1
The Golden Goose
Trenton
Bullshit.
It was the thing in my life I was most sick of and I knew my brother felt the same.
And Simon had a lot less patience than I did. He also liked bullshit a lot less than I did too, and that was saying something, because I really fucking hated bullshit. Or anything really shit related.
I never thought it would be like this, and I damn well knew Simon never thought it would be either. Then again, we’d never actually thought we would findher.
Ariel Kimber.
The golden goose, if you will.
The blond haired, green eyed witch who had, with one look, activated the magic that lived within my brother and I because of our bloodline. She was the source of all of our bullshit.
When we first found her it wasn’t a love at first sight kind of thing. Simon and I had just been so blown away at finding her that at first it almost didn’t seem real to have her in our lives.
The falling in love with her bit came later, but it didn’t take long.
She was incredible, so damn easy to love, but she was a bit of a brat and got herself into some shit more often than not. Which meant she was also an incredibly huge pain in our asses.
Still, that shit just made the two of us want her all the more. If she’d been easy we would have been bored out of our minds in no time and no way would we have fallen in love with her.
No, there was nothing boring or easy about Ariel Kimber.
“Where do you think she’s going?” My brother, Simon, asked from the passenger seat of the SUV we shared. “And, really, did she have to involve the baby Alexander in her nonsense? Ever since that unfortunate business with Isobel, Quinton has been in-fucking-tense when it comes to keeping his brother safe. Should we call him now or wait until later, after we find out what in the hell she’s up to?”
I rubbed at my forehead with the back of my hand while gripping the steering wheel tight with my free hand. He was giving me a headache and what I really needed was for him to stop asking me questions that he already knew I didn’t have the damn answers to.
Ever since Rain had gifted Ariel with her Corvette she’d taken to driving herself everywhere and doing it way too damn fast. Usually, though, the little trips she took were alone, why she decided to change things up now with the kid was beyond me, but I really wished she hadn’t.
My brother had not been lying when he said Quinton was more intense than normal after Isobel’s kidnapping. He was scared out of his brain that someone from that evil place was going to pop out of the shadows and snatch his baby brother right out of thin air.
I couldn’t say that I blamed him. If someone had kept Simon away from me his whole life and I found him just to discover he’dbeen horribly abused that entire time I’d be just a little intense when it came to anything having to do with him too.
Ariel turned off down a dirt road and I sighed, finally relaxing. I knew exactly where she was going. Simon’s shoulders slumped and he slouched back in his seat. He’d figured out where she was headed too.
Why she did this shit in secret I did not know. None of the guys would care.
Hell, Rain would love to know his daughter and his woman were spending time together. It was good for the whole family, Ariel and Isobel bonding.
Did Ariel just need to always have a secret for herself?
After everything we’d all gone through, practically to hell and back, you’d think she would stop with all the secrets and the bullshit, but nooooooo.
Not Ariel Kimber.
She was addicted to bullshit. And, unfortunately for us, we were addicted to her, so our lives were full of bullshit.
Ariel parked near a gazebo and she and Brighton exited her vehicle. They were parked right next to Isobel’s SUV, because she’d apparently arrived first.
Ariel kept meeting Isobel here, never at the same time but always in the same spot. This was their eighth time that I knew of, and I still had no idea what they were doing.
Neither Simon or I wanted to pry. She didn’t ask for us to burst into her life and tie her to us with magic that we were born with. She didn’t ask for us to demand she allow us to protect her every move because it’s what we were born to do.
