Page 12 of Amber: Deja Brew

Chapter 5

Amber

“Quiche is ready!” Wes calls down the stairs, startling me.

“I’ll make us some fresh drinks,” I call back, scrambling off Chase’s lap. Logically, I know I have every right to cuddle with my bunny shifter, but I can’t help feeling guilty. Again! Is this what having multiple mates will always feel like? I really hope not, because I’d never be able to choose between my three guys.

The mere thought makes me cycle through various forms. Troll. Angel. Fairy. The bouncer from Club Vee. I can’t help it. Because talking with Chase just now, sharing about our families, has only made me feel closer to him. It made me realize that our bond goes so much deeper than plain attraction. Chase and I both know what it feels like to be rejected by our families. To wish they loved us for who we are but know that they never will. And that’s something that no one in my life has ever related to, or understood, not even Juli.

I feel a sudden wave of guilt, because my best friend turned mate was there for me through it all. He’s the one who held me after my mother told me I wasn’t welcome home for Christmas. He wiped away my tears when my sister refused to answer any of my calls. He distracted me after my mother told me to stop calling. And now he might lose his own family... because of me.

“Sweetheart?” Chase asks softly. “Are you okay?”

I nod. And looking at my bunny shifter makes me realize it’s true. Yes, I’m worried about how Juli’s family will react, but Chase is right. They just want what’s best for him, and they’ll come around... they have to.

I shift back to myself, and Chase examines me for a second. It’s almost like he’s not quite sure he believes me, but he finally nods.

“Hey, Wes,” he calls up, “Need any help setting the table? Or, I guess, the couch?”

“Already set!” Wes shouts back, and the apartment door clicks shut.

“I’ll help you carry the drinks, then,” Chase tells me as I set out four to-go cups on the counter.

“Don’t worry, I got a tray.” I grab it to show Chase, and for a second, he almost looks disappointed.

“How about I carry up the tray, then?” he finally asks.

“Deal.” I grin and get to work.

A Cappuccino, Americano, Hot Chocolate, and Mocha later, Chase and I head upstairs. When we enter the living room, all the takeout containers and dirty laundry is gone, replaced by two separated piles of black garbage bags on either side of the front door. The furniture’s also been rearranged, so the place almost looks livable.

“You did all this?” I gape at Julian, who’s lounging on the couch in the middle of the living room. It’s facing the door, and there’s a coffee table in front of him. I vaguely recall moving that wobbly bit of furniture against the wall, but it no longer looks like it’s tilted at an odd angle.

“It was mostly Wes,” Julian replies, gesturing at the bear shifter, who’s wiping down the kitchen counter.

“I like cleaning.” Wes smiles like he doesn’t have a care in the world and continues to make slow circles with the cloth on the kitchen counter.

“Here, Chase, let me grab those.” Julian takes the tray of drinks from the bunny shifter and carries them to the dining room table.

“Don’t!” I shout after him, and Chase takes a step forward, as though to stop him.

“It’s fine, Bean!”

“No, it’s not! The table’s going to...” I trail off as Julian sets the tray of drinks safely on the surface and absolutely nothing happens. “...collapse?”

“It’s not.” Julian grins. “Wes fixed it. Chairs, too.”

Which is when I realize that the table—which I swear used to be crooked—is set with plates, glasses and forks, none of which are slowly sliding to the floor. I turn to Wes, who steps out of the kitchen carrying the quiche, then back to the furniture.

“How the Chameleon?” I frown. There’s no cardboard propped under the table legs—something Juli and I tried, which didn’t really work—and I can’t imagine how Wes could have stopped all the chairs from collapsing.

“Wobble Stoppers.” The bear shifter grins. “I happened to have some left over in my van.”

“You have a van?” I ask in surprise.

“What are Wobble Stoppers?” Chase adds, which is what I should have asked. Except Wes just doesn’t look like the type who would drive a van.

“It’s a business van for the Cleanly Den,” he explains. “I left it parked in the lot just east of here, and Wobble Stoppers are spells we use to fix broken furniture.”