26. ~Skylar~

Things were so strange right now.

All right, when hadn't they been?

But this was something else, even in spite of that.

Having my dad here among the guys was one of those odd things.

While he'd initially accepted them with me, things hadn't stayed on that track after Jett's actions had resulted in him hiding me away for two years.

There was unspoken animosity that the three of them were swallowing down toward my dad in order to protect me. Not just to protect me, it was even more than that. Coming from an even sweeter place than that already was all on its own. They knew what my dad meant to me, how great our relationship had been before everything had gone to hell, and they got that it had left a void for me without having him here. So now that he was, they were letting the rest go. Including the fact that Caspian, Dante and Bastian faulted my dad for not taking out Jeremy when he'd had the chance, and before he'd teamed up with Elijah.

Even though I'd become so much more accustomed to being with the three of them, it still surprised me and hit me down so deep at what they were prepared to do for me, the lengths they went to in order to make me happy and to feel loved and cared for.

And I wanted to surround myself with that, immerse myself in them wholly.

But I'd had to split my time between being with them and with my dad. My bid to get him off his bad path had led to mixed results. After some backup from Riley, he'd agreed with both of us that going back to that mercenary group wasn't the best path for him. As awful as it was that he'd been hurt, it seemed that his injury had helped to enlighten him in that respect.

But he was adamant about not returning to Rossun.

I'd even told him how visiting my mom's grave had helped me with similar sentiments. But he was steadfast in his resolve not to go near it. He felt that being back at the house would reinforce his final memory of her dying in his arms when he'd worked so hard to push it away and focus on their time together and all the good memories he had of her.

Even telling him that there was more to be had here in the city than loss, that it was our home, hadn't worked.

So he wouldn't be staying.

Bastian had come to me with Damien's theory that my dad would leave with Riley. She lived and operated off the grid, so it would put a barrier and distance between us all over again.

The last thing I wanted.

But at the same time, I did understand where he was coming from.

It didn't stop it from being a bitter realization though.

I sucked in a breath and swallowed that down—for now—as I reached my destination.

Then I rapped on the door to Caleb's room.

"Almost decent!" he called back.

I smiled at that Caleb-style humor from him.

It was muted right now because of what he'd been through, but it came out in spurts here and there and it had more so over the passing days. It was a really good sign.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside. "Not sure if I should take that as a good thing," I said as I took in the sight of him in just a towel as he shook out his wet hair from an obvious very recent shower. "I kind of like it when you're indecent."

Relief flooded me when he ran with it and the corner of his mouth turned up. "Don't kid yourself, darling, kind of doesn't begin to cover how much you like that from me."

I chuckled. "Undeniable."

He smirked, then sat down on the foot of his bed and patted the spot beside him. "So, what's up?"

"Bastian and Damien are gaming. We're gonna play in teams and I wanted to know if you'd be my teammate?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "With my weak playing?"

"You're not that bad."

He laughed. "Wow, you guys really want me down there, huh?"

"We do. Besides, I've got some tricks to teach you." I lowered my voice to a joking conspiratorial whisper. "A couple even Bastian doesn't know about."

He grinned back at me and slapped his hand to his chest. "I'm honored you'd entrust them to me."

I sat down on the bed beside him. "Well, you're definitely awesome enough to warrant that."

"Hell, yes, I fucking am. That's no secret."

He had me giggling. "No, it's not."

"I love that sound from you," he said, wrapping his arm around me and tucking me into his side. "I'll come play in a few. I'm just gonna get dressed and have a smoke."

"Sounds good," I said, sinking into him.

We stayed that way in comfortable silence for a few moments, before he spoke unusually quietly for him, "Can I ask you something? Something difficult?"

I looked up at him. "Of course. Anything."

I felt him tense around me as he drew in a breath, then asked me, "After Jett did what he did to you, did you… did you still feel it on you for a while after the fact?"

I swallowed hard at his question.

Yeah, it was definitely difficult subject matter.

But if what I'd been through could help him, I'd delve back into the whole thing if I had to.

I turned to the side to face him head-on and took his hands in mine. "Yeah, I did. That's why you've been showering so much, yes?"

He nodded.

"It will go away, I promise you. It just takes time. With him still out there, it's harder to get closure and to put it behind you, like it was for me with Jett. I think that's why it took me so long. I also didn't get help with it and I even kept it to myself, I kept it all inside. It was a bad move. It also felt like instinct to do that. But it was a detrimental one. The fact that you've started to talk about it with Caspian will take some of its power away. It will help."

"I should see Doctor Granger too, yeah?"

"You should. I hated being pushed to do it at the time, as you know, but getting that sort of help has done a lot of good for me."

"Okay, I hear you, darling. Thank you," he said, pulling me against him again.

"I'm here for you. Anytime with anything."

"I never doubted it."

"Sorry to interrupt," Caspian's voice came from the door, and we both turned as he walked in decked out in his full suited getup—a sleek Armani pinstripe this time, with his hair in a half-up, half-down do. He looked sexy as fuck as usual. And that sexiness turned up a whole other notch when his eyes flamed with need as he took in the sight of me and Caleb on the bed, his shirtless state adding even more fuel to the proverbial fire there.

"I thought you were working on consolidating the spoils of Bane Industries?" Caleb said.

"I was. I'm just taking a brief timeout so we can say a proper goodbye."

"Goodbye?" I asked, frowning.

Caspian grimaced at Caleb, then revealed, "Lovely, Asher is getting ready to head out."

Caleb jolted. "What? No, he… you're sure?"

"It's time, I'm afraid," Caspian told him gently, laying his hand on his shoulder.

It took a moment, but then Caleb gave a slow nod. "Yeah. I know. I know it is."

It was a long goodbye.

Mainly because of Caleb being conflicted about Asher leaving.

First, Caleb had headed out to the patio and they'd chain-smoked together for a while, and then Asher had brought his bag down from his room and they'd moved to the courtyard where they'd now been for over thirty minutes still talking and saying goodbye.

It was sweet.

Well, as sweet as it could really be with that dark horse involved.

Actually, we'd all learned that there was more to his reputation than met the eye. Much more. He'd really helped me since he'd been here. And he'd proven to be an amazing ally too.

It wouldn't be forgotten by any of us.

"How was he?"

I looked up at Caspian who was holding my right hand while Bastian had me tucked into him on my left side, nuzzling against me in that loving way of his. Caspian would've been doing that too, but he was extra tense about this goodbye. "The two or three showers a day were what I suspected, what I told you."

"I see," he said, grimacing.

"He talked about seeing Doctor Granger."

Caspian's eyes lit up.

"That's an incredibly good sign," Bastian said.

"Indeed it is," Caspian agreed, and I felt a little of the tension leave him.

Caleb and Asher made their way over to us.

"Not just texts now, you hear me?" Caleb was telling Asher.

"Heard you loud and clear, brother. And you need anything to help your recovery along, don't hesitate to reach out, yes? Promise me."

"Promise, Ash."

They reached us and Asher shook hands with Bastian. "Nice working with you. You've got some impressive skills your media reputation didn't even hint at."

"Well, you know better than most that there's a difference between image and reality."

Asher grinned. "Indeed."

He stepped in front of me. He went to hold out his hand, but I pulled him in for a hug. It had the guys chuckling.

Asher clearly wasn't the hugging type because he tensed up and barely returned it, but as we pulled away, he smiled at me.

"Thanks for your help. It was above and beyond."

"Just doing what was needed. Keep that up and you'll be able to walk the line with the struggle."

"I will."

He nodded, then walked over to Caspian.

"It's been a pleasure," Caspian said, shaking his hand.

"The pleasure was definitely also mine," Asher returned with a sly wink.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "I knew you couldn't resist referencing that."

"This is as diplomatic as I get, Cal."

Caleb chuckled. "Yeah, this is definitely you on your best behavior."

Caspian grasped Asher's shoulder, a serious tone taking over as he told him, "Anytime, anywhere, you need me and I'll be there."

"We're officially allies now, are we?"

"Friends."

Asher smiled. "Very good."

He was about to step back when Dante came out of the manor and headed over.

"Travel well," he told Asher as he reached us. "You have an ally in me too should you need anything down the road."

"Same," Asher returned.

With that, Caleb wrapped his arm around him one last time, then led him to his BMW.

A few more words were exchanged and then Asher ducked inside and peeled on out of King Manor.

As the gates closed, Caleb returned to us, a bittersweet smile on his face.

We were just about to head back inside together when Caspian pulled away and walked to Dante and told us, "There's something you need to know. Something I'd planned on waiting to tell you when this war was over and done with, but which needs to be revealed sooner due to certain… circumstances and complications."

Bastian, Caleb, and I exchanged a look.

"Need to know about what?" Bastian asked.

"About me," Dante answered. He looked at Caleb. "Your suspicions were correct, I was hiding something."

"Hiding what?" Caleb asked with a noticeable edge.

"It's not like that," Caspian assured him.

"Then what is it like?" Bastian said, uttering what we were all thinking.

Caspian drew in a breath and grasped Dante's shoulder in a gesture of solidarity.

And then he smiled as he revealed, "Dante is my biological father."

Holy. Shit.