I wanted to roll my eyes at it all, a feast I was sure would not be completely eaten, but when the bosses started to compliment her food and she turned a cute shade of pink, I couldn’t fault her for it.
Syris grabbed Lisa’s hand on her way back into the kitchen. “Darling, come with me. Leave this silly little place and come to New York. You would be revered as a culinary goddess among us. I would turn into a fat and happy man with you cooking all my meals and snacks. I promise, you will be cherished beyond belief.” Syris eyed my dad, a twinkle in his eye before he focused back on Lisa.
She blushed, of course, never getting that kind of declaration from my dad, but she shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, Mr. Glovefox, but I am quite happy in the Desmond house.” My dad smirked at Syris as he continued to eat his blood jam toast.
“How about an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy? Two weeks of wine and food being served to you like a queen.” Syris was pulling out the big guns.
My dad’s smirk fell as Lisa’s eyes widened, and she stumbled over her words. “M-Mr. Glovefox, I really...” She shook her head, but her eyes said she knew it was a good perk. Then her eyes flicked to Cosmo and me, and her smile softened as her voice grew firm. “I really am happy at the Desmond house. They are my family.” She paused as her eyes got a glint of mischief. “Plus, if I leave Miss Rayla and Mr. Cosmo, they will just eat tubs of ice cream all day, and that’s not a proper meal for them. They are the worst at taking care of themselves.”
“Hey!” I called out in shock. “I can...” I thought for a second, trying to remember the last time I did something domestic. “I can...” I gnawed on my lip, thinking really hard before I blurted out, “I can make toast.” I deflated as soon as I said it, knowing it wasn’t that impressive, but it was the last thing I made for myself. Lisa then eyed the rest of the room, saying,See what I mean.
The whole room chuckled as she smiled and moved to leave. My dad caught her arm, whispered to her, and her eyes lit up as she nodded. She mouthedThank youbefore she scurried off into the kitchen. I would make a bet he offered her a three-week trip to Greece, where her family was from, as a reward for her display of loyalty. That was the kind of moves my dad made.
I noticed the bosses and heirs looking at me, trying to cover up their residual laughter, and I didn’t like it. I took the moment to shove off the attention on me and put it on someone who I knew would take it the best. I stabbed my fork toward my dad. “That ice cream thing is your fault, by the way.”
My dad brought his hand to his chest and gasped, mouth wide open in fake shock. “I have never—”
Cosmo cut in without looking away from his plate. “This time, I gotta agree with Ray. The ice cream addiction we have is your fault.”
Now that there were two of us against him, he slammed his fists on the table, shocking a few of our guests as he growled out, “What is this nonsense?! I cannot be blamed for your sugar addictions!” He then pointed to me. “You just came out that way. Always wanting sweets with your meals, drinking from someone who just had sweets. And don’t think I don’t know about that treasure trove in your room!”
I stabbed my knife into the table and rumbled out like I would kill him if he said the wrong syllable. “You didn’t touch it, did you?” My dad’s lips curved into a cruel smile, and I was seconds away from flying toward him with death on my mind. No one touched my candy stash.
“I mean, when you make every punishment eating a tub of ice cream, how can you get mad at us when we like the stuff?” Cosmo sighed, not in the least bit perturbed that we were having an almost death match over sweets. The rest of the room was stiff, watching us like a reality show they didn’t want to look away from.
I pointed at Cosmo and nodded to him before turning back to my dad, drilling my eyes into his.Ha! How can you explain your way out of that one?
He closed his mouth, his lips pinched as his neck turned a few shades of red. His eyes flicked to his comrades like he was searching for something, but whatever he was looking for, he didn’t get as they looked at him expectedly. He mumbled, “It was a good idea. Have them overdose on the sugar and cream, have them get sick and puke all over. Then they would learn their damn lesson.” His voice rose as he exaggerated. “How was I supposed to know that her stomach is a bottomless pit when it comes to ice cream?!”
Cosmo and I smirked at each other, giving a mental high-five, before I laughed. “We never did find that ceiling, did we?”
My dad then pointed to me. “See! She is like a little bottomless void when it comes to the stuff. How was I to know?!”
“So, the ice cream punishment was a real thing?” Avery’s light and playful voice called me to turn to him. As soon as our eyes met, those green pools pulled me into them like they were the only thing I could see. I licked my lips as a faint, sweet smell wafted off him, but I couldn’t pick out the exact notes, I just knew I liked it.
“Yep.” I shrugged. “He had always been an unorthodox parent, but I guess I’m an unorthodox daughter.” I felt at ease with this group, I just didn’t know how much until I whispered, “I think if my mom was alive, she would’ve been more traditional.”
I was surprised at my admission since I never really talked about my mom, but I felt like I needed to let him know it wasn’t my dad’s or my fault. I think we were the types that needed structure, and when that wasn’t present, we ran amuck. It worked for us, but people thought we were weird, different.
Since Avery didn’t respond, I felt like I said something bad and decided to keep my mouth shut. To keep thoughts like that to myself.
“I think my father and I are similar to you guys in that way.” I flinched at his whisper in my ear, and he gave me a small, shy smile. I leaned closer, realizing he was trying to make it even with me. “My mom was more the stern type that would’ve made sure that some things didn’t happen... like, for example, me learning how to dance.”
I backed away in shock as his eyes flicked around the room, then I moved back closer like my initial reaction meant nothing as I whispered, “Are you kidding? You’re an amazing dancer.” I felt a flush run up my cheeks, and I corrected myself. “I mean, I would expect the Glovefox heir to be good at that kind of thing. It’s kinda your job.”
He chuckled as I looked around, everyone in conversations with people around them, everyone but Cosmo, who was staring at me. Well, more like he was glaring at me as he shoved food in his mouth. His eyes flicked to Avery for a second, his upper lip curling up too fast for nonvampires to see.What the fuck was his problem?We were supposed to start making nice with the other families. With how he was acting, you would think he was about to start a war.
A breath hit my ear, moving the strands of my hair as he said, “Well, it’s not really myjob, but I do enjoy it.”
“You looked like you enjoyed it.” I licked my lips as I turned to him, remembering with vivid detail how he danced that first night, the night I didn’t know who he was but felt like he was putting on a show for me. I saw my dad from the corner of my eye, paying attention to us, and I backed away. I didn’t want to give him more of those stupid marriage ideas. “With that being more of a passion, I bet it helps you make better business decisions. Able to make sure the talent produces since you know how it is.”
I think he could tell I was trying to create some distance because he sat back and nodded. “Yes. I understand things better, but I don’t think my mom would appreciate it. She would think it was below someone of my birthright.” When I turned and raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he meant by that, he chuckled and pointed to himself. “Descended from fae royalty.”
Nodding, knowing that in the back of my mind but that was never something my dad talked about much. All of the families of the Syndicate were descendants of either the first or royalty of their species. It’s why we were so much stronger than the average for our races. My dad never made a big deal out of it; it had been known from the get-go when they first created the Syndicate, so I never thought of it.
The silver fox fae on my other side leaned toward me, whispering but not low enough for others not to hear, “Avery’s mother was of fae nobility, it meant a lot to her that she had a child with true royal fae blood.” He shrugged it off like he didn’t care, his flippant tone and way he spoke of Avery’s mother made it seem like they weren’t that close.
“Well, I know my mom didn’t care about that kind of stuff, so I guess I don’t know that kind of pressure.” At the mention of my mom, Syris’s eyes softened, his smile turning true as he nodded.
