’s pregnant? And when did her and Kane…um…” He tread carefully, running a hand through his hair. Sarah was obviously upset, and he wasn’t trying to pull his usual Brent Stratford short straw and fuck everything up past the point of being salvageable.
“It was before we were together. While it doesn’t make me leap for joy, I can’t exactly be pissed at him for it. I was still with you then, too.”
“That’s my argument,” Wren piped in. “He might have kept that little tidbit from you, but to be fair…I don’t think he really owed you that when you were still in a relationship.”
“Fine. I’ll give him that,” Sarah argued, gathering noodles with her chopsticks. “But the fact that it’s now put us all in a precarious situation, and he decided it was betternotto share that with me? That’s a fucking problem.”
He understood it now. And damn, it was a mess. But the deeper parts of him also understood what they couldn’t. Athan might be a vampire, but he was also a man. A man that, as surprising as it was, had put his personal feelings for Brent aside on more than one occasion to relate to human emotion. He’d been there when he didn’t have to be. And Athan probably woulddeny it, but not all of those instances were on Sarah’s behalf. Guy code suggested that Athan deserved the same courtesy.
“I feel like, as weird as it is…I need to come to bat for Kane here,” Brent offered, scratching the back of his neck when Sarah glared at him with a mouthful of Chow Mein. “I know I’m outnumbered, and if you two wanna give me hot oil, or the rack for this, then I guess I’ll accept that. But women are fucking terrifying. I understand my track record for honesty isn’t great, but I had a reason for it. I went up against Athan at the precinct that day in a rage for something I didn’t understand at the time.”
“What’s your point?” Sarah asked, pursing her lips.
“My point is…now Idounderstand. And while you and Athan might live longer than us, I understand more now, than I ever did about how short life is, and how we should be living it differently.” His hand involuntarily rested on his lower abdomen where a scar now sat as a constant reminder of how close he came to death. “So, he made a mistake, Sarah. He’s wigging out. That’s scary enough without having to figure out a way to tell you that the two of you might be spending aneternityin that ‘precarious situation’…not a short life.”
Sarah’s shoulders sagged, and Wren smiled at him, raising an eyebrow as if she were surprised to hear a response like that in Athan’s defense. She seemed…proud.
“I’m not saying that what you’re trying to tell me doesn’t make sense, Brent. And I appreciate what you’re trying to do. But he promised me that honesty. What he kept from me before was hard enough for me to accept. Starting a marriage? We can’t do that this way. No matter how scary it is, or how much it might hurt. The fact that nobody seems to feel like I’m deserving of the fucking truth makes me want to rip throats out.”
“What did you tell me in the alley?” Wren cut in. “You asked me what my relationship was worth to me. Asked if I’d be willing to lose this fool over here, to the publicity?”
Brent smirked, snorting.
“I told you no. Now you’re gonna have to ask yourself the same thing. You know Blood Daddy worships the quicksand you walk on, Sarah. He’s scared. Men don’t ask for support. I wouldn’t give it even if they fucking did, but that’s just me.”
“Sometimes the mask doesn’t cover everything, Sarah.” Brent reached an arm around Wren, pulling her close. “How many times did you believe me when I told you I was fine after all this shit with my dad?”
She shifted on the couch and blew out a long breath. “Athan said as much the day we dropped you off from the hospital. We knew you weren’t okay.”
As much as he always wanted to hate Athan Kane, the dude just gets it. He offered words when they were needed and shut his mouth when they weren’t. But he couldn’t remember a single time—even when they battled it out—that he’d been wrong. So then…who was going to be there forhim, when he needed it? And why did it still seem so fucking crazy to believe that person was his…fiancé’sex-fiancé?
“Take some time to calm down. Is it safe to assume you’re staying here tonight?” Brent asked, raising up from the couch and taking Wren’s plate.
“Yeah,” Sarah replied, handing hers over to him.
“Well,” he shrugged. “Then I guess that means I’ll have to activate bro code.”
Wren nearly spit out her soda. “I’m sorry…what the fuck did you just say?”
“I think he said bro code,” Sarah laughed.
Wren’s finger followed him all the way to the kitchen. “Don’t ever use that phrase again, Stratford. Not unless you’re interested in finding out what a chastity belt is for.”
“I’ll assume it’s not for strapping me to a bedpost?” he winked as he grabbed his coat off the kitchen chair.
“Where are you going?” Sarah asked.
He zipped his jacket up and peeked around the breakfast nook. “Your place. I might be the last one he wants to see, but…he needs a brother tonight.”
The look on Wren’s face was enough to run him through. If they’d been alone, he was sure she’d have him stark naked. He must have finally said something right. Sarah looked like she was about to cry and got up from the couch as he started for the door.
“You don’t have to do this for me,” she said, tugging his elbow.
“I’m not. Not really. Don’t take that the wrong way, Sarah. You know I’ll always care about you, but Athan…he’s a decent guy. Whether he wants to admit it or not. We all fuck up. God knows I’m the poster child for that shit. But I owe him. You know I do. He shouldn’t be by himself.”
She smiled softly and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Yeah…” His mouth curled in the corner, and he turned away, unlocking the door and jumping when he saw a raised fist, ready to knock as he opened it. “Holy shit!”
