Nix
It was a lovely day for returning to New York. The birds were singing, the weather was clear and cool, Nix had wrung three orgasms out of Ivan the night before, and they had Ivan’s scumbag of a traitor in their trunk.
Or they would, as soon as Kai and Ivan finished transferring him.
Nix had already said goodbye to Matteo, who’d been back in his blanket bundle on the couch, probably thanking the heavens that the intruders were leaving already. And now Nix was getting a lovely hug from Sascha on the porch.
“Thank you for your hospitality, sweetums,” Nix said.
“Oh.” Sascha’s cheeks turned a lovely pink as he blinked up at Nix. “Of course. And we’ll be there tomorrow.”
He sounded like he wasn’t sure Nix would believe him, so Nix patted him on the shoulder. “I know you will. You’re a very good brother.”
“Right.” Sascha craned his neck past Nix. Looking to see if theothers were still occupied, perhaps. “Listen.” He tugged on Nix’s shirt lightly. “My brother pisses me off.”
Well, then—Nix bit back a smile—it seemed like they were getting right into the meat of it.
“He forgets to be human more often than not,” Sascha continued with a frown. “And he uses his control over others as a crutch, instead of just dealing with his emotions or going to some goddamn therapy. But he’s been better with you here.” He took a deep breath, then met Nix’s eyes. “You should stay,” he said firmly, then blanched at his own words. “I mean, obviously, it’s your choice. But he might not be able to tell you that he wants you to stay even if he does. And he does.”
What a lovely little speech. Nix had to press his lips together hard now to contain his grin. He leaned down. “Don’t you worry,” he whispered. “I won’t let Ivan scare me off.”
Sascha nodded, then bit at his lower lip. “Butyou’llbe happy too, right? If you stay?”
After all that, was he worried he’d just coerced Nix or something? Nix chuckled, patting Sascha’s reddened cheek. “You’re very sweet, did you know that?”
Sascha sighed, his lips pursing into a pout. “That’s what Kai says.”
Nix hummed. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
Sascha’s pout turned into a grin. “You really irritate him, did you know that?”
“I’m very aware. It’s good for him. As are you.”
Nix wasn’t even flattering the little human. The warrior demon had been miserable in the Void. Actually, he’d been miserable even in the beginning, when all the demons had been summoned to the human realm regularly. Kai had gotten his kicks battling and all that—to each his own—but there’d always been a certain air of discontent about him. Honestly, it had been part of what made him so fun to tease.
But that air of misery was gone now. With Sascha at his side, Kai was at peace in a way Nix hadn’t known he was capable of.
Any other future brother-in-law bonding was put on hold as Ivan and Kai appeared, their task complete.
Ivan stood in front of his brother for a long moment, then nodded stiffly. “Until tomorrow.”
Sascha rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms around Ivan in a hug. Ivan patted his back as stiffly as he’d nodded, and Nix had to contain his own eye roll. Ivan seemed to sense it anyway, scowling at him as he tugged him off the porch.
Nix waved at Sascha and blew a few kisses at Kai. “Toodles, Chez Sascha!”
“Chez Kozlov,” Ivan corrected as they got seated in the car. Either Sergei was bound tightly or they’d knocked him out, because Nix didn’t hear any pounding from the trunk. “I’m the one who bought the house.”
“Well you can buy another one if you’re so determined to be lord and master of it,” Nix told him, slouching down in his seat as Ivan pulled away from the curb, tickled pink when Ivan’s hand landed heavily on Nix’s thigh.
“Why would I?”
“So we have a place to stay near your brother when we visit. Unless you’d rather staywithhim when we vacation in Seacliff, but that does limit our bedroom activities to the actual bedroom, which is a bit of a shame.” Nix had a feeling Ivan could get very creative with locations for hanky-panky given the chance, and it would be such a waste to tie his hands that way.
“And when would we be taking these vacations?” Ivan asked in a tone Nix couldn’t quite read. He wasn’t angry, exactly. Pensive, perhaps?
Nix shrugged. “Annually? Biannually? I don’t know, but either way, you should adopt a European work schedule. Take a month off every summer, at the very least.” Nix may have been looking tobind himself to a mob boss, but that didn’t mean he had to be tied to a workaholic. There was too much of the human world to explore to spend every hour in the office.
“And you’re planning to stick around that long, are you?”
