Page 23 of Hale Yes
I pop a potato into my mouth, and my eyes almost roll back into my head at the salty, crispy outside and tender inside. “These fries are amazing.”
My brother lifts an eyebrow and corrects me. “They’re called chips here. This restaurant fries them in beef drippings. That’s why they’re so good.” His gaze drifts to something over my right shoulder, and his entire demeanor changes. When his brown eyes darken, so does his deep purple aura.
Ah, he’s spotted something that interests him. Or someone.
My thought is confirmed a second later when a British female voice says, “Remi! Don’t mean to geg in, but I wanted to say hi.”
Remington gives a jerk of his chin, and, like she’s been summoned, the buxom brunette rounds the table and kisses him full on the mouth. She’s wearing a short sparkly black cocktail dress with tiny ruffles at the shoulders.
My brother whispers something into her ear, and she giggles when he palms her ass right in the middle of the restaurant. He looks around her and speaks to me. “Do you mind if I have company later?”
A smirk pulls at my lips. “Not at all. I’m going to bed early tonight.”
Six hours later, I regret that permission. The woman is not quiet, and these two have been going at it for the past four hours. Four. Fucking. Hours.
After the noise finally ended and I managed a couple hours’ sleep, I’m fully dressed and making a cup of coffee in Remi’skitchen. He strolls in wearing only loose-fitting pajama pants and a road map of scratches all over his torso.
“Well,” I say dryly, “the fuckmeister has arisen.”
Unaffected by my irritated tone, he steals my coffee, adds some sugar, and takes a long sip before handing it back to me. “Sorry, I forgot how loud Aster can be.” His voice is filled with the grit of someone who got zero sleep and gives zero fucks about it.
“Are you on some kind of supplements or something, Rem? Because good god!” Seriously, I like to think I have stamina in the bedroom, but four hours nonstop?
His hair looks like a mother pterodactyl has begun building a nest in it, and he runs a hand through the dark locks, which doesn’t help. “No. I sometimes practice tantric sex. It can last a while.”
My eyebrows lift. “I’ve heard of that but haven’t looked into it much. Isn’t it where you’re looking for a deep emotional bond with someone?” Remi shrugs and turns to open the refrigerator. “So this Aster is someone important to you?”
The slam of the refrigerator door startles me, and I cup my coffee mug with both hands to steady it. Remington turns slowly, his eyes diminished to narrow lines that barely show a hint of blue iris.
“No, she’s nothing to me but a fuck. And no, I’m not playing her. Aster knows what I’m able to give and what I’m not, and she’s good with that.” He leans his shoulders back against the fridge and rubs at his chest. “I don’t get with her often because I don’t want to lead her on. Just every couple of months or so.”
I prop my ass against the countertop and take a sip of my coffee, wincing at the too-sweet taste. “Sorry, Rem. I didn’t mean to get you all riled up. I just thought the tantric stuff was something you were supposed to do with… a partner. Like a real partner you’re trying to connect with.”
His gaze falls to the wood floor, and his voice goes quiet, contemplative. “I’m trying to find something I had once. Only once.”
After a few beats of silence, I understand. “The girl you were with after Phoenix’s bachelor party.” It’s not a question because it doesn’t require an answer. I already know because all I heard for weeks afterward was about hisone perfect night.Remi nods anyway.
“Yeah, Minnie.” He shoves away from the refrigerator, the movement almost violent as he strides to the pantry door and opens it. “I’m looking for another connection like that. I remember thinking that night that being with her was almost tantric.”
What he’s looking for is dawning in my brain. “So you studied tantra so you could try and find the same thing with someone else?”
“Yes,” comes his clipped answer as he moves things around on the top shelf.
“Have you ever thought maybe it was the woman and not some arbitrary experience with a stranger that you can recreate with another person?”
Remington’s head drops, and he blows out a sigh. “Of course I have. But I can’t have her.” He turns, and his face is pinched with… pain? “Why did she leave in the middle of the night, Helix? I thought—no,I knewshe felt it too. So why?”
For five years, everyone has been focused on how that weekend changed Phoenix’s life forever, but it seems Remi was just as affected.
And if I’m being completely honest…
I was too.
CHAPTER SIX
The Birthday
Nicolette
