Page 61 of Mitchell
"That explains a lot." Mitchell smiled at Raylee, who was almost as pretty as Seryn, although no one would ever rival him in Mitchell's mind. "It's okay to let yourself worry. Perfectly natural."
"You don't seem worried about Seryn." Raylee sat up. "I'm getting all sweaty."
Jude shook his head and rolled his eyes, but said nothing or moved even a little. He'd be asleep inside of twenty minutes if Mitchell didn't watch him.
"It's Seryn." Mitchell pointed to Jude. "Don't fall asleep there. You'll get burned."
Jude huffed but sat up, putting his arms around Raylee. "Wanna make out in the pool?"
"In front of your brother?" Raylee shook his head.
"I've seen him do worse." Mitchell knew he'd said the wrong thing when Jude's eyes grew round and he shook his head, mouthing the wordjealous. "Not much worse, though."
Raylee turned to try to glance at Jude, but Jude held him tighter and chuckled. "Put the green monster away, pretty. I love you so much it physically hurts sometimes."
"I love you too." Raylee sounded so put out it was almost comical.
Jude stood. "I'm going into the pool. Are you coming?"
"In a second, I want to ask your brother a question."
Jude stood behind Raylee, shaking his head and pointing to himself in a ‘don't say shit about me’ gesture. And then he faked stabbed himself in the chest and then pointed to Raylee. Raylee might be almost as pretty as Seryn, but that's where anysimilarity ended. Raylee was about as innocent as they came. Angelic even.
Mitchell waved Jude off and smiled at Raylee.
Jude was the type to just dive into the deep end without letting himself get acclimated, so Mitchell wasn't surprised when he practically cannon balled into the water and then yelled how cold it was afterward.
"Idiot." Mitchell called after him when Jude stopped making so much noise.
Jude flipped him off and swam around.
Raylee smiled at Jude. "He's happier with you home."
"I'm happy with him close by too." Mitchell didn't want to explain how it felt those months they were separated. It was like severing a limb. "He's more like my kid."
"I can tell. You talk to him the way my dad does me."
"I won't be separated from him again. If that's what your question was about."
Raylee shook his head. "No. It was about Seryn. You're really not worried about him?"
"Not in the way you mean." Mitchell was worried Seryn would have visions in rapid number, but he didn't want to share that with Raylee. The visions were between them. No one else needed to know about them. He knew Seryn felt the same way. "He's more capable of taking care of himself than anyone I've ever met in my life, and I've fought in underground rings."
Raylee's eyes widened. "What's an underground ring?"
"Like a fighting ring, but it's until someone taps out. The winner gets money." Mitchell had doubled down when he was fighting by choice. He always bet on himself.
"And you did this to get money."
"To feed and shelter Jude." And himself, but he wouldn't have put himself through that if he didn't have to make sure Jude'sneeds were met. Sleeping in a box had been better than getting punched on a regular basis.
"What about you? What's your story?"
"Mine is way more boring than yours." Raylee waved him off.
"Don't mistake difficult with exciting. Those things aren't the same."
"I'm not." Raylee said it quickly, but then he stopped speaking as if thinking about it. "Okay, maybe I did. Sorry. I'll rephrase. My life has been good–normal, kinda."
