Anita Blake 22 - Affliction (21 page)

‘What did Grandpa and Grandma get upset about now?’ Micah asked.

‘Until Rush got hurt, they could do a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” about our … domestic arrangement, but we couldn’t hide how upset we both were.’

‘Have they met Frost?’ Micah asked.

She nodded.

‘Then they didn’t want to know,’ he said.

‘Probably, but we also had to come back to this house to get Rush’s things … he lives here. He still owns the cabin, but he hasn’t really lived there for almost six years.’

I shifted beside him.

Bea said, ‘What is it, Anita? Talk to us, tell us what you think, please.’

I glanced at Micah, and he nodded, then shrugged. We were too far into places he hadn’t expected to be able to guide me, I think.

‘I think that if they didn’t know their son was living here for six years when they live in town – They live in town, right?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Then they’ve been ignoring the elephant in the room for a long time. I don’t think knowing his address would have made them look at the truth.’

Ty, Bea, and Beth exchanged a look.

Jerry sat up straighter. ‘What happened?’

Ty answered, ‘Your grandfather saw me holding Rush’s hand and crying.’

Jerry frowned. ‘So?’

‘You did more than just hold his hand,’ Micah said, and there was no condemnation in his voice, no anger. It was actually the calmest he’d sounded in the last few hours.

Ty nodded and wouldn’t meet his eyes.

‘It’s okay,’ Micah said. ‘We understand.’

‘I don’t,’ Jerry said.

Beth said, ‘Just leave it, Jerry.’

‘No,’ he said, sitting on the very edge of the love seat and looking from his mom and Ty to Micah.

‘Ty,’ Micah said.

The other man looked at him.

Micah raised Nathaniel’s hand in his and laid a gentle kiss on the back of the other man’s hand.

Ty’s eyes were shiny with unshed tears as he nodded. ‘How did you know?’

‘Because it was either that, or you kissed him – kissed him, and Grandpa saw you.’

‘Have they disowned their son?’ I asked.

Bea shook her head. ‘No, they seem to think that Ty is the evil influence. If—’ She stopped herself, took a shaky breath, and said, ‘When Rush gets better I think they’ll either give him a chance to move out of the house or kick Ty out.’

‘He won’t do that,’ Beth said.

‘No, he won’t,’ her mother said.

Micah turned to Nathaniel and me. ‘My grandparents aren’t as crazy religious as Aunt Bertie, but they are very serious about certain things. They finally accepted me as a shapeshifter because I couldn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t a choice. If I had chosen to become a monster, they would have disowned me.’

‘Rush is their son,’ Bea said, ‘and he feels like he’s outside God’s grace now. He loves living here with all of us, but he still believes a lot of what he was raised to believe. It’s really hurt him to love us all here.’

‘It’s made him happier than I’ve ever seen him, Mom,’ Beth said. She got up and went to sit on the other side of her mother so that she and Ty each comforted Bea.

‘That’s true enough,’ Jerry said. ‘I’ve never seen Dad this happy.’

‘He wasn’t just keeping his home address at the cabin to get around his parents,’ Ty said. ‘It’s also because as sheriff he has to live in the town to serve.’

I nodded. ‘Yeah, if he lives in Boulder then he can’t be sheriff.’

‘No,’ Ty said.

‘He loves his job,’ Jerry said.

‘If the worst thing we have to worry about is that he has to change where he’s protecting and serving, we’ll be doing okay,’ I said.

Bea nodded. ‘You are so right, Anita, so right.’

‘Do the other kids know?’ Micah asked.

‘We had to sit down with Twain and explain why we all use the same room at night,’ Ty said.

‘He asked outright?’ Micah said.

They nodded.

‘You haven’t met him yet,’ Beth said. ‘He’s a very serious kid and he’ll ask anything if he wants to know. He’s like a walking social disaster.’

‘He was a serious kid even at four when I saw him last.’

‘Hawthorne knows we have one bedroom, but he won’t ask outright. He’ll just accept it and not ask any questions that he doesn’t want to know the answer to,’ Ty said.

‘Were you all a couple back when Hawthorne and Twain were little?’ Micah asked.

‘We’d started working on that by the time Twain was four,’ Ty said.

‘So, while I was still around?’

‘Yes,’ Ty said.

Micah looked at Jerry. ‘We both missed it.’

‘Yeah, but at least you’ve been gone for ten years. This was all happening under my nose.’

‘The divorce kept you pretty occupied, big brother,’ Beth said.

Micah’s hand tensed in mine. I think it was her calling him
big brother
. I wondered if that was a nickname she’d only used for him once? ‘I’m sorry that you and Kelsey didn’t work out.’

‘You never liked her,’ Jerry said.

‘I wouldn’t say never, but by the time you were in college, no. I didn’t like her.’

‘Why didn’t you like her?’ he asked.

‘It’s old news,’ Micah said, ‘and you divorced her, so it doesn’t matter.’

Jerry looked down at his clasped hands, let out a long breath, and asked, ‘Did she try to sleep with you?’

Micah’s hand tensed in mine again, though nothing else showed his sudden tension. ‘It was a long time ago.’

Jerry shook his head. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, Mike?’

‘You were in love with her, and I didn’t think she’d approach anyone else. She was a little drunk and it happens.’

‘No,’ Jerry said, ‘even a little drunk, your fiancée does not proposition your brother.’

‘I agree with Jerry,’ I said.

‘You asked me like I wasn’t the only one she tried to sleep with; I honestly thought that she wouldn’t try for anyone else.’

‘Why?’ Jerry asked.

Micah hesitated. ‘She had a particular … interest, um …’

‘Fetish, you mean,’ Jerry said.

Micah nodded. ‘Yes.’

Nathaniel and I must have looked puzzled, because Jerry said, ‘Everyone else knows that Kelsey was a fur-fucker, beastlover, whatever.’

‘She approached you after you became a wereleopard?’ I said.

Micah nodded. ‘I honestly thought it was just a onetime fantasy and when I said no, she’d let it go.’

‘Nope,’ Jerry said, ‘she’s actually living with the local werewolf pack and getting all the furry attention she wants.’

‘I’m sorry, little brother,’ Micah said.

Jerry nodded, staring at his hands. ‘I can’t compete with … you know how it is better than I do. Kelsey said no human man could compare.’

‘I’m surprised she didn’t ask you to join the team,’ I said.

‘She did, but by that time I knew that even if I were a shapeshifter my attentions would never be enough. There’s something broken inside her that isn’t fixable.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Nathaniel said.

Jerry looked at him and at him holding hands with both of us. ‘It really bothered me when I found out that Dad was a “couple” with Mom and Ty. I didn’t like the idea of my dad sharing a bed with another man.’

‘Jerry,’ Bea said, as if he’d said something rude.

‘Are you ashamed of it?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she said.

Jerry looked at Ty.

Ty said, ‘No.’

‘Then it bothered me when I realized you all shared a bed.’ He looked at us again. ‘How long have you three been … together?’

‘Almost three years,’ Micah said.

‘Mom, Dad, and Ty have been together for double that. I’m the only one who tried for traditional, and by two years in I knew it wasn’t going to work. Maybe I need to find a nice couple to settle down with.’

‘Janet is a good person,’ Beth said.

‘I thought Kelsey was a good person, too.’

‘Kelsey always noticed other men at parties and stuff.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Jerry asked.

‘Because I was just a kid and I didn’t understand what I was seeing. Now, I’d say something.’

‘I’m sorry, it’s just I feel stupid about Kelsey and about not seeing what was right in front of me with Dad and Mom and Ty.’

‘I didn’t know you had any doubts about marrying Janet,’ Bea said.

‘I don’t, and then I think how oblivious I’ve been and I wonder what I’m missing this time.’

‘I look forward to meeting Janet,’ Micah said.

Jerry nodded. ‘Let me know if she tries to sleep with you, okay?’

‘It won’t happen this time,’ he said.

Jerry just looked at him.

‘But I promise, I’ll tell you if it does.’

Jerry looked at Nathaniel. ‘You, too, pretty boy.’

Nathaniel smiled, and then looked uncomfortable and finally just said, ‘I’ll tell Micah and Anita.’

‘We’ll tell you,’ I said.

‘And I don’t think I like you calling Nathaniel
pretty boy
,’ Micah said. ‘It sounds dismissive, and he’s too important to me for that.’

Jerry spread his hands wide. ‘Sorry, it’s just he is pretty, and I’m having a moment of insecurity, okay?’

‘My men, they do have that effect on people,’ I said. I tried to make a joke of it.

Jerry wasn’t really in the mood for jokes, apparently, because he said, ‘I’d just make a blanket request that if Janet tries to hit on any of your guys, someone tells me.’ He was looking behind me.

I looked back at the guards who were sitting at the counter. I tried to see them from Jerry’s point of view. They were all taller, more muscled, and more obviously dangerous. He was as good-looking as Bram or Ares, but Dev and Nicky, not really. Nicky wasn’t much ahead of them, but Dev, he was almost as beautiful as Nathaniel and Micah. The real difference was that Dev was a more masculine beauty and my main sweeties were closer to the androgynous and even feminine-beauty side.

‘Don’t feel bad, Jerry; sometimes it makes me feel insecure to date them.’

He frowned at me. ‘Why?’

‘I’ve broken the girl rule,’ I said.

‘What rule?’

‘Never date anyone prettier than you are.’

Jerry looked at me, still frowning. He glanced at Micah. ‘Is she teasing me?’

Micah shook his head. ‘No.’

‘If you think my brother and even Lavender Eyes here are prettier than you are, then you are not looking in the same mirror that I am.’

It was my turn to frown.

‘Just say it, Jerry; Anita won’t get it any other way.’

‘Understand what?’

‘You are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. The look on your face says you don’t know that.’

‘Don’t believe it,’ I said.

‘Why not?’

I shrugged. ‘My childhood trauma can wait for another day. Didn’t someone mention food?’

‘You’re changing the subject,’ Jerry said. ‘I’ve never met a woman who wanted to change the subject after you’d called her beautiful.’

‘Anita isn’t like any other woman I’ve ever met,’ Micah said, and kissed my cheek. I turned so he could kiss me on the lips and so I could kiss him back.

Bea beamed at us. ‘When can I expect grandchildren?’

‘I can’t have children,’ Micah said. He didn’t explain that he’d had himself fixed because Chimera had enjoyed getting the female shapeshifters pregnant and then watching them lose the babies when they shapeshifted. Without serious and hard-to-find help, no female wereanimal could carry beyond a couple of months. The change was too violent for the body to hold on to a fetus. Micah hadn’t wanted to cause such pain and he’d never expected to be rescued from Chimera, not until he met me.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Bea said. She smiled gently at her son and then turned the smile on Nathaniel. ‘Any children you have with Nathaniel and Anita would be yours just like all of our kids are both Ty’s and Rush’s. I still want grandchildren no matter who the bio-dad is,’ she said.

Nathaniel looked startled, and then looked to Micah, who said, ‘I agree with my mom.’

Nathaniel smiled and looked so happy, but … ‘I am not planning on getting pregnant,’ I said.

‘Career first,’ Bea said. ‘I understand.’

‘No, my career isn’t really the point. I’m just not the maternal type.’

‘You don’t want to have children?’ Bea asked.

‘Not really.’

‘If I were the girl, we’d already be pregnant,’ Nathaniel said. ‘I’m more domestic and I love kids.’

I gave him a dirty look.

Micah shook his head and smiled. ‘Let’s eat dinner before we have to go back to the hospital and before Anita gets too uncomfortable.’

‘Okay,’ Bea said, ‘everyone’s brought so much food we could feed a small army.’ She got briskly to her feet, as if she had a plan. She was going to either drop the subject as asked, or make sure I was around as many small, cute children as possible, as if there were a pheromone in their tiny bodies that would turn on my biological clock. I’d seen Frost and Fen; they were cute, but they weren’t that cute.

Three hours later we were back in the hospital and Micah’s dad was awake. He raised his one good hand outside the blanket and Micah took it, holding his father’s arm against his chest as if clasping him to his heart.

‘Mike,’ he said in a voice that was still thick with the last of the drugs they’d cleared out of his system so he could talk to his son.

‘Dad, I’m so sorry.’

‘For what?’

‘You know I love you, Mom, Beth, Jerry … and all the kids.’

A look passed over his dad’s face. He blinked the eyes that were so much Micah’s except they were brown, the color Micah had started with. ‘You know?’

Micah nodded. ‘Once I saw Frost, Mom and Ty had to tell me.’

His dad smiled; it was a good one full of love and happiness, even here and now. ‘We didn’t plan on her looking so much like my side of the family.’

Micah hugged his father’s arm tighter to him, nodding a little too rapidly as if he didn’t trust his voice. Nathaniel and I stood in the corner of the room holding hands. We’d have waited outside except that Micah wanted us inside. His mom had been incredibly brave and waited in the hallway.

‘You aren’t upset about your mom and Ty and …’ He swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and let out a shaky breath. ‘Everything.’

‘No, not at all.’

‘Jerry’s still mad.’

‘Jerry’s always mad,’ Micah said.