Page 58 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

Quinton: He did have a girlfriend. Then you came along, and he got rid of her. Simple as that.

It was not as simple as that. Good grief. I wanted to know when exactly this was and why no one had told me about it until now. It had bothered me, thinking Damien had a girlfriend. Not because I liked him overly much or even had the hots for him. It was about him saying he didn’t want me and this whole relationship with all of them would be complicated enough without one of them having a girlfriend. Even thinking it made me feel selfish.

Though, none of it really mattered at the moment. Quinton was stalling, using this as an excuse to not tell me what was really going on. And I was falling head first into his trap, falling for his tricks.

Did I want to know more about Damien’s new relationship status? Absolutely. But, I’d rather know what was going on with the search for Rain. That was more important at the moment. Besides, Abel and Addison were over and staying the night. I could ask them what was going on with Damien and they’d tell me what was going on. They might laugh at me for a while for asking but they wouldn’t try to hide the truth from me.

Quinton wanted the truth from me, but he apparently wasn’t entirely willing to give it back in return. I did not like this.

Ariel: No more bs please. I want to know what’s going on. No secrets. Remember? Not with each other.

This time, it took him a little longer to respond. I almost gave up on him and sat the phone aside. Dash and the Salt and Pepper twins were downstairs in the living room waiting for me. We had ordered pizza for dinner and were just waiting for it to be delivered. I had no idea a place would deliver all the way out here, but the guys had assured me they did because of the hefty tip Dash always gave them.

We were going to eat pizza in front of the television while watching movies the guys had picked out. The Lost Boys and SLC Punk had been mentioned so I didn’t mind them being in charge of what we watched.

They were waiting on me downstairs and I was up here with my cellphone clutched in my hands waiting for the next text message to come in. It wasn’t exactly fair to the people waiting downstairs for me. Despite this, I had an almost overwhelming urge to get in my Rover and drive over to Quinton’s house so I could be done with this nonsense and get to the bottom of what was going on. It would be a whole lot harder for Quinton to hide from me if we were face to face. Or, so I thought.

I ended up not having to go anywhere.

Quinton: No lies, no more bullshit. You’re right to call me out on it.

I let out a sigh of relief at reading his text.

Quinton: Tyson and I have been pouring through books for hours. Your texts have made for a nice distraction, but I will need to get back to it soon.

Quinton: I have no intention of giving the Council members anymore info on you than I already have at the moment. They are keeping something from me. They know more than they are saying.

Quinton: I’m gonna be honest with you, babe. The Council hiding shit about you scares me for reasons I’m not going to get into with you over the phone. It’s worse because they’re still hanging around and have refused to tell me why.

Quinton: Ty thinks he’s found a location spell but it’s not one either of us can perform. It will have to be performed by a blood relative, which would be you.

Quinton: We are going to probably be up half the night looking through my dad’s books. I want to find something that Ty and I can use. I don’t want it to have to be you who performs the spell or ritual.

Ariel: I’ll do whatever it is that I have to do to find him.

Quinton: I know and that’s a little scary.

I frowned down at my phone. That didn’t seem right. It couldn’t be that bad.

He should have been more worried about the Council and less concerned about what I was willing to do.

Ariel: Should I be worried about this business with the Council? I don’t like the thought of them knowing things about me and not being willing to share them with me.

Quinton: I have a feeling you’re going to get your shot to ask them all about it sooner than any of us would like.

Ariel: What do you think they are doing to Chucky?

Quinton: I have to get back to this. I will be over some time tomorrow to see you and go over what Ty and I find here. Enjoy your other boyfriends, babe. Tomorrow, you’re mine.

I left it alone at that. He needed to get back to work on my behalf and I needed to get back downstairs.

I was spacey all throughout dinner and both movies. My mind wasn’t ever far off from what Quinton had texted me. I was worried about the Council. The more I learned about them, which wasn’t exactly much at this point, the scarier they became.

What purpose would they have in lying about me? There wasn’t one I could figure out.

“I’m headed to bed,” Dash murmured as he pushed himself off of the couch, standing. “You don’t have to worry about keeping the noise level down. I take one of those pills and I’m dead to the world.”

He smiled at the three of us softly as the twins called out their goodbyes to him.

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