Page 22 of Bottoms Up
“Yes, but I can’t tell you who they are, for obvious reasons.”
“Someone higher than the person Bran said did my oath?”
He stared at me a few seconds, pulled his phone from his pocket, touched the screen a few times, meaning he had to search for this person in his contacts, and he put his phone to his ear.
“It’s Benjamin Clark. I’m standing here with my brother. He’s always been Jules to me, but I believe you know her as Silver?”
He listened a few seconds and handed me the phone.
“I’m guessing Benjamin wants permission to talk to you about me?” Marco asked, “Or is it you who is hoping to talk to your stepbrother?”
“I would love to be able to share what’s been going on in my life with my brother. I had no idea he knew about the supernatural world until Bran clued us in.”
“Your brother knows both me and Julian, though he only knows Julian as my assistant. Do you wish to tell him more?”
“Please.”
He was silent long enough, I thought he was going to tell me I couldn’t, but he finally said, “It looks like the two of you go on vacations together multiple times a year?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I get that you’re close and want to share what’s going on in your life with him. You have permission to share the details of my relationship with Julian, as well as yours.”
“How about…” I considered how I could ask without giving anything away. “Details about his human life?”
“As you know, this can be my decision, but give me a moment to telepath Julian.”
He was silent a good two minutes before finally saying, “Whatever you wish to speak with your brother about in regards to Julian is fine.”
“Thank you.”
“Let me speak with Benjamin again, please.”
I handed the phone back to Benji, who gave a whole bunch of answers that didn’t tell me anything, and finally tucked his phone back into his pocket. “In a nutshell, I can talk to you about personal shit, but nothing about Marco’s finances.”
“Okay, so this is going to be hours and hours of conversation, but in the short term, since Marco says you’ve met Julian, that’s who I’ve been seeing. It’s been well over a year.” I did the math in my head and shook my head. “I met him nearly two years ago, but it’s been about a year since I knew what he was, so we could see each other more than occasionally. I mostly stay at either the Beast Castle or Homewood. I don’t go home often these days.”
He hugged me, kissed my forehead, and said, “I look forward to hearing everything you want to tell me, but we should go help your friends celebrate.”
Chapter 7
Three days later
Silver
Benji and I have climbed some of the most famous rock faces on the planet, and a 5.8 route named Titties and Beer going up Looking Glass Rock in fucking North Carolina was kicking our asses.
“I understand why it’s named the world’s hardest five-eight now,” Benji told me, hanging from his rope and watching me go first on a section I wasn’t absolutely certain I was going to pull off.
“That’s what someone rated it fifty or so years ago,” I told him. “The numbers for what it actually is are all over the place, but it’s absolutely more than a five-eight.”
“Okay, so,” Benji said while he rested. “If Marco owns Julian under the normal vampire rules, with a standard slavery contract, then he isn’t actually obligated to give him a route to freedom. It’s nice of him to do so, and knowing Marco as I do, I get it. He has enough money. Even if he loses nearly all of it, he’ll still be ridiculously rich, and that’s just what I know of his assets. He values people far more than he does income — trustworthy people with a brain, that is.”
I could totally see it. “Giving Julian his freedom makes Julian loyal to him once he’s free. The more vampires who owe Marco big time, the better, right?”
“Yes. But he depends on Julian a great deal. He has, probably, a century to release or not release Julian. Vampires, especially theold ones, don’t see time the same way us mere humans do. They think in decades and centuries, where we think in weeks and months.”
“Julian says he doesn’t think things will change for the better if he’s free. He’s under Marco’s protection now, so he isn’t treated like the lowest person in the hierarchy. Also, he doesn’t have his own money, so he’ll still have to work for Marco. I mean, unless I give him money, which I’m not opposed to doing. Maybe a hundred thousand to start, see how he handles it, and then look at giving him more if he doesn’t just blow it and act stupid.”
