Run into the fire. Talk to Gage. That’s all that registered. I hope that wasenough.
* * *
Dudley’snot-so humble abode is festooned with enough pink and blue streamers to cover the circumference of the planet two or three times atleast.
Brielle greets me at the door and blows a paper party horn in my face while that demonic player piano Dudley has stashed in the corner goes off a million ghostly miles an hour. I don’t need to be next to it to know there’s no one in the driver’s seat—at least not anyone you cansee.
“It’s time to get your party on, Oliver!” Bree bumps her hip to mine nearly knocking me to the ground. “It’s an open bar! Let me see your ID, son.” She gives a wildcackle.
“Logan!” Chloe heads over and crashes her arms around my neck as if she’s about to plant one on me, and then without missing an erotic beat, she does justthat.
“Whoa.” I pull back and frown at the witch. “Where’s the woman of the hour?” I try to detangle myself from her, but Chloe is like a human Chinese yoyo. The harder you try to evict her, the tighter sheclings.
“Outside with Em. It seems the spirit has moved our sweet Emily, and she’s gifting those yummy prophetic treats to whoever would like one.” Chloe’s dark eyes gleam with wicked delight. “I bet she has a delicious one just for you.” Her hand glides down my back and swivels around to mycrotch.
“Nice try.” I snatch her by the wrist. “I get it. You haven’t been laid in months. Join the cold showerclub.”
Chloe relaxes her snake-like arm around me once again, resting her full weight over me. Chloe Bishop has always been a sort of inescapable hell. “I don’t see any good reason why either of us has to suffer this sorry fate.” She swings in close, her face just a breath away from mine. Her lids hood low as she sinks in closer. “And I think we can both agree the one-armed bandit doesn’t do this boiling lust inside the two of us anyjustice.”
“You know, Chloe, for once you’re right. But the answer is still a hard no.” I press past her to find a happy smattering of bodies littering the living room. Mostly people from West, and this alarms me on some level. Years after graduation and every gathering still feels like a high school reunion. But then, this is Paragon. I suppose this is the same crowd that will be gathering en mass for the next eight decades, Godwilling.
“But you’ve fucked me more than you’ve slept with anyone else on this planet.” Chloe walks backward in front of me, and I’m just counting down the seconds before she eatsit.
“That’s true. I guess I’ve never thought of it that way. But I’m more of a quality over quantity kind ofguy.”
Skyla and Gage come up, each holding a baby, Skyla with Barron—and I’m certain of this because, being the good uncle I am, I can unequivocally, and finally, tell them apart. Mostly because Barron loves to brood, and Nathan loves to flirt with Angel. And, of course, Angel is withGage.
“Daddy!” She practically leaps into myarms.
“Did you hear that?” I shout as a burst of adrenaline burns though me. “Baby girl.” I bury a kiss under her chin, and she screams with laughter. Her blonde curls tickle my cheeks, and I can’t help but nuzzle againsther.
“Angel!” Skyla looks to her with glittering eyes. “You did it! You saidDaddy!”
Barron looks to me and laughs. “Daddy!”
“Wow,” I say, laughing under my breath as Barron reaches out for me to hold him. “Looks like I’m two fortwo.”
Skyla dances back apprehensively, her eyes flitting nervously to her husband’s. “That’s the first time he’s saidthat.”
“Here.” Gage picks up Barron and places him in my other arm before shedding his signature dimples, but that smile is nothing but a mask of pain. I’ve been around him long enough toknow.
“Skyla!” Brielle calls from the back. “You’re upnext!”
“I’d better go.” Skyla wrinkles her nose before scooting to the rearyard.
The smile dissipates from my nephew’s face as soon as Skyla hits theexit.
“Sorry about that,” I offer. Gage steps in front of me, blocking my path, eating up the doorway with the wide girth of hisshoulders.
“Don’t be.” Gage closes those big blue eyes, and I’d swear on all that is holy the world just dimmed. “Logan,” he whispers my name as if he were in pain. “I love you. I need you to be here for my boys. If something should happen to me. If I turn into thatmonster.”
“You won’t. Skyla is handling the feds beautifully. You’ve got Wes on a leash. The Videns should be thrilled you’ve got their boys off thestreets.”
His jaw hardens. “There’s this shadow.” His gaze drifts off to some unknowable place as his voice reduces to a whisper. “I see it wherever Igo.”
My gut clenches tight. “Talk to your dad aboutit.”
“My dad?” He startles as if I’ve woken him from adream.
