Page 51 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn
“No buts. We should have talked about this sooner.” His hands rubbed slow circles over his dancing belly as he considered this was his fault when he’d not wanted to admit he couldn’t do itall. “Is there anyone here you’d trust—besides Calvert—to do my role?”
“If you are asking, then you know we don’t.” Calvert was the one to answer. “Let’s reduce the number of tastings and see what happens. Maybe the three of us could pick up the slack for now, until Ledger decides what he wants to do after the girl's birth.”
It was sensible, if they all discounted Dacian’s hatred—something Ledger had discovered when he’d asked him to step in once—of answering inane questions about his wines. His words, only he’d added several profanities when he’d come to find Ledger and advise him that he wasn’t doing it again. “Dacian won’t want to pitch in.”
Calvert shrugged off Ledger’s concerns. “He’ll do it, so don’t concern yourself about him.”
Ledger was grateful to Calvert for saying it, but making it happen was another thing. He’d been around the brothers for nearly a year and had gotten clued in to how Dacian worked. His decisions were his own.
“If you say so.”
Thorn crouched in front of him. “We worked it out before, Sweetling. We can do it again.”
They had, he got it. But a part of him wanted to feel needed. It might be stupid, but there it was. He didn’t want to quit his job. He loved doing it. Except working full time with twins wasn’t something he wanted to do either. The conflict was real when he had no clue how he would feel once he held the girls in his arms.
You don’t have to decide right now, Sweetling. You can have all the time you need.
It just doesn’t seem fair.
Maybe not, but honestly, what’s important right now is you taking care of yourself. You’re tired, and it’s hard standing for hours.
“I’ll leave you to finish this conversation.” Calvert rose and laid a hand on Ledger’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “It’ll all work out, you’ll see.” He gave Thorn a look that Ledger had no way of interpreting before he walked off.
“What was that look about?” he asked, staring after Calvert.
“What look?”
Thorn’s reply held no infliction and Ledger glanced at him, head tilting as he observed his mate, searching for what he was missing when he felt the wall between them. “The look that Calvert gave you to suggest he had a problem with something.” He was fishing.
His mate was good though, and shook his head not quite meeting Ledger’s gaze, it being somewhere around Ledger’s nose. “I’m pregnant, not blind or stupid. What gives?”
“Calvert is jealous.”
Ledger jerked in the seat, nearly bobbing heads with Thorn as he came forward, only his belly stopping him. “Jealous? Jealous of what?”
“Us.”
It was so unexpected, the truth threw Ledger. He didn’t know how to respond to that.
Calvert had bed partners; he was aware of that. Thorn and Dacian had made reference once or twice about sound proofing the house when Ledger raised the concern about them hearing the babies cry. It seemed Calvert liked to get loud with his bed partners.
It wasn’t something Ledger wanted to give any thought to. Only now he was thinking about it. About the last time there was any mention of anyone staying overnight in Calvert’s suite. He couldn’t remember the last time. Which, given his brain had become a sieve, wasn’t surprising.
Does he want a mate?He kept the conversation private, unsure how far Calvert had gone.
I didn’t think so, but it seems he does now I have you.
Has he looked… in fact, did any of you look?
It was like a foreign concept that we were aware of but never really considered could happen to us, I suppose.
Ledger felt Thorn consider his question seriously as he worked to follow his thoughts.
We were aware vampires had dhampirs, of course. But you must consider, they were all female, or that we knew about. As we’re all gay, I suppose none of us thought Fate would have considered us in the mix.
An ache developed in the center of Ledger’s chest and he wasn’t sure if the emotions he felt were all his with how Thorn looked right then. His expression was grim when he glanced at where his brother had gone.
“How sad.”
