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He sniffed. “Don’t get used to it.”
She lifted the cup to her lips again with a small grin. Who knew Blaine could be so kind when he didn’t think she was asleep?
“Well, I’m just going to go find Caspar,” she said, pointing over her shoulder awkwardly.
He glowered. “Fine. You don’t need my permission.”
She rolled her eyes. Could he make it more than two minutes without a remark?
She took one last gulp of his cup, emptying the rest of the contents into her mouth before she set it down in front of him. She moved to leave, but Blaine’s sudden grip on her wrist stopped her.
Blaine suddenly started choking, pressing his hand to his chest. Out of concern, Mykie stepped forward and laid a hand on his back.
His body was tense as he stared out at the crowd of people just outside the kitchen. So many people were grouped in conversation that she was unsure what he might have seen.
“What?” she asked, seeing the fear in his expression.
“H-He’s here,” Blaine finally said once he was able to catch his breath.
“Who?” she asked, looking around again.
“The Vulture King.”
EPILOGUE
Caspar Watson wasn’t quite sure what he was doing as he walked into Renly’s house, alone. It was after the funeral and Mykie was distracted when she had driven him home. He had tried to bring up a conversation with her, but she had barely responded. She had gone so far as to suggest for someone else to drive him home, but had quickly found out that the only one that she could have asked was Renly, as Blaine had taken off early and Corbus had ridden with Renly to the funeral and wake.
The wake…he didn’t know how to describe it, at the moment. He felt that after they had separated at the door after their arrival, Mykie and he had two different experiences. Ryker had led her to talk to some Vultures, and the next time he saw her in the crowd, she was very obviously drunk, in a screaming match with a redhead.
He was unsure when he had gotten into the car with her whether she was stable enough to be behind the wheel, but he trusted her. She would never put his life in danger on purpose.
He also realized that while it wasn’t someone that she lost, the wake would be difficult for her. Something he had noticed about Mykie after a few days of staying with her was that she was selfish and selfless all at once. She would do anything she could to help someone, but she also got wrapped up in what every action she took did in the long end for herself.
He didn’t want to admit it to himself or her, but seeing her go after his mother scared him. It was different, he realized, when she went after people he didn’t know. She was so in control of herself and the things around her ever since he had met her. He didn’t expect her to lose focus like that.
He knew he would have to eventually sit and think about what happened that day and what it meant for his future, both his individual future and the one he wanted with Mykie. He hadn’t taken the time to reflect, so wrapped up in their growing relationship and the recent events between Mykie and the Vultures. Now that his focus wasn’t on providing for his family, he needed to start thinking about himself and who he wanted to be now.
They had a conversation the night before they went to get the suits and she had stayed up working late while he was trying to sleep. She sat ramrod-straight in her desk chair, but he could see the exhaustion in her shoulders, like she had the weight of the world on them. She had her hair pulled up into a lazy bun that, in his opinion, was practically useless, as most of her hair had already fallen out of it in the front. He had watched her now and then as she bent herself over the keys brush the hair out of her face with frustrated hands. Not once did she stop to fix her hair, though, too focused on the task in front of her.
He didn’t think she realized how beautiful she really was. The night they had sex… it was unexpected, but not unwelcome. He couldn’t believe that he was lucky enough to have met her. The moment that she walked into the Corner Diner, he was hers. He wouldn’t say he was a believer in fate, but he did believe in things happening for a reason. The things he had gone through, including the now deteriorating vision in his one eye, had all happened so he would be the version of himself that he needed to be to meet Mykie.
“You won’t be able to finish it if you run yourself ragged. The report will be there tomorrow morning,” he had said, leaning up in her bed.
“I need to figure out this problem,” she responded. “I won’t be able to sleep until I solve it.”
He was slowly realizing how right she was. There was a puzzle in front of her, and Caspar was beginning to realize that she was in the middle of the puzzle at the same time as she tried to solve it. She was so smart, but also so clueless at the same time. Neither of them, relying on the information she had, would be able to see the big picture at that time.
Looking around at the presently empty, dark house, Caspar wished that he hadn’t agreed to go home after the funeral. He wished he could have gone with her and helped her shed some light on whatever the conversation with the Vultures led her to believe.
A crash upstairs startled Caspar. Looking up, he realized the house wasn’t as dark as he initially thought. Blaine’s light was on, and his door was cracked open.
He thought about heading up the stairs but stopped himself. Blaine and he were not friends. They were roommates that sometimes went out for drinks with the same group. He was not a part of the three amigos.
Caspar shook his head and continued to the room he had been using. He had no clue how close Blaine might have been to Renly’s family. Maybe he was taking Earl Harper's death hard. What Blaine did was none of his business.
He set everything on his back in the place he wanted it to be, including the picture of his family and him that had sat on his bedside in his parents’ house before.
Another crash above him made him jump. Chewing on his thumb, he thought about going up there. Checking in with Blaine wouldn’t be such a bad idea, right?
