Lucien(29)
Luc choked on his nacho. “Collects men?”
Raven looked as surprised as Luc felt. “Elise didn’t tell you?” He chuckled and dipped another nacho in salsa. “Moonbeam—the New Age Princess formerly known as Ingrid Hamilton—likes men. Let me put it to you this way.” He pointed to Luc. “You are ordering Elise as the main course while Moonbeam orders the sampler platter. No, even better. Moonbeam likes the buffet. It’s all about variety.” He pointed to Ben. “And she wants you because your name is weird.”
Ben’s shoulders stiffened. “My name is not weird. Elise called it unusual.”
“No, not only because of his name,” Luc said. “I heard her mention that Ben reminds her of Apollo.”
Raven tilted his head to the side and looked at Ben. “Yeah, he does kind of look like my father. With a name as weird as Benajah I wouldn’t be surprised if Apollo was his father.”
“My name is not weird and Apollo is not my father.”
“Name one other person alive named Benajah,” Raven dared.
“What kind of name is Raven,” Ben countered.
Raven shrugged. “I was named after my grandfather.”
“What was his name? Crow?”
“No. His name was Crazy Zeke Hamilton.” Raven reached for a nacho.
“Your name is Raven Zeke Hamilton?”
“You got it, Obi-Wan.”
“As in Raven… I mean, raving mad?” Ben snickered.
“Yep.”
“And you call my name weird,” Ben muttered.
“My name isn’t weird. It’s unusual and rare,” Raven said.
“In other words, it’s weird.”
“Is not.”
“Is, too.”
“Wait.” Luc held up a hand. “Go back to the part about Elise being Moonbeam’s opposite.”
Raven picked up another nacho. “You—of all people—should know just how different Elise is from Moonbeam.”
Luc ran a hand through his hair. “I know the obvious stuff, but not the… you know, other things.”
Raven’s cornflower blue eyes widened incredulously then he chuckled. “Brother Luc, you really don’t know, do you?”
“No. That’s why I’m asking you.”
Raven put down the nacho and clicked his tongue. “She’s drawing out her fairy tale a little too much, but it is her fairy tale. Okay. You know she’s old-fashioned, right?”
Luc nodded.
“Like, she doesn’t wear white shoes until after Easter, while Moonbeam wears whatever, whenever, and however.”
Another nod.
“Her favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. Whereas Moonbeam’s favorite book is the Kama Sutra.”
“I did not know that,” Luc admitted.
“Kama Sutra,” Ben mumbled. “Maybe I was too hasty.”
“Then you probably don’t know the other thing.” Raven drew in a deep breath. “And it’s not my place to tell you the other thing. Elise should tell you. But she hasn’t.” He ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair. “Okay. I know that if I were in your shoes, then I’d like to know… ah, damn. I can’t tell you. She’ll kill me.”
“Raven, just say it.”
Ben held up his hands. “Rave, as far as I’m concerned whatever is said tonight is between us.”
Raven looked between Luc and Ben for a long minute. “Okay. Damn, I hate doing this, but it’s best if you know before rather than after.”
“Say it,” Luc and Ben chimed in unison.
Luc stood next to Ben in the shadows at the back of the church and watched as guest after guest was ushered in and strategically seated in the pews. In less than thirty minutes, he would be standing at the altar watching his life unfold before him as his perfectly coifed bride floated down the aisle on the wings of butterflies. Her face would be radiant and glowing with fairy tale expectations of marital bliss.
Oh God, he was doomed. Any minute now he fully expected Gaia to wake up and rattle the building with thunder then smote him down with a bolt of lightning.
He hadn’t told Elise about the second part to the deal he’d made with his grandfather more than five years ago. Hell, for that matter he hadn’t told her how the deal had come about or why he was so determined to see it through to the end.
If only she’d asked him why he’d made the deal in the first place. If she’d asked, he would have told her. But she hadn’t. Instead she’d looked up at him with those pretty baby blues and… he was screwed.