Uh oh. Something had happened.
They strode in silence through the house, Jai leading them up to his bedroom. Ari sidled inside, unsurprised to see everything neat and tidy. His place was a like a soldier’s barracks.
“What’s realy going on?” Jai asked gruffly, but Ari could see in his eyes he was concerned for his friend.
Flopping down onto Jai’s bed, Trey looked between them, his smile false, his usualy bright eyes dim. “My dad caught me with a guy.”
Silence fel over the room and Ari’s chest ached with for him. Trey was bi-sexual, something he’d never told anyone in the tribe about except Jai. His father, Rik, was openly homophobic and Trey had not wanted to deal with the consequences of his father finding out the truth. He’d even lost a pretty serious relationship over it.
“Oh hel.” Jai sighed and sat down beside his friend. “What happened?”
“My dad went nuts. Tried to hit me… that didn’t work. I gave his ass a smackdown. Then he went to Luca and asked him to throw me out of the Bitar Tribe.”
Jai’s head jerked up at the mention of his father, his eyes narrowing with prepared hatred. “Did he?”
“Nah.” Trey shook his head and Ari watched Jai visibly relax. “I think your old man has always known. He said I could stay, but I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not even wanted by my own family. And they’re not realy my family.” He grinned sheepishly, such a boyish look that Ari felt another pang of affection echo in her chest for him. “Thought I’d track down my real family and see if he needed help—say with a certain sorcerer wannabe.”
Ari took a step forward. “You want to help with Charlie?”
Trey shrugged. “Michael says Jai is busy training you with his kid Falon. He says Charlie is being trained by some guy named Jack – that neither of you knows what’s going on with his training.”
“True,” Jai murmured.
“Wel, I’m another pair of eyes. I’l keep an eye on them. Make sure everything is on the up and up.”
Grateful, Ari slid in between the two of them and grabbed Trey’s hand. “That would mean a lot.”
He flashed her a wicked smile and raised their clasped hands to press a kiss to her knuckles.
“Yeah, none of that,” Jai interrupted, sliding a hand around Ari’s waist and puling her closer to him. Her mouth fel open in surprise.
“No way!” Trey burst out laughing. “Dude, did you finaly come to your senses?”
“Yeah, I did. So hands off.”
Ari gazed at Jai, wide-eyed and a little annoyed that jealousy had made him share their secret. “We’re teling people now?”
He made a face. “Trey’s not people. He’s not going to tel anyone.”
“Ooh it’s a secret.” Trey bounced up off the bed, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “Very hot.”
“You can’t tel anyone.” Ari pinned him to the wal with her gaze, hoping she was coming off a little bad-ass. By the way he kept grinning at her, she wasn’t. “I mean it, Trey. Jai’s life depends on it.”
Intrigued, Trey raised an eyebrow at Jai.
He sighed beside her, his hand flexing on her hip. “She’s got it in her head that anyone could use me to get to her.”
Annoyed, Ari countered, “She is sitting right here.”
“She’s not wrong,” Trey replied thoughtfuly. “They tried using Charlie, and he was just her friend.”
“Again, right here.”
“Yeah, but I’m not some stupid kid with a thirst for vengeance. I can take care of myself. She needs to stop worrying.”
“I stil think she’s right. Besides, no one realy needs to know right now.”
“She needs some chocolate,” Ari growled before puling away from Jai’s embrace. She shot up off the bed, striding towards the door. “Before I smack one of you.”