Before I could stand though, Seth covered my hand with his and I froze as he pinned me in place with a look. “Dahlia, you are still changing. You need to focus at the moment. The deal must be finalized between us, and you must complete the recovery.”
“Am I going to change into an angel?”
Seth rolled his eyes. Well. He sort of cast them upward, and I swore he groaned. “No,” he snarled. “You will not be an angel. I am not an angel. We do not make angels.”
“Okay,” I said, pulling my hand from under his and patting it. “Okay. Sorry. Got it. Not an angel. Even if you have the face of one.”
Damn. Where was my filter?
He exhaled and pulled his hand away. “Please do not try my temper.”
“Trust me, I got that. But apparently, I suck at it since, you know, I’m here.”
The pause in the room swelled, and I stole a look at him. The consternation on his face gave way to something a little more relaxed. Only a little, and I had to blink because the longer I stared, the more I swore a braid appeared.
Cool. I’ll take angelic hallucinations for five hundred, Alex.
“You are correct,” Seth said slowly. “Not that you suck at it.” His beautiful lips twisted on the phrasing. “I will make allowances for you to learn, but in return, you will accept my answers as final.”
“On everything?”
“Yes.”
“So if I ask you if the sky is blue and you tell me it’s purple, I have to accept that as final?”
“Why would I tell you it’s purple?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I’m still not altogether sure this is real and I’m dead but not dead. I’m going to die. I agreed to punish two people I don’t know because they somehow failed me. And the man I thought I loved and that I’ve pretty much reworked my whole life around killed me because he couldn’t take one joking comment I made to lift his spirits.” I picked up my orange juice. “On the other hand, apparently I don’t have to worry about my student loans anymore…so there’s that.”
After swallowing a mouthful of juice, I met his perplexed gaze. He stared at me like I was on some National Geographic show and the narrator hadn’t told him what kind of creature I was yet.
“So, how do I punish your brothers? And how did they fail me?”
Sure, embrace the madness. What could go wrong?
“Our grace decides what our roles are. Let’s just say that their grace should have demanded they intervene before Alex,” there went that lip curl again, “got as far as he did.”
Yeah, he was making as much sense as a gymnast filling in at a basketball game. “Okay, Sparky, you’re going to have to back-up. You’re making zero sense.” I rubbed my forehead with my free hand. “You’re saying I’m the first thing that interested your brothers in years, but not so much that they intervened. I’m not sure your thought process is on point, though I’m grateful for the extra time.”
“Sparky?” He sighed in exasperation.
Holy hell. That slipped out because he gave electric kisses. I would never, never, never admit that to him. “Sorry, I had a blond dog at one point in my childhood. His name was Sparky, and he had the same cute but grumpy look going on.”
There went the tomato stain in my cheeks again. He had to know that was completely fabricated. I was a cat person for Christ’s sake. I’ve never even had a dog.
He merely shook his head and continued. “You don’t need to understand how I know they were moved by your existence. They were. All I need you to do is follow my instructions. Can you agree to do that?”
Like I had any choice. “Yes, I can agree to that. But I’d like to call my mom. Can I do that?” I held my breath because this was the turning point. I would not, could not help someone who was so heartless that I couldn’t give peace to the one person who loved me unconditionally.
“Dahlia, you are dead. You cannot call your mother.” His frustration was showing. “I will compromise with you, especially if this will affect your ability to follow instructions. Today, I will go visit your mother and share the news of your death, and that it was painless. I will allay any fear and suspicion she may have. Is that agreeable to you?”
Was it? My heart squeezed at the prospect of never again speaking to my mom, or receiving one of her amazing hugs. But this was better for her. She wouldn’t know that the man she hated from day one had killed me in a fit of rage. I didn’t want her to know how stupid I’d been to fall for his act.
“Yes. But before my time is up, I want to go see her. No, hold your horses, not visit with her. I won’t let her see me, I just want to see her one more time.”
He nodded his agreement. “That is fair.”
My plate and cup were empty, and my stomach was pleasantly full, even if my heart was sad. Doing something I’d always been good at, I pushed that sadness into a tidy little box at the back of my mind. I compartmentalized that bitch.
“Okay, so what’s your grand plan for revenge? Sorry, I mean punishment.” I snickered, because we were kind of talking about revenge here, weren’t we? At least for me, it was punishment with a nice dose of revenge on the side.
“All I require you to do is get to know them. Let them get to know you. The rest will be revealed later.” He held my stare, then started to stack the dishes into a nice neat pile.
Huh, it sounded an awful lot like seducing. He really must not know me because my seduction skills sucked.
“You want me to seduce them?”
“No, not seduce, just get to know them.” To Seth, that said everything. How did he know they would even be friendly with me? These brothers could be the biggest douche canoes in the world. I mean, Seth wasn’t exactly a shining example of friendliness. I doubted he would want to sit and shoot the breeze if there wasn’t something he wanted from me.
“Wait, so them getting to know me is your great plan for punishment? Are you trying to tell me something?”
Seth frowned. “Yes, I’m telling you the plan.”
“Okay, Captain Literal, I’ll choose not to be insulted.” Maybe he restored everything but my filter to perfect health. “Tell me about them. I need at least basic facts.”
He stood and moved to the doorway. “You’ll have an easier time if you get to know them without any preconceived notions. Don’t worry, I’ll point you in the right direction so you know who they are.”
This was not a man used to working in a team.
Damn it, I hoped these brothers weren’t as gorgeous as Seth.
Or as literal.
Here goes everything.
3
You know when they said ‘this has disaster written all over it’? They meant me walking into this bar… - Dahlia
Dahlia
Seth’s “plan” had two major flaws right from the get go. One, he wanted me to get to know his brothers without anything more than his pointing them out to me. Two, for me to go and get to know his brothers, I actually needed something to wear that wasn’t this very thin, oversized cotton nightdress thing. Granted, the fabric’s softness rivaled the bed, which I had to admit turned out to be even nicer when I burrowed back into the covers and pulled them over my head to hide from Seth, his plans, his brothers, Alex, and my death.