My brother crooned into the microphone on stage, and I think every female in the vicinity swooned. Oh, who was I kidding? Most of the men too. Stephen Parthon’s appeal was pretty universal, and he had both a male and a female mate to prove it. A proud grin curled my lips, but I hid it by taking a drink of my margarita. As a ball-busting music company executive, I couldn’t appear too much the doting big sister. I had my reputation to protect after all.
“Hey, beautiful.” Some drunken troll staggered up, winked and flicked his fingers against my wings, which made my whole body jolt. “Wanna take me flying?”
And I really meant troll. Even for his race, he was an especially ugly one. I had to work hard not to wrinkle my nose or slap him with enough fairy magic to really send him flying. Attacking him, of course, would get me kicked out of the bar, which I didn’t want. “No, thanks. Maybe some other time.”
“Okay,” he slurred, grinned, and staggered back the way he’d come. At least he was a happy drunk.
I twitched my wings to get the feel of his fingers off them, brushing a hand down my short, sparkly silver dress. Backless, as were most of my shirts and dresses. I loved my wings, so why not show them off? They looked like black and purple butterfly wings, with little inward curls at the bottom that framed my ass. Might as well showcase all my best assets right?
Shifting on the barstool, I crossed my legs and propped my elbow on the polished wooden surface that stretched along one side of the renovated warehouse that was the Eclipse bar.
It seemed fitting that my brother’s going away show should be here, in a magical bar, where our journey had begun over a decade ago. Stephen’s career had skyrocketed during the past year. We’d sold out the world tour within the first week and had to add tour dates. It was a crazy, crazy thing. Not that I was complaining, but I had to stay in L.A. and take care of the business. Someone else managed the day-to-day aspects of Stephen’s career now instead of me. It was a good thing. It meant growth for us both. Money. Security. Stability. Independence. Things we craved.
Well, maybe not the independence for him, but definitely for me.
He got that about me though. He’d always had this understanding about him that people loved. That and the natural charm and charisma from his mother’s siren side and our father’s Fae blood made him an unstoppable ball of empathetic energy. People drew to him like moths to a flame. It had only gotten more powerful as his relationship with his two mates deepened. The magic that unfolded between them had balanced him somehow, gave him the emotional stability to really soar. That kind of love, I couldn’t give him. He was my brother after all.
But I had to admit, deep down in the soft, mushy center of my very cynical soul, that I wouldn’t mind a little bit of that for myself. Especially now that he was leaving.
Loneliness was a totally foreign emotion to me. I preferred being on my own, and when our father died, I was a nineteen-year-old kid and my seven-year-old half-brother had come to live with me. It had been a rough adjustment for both of us. I don’t care what the legal age of adulthood was. At nineteen I was still a kid raising a kid. Going through all the custody rigmarole meant there were so many people telling me what I should do and how I should do it and when and where and what the rules of parenting were and…and…and… It never stopped. I like going my own way and doing my own thing. I crave it, in fact. I need my independence, which is probably why, at thirty-nine, I’d never even had a twinge of desire for a husband or kids.
So, watching Stephen find so much happiness with his mates had been great, but it did remind me that having someone in my life might not be a bad thing. Then again, all the men who’d applied for the position had inevitably tried to control me and simply couldn’t accept that I had commitments on my time that I couldn’t ignore just because they were feeling needy. I don’t mind ties with other people that keep me grounded, but I was born with wings—I need to fly.
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