“And I am?”
“You always do,” Henry answers. “You brooder.”
“I told you that on the night we met.” Declan smiles and cradles my face in his hands. “And you agreed.”
I kiss him to shut him up, because he’s right, and I know I’m broody and cranky and maybe I never outgrew my love for emo music that blossomed in the late nineties, but those songs are really good.
“Besides,” he continues, “You’re about to leave, too.”
“I’ve been at this a lot longer than you have,” I remind him.
“I’m familiar with the sunrise.” Declan kisses me again and breaks out of my arms. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” Liz smiles and pats Diah’s hand. “What are you going to do the rest of the night?”
“Wait for Elijah, probably,” he answers.
My brother’s eyes dip down and he looks so fucking despondent. I almost ask what’s happened between the three of them, but Declan’s fingers raise between us and trace over my jaw, pulling my attention back to him.
“After this is done, I want to go away with you.”
“Oh?” I nip at the tips of his fingers. “Where?”
“I don’t know. I want to be in nature with you.”
Maybe the redwoods,he thinks. I want you to fuck me under the moonlight on a bed of pine needles. I want to see galaxies when you spend yourself inside of me.
“Stars it is,” I rasp.
“Galaxies,” he reiterates, kissing me once more before walking backward to the stairs. When his heel hits the first one, he turns and walks away from me, his mind running through a very vivid scenario of exactly what he’ll see when I do what he’s asked of me.
“You ready?” Henry asks, clapping me on the back.
I try to clear Declan’s dirty ideas out of my head, but it feels like he’s found a way to force himself into my brain, and observing Franklin is going to be fucking hard with this perpetually erect penis I’ve been managing for the past three weeks.
“Yep.” I clear my throat and follow Henry out of the house.
We don’t take the car because the part of town he’s been tracking Franklin through is small enough that we don’t need to venture far.
“Have you figured out where they’re staying?” I ask, kicking pebbles out of my way as we go.
“There’s an abandoned triplex a few blocks away from Coven. That’s where I’ve seen them go before dawn.”
“Is that where you want to go now?” The lights of the small city center are growing brighter, and we’re getting close.
“I don’t think so.”
“Where do you want to start, then?”
“Coven, probably.” Henry makes a left turn and heads toward the club. “That’s where he likes to end the night.”
“Alright.”
I follow him, as I always do when it comes to these sorts of things, and we end up outside the club. I scratch my nose.
“He’s not here.”
“No,” Henry agrees. “Let’s check On the Rocks.”
