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“Azzy, Azzy. I haven’t seen you in weeks baby bro.”
“Why not, Azzy? I’ve called you Azzy since you were little.”
Elain massaged her throbbing forehead, feigning normalcy while feeling the heat of Cassian's stare in the back of her neck. He walked a step behind them, casually whistling, the loud tap of his shoes hitting the hard-concrete ground competing with the beep of Azriel unlocking his car. He opened the door with the same easy confidence he display on the nights before, as if his brother hadn’t popped out of nowhere and ruined her confidence to forget him. She stopped short beside him.
“Cass should sit in the front.” No way he would be comfortable on the back, that man was way too big to fit there, his massive legs would be all cramped with nowhere to spread. Mmmh, his spread legs…She glanced at his brother, discreetly checking him up and down.
“You sit there, doll.” Cassian politely refused.
“No, it’s bigger here. You sit.”
“Don’t worry Lainy, I can fit anywhere with the right effort.” He winked. “Besides, I wouldn’t dare to interrupt your ride. Ridding the back is not proper for a first timer.” Now he was the one checking her up and down, making her extremely conscious, his suggestive tone tinting her ears the same tone as his read tie. Jesus, this man would be her death.
Elain noticed Cassian smirking at her evident embarrassed, but she wasn’t one to shy away from shameless flirting. Elain flipped her hair over one shoulder, twirling the waving ends in a deliberate slow motion, greeting him with an obnoxious smile of her own,
“Who said is my first time?” Ignoring him completely, she turned to Azriel, pushing her purse in his chest. "Az gives me plen-ty of rides." Both men went still as she bypassed them, sliding with grace inside the car. Only when her seatbelt clicked in place did Elain noticed how the pink satchel seemed out of place in his stiff arms - stiff because he was frozen with a petrified expression in his face. Shit. Maybe she went a little too far. Whatever, it was too late to back down now, so she batted her lashes at him. "You coming?
Twenty minutes in, Elain was positive that if a pin fell on the car floor, she’d be able to hear it. The ride was that silent. God, this was uncomfortable. It didn’t help that she hadn’t been able to look at Azriel once since her big fat mouth decided to work against her. Again. Elain didn’t know why she did stuff like that, it was stronger than her. One minute she was having a normal conversation, on the next she was shamelessly flirting with her counterpart without a care in the world. It also didn’t help that Cassian’s brain seemed to run in the same speed as hers. They couldn't spend two minutes in each other company without making other people uncomfortable with their overly sexual innuendos and heavy jokes.
Inside the cup holder Azriel’s phone vibrated like crazy, but he only ignored it. Elain traced patterns in her purse, risking a glance at him. His back was ram-rod straight, hands on three and twelve, eyes fixed on the road, a slight downward frown on the corner of his mouth. Was he mad at her? He probably was. Elain mentally slapped herself for being so playful with Cassian in front of him. She and Azriel weren’t in love or anything, but she did agree to be his girlfriend tonight, it was shitty of her to be flirting with his brother on the next breath. She made a note to fix that habit near Cassian asap!
Ten minutes later Cassian was bored out of his mind. They had been sitting in this car, in silence, with no music whatsoever, for goddamn thirty minutes! Where the hell did Elain live? Canada?
“No.” Azriel responded, his phone buzzing.
That had been the only sound made in the car. Whoever was trying to reach him was perseverant, because it kept calling even when Az showed no signs of wanting to take the call. A light lit up inside Cassian’s brain. Was it a woman? If his brother was shaking Elain’s sheets, as Cass suspected, it would make sense for him to reject another woman’s call. Smirking, Cassian prepared to snatch the phone, his plan turning to smokes when they stopped on a red light, his brother using the opportunity to turned it off, dropping it back with a little more strength than necessary. He sighed and asked again,
Cassian tapped his foot, drummed his fingers on his thigh, scrolled his phone, relaxed the knot of his tie.
Cassian rolled his window down, rolling it back up when a quick rain began to fall.
Hiding behind her hand, Elain laughed softly, a part of her tension dissipating. She couldn’t help but compare Cassian with Donkey from Shrek, sitting there, bored out of his mind while the trio traveled to Far Far Away. At least he didn’t resort to doing that annoying popping sound with his mouth. She was about to ask Azriel if she could turn the radio on when the object of her distressed fantasies pushed his head between the seats, his silky hair brushing her upper arm.
“By the way Azzy, I’m going to yours.”
Cassian cleared his throat, mimicking an overly excited girly voice. “Sleepover!”
“Come on. We can braid friendship bracelets and stay up late like the old days.”
“We never did that shit. Sleep in your own home.”
Cassian nudged Elain. “He is no fun this one, run while you can. Seriously, tho, I’m crashing with you.” His faced turned less playful. “My upstairs neighbor flooded his bathroom, which flooded my bathroom, now the entire block has the water shut down till they fix the pluming. Help a brother out, your brother.”
“You know I feel lonely in hotels.”
Venting dramatically, he turned to Elain, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Heard that, Lainy? My heartless brother wants me on the streets! You are my only hope now. Do you have an extra room?”
“No.” Elain clutched the edge of her sit, looking straight ahead. He was so close to her face she was afraid to breath. “Sorry.”
“No problem, we can do that there’s-only-one-bed thing girls enjoy in books.” He wiggled his brows, and unhelpful snort scaping her. Elain bit her lip to stop her comeback. She was dying to say, 'I sleep on the nude.'
Azriel slammed his foot on the break, nearly crashing on the black sedan in the front. A serious of honks and curses was thrown at them. He cared for none of them.
“For Christ’s sake, respect your girlfriend!” Azriel knew he shouldn’t be worrying about Mor anymore, that he should be defending his girlfriend, but the damaged part of him didn’t care for the unusually quiet girl beside him. No, all he could think about was, if he’s brother was this brazen with him right there, what wasn’t him doing when no one was near? Was he cheating on Morrigan and having affairs while she was away? Did he have a girl on the side? Azriel gripped the steering wheel tightly. Cassian was his brother, his blood, but if hurt Mor in any way…
“Relax. I’m joking with her.”
“It’s not funny.” He pushed Cassian’s head, forcing him to retract. "Put you damn belt."
“She’s laughing!” he defended himself. “The girl has a sense of humor.”
“Go to your girlfriend, go to a hotel, I don’t care. But don’t say that shit to her. You are being disrespectful no matter how funny you think you are.”
He exited the car, slamming the door on his way out. Elain looked around, only them noticing they were parked outside her place. Contrary to her bluff, Azriel didn’t give her plenty of rides.
Twice he had taken her home before.
It was never Elain's intention to live in New York, Nuala's crazy suggestion of her moving here only being accepted by the photographer once she landed a permanent position in Marinos. After abusing her friend's hospitality for almost a year, Elain was finally able to save money. gathering enough for the deposit of a one-bedroom in a brownstone building in a cheaper part of town. The moving dried her to the last penny, so when her beloved Death Trap – a lovely nickname Nuala gave to her car – broke down again, Elain was left with no car. It was fine, she was used to the piece of metal dying on her.
By pure coincidence, Azriel saw her downtown on Tuesday, waiting for her second bus. He promptly offered to take her home, no doubt trying to be polite, barely did he know that Elain wasn’t one to refuse this kind of offers only to appear ladylike. Some called her cheap, the middle Archeron called herself a pro in saving up, so she said yes without even thinking too much about it. Later she remembered he might try to convince her of his crazy plan again, but her boss didn’t make a single move on her, he simply turned the radio on low and rolled the windows down, night breeze blowing her hair as they talked about nothing in particular. They didn’t even snarl or fought about anything! Elain was seriously impressed with their mutual civility. Silly fool. Had she known the pleasant nights were driving towards this disaster, she’d have caught that bus yes or yes.
Her door opened suddenly, startling Elain, who fumbled with her belt. Azriel was really mad now, there was no hiding the smoke coming out of his ears, the annoyed vein pumping on his neck. Still, he accompanied her to the door, waited for her to find her keys.
“This isn’t a prank.” she had her door halfway opened when his cold midnight warn hit her. “I didn’t ask you to date me as a prank. I hope you knew that when you said yes to me. I’m serious about having a relationship, Elain.”
"If you don't want to do this you have to tell me now."
"No! I want to do it. I do. It's just, I can't dislike him from day to night, you know how sometimes I speak before thinking,"
“Be stronger. Don’t flirt with him.” Easier saying than doing it. Guilt twists in her gut. Azriel stepped closer until he was invading her space, craning her neck back, his scorching angry gaze holding her ashamed eyes. “Don’t flirt with my brother,” he repeats, “you are my girlfriend now. Mine. Don’t forget that.” The possessiveness in his voice raises goosebumps in her arms. She liked the way he said the word ‘mine’. His gaze slides up to her forehead, his free hand feeling the bump forming there. Elain hiss softly. “You better ice that.”
“I’m taking you out tomorrow.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Elain couldn’t restrain the smile threatening to break free. Their bickering had toned down these days, more on the playful side of the thing than the ‘I hate you’ side. Sometimes she likes to contradict him just for the hell of it.
His hand comes down to her cheek, his thumb moving back and forth against her skin. She holds his wrist, imitation his motion.
“My kiss.” Elain closes her eyes, puckering her lips.
Azriel shakes his head in denial, thinking about how it’s impossible to have a serious conversation with her. Curiously, this doesn’t annoy him today, Azriel founding himself rather entertained by her attempt to be cute. The kiss is closed-mouth, chaste and quick.
Elain blinks in confusion.
Elain is in shock. She wanted a good goodnight kiss, one to have lips tingling all night, one to have her stalker neighbor curling her toes in bed later. Where is the man who kissed the life out of her? She wants him back!
“I knew you are a pervert. Good things come to those who wait, pervy.” He gives her another quick kiss, nudging her inside her building. “Go. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” She mumbles mildly disoriented, but not for the reasons she’d like.
A few feet from them, inside the silver SUV parked by the curb, Cassian’s unblinking stare didn’t stray from the couple. He had jumped to the front sit as soon as Elain was out, winking her goodbye, the cute photographer blushing as she dipped her head in returned and followed his brother. Off they went, and Cassian staying scrolling on his phone without paying attention to a single thing appearing on the screen.
He didn’t know his brother had it in him, the ability to casually fuck someone. But the longer Cassian looked, the clear it got that this no casual fuck. No man drove they casual fuck home and accompanied them to the door, kissed them goodnight without guaranteeing an ass grab or a boob squeeze. Cassian could not remember seeing the two spending time with each other, didn’t know they were close enough to share rides, to stay in the same vicinity without yelling.
Seeing his bother kissing Elain for a second time was quite a shock for two reasons. One, his brother wasn’t one to introduce his girls, Cassian had never met a single hook up, or girlfriend, or whatever, he was honestly waiting for Azriel to assume he was gay. Two, the girl he chose to kiss was the farthest thing from what Cassian assumed his brother might like. He always pictured Azriel coming out of the closet to introduce them to his tight-ass boyfriend, someone obsessed with fashion, cold and closed off, who didn’t know how to have fun and spent way too much time in suit pants. You know, someone like his brother.
Elain was nothing like him. The cute brunet with big eyes and a perky behind was easygoing, lively, and had the thing Azriel lacked the most; a good sense of humor. A girl like Elain was a much better fit for someone like him, too bad she was a Flowers and Chocolate kind of girl, and Cassian did not do flowers and chocolate. The idea of having a one night stand with her unsettled him for some reason. She seemed to fragile for that, to pure. He couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had been the common denominator to bring those two closer. How many times had Az come to her place? When he stopped to think about it, Elain hadn’t said her address, but his brother knew where to go. Knew to wait for the light coming to life in an apartment on the third floor, knew to wait for Elain to push her head outside the window, waving him. This development between then must have been going on for a while. And for some reason, this development unsettled Cassian.
When he saw the two of them getting cozy in the parking lot his instinct was to interrupt, so he asked for a ride. While in the car, Cassian noticed that he didn’t know where Azriel was taking Elain. Were they spending the night together? A lump of rocks settled on his stomach. It was impossible to say where the fuck they were going in the long silent ride. Before he knew it, Cassian was inventing some shit about his bathroom to have an excuse to crash in his brother’s. Azriel might not be gay, but he was a prude. No way he was having sex with some else nearby.
Azriel put the car in reverse and Cassian spread his legs on the leather seat, a lazy smirk blooming; his favorite weapon.
"Kissing your employees goodnight now, huh. Is that new Union's Right?” Azriel didn’t bother to answer, making a U-turn. “Till yesterday you were all ‘Cassian, stop hitting on my employees. Cassian, stop fucking my models,’ When I do it, it’s harassment, when you do it, it’s a ride.”
“Your tune changed pretty fast, little bro.”
“I wonder how many of the girls under you, you are fucking,”
“Why do you care?” Azriel snapped. Finally.
“Because you care when I do.” Cassian shrugged, pretending to be unfazed. Now he would get some answers. “Hypocrite much?”
“Contrary to you, I'm no fucking her and never looking at her face again. I'm dating her.”
"Just her. Elain is my one and only girlfriend," he slid his gaze to Cassian. "What about you Cass? How many others?"
"Just Mor," he answered absently.
Annoyed, Cassian ran his tongue over his teeth.
No, he definitely didn’t like this development.
