4. Ronan

O llie, Lance, Beck, and I used to be inseparable when we were kids. Neco used to be a part of our group, but he pulled away after he lost his eye. We might have been eventually able to coax him back, but Lance went too hard trying to pull him back to the fold and Neco said some nasty things to him.

Then, Lance got his feelings hurt and when he saw some kids picking on Neco because of his eye and scar, he had a moment of weakness and said something cruel to Neco about his missing eye. Lance instantly regretted it and that wasn't Lance at all, but the damage was done. Lance ran after Neco to apologize and Neco broke his nose. They'd been mortal enemies ever since and Neco acted like the rest of us didn't exist except for Ollie. If you wanted decent food and strong alcohol, you kind of had to talk to Ollie. If Neco walked in and Lance was working front of house, he turned around and walked right back out.

I wished I could fix it, but there wasn't much I could do when Neco pretended I was invisible when I tried to talk to him. Beck, Ollie, and Lance? We were thick as thieves. They always had my back.

Guttertown didn't have much use for art. There wasn't much point in commissioning it when you could barely afford food or taxes. But it was my passion, and I was good at it. I didn't have any fancy art teachers or paints I bought from the market like the rest of Nestran artists. I was self-taught, and I made my paints from what I could forage in nature.

I could have apprenticed with the blacksmith, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to make horseshoes and shit to kill people with. I wanted to make real beauty. So, I skimped and took odd jobs while trying to get the people outside of Guttertown to buy my art.

It was slow going because they thought I was uncultured by default, but eventually, I started getting patrons. I wanted to be noticed, but not too noticed because you couldn't say no when the Barons commissioned you, but they never paid like they were entitled to my work for free.

Case in point. Ollie and Lance were lifesavers. I got to the tavern right when Neco was leaving.

"Hey, Neco."

He breezed right by me like I wasn't even here. I sighed. I missed Neco. I walked into the tavern as Ollie was cleaning glasses.

"Hey, working is no problem. Caitrin is sick, so we need the help, but you know we would have let you, anyway. I have a plan."

Ollie's plans got us into a lot of trouble when we were younger. I'd like to say Ollie grew out of that, but he didn't.

"We aren't going to spend a night in the cells, are we?"

"Not that kind of plan. Neco was in here because it's Rowena's name day. I'm not sure I can do anything about him and Lance because Lance fucked up and Neco doesn't want his apology, but I know how to fix it with you and Neco. He's civil with Beck because Beck protects the girls."

"Neco was stubborn long before he went no contact with us and frankly, he's a little scary now."

He really was, but in a kind of sexy way. He dressed in all black, his hair was black, his one eye was black, his skin was tanned, and he always had a five o'clock shadow. Neco also always had this look on his face, like he was five seconds away from gutting someone if they looked at him wrong.

"Neco is a teddy bear as long as you don't hurt women or children."

Ugh. Did Ollie get horny for everyone? Yes, Neco was hot, but I wouldn't describe him as a teddy bear at all. Neco had never been cuddly.

"I'm just going to trust you on that."

"No, listen. It's Rowena's name day. I like that kid. I'm pretty sure she's going to marry my cousin if he doesn't fuck it up or she grows up and her feelings change. My uncle already wants to adopt her and apprentice her to break his stallions. Neco came into some funds and he wants to throw her a party at the farm.

"I was thinking you could bring some parchment and charcoal and offer to do little sketches of the kids. Like, if one of them wants a sketch of them riding a dragon, you could do it. Rowena is probably going to want one of her standing on the corpses of her enemies. Guttertown kids never get that kind of thing. Consider it an extra shift. I'll pay you and it might get Neco talking to you again."

Yeah, fuck that. It was one thing when the Barons wanted my art for free. This was different.

"Listen, you only have to pay me for my shifts at the tavern. I don't care if Neco ignores me the entire time and doesn't decide to speak to me again. I know what it's like to be a Guttertown kid and wanting to be exposed to art or to see myself in the stories my mom told me. I can't think of a better place to do free art."

"Free art?" Lance said, coming up from the basement. "Why are you giving your art away for free?"

He must have just caught the tail end of that. None of us had any right to be this attracted to our best friend, but how dare Lance be that attractive? Ollie, Beck, and I had fooled around before and talked about how amazing it would be to bring Lance into it, but Lance was firmly into girls.

We all decided we were going to lose our virginity at the brothel when we were sixteen. We were all fumbling idiots who probably offended the hell out of the woman we were with, except Lance. Like, no one was smiling when we left our rooms except the woman who was fawning over Lance and telling him to come back any time.

Lance swore he'd been a virgin, too, but we all had our doubts. Everyone sucked their first time. No one knew what he had done to that woman since he refused to tell us, but every time we went back there to see Beck, she remembered him and wanted a repeat. Every single woman the rest of us were with that night managed to disappear when they saw us again.

All Lance would tell us was that if we were getting off, we needed to make damned sure the woman did, too. We saw her reaction to Lance, so we learned.

I guess it was safe to say if a virgin had spent that much time researching how to please a woman, they definitely weren't into men. Pity.

"I'm going to draw the kids at Rowena's name day. Neco had a windfall, and he's throwing her a party."

"Neat idea. It's a pity Neco is such an arse."

"Lance," Ollie said.

"What? The fucker broke my nose."

"And you said some hurtful shit before and after."

"Yeah, but I didn't get violent. That was uncalled for. I'll apologize for what I said when he apologizes for punching me in the face. Rowena is a good kid and I don't blame you for wanting to make her name day special. I'm going to get her a present, but I'm not going if he's going to be there."

Yeah, Neco and Lance in the same vicinity were going to be a bad idea. Neco just ignored me, but it tended to get explosive if those two couldn't avoid each other. Neco hadn't hit Lance again, but the shouting matches were usually epic.

"How's the experiment?"

"I think I've got a potent spirit, but it's nearly odorless and doesn't have a strong taste on its own like ale or whiskey. I've got the spirit down. It's good in a pinch if you want to get messy, but I'm trying to infuse it with all these fucking mangoes and herbs so it gets you fucked up and tastes good, too. It's not right yet," Lance grumbled.

He was probably going through things I didn't remotely understand in his head. Lance and Caitrin could have done anything involving alchemy if they weren't born in Guttertown. Fuck, if Lance's father had half a brain, he would have swooped Caitrin up and gotten her tutors. The woman was brilliant. If he'd bothered checking in on his son, he would have seen Lance was, too, and meant for better things than figuring out how to get Guttertown drunk.

"We've got this handled if you need to work."

"There's nothing left to do except let everything infuse."

"I have no idea what that means," Ollie said.

"This part is like cooking and figuring out a recipe. The spirit part is done and we could sell it as is. It's strong as fuck and will get them drunk. It's probably going to cause a hell of a hangover, so if we want them to buy it again, it needs to taste delicious. I'm tweaking the recipe."

Ollie and I both groaned. Caitrin was an amazing cook, and she made sure Lance would make a different kind of husband than the rest of Nestran. Lance was great in the kitchen, too. Caitrin also told Ollie if he wanted to run a tavern, he was going to have to get familiar with a stove. He burned the shit out of everything at first or put way too much salt, but he eventually figured it out.

Ollie was decent at cobbling together new recipes, but there was just this magic that happened when Caitrin and Lance did it. Lance grunted when I smacked him on the back.

"We'll be your taste testers, as usual."

"You're both hogs who like getting drunk."

"Yes, but we have exquisite taste."

"Did you get the stew started for the day?" Lance asked.

"Do you think this is my first day? Your momma trained me well."

"I have my doubts. You're still feral."

Ollie blushed and looked away. Lance was confusing. We all felt a pull to him. Ollie had it bad. Sometimes, it felt like Lance was flirting with us and other times, it felt like he wasn't into men at all. One day, I was going to crack the mystery that was Lance Argent, but I'd never do it in a way that busted up our friendship.

"I also set some bones and the vegetable parts I didn't need for the stew to boil so Caitrin could have some broth for her cough."

Lance's face softened. Fuck, he was just so pretty for a guy.

"Thanks. Can you two handle it for a while? I was going to get some honey and herbs from the market to see if it helps."

"Go. We have it covered," I said.