"Close the door on your way out, please."
The door slammed, and I could only shake my head in resignation. The angel that Daniel had promised me a meeting with still hadn't contacted me, and strangely . after all the song and dance of wanting me to join the Council . neither had Daniel. I used to think that no news was good news, but in my time here, I'd come to learn that no news pretty much meant things weren't going to go the way I wanted or needed them to.
I wanted to be pissed at Rhys for trying to railroad me for answers about Simon, but I just couldn't. The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that the person I needed to be pissed at . as did Rhys . was Simon. There was so much he could fix with only a few words.
What I needed to do was take a walk and try to get this sorted out.
I gathered the files I'd been working on and locked them up, then headed out of the study and down the hall. When I walked into the kitchen, Simon was busy sifting flour onto a piece of parchment paper. I took the sifter from his hands, set it down on the counter, and grabbed his arm.
"What the hell?"
"Hell has nothing to do with this," I said as I pulled him across the room. "You and I need to talk, angel."
"How dare you."
"No," I growled, shoving his skinny butt into one of the side storage rooms and flicking on the light switch before shutting the door behind me. "How dare you! Do you realize what you're doing to that man?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Simon said flatly.
"Do you love him?" When he didn't answer, I leaned against the door and shook my head. "Rhys loves you, you know. For the past year, he has done nothing but try to make you happy, and all you do is continue to push him away."
"That is the way it has to be."
"Why?" I shrugged. "I mean, if you don't love him, that's something I can wrap my head around. But I've seen the way you look at him; you want him just as much as he wants you." Simon ducked his head and sighed, but remained silent. "Talk to me, Simon. Tell me what's going on."
He sat on a footstool and picked up a can of something off one of the lower shelves, turning it over and over in his hands, his eyes fixed on the can as if he'd never seen anything like it before.
"I'm not worthy of him, Peter..
"Oh, that is such bullshit."
"It is because I love him that I push him away. He will find someone else . in time . and he will forget all about me. That is the way it's meant to be."
"Meaning?"
Simon let out a heavy sigh. "It's complicated, Peter."
"Oh, lots of things are complicated. I get that. My relationship with Lucien? Complicated. My relationship with Nikolas? Complicated. Sabaan? Complicated." I moved farther into the small room, pulled a large container of flour out and sat on the lid. "But you know what? I'm doing my damndest to make each and every one of them work. I may be doing a crappy job at managing things, but I am trying. What I see here&is that you're not even bothering to try."
"The only way I can be with someone is to let down my illusions and show my true self." Simon put the can of beans back on the shelf. "I'm not ready to do that yet."
"I've seen your true self, Simon."
"You saw what I wanted you to see."
"What you wanted me to see?" I paused, studying him closely. "So& You lied to me? To Lucien?"
Face void of any emotion, he answered, "Yes."
The one thing I hated, more than anything else, was being lied to. I was two seconds away from snatching him up and reminding him of that when the door to the room opened and Nikolas appeared in the doorway. I turned back to look at him.
"We're busy."
"I hear that, but we need you outside. This," his gaze fell on Simon and he shook his head in disappointment, "well, it'll just have to wait."
For him to interrupt me in the middle of an argument . or before the fight actually started, in this case . was pretty rare. I rose to my feet and turned to walk out, but I couldn't look at Simon. If I did, I might not be able to stop myself from doing something I would regret later on.
"Don't go far, Simon."
"And where am I to go?" he answered in a sing-song voice.
A growl rumbled from my throat and Nikolas grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. I jerked away from him once we were walking through the kitchen. "This'd better be damned good."
Chapter Two
"We've got a chopper coming in with two werewolves who were rescued from somewhere out in Colorado." His voice was grim and for once, he wasn't in a mood to talk. "Not sure what shape they're in."