Read Online Anita Blake 22 - Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B

finally settled on, ‘It’s going to be awkward.’
    Juliet laughed and shook her head. ‘Awkward. Oh, cousin, how I’ve missed you. You always were the peacekeeper and the master of understatement. You should be able to come home and see your dad and not worry about this other crap, but you know it never works that way. I’m sorry.’
    Micah nodded. ‘Me, too.’
    I was beginning to get a bad feeling that maybe Micah hadn’t gotten back in touch with his family after Chimera’s death for more than one reason. He and Nathaniel had moved in at the same time; we had always been a threesome, never just a twosome.
    ‘We can call Anita your fiancée and the family will let it pass, but you can’t introduce them together like you just did to me, you know you can’t.’
    ‘I could,’ Micah said, and there was something in those two quiet words that held way more emotion than it should have.
    ‘Micah should be able to just see his dad and not worry about anything else,’ Nathaniel said. ‘I can just be a friend.’
    ‘No,’ Micah said, and he took Nathaniel’s hand in his and shook his head. ‘No, you can’t just be a friend.’
    ‘Oh, Jesus,’ Juliet said, ‘you’re going to force the issue. You haven’t changed; you were always so quiet, the perfect son, until you weren’t. You’d get something you believed in and you would never back down, no matter what.’ She sighed and shook her head. She looked at Nathaniel. ‘It’s nothing personal. You have to be a wonderful person for Micah to feel this strongly, but I do not want to be in the shitstorm that is going to happen when he introduces you to our family as his … what?’ She looked at Micah. ‘What do you say?’
    ‘Significant other,’ Micah said, and his voice was very firm.
    Nathaniel said, ‘I love that you say that, but honestly, Micah, this has to be about you and your dad. It’s just words; I don’t want to make this harder on you.’
    I saw Micah squeeze his hand and shake his head again. ‘It’s not just words, Nathaniel, or if it is, words are important, they have meaning and truth to them.’ He turned to Juliet still holding Nathaniel’s hand. ‘I’ll let the
fiancée
stand with Anita, because if we could figure out how to marry as a group, we would, but since we can’t do that legally,
fiancée
and
significant other
will do.’
    Nathaniel looked at him. ‘Do you mean that? That if we could marry as a group, you would?’
    Micah looked at him. ‘Yes.’
    Nathaniel threw his arms around Micah, and they hugged. They hugged like they meant it, and I didn’t have to see Nathaniel’s face to know he was crying. I realized I was, too. Damn. I went to them and wrapped my arms around them both, my two men. And just like that the lines were drawn; Micah wouldn’t back down or make Nathaniel mean any less to him, not even to smooth things over with his family. If he could do it, so could we.

8
    The three of us rode with Juliet, but the guards insisted on at least one guard riding with us. Since they were here to keep us safe, it was hard to argue with the logic, so we didn’t try. What did surprise me was that Dev ended up riding with us and not Nicky. If it was just one of the four I’d expected it to be him. Honestly, I felt odd without Nicky in the car. It wasn’t a matter of trust or skill. I trusted Dev to do the job and guard us just fine, but I hadn’t traveled out of town with Nicky and Dev since they started being partners so often, and I just plain preferred Nicky’s company. I couldn’t have put it into words, because God knew Dev was the better conversationalist and traditionally charming, but Nicky … was Nicky. He fit better. Micah, Nathaniel, and I rode in the back middle seat and we put the last row of seats down so there’d be more room for luggage. The rest of the luggage had actually fit into one of the black SUVs, so Alfie was driving Ares, Bram, and most of the luggage to our hotel so they could