solemn man a glass, he smirked, and in a casual, congenial tone, he said, “I won the Coke versus Pepsi war this year.” He grinned and offered a toast. Stan smirked and rolled his eyes but raised his glass and waited for Arnie to speak.
“Here’s to a bigger wedge of lemon next year. And brotherhood.”
Something arced between them. An electric conduit opened, joining them for a flash second. He picked up a lot in that second.
“To brotherhood and more lemons,” Stan parroted. His tone was light, but Arnie detected a dark edge.
He didn’t have to wait long for more.
A strange pallor changed Stan’s whole appearance. He shrank inside his dark suit. When a person suddenly diminished, it generally indicated a psychic hit. Something unexpected and deeply troubling. What in the world would bring on the change he was seeing?
“I fucking hate money.”
Arnie’s brows went up, and he thought, Yeah? Well, join the club. Swirling ice in his soda, he kept silent and let Stan have the floor.
“It’s always the money.” Stan turned a shaded eye on Arnie, and murmured, “I’m here because of money. Because using sex to trap a grieving widower and getting pregnant came with a payday.”
Oh, fuck. Giselle. Of course. What had the evil succubus done now?
“You know the saying—follow the money?” Stan growled. “It’s a full-time job with mommy dear. The fact she’s even still here, with her claws in the pot, is all about the money. Her money, Dad’s money, my money …” Stan paused and gave Arnie a very strange look. “Your money.” He shrugged.
He nodded but didn’t stop the roll his brother was on.
A fierceness from out of nowhere shot into Stan. It made Arnie’s brows go up.
“But don’t you worry, bro. I got this.”
He did? Arnie’s heart began to pound. What the fuck was going on?
“She showed me her hand, and the best part was she doesn’t even realize it. I’m gonna take care of this,” Stan muttered with a threatening tone.
“What do you need me to do?” he eventually asked in a quiet, confidential murmur.
Stan looked at him. The pallor was still there, but something fierce burned in his eyes.
“Oh, don’t worry, Arnie. This one’s on me.”
He’d think about those words a hundred times through the night, wondering what they meant and where this was leading.
It was late, and everybody was long asleep. But not Arnie.
Feeling restless and unsettled, he left the privacy of his guest room and moved silently through the house drawn to the empty sunroom. His dad’s earlier revelations about the room’s significance to Arnie’s mother made the space special. A connection to her spirit and unfulfilled dreams.
Through the large windows, he marveled at how the vibrant moon lent a glow to the snow-covered ground. The glow bounced back and illuminated the empty sunroom. Arnie’s senses drank in the serene beauty. A slow smile curled his lips. Sunroom. Moonroom.
He pulled the louvered doors closed. His senses flooded, and he caught his breath. Feeling a link with his mom, he did what felt natural, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the room. Sitting gave him a different perspective and made the long, narrow room seem enormous. It would take the energy of someone special to fill the space. Someone like the mother he never knew.
Or the lover he did know but incredibly lost.
Summer.
He swallowed hard and shut his eyes when a collection of memories exploded in his mind.
She glowed like a star twinkles, captivating him from the second their eyes met and she cracked a joke about his shoes. Had it really been a year since the pretty blonde giggled her way into his heart, turned his entire existence upside down, and made him question what the fuck he was doing with his life?
Her voice swept him along on the lazy river of memory. His mind opened, and a tug pulled him into the past. For the better part of an hour, he let the memories wash over him. At first, there was no rhyme or reason, but then it hit when a specific moment replayed over and over.
Summer warning him about danger. He’d blown off her concern because, at the time, he was waiting to be activated on assignment and figured she was picking up on his tension.
Was it possible he missed something important?
Shit. Of course it was possible. Despite a starring role as a supernatural hero, he was human and made mistakes all the damn time.