Chapter 2
Wynn
Ihad thought of nothing more than to get back to see Piper after all this time. I’d only seen her once before over this last year, and it had been too short of a visit for anything other than a long night of passion mixed in with some tension between her and Darren.
At the time, I thought it had been the whole vampire hunter on the run situation. Piper hadn’t pretended to be okay with being shoved here while we were out running around. She had been more than vocal and none of us have been able to make her feel better about it. Not even Rayne.
Antoine said she will get over it. With time. After all, we had so much time. However, now I was less sure about her getting over it than her being too comfortable where she was. With Darren.
“Wynn.” Piper scowled, shifting out from under Darren and grabbing Darren’s discarded shirt to cover herself. “That was fucked up, even for you. What are you doing here?”
I let my lips quirk up as I skimmed my gaze over her bare legs, the scent of arousal still filling the air. “I do believe that I have answered the question you have been asking the entire time that our attractive young Darren was, how do the young folk say it nowadays?” I held back a chuckle as Piper narrowed her eyes on me. “Taking you to pound town?”
Piper’s nose scrunched up. “No one says that...like, at all.”
Darren made a sound in his throat that was close to a laugh. Something I rarely heard from the stoic, well-mannered man. In fact, seeing him so uninhibited with Piper was like seeing a unicorn. He was never so willing to be mussed up by anyone, even Antoine. Piper, though, had been all over him, her hands in his hair, ripping at his clothes, and he didn’t even seem to care. In fact, it seemed to get him off faster.
It was very…interesting.
“Still, I am surprised that you don’t have our visits on your phone.” I lifted mine up and showed where I had noted today’s visit. “Are you so content with your life here,” I gestured around the small but welcoming house, holding back a sniff of distaste, “working as a puffed up lawyer’s assistant that you have forgotten all about us, my pet?”
Piper’s back stiffened and her arms crossed over her chest as she glowered at me. Those eyes were so fierce and lethal that had I not been immortal, I might have feared for my life. My kitten had claws after all.
With heavy steps, she sauntered over to me, kicking me in the shin with a barefoot. “I’m not the one who ditched us here to go off vampire hunter…hunting.”
I grinned as she flushed from her words.
Propping my arm up on the chair, I leaned my face into my palm. I could feel the wickedness sliding up my face as I contemplated the ordeal we were in. My brothers and I were unable to stand still while our loyal butler seduced the girl we were all in love with. It was indeed a plot twist none of us saw coming.
“I apologize if you have been forlorn since we have been running for our lives. If I had known how aggrieved you would be, I would have insisted we bring you along. Or at least visit more often.” I uncrossed my legs, and in a single quick movement, pulled Piper into my lap. Darren, who had put on his pants—more for Piper’s benefit, I was sure, than mine—gave us a once over before discretely leaving the room. I sometimes wished Piper had the same kind of decorum. Then again, I wouldn’t want to sleep with her and her smart mouth if that were the case.
“You’re an asshole.” Piper smacked my chest with a frown and tried to stand up, but I held her in place. “You can’t just walk intoourhouse.” She tried to stand up again. I tugged her back to me. With an aggravated sigh, she threw her hands up. “You don’t live here. Darren and I do.”
“Ah.” I pinched her chin between my fingers and drew her face close. “Butweown it.”
This time Piper gave me a wicked grin. “No. Actually, you don’t.”
My lips dropped into a frown. “What do you mean?”
Pushing out of my arms—I was so dumbfounded, I allowed it—Piper marched over to a desk by one of the walls. She dug through some papers before pulling a stapled stack out and marched it back over to me. She unceremoniously dropped it into my lap.
Eyes dropping to the stack of papers, I saw that it was the deed to the house here in Seabrick. I had a sinking feeling as I flipped through the pages and saw that not once was the Durand name mentioned in the deed. In fact, the whole thing was under Piper’s name. Darren wasn’t even mentioned once.
“See?” Piper tapped her finger on top of the papers. “This is my house. Not yours.”
For the first time in over a hundred years, I was speechless. “Uh, how…how did you manage this? I thought your finances were—”
“A mess?” Piper beamed and lifted her chin with pride. “Surprising what having a steady income can do to your credit score and your debt. Plus, since I was hoarding your guilt payments this last year, I had plenty of money to put a sizeable down payment on it.”
“They were not guilt payments,” I argued in mock offense, handing her the papers. “But I do have to say, I am impressed. And should I say proud?”
Piper smiled down at me and then pushed it down, making a sad attempt at being forceful. “So get out of my house.” She pointed a finger at the door as if I were a dog that might do as she commanded.
I pushed back the grin fighting its way up my face and gave Piper my best smolder. “Now, love, you don’t really mean that, do you?” I played with the hemline of her/Darren’s shirt. “Haven’t you missed me?”
Piper smacked my hand and pretended to think about it before saying, “Nope,” popping her P as she cocked her hip to one side. “I’m completely satisfied with Darren and my little receptionist job with my overly flirtatious boss.” She bumped my knee with her barefoot and I caught it between my hands, massaging it gently as I pulled it into my lap.
“Wynn,” Piper protested, halfheartedly trying to pull her leg away from me. “Stop it. I’m mad at you. All of you.”