Authors: Cheryl McIntyre
“I want to forewarn you,” Bryon says seriously.
“
It’s very possible that I may start talking with a southern accent.”
“That’s all right as long as I can do my British accent.”
He squints and shakes his head. “No. That’s stupid. Those don’t even match.
Can you do a country
backwoods toothless mumble? Because
that’ll work.”
“Ew
. No. If you get to be southern, I get to be British.”
“Gah. You’re ruining this for me, Kiem. What if I get you a cowgirl hat?”
Keely bites the inside of her lip as she thinks it over. “No. I don’t want a hat.”
“Fine. We’ll be
British on the way to the store, and
then we’ll be southerners on the way back.”
“Deal.”
Bryon holds out his hand and they shake on it.
Keely yells to her mom that they’re making a run to the store and rushes out the front door before Kimberly can stop her.
Bryon laughs at her. “Should we be running to the car?”
“Probably.”
They look at each other and smile before taking off into a sprint
. Bryon slides across the hood
and Keely is laughing so hard by the time she shuts the car door, she can barely breathe.
“Did you see that?”
Keely nods excitedly. “Very Dukes of Hazard.”
“Right? And where are the Duke boys from?”
Keely raises her eye brows. “I don’t…I don’t know?”
Bryon pulls away from the curb and shakes his head as if he is disappointed in her. “The south, Kiem.”
“Hey, we had a deal.”
“Well bloody hell. Right you are,” he says in a very high pitched
British accent. Or at least his version of a British accent.
“
Cheerio bloke.
Oh, Crikey, I left ma knickers at home.”
“You are terrible at this. I’m utterly ashamed.”
“This is why I wanted southern accents. It’s your own fault.
Now you just have to deal with it.”
“You’re smiling. You’re doing it on purpose! Cheater.”
“I’m smiling because
it’s funny.”
“
Whatever. What’s this new obsession with the south about anyway?”
Bryon smirks at her,
one of his super cute moves he
uses on girls. Sometimes he forgets she’
s not just any
girl and tries it on Keely. “I decided I want to be a cowboy. Or that I am a cowboy, actually.
So I need a hat of course.
”
“You are not a cowboy, Bryon.”
“U
h. That’s what Lila said. Girls just don’t understand. I need to talk to Nick about this.”
“Nick’s not going to tell you you’re a cowboy either. Sorry.”
Bryon turns into the parking lot and searches for a space. “Speaking of N
ick, what’s up with you guys?” h
e asks. Though he’s been waiting to ask her this question since he got to her hou
se, he couldn’t figure out how
to turn the conversation that way until now.
“What do you mean?”
Keely asks.
“Why am I with you instead of him?”
Keely takes
off her seat belt
,
but doesn’t make a move to leave
the car. “We had a fight. But we worked it out. I think. Well, not really.”
“Because of what happened at the Academy?”
“If you are referring to the fact that I got busted lying about wanting to sever the cord binding me and Asmoday in front of everybody—then yes.”
“I can’t blam
e Nick for being upset about it,
”
he admits.
“I can’t either, Bry. I just wish someone could understand it. It’s not like I asked for this. It
just happened a
nd now I feel everything he feels. You can’t even imagine what that’s like. You know how sometimes you feel something, but you can’t really identify the feeling or even why you are feeling it?”
Bryon nods.
“It’s like that all the time. Because I’m not just confused about my own feelings anymore. Now I’m confused about his. And I’m confused which ones are his and which ones are mine.
”
“So what you are trying to say is you’re confused?”
She smiles.
“Very.
” Keely takes a slow breath and forges on.
“
And I haven’t told anyone this because I just found out myself, but he’s not actually my brother.”
Bryon sits forward. “What?”
“It’s kind of like, my father adopted him, but not for the normal reasons of adopting a child. He did
it
for revenge. Asmoday’s grandfather was one of the fallen Watcher’s that returned
to Heaven. I guess my father’
s been holding a grudge and found a way—Asmoday—to stick it to him.
“So now that I know he’s not blood…”
Bryon stares at her, horrified. “Do you have feelings for him? Like real, you’re not my brother, let’s make babies feelings? For a Demon?”
Keely sighs. “Kind of?”
“You kind of have romantic feelings for your Demon brother.”
“He’s not my brother.”
Bryon laughs bitterly. “How do you go from hating men to falling in love with every other one you meet?”
“That’s seriously not fair.”
“I mean, it’s been what?
A week?
And you fall for two guys.”
“Hey, with Nick, I nearly died
three different times,
three different times that he saved me,
so that should count for at least
like
, I don’t know…
thre
e weeks?
And
we were living with each other twenty-four seven under highly dangerous and stressful circumstances, so I think that should count for at least another week. Not to mention the fact that I thought he was dead, and even though it was only for a few minutes, it was horrible. Something like that makes you look at things differently. So by my count, I’ve been in
at least
a six week relationship. That is a perfectly acceptable ti
me span for caring about
someone.
“And as for Asmoday,
I feel everything he feels
.
And he’s the only one that truly can understand what this is like. The things he’s giving up? The things he’s willing to do for me? The things he says when we’re alone. Asmoday is a different person than you think he is.”
“He’s not a person at all. He’s a Demon.”
“And I’m a Demon Princess.”
“You’re a Doyenne.”
“And you’re a Watcher, the sky is blue, a
nd the grass is green. What is your point?”
Bryon shrugs. “I guess I don’t have one. I’m the wrong person to be talking to about this.”
“You’re the only one I can talk to. You’re my best friend.”
Bryon laughs. The sound is sad and cold. “You want to talk? All right. You just remember that you
wanted this.” He turns so he’
s facing her straight on. This was never how he imagined doing this
, but you do what you got to do
.
“I’m the one that has been your friend for the last year. I’m the one you tell all your shit to. I’m the one that listens. The one that makes you laugh. I’m the one you hung out with everyday. I’m the one you can do stupid accents with in the car.
I’m
the one that has taken the time to get to know you. I put in a year. And for that, I will
always
be the best friend. Thes
e other guys show up a week ago
and they’re the one
s who get a piece of your heart?
And by the way, I saved your ass
,
too. I gave up shit
,
too. I
’ve
changed
,
too.
I also respected your feelings when men scared the shit out of you. So I backed off a
nd I waited in agony. Waited
for the day you could look at me and see more than just another guy. I realize now that will never happen. It’s a little hard to sit here and listen to you talk about loving other guys. But you know what? I will freaking do it for you.
“My opinion? S
tay with Nick. He’s a good guy
and he loves you. And you won’t lose everyone that matters to you by being with him.”
Keely stares at Bryon in nothing short of pure shock. She couldn’t have seen this
coming with a telescope. She’
s been fighting these feelings growing inside of her, never thinking for even a moment that he may actually, truly return them. Now that she knows, it kind of scares her.
Bryon laughs again. “Don’t even worry about it, Kiem. I’ll be just fine. I don’t want any explanations. You didn’t know. Now it’s too late. It’s all good.” He opens his door. “There’s a hat in there calling my name. You coming?”
Keely nods stiffly.
Opens her door mechanically. How did this happen? How did
three
guys end up caring about her? Most girls would love this. It makes Keely feel sick.
She thinks of all the times she would blow off his flirtations, chalking it up to Bryon being Bryon. What an idiot she has been.
So now what happens?
Bryon holds the door open for her and she walks silently into the store. “I’m thinking black,” he says picking up a hat from a display. He twirls it on his finger. “But I want a soft leather. And I don’t like this stuff.” He points to the detailing on the rim.
Keely understands. What happens now i
s they pretend everything is fine. Nothing’s changed. Nothing’s happened.
Only, it did happen.
And now Keely is more confused than ever.
And sad.
Because she can’t have them all.
“What about this one?” s
he says
quietly, picking up
a hat similar to what he described.
“Let me see.”
He reaches for it and Keely freezes, going absolutely still.
Her eyes lock
on his.
Bryon pause
s
, his hand outstretched. “Don’t do that.”
Keely blinks. “What?”
“Just don’t.”
Keely lowers the hat to her side. “I don’t know what I did.”
He shakes his head.
“The way you just looked at me.”
“Yeah?”
He laughs in a soft, sad way
. “Don’t give me hope where there isn’t any.”
Thirty-Three
:
Keely licks her lips. They feel so dry suddenly. “I don’t know if that’s true.”
Bryon squints at her. “You don’t know if
what
is true?”
She shoves the hat at him and turns away. Stares at the row of
cowboy
hats without really seeing them. Her hands shake. Her whole body trembles. Eyes sting. Head throbs. If she goes there, she will never be able to take it back.
“Keely?”
She crosses her arms in front of her. Holds her elbows tightly. Digs her nails into her skin trying to feel a different kind of pain for at least a moment.
Bryon pries her fingers loose
and turns her gently toward him. “What isn’t true?” His blue eyes lock onto hers. Searching. This is her Bryon. Sweet. Sensitive. Caring.
Open. All the arrogance lost
.
The boy that made her laugh when her whole world was crashing around her. The guy that remembered the little things about her
, like how she didn’
t like
to be touched
. The man who thinks enough about her needs to stop and pick her up a new cell phone. Her best friend.
Hers.
There is a longing in her chest. She could heal it so easily.
All she would have to do is move
forward.
He is right here.
Bryon’s hands tighten on her, holding her in place. Keely r
ealizes she hadn’
t just thought about it, she had been
doing it
.
Drifting in the direction of his lips like an idiot.
“Keely
.” He swallows
, his Adam’s apple bouncing in his throat like he swallowed a rock. “What are you doing?”
What is she doing? She doesn’t know.