22. Erik

Chapter twenty-two

Erik

J esse had gone fully insane. After Grace retreated to the basement for the night, he stopped me from following after her. It took a glass of whiskey and more than a little convincing before I finally saw his point. Grace was sweet and, potentially, a lot more powerful than she'd let on. The last thing we needed to do was scare her off and have her run back into her brother's arms. Jesse insisted that we take it very slow, like, glacial slow. I didn't like this idea much at all, especially when she walked around our house in a sexy blue sundress, which had clearly been designed specially to torment me.

Another idea he had was to give her a laptop, which I considered just another distraction that she didn't need, especially when she had us. I stewed in anger as she sat in the backyard, her headphones on as she watched ASL lessons and practiced her signs. We could be teaching her that. She didn't need a screen to learn how to sign.

I was pouting, and everyone knew it. Even Margot noticed, her mouth set in a grim line when I answered her curtly at breakfast yesterday morning. Today, my toast had been burnt, so I probably owed her an apology. But come on. It had been a week of polite-but-distant Grace, skirting around us like a shy little ghost, joining us for meals before disappearing somewhere in the house to study or… god only knew.

At least, I was busy enough that most of my days were occupied. My father was demanding meetings, trying to figure out who was undercutting him. I played the good little soldier, knowing the mole I was sent to look for was, well, me. Douglas was another thorn in our side. He had chewed my father out, accusing him of kidnapping his sister. Half of Sergio's crew had gone missing, and I could only assume that the Boogeyman had been interrogating them about their late boss's death and Grace's location. I reveled in the fact that she was right under his nose and he had no idea. That knowledge was almost enough to keep me from pulling my hair out. Almost.

By Friday, I had enough. Breakfast was another quiet affair, but only because we were all helping Grace practice her signing. She was a quick little thing, I'd give her that, she was getting through whole conversations now, and I could tell Jesse was thrilled by her progress. I was too, it was great, truly. But all I could think about was how much I wanted to touch her again. Every smile she sent my way was like torture at this point.

"There's a party tonight," I announced out loud, signing slowly for Grace's benefit. "Seb is hosting, we were all invited." Anders rolled his eyes, but Jesse looked interested. I knew he couldn't resist a party in the hills. "You too Levy, if you could handle it," I added, looking at the empty chair beside me. Our ghost had been even more absent than usual lately, so it might be good for all of us to get out for a little while.

"Seb has other friends," Anders piped up, annoyingly cryptic as usual.

"Yes, it's a party, there will be other people there," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"What if someone recognizes Grace?" he asked sharply. I smirked, glancing over at Grace, whose eyes had gone wide with open curiosity.

"So what? Seb doesn't affiliate himself with the Boogeyman or his crew. And we aren't scared of him, are we?" I asked the group, watching everyone's features set in the stubborn defiance I was hoping for.

"What do you think, Angel? Want to go to a party in the hills?" I smiled, and she nodded quickly. Fucking finally, this is what we all needed.

Anders disappeared shortly after breakfast, muttering something about taking the car, and Grace disappeared down to her room. I was going to dismantle that room, I swear I was. She belonged upstairs with us, and every time she hid down there I got furious. Needing to take my fury out on someone, I ordered Levy to meet me in my office after lunch. The door shut behind him, and I stared at the empty space where I assumed he was.

"Man, what's going on? Can you be visible for Seb's party?" I asked, not bothering for gentleness, since he didn't respond well to that anyway. He flickered into view, and fuck did he look rough, his hands shoved into his pockets as he stood hunched over, dark circles under his eyes.

"What happened?" I frowned. "Did you and Anders fight or something?" I knew they did stuff together, although the details were a little unclear. He shook his head, sighing as his body grew lighter, more translucent.

"I hurt Grace's feelings," he explained, and I growled audibly, making him flinch, flickering in and out.

"What happened? What did you do?" I demanded. We weren't bad people here, I swore if he'd done anything creepy I would kick his ass.

"She was being sweet. And I just left her, I ran," he mumbled, staring at his feet. Well, that was unexpected and not something I could yell at him for, I didn't think.

"Did you apologize?" I asked, running a hand through my hair. He shook his head mutely, fading from view. "Then what are you waiting for? Apologize, so we can go to this party, have a good fucking time, and show the world that the Boogeyman's own sister refuses to side with him," I grumbled, and he disappeared entirely. "Come on Levy, Angel is not going to hold a grudge. She'll forgive you, I'm sure. Just explain things, if you need to. Out of all of us, she'll understand the most." He said nothing, and I watched the door open and close seemingly on its own. Fuck, I probably could've handled that better.

My phone ringing pulled me out of my thoughts, and I grimaced when I saw Anders's name flashing at me. He would never call if he could help it, so this wasn't going to be good.

"What's up?" I asked, tipping my chair back.

"King Sr. just called me," he announced, and I could hear voices in the background. I scowled, running a hand through my hair.

"The fuck did he want?" Rustling noises were all that answered me, and I swore under my breath. God forbid he stopped what he was doing and fucking talked to me.

"Asked about you, wanted to know if I'd seen a gray-eyed kitten around lately," he explained, and I swore again, louder this time. I listened as he paid for something, thinking over every move I'd made recently. I wasn't exactly hiding her, but if my father was going to Anders first, he suspected me, and that wasn't good. It was too soon.

"What did you say?" I prodded, waiting when I heard a ding as he left whatever store he'd been in. I waited some more, exasperated, until I heard a door slam on his end of the phone.

"I told him I don't pay much attention to the women you fuck, and he should ask Jesse if he's so curious," Anders replied blandly, and I barked out a laugh. Not a lie, but not the truth either. Anders was a slippery little sociopath, but he and I went way back. My father would have to try harder than that to get him to turncoat.

"Great. Where the fuck are you anyway?" I asked, settling back in my chair.

"Shopping," Anders told me and then hung up before I could snap at him. I swear to god, he was deliberately annoying.

Anders had given me something new to think about, at least. I headed downstairs, staring at Grace's closed door wistfully as I made my way to the gym. I wanted the word to get out that Grace was with us, but I'd hoped my father would be the last to know. Once he knew I made an enemy of his ally, the shit would officially hit the fan. I wrapped my hands and started in on the heavy bag, swinging and twisting as I boxed with my imaginary opponent.

Were we ready for the war? I'd been preparing for months—fuck, years!—for this, and now that it was close, I was… nervous? I swung hard at the bag, rolling my eyes. I couldn't be nervous, this was just Grace's presence, throwing me off my axis. She was still the wild card I hadn't figured out, and that was making me lose focus. We were ready for this. I was ready for this. I would take my crown, I fucking earned it.