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  Ari moved stiffly across the room, passing Ry on his way. He inhaled the scent of her; she smelled clean, and of lilac. He didn’t say anything as he passed, but he couldn’t help but to close his eyes and recall the memory from last night.

  “Ari, aren’t you going to ask your friend to join us?” Drake’s voice was low, but he knew not to push it.

  “There’s food,” he called coldly over his shoulder at Ry. Why was he being so rude? Was it because she was here at all? .

  “Gee, thanks,” she muttered. She had brought bagels. If there as one thing Ari loved about the city, it was the unique New York food, and that included a New York bagel. Ari slumped down next to Scyros. Between the bagels and the drama unfolding in front of him, he looked like Christmas had come early. Ari was aware when Ry sat next to him stiffly, and he reached forward for a bagel, not looking at her.

  “So, Ari. Riley here was just telling us how the two of you met. From what I can gather, it doesn’t seem like the two of you parted ways on the best of terms. Perhaps a good meal and family who loves you will help the two of you work through it.” Crylaine was so reasonable, sometimes it made Ari want to punch him. He glared around at his brothers and then turned his attention to his breakfast, not looking at Ry.

  “Oh thanks so much!” Ry replied brightly. His stomach sank when he looked directly at her and saw the look of pure vindication that was plastered on her face. She took a deep breath and pressed on. “Ari saved my life down in the subway, for which I am eternally grateful. I told you so on the phone, Drake. He flew me to the Statue of Liberty, where he was ever so patient as I digested the information that dragons are real. Then, of course, he took me home. I fed him stew, we had a few good laughs, and then we made love in my bedroom. Now, I’m sure you are all wondering: I assure you, I have only the best interests in mind regarding your brother. I was a bit perplexed when he called out the name of his former mate in the throes of passion. But then I realized my mistake being so hasty and taking him to bed in the first place. I think with all of the excitement of last night that I...forgot myself. Kind of like I am doing right now, but I’m an over-sharer. Comes with the job description, I guess,” she said, and after a brief pause, continued. “Regardless, my intentions were for friendship. I mistakenly decided to express my thanks in a way that probably wasn’t appropriate for first time friends. That’s why I came here today. I wanted to apologize to Ari for the mistake and remind him that he forgot to put his phone number in my phone. I was going to text him this morning and tell him he is welcome to come to see my set tonight down in The Village.”

  When Ry finally stopped talking, there was complete silence in the kitchen. Not a person moved, and Ari’s bagel was frozen halfway to his mouth. Had she really just confessed all of that in front of his entire family? Was she completely insane?

  Ari accidentally expressed the last question aloud and Ry responded softly, “perhaps not as insane as a man who uses a woman for solace and then leaves, thinking that would be totally fine with her.”

  “You told me to leave!” He burst out. He dropped his bagel on his plate, not caring that his brothers and their mates were watching.

  “I did, but again, I had good reason to. You weren’t completely up front with me about Siesha, were you?”

  Ari fished around for a rebuttal. She wasn’t wrong, but she was challenging him in a way that made him defensive. “Well…you didn’t tell me about your sister,” he countered. He instantly regretted it, given the hurt look on her face. He hadn’t meant to bring up a touchy subject, and now they were both spilling secrets and digging themselves into the trenches.

  “Oh, you have a sister? What’s her name?” Claire was trying to be helpful by breaking the tension, but she was only making it worse. Ry closed her eyes.

  “Rosalind.”

  “What a lovely name, what does Rosalind do?” Claire responded, and both Ari and Ry wished she would stop.

  “Nothing,” she replied. “She’s dead.”

  “Oh. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…” Claire stammered.

  “It’s okay,” Ry said, loosening up slightly. “You didn’t know. It was a hit and run that was never solved, so I don’t like to talk about it. But anyway, I can see I’ve caused enough issues around here. I hate to hit and run myself, but I think it’s best if I just go. Ari, Drake has my number if you feel like showing up tonight. I meant it about being friends.”

  So that’s how she found him. She must have redialed Drake this morning from her outgoing calls from last night. Ari glared at Drake, and Drake’s face remained passive. He was going to strangle one of his brothers. Laine looked shocked and Scyros looked like he was going to wet his pants with excitement as his head bobbed between the two of them.

  Ry stood, and so did Ari. “Don’t worry, it’s daytime. No bad guys to grab me in the subway.” She waved a hand at him, grabbing her bagel. “It was nice to meet you all!” she called over her shoulder as she practically ran from the room. Ari could swear he saw the glistening formation of tears in her eyes as she left. He was such an ass. All she was trying to do was smooth things over, and he had only made it worse. They were now both sitting in a pile of guilt, and he had no idea how to wade through it. Ari looked around at his family, who sat with open mouths. Even Corey looked astounded.

  He wasn’t sure who to answer first when the cacophony of sounds and questions echoed through the kitchen. Ari shrugged and grunted through most of it. The women berated him, and his brothers asked if he was okay, and if they needed to go protect Ry. Ari wasn’t sure what to do, so he sat there eating breakfast like the freakish beast of nature that he was. He could not believe he treated her so poorly. The only thing he was sure of was that he understood the comedy she used as a protective shield. She hid her pain behind her smile and her humor. He could understand that and empathized with her.

  Ari wondered how he might make it up to her. She had looked so hurt when he called her out on keeping her sister from him. What right did he have to cause her any more pain? He needed to make this right. He was honor-bound to protect her, and he had caused her more pain than perhaps the two attackers had last night.

  “I need her number,” he blurted out.

  “Why should he give it to you?” Jennifer glared at him. “So you can treat her like crap again, embarrass her? I don’t blame her for doing what she did.”

  “Jennifer,” Laine said softly. Ari thought she had a point, but Laine explained. “I think neither one of them really thought it through last night. When dragons mate, it is supposedly for life. I don’t think Ari meant to hurt her. But he has suffered like none of the rest of us have.”

  “Thanks Laine, but Jennifer is right. I didn’t mean act that way, I just got defensive. I didn’t know what to say. I need to make it right though, so she will see that…I don’t know. So she will see that I want to be her friend.” He sat back against his chair, suddenly not hungry.

  “Hmph.” Jennifer slumped back in her own seat. While he did not blame her, he was still grateful that Laine had come to his defense. He was rising from his chair when he heard Corey clear his throat.

  “Lord Arrlien, might I have a private word?” Ari nodded and followed the older man out of the kitchen. When he told Ari his plan and his thoughts about the situation, Ari felt a flicker of hope in his chest. There might be a way to salvage this mess after all. If he could pull it off, Ry just might forgive him for all of his previous screw ups. He got her number from Drake without hesitation. His older brother had that annoying know-it-all smirk on his face that Ari and his brothers both loved and loathed. It meant he was feeling superior, like he knew something about fate that the rest of them didn’t.

  Ari bounded up the steps to his bedroom and flopped on his bed. He carefully typed out a text and hit send, then spent the next half hour going out of his mind wondering if she was going to respond. When he couldn’t stand the wait any longer, Ari got up to take a shower.

  While he
was lathering himself up, he heard his phone ping from his bedroom. He all but ripped the shower curtain down as he stumbled out of the bathroom, slipping on the tiles in a mad dash to read the message. She responded with the name of the venue and the time of her gig, and that was all. He responded that he would see her later, and then returned to his shower to rinse the soap off. He was busy mopping up the standing water on the floor and carpet when a light knock on his door sounded. He answered it, having fully dressed for the day. He was too wired to try and rest any longer. So, when Corey handed over what he needed, he spent the rest of the day pouring through everything he asked for to prepare for the night ahead.

  He was determined to fix things with Ry, no matter how long it took. Whether he felt the urge to mate with her or not was irrelevant. He had not felt this way about someone in a very, very long time. Ari wanted to feel that happiness again, and if it meant watching t.v. shows that made him hungry and grumpy, then he would watch a gazillion of them. Ari spent the day locked away in his room, anxious for that night to roll around. He felt marginally better about his chances when another knock sounded on his bedroom door. He answered it and found all three of his brothers standing there, offering to help. That would increase his chances of succeeding exponentially.

  Chapter 6

  Ry didn’t really expect to see Ari that night at her show, even though he had texted. When she saw his message come through, she shrugged it off thinking it was probably one of his brothers or their mates who insisted that he text her out of pity. Ry spent the day looking through old photos of Rosie and their family when she was growing up, rather than preparing for that night’s gig the way she should have. She supposed she could pull out some of her older jokes, but they never landed a comedian in the spotlight. Truthfully, she just wasn’t in a joking mood.

  Ry traced the outline of Rosie in one of the pictures she held. It was the two of them playing jump rope in Central Park. They tied two ropes together and tied one end to a tree. They held the other side and took turns being the skipper and the other the swinger. She hadn’t realized how much she missed having someone to jump rope with now that there wasn’t anyone to anchor the rope to the tree and swing it for her.

  Ry smiled wryly at her own metaphor. She needed someone to tie and anchor to the world. She desperately hoped it would be Ari. She recognized the pain in him, and she thought they could commiserate. But as the saying goes, misery loves company, and Ry should have known better. She wished that they could help each other out of their ruts, rather than bring out sadness and bitterness common between them. Ry glanced at the photo again and wondered why she had been so drawn to this one. She realized the spot they played so many years ago was only a few hundred feet from Ari’s brownstone; talk about a coincidence. But he said himself he had a home in the Hudson Valley, and before that he was in Europe. So she supposed he hadn’t been living there when she played with her sister.

  She suddenly began wondering about Siesha. Who was she? Was she pretty? What were her hobbies? Did she make Ari smile? The last question seemed the most important, somehow. It was important to make people smile. Ry snorted at the irony as she looked down at her blank notebook. She hadn’t written down a single joke all day, until an idea hit her. She set the picture of her sister aside and picked up her pen. After about an hour, she had so much material she would have to cut some of it.

  Ry worked on the material for another hour, before finally succumbing to the heaviness of her eyelids. She set her notebook down and went to her bedroom. She climbed into bed and set the picture of her sister on the pillow beside her, and then she balled up the towel Ari had used the night before and buried her nose in it. It smelled like suntan lotion and the sea, and now the scent of Ari’s skin. Ry fell asleep with the towel clutched to her chest, imagining it was him she was holding.

  When she awoke and got ready for the gig, Ry was in a much better mood. Whether Ari showed up or not was weighing on her mind, but she was confident about her material and ready for the audience.

  Ry hopped on the bus down to The Village and walked into Joe’s Comedy and Cigar Club. She looked around at the crowd began to question her act. Most of the people here were men who had just gotten off work. There were business suits and ties everywhere, and she worried whether or not this crowd would be receptive to her material. Ry went around to the side of the stage and climbed the steps, anxious to start her set and see if she could work the dynamic of the crowd into her act to engage with them specifically.

  “Hey guys, how’s it going tonight?” Ry only received a few half-hearted responses. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Long day, huh?” Again, completely non-committal grunts. “So, I’m willing to bet, based on the suit and ties, most of you work for the man, right? You slay the corporate beast everyday?” Ry didn’t wait for their responses, if there were any.

  “So, I’m going to talk to you tonight about that beast, that monster. You see, I could come crashing up onto this stage like a dragon with its tail on fire, and most of you are too tired to really care. That’s fine, that’s okay with me. Because I am willing to bet after a long day at work, fighting the mountains of paperwork, customer and client complaints, wants, and needs, the last thing you want is another comedian joking about things you hear about every single day. Stuff like the weather, or the news, or some political crack that is a feebly disguised joke about my own personal views. Nah, I’m going to talk to you about the beast. Let’s face it, you’re all knights in shining armor in your own way. The pen is mightier than the sword and all that, right? None of us really take the time to consider that maybe the beast really is alive. Maybe it has a name. Some of us might call it monster, beast, or even a dragon. So let’s focus on that, since you’re all so good at slaying the dragon every day. You all look bummed out, let’s try and cheer you up. What do you do with a blue dragon?” Ry waited for a moment then replied to her own joke. “You try to cheer her up!” She wasn’t surprised when no one laughed, but she wasn’t deterred.

  “Alright, alright. I can see my knights are tired out. Besides, we all know dragons are massive black monstrosities from hell who are brought down upon us to make our lives miserable and breath fire down our necks.”

  “Sounds like my supervisor!” someone yelled from the back of the room. Ry let herself laugh. She was genuinely pleased she had captured the attention of at least one person. It also earned her a few chuckles from the rest of the crowd.

  “Must be dreadful, huh? Makes a man come into a place like this, have a glass of whisky and a cigar. So, tell me guys, why did the dinosaurs live longer than the dragons?” No one said a word, and then the same voice came from the back of the crowd.

  “Because the dinosaurs didn’t smoke!” Ry squinted against the stage lights and she still couldn’t make out who was back there. Whoever it was, she was grateful for them. That joke earned a slight cheer from the crowd as they raised their glasses and then each took a drag from their cigars. Ry chuckled and walked across the stage.

  “True, very true. So, we’re all getting a bit warmed up now, huh? I mean, not fire-breathing warm, but I was worried I’d be dragon my feet back and forth across this stage all night trying to entertain you guys.”

  There was a chuckle of amusement now. They crowd was starting to be on her side. Ry continued on, occasionally receiving comments from the person in the back. By the end of the night, her dragon themed jokes had the whole crowd in stitches as she moved from one to another, forgetting that her gig was almost over. She was glad she hadn’t decided to ditch the themed act for the basic one she had as a backup.

  After her set, she had almost forgotten her disappointment that Ari hadn’t shown up, when a man approached her. He was tall, thin, and older. He wore a business suit like everyone else there and he held out a card to her. When Ry glanced down, she had to do a double take. He was a talent agent.

  “I liked your act, young lady. It was fresh and sweet, but it worked well for this crowd. Tells me you kn
ow how to read people and get through to them to make them laugh. I would like it if you came down to my office and we can talk more about getting you some more gigs around town. What do you say?” He held out his hand, and Ry took it.

  “Thanks, Mr. Peasey. I would love to. When do you want me to come down?”

  “How about Tuesday at ten?” he suggested. Ry beamed at him and said she would be there. This was what she had been waiting for. Her chance had come at last! She was so happy she spun in a circle laughing after Mr. Peasey left, and she accidently bumped into a bar stool. Ry tripped and stumbled, and then felt the strong hands of someone catch her before she fell. She caught the scent of the man holding her, and her body instantly responded.

  “Ari,” she said breathlessly as she looked up into his face. He had come to see her. “The gig is over,” she blurted, trying not to sound hurt that he had missed it.

  “I know. You were fantastic, and I saw you talking to that guy. Agent?” he asked softly.

  She nodded, shocked that he had actually been there. Most people she invited to her shows sat in the front, encouraging her. Then she thought about it a minute.

  “Thank you for your help with the jokes,” she said, feeling a little embarrassed. Her whole act came about because she had met him. He could be mad that she had practically outed dragons in her pun infused act.

  “I thought they were adorable. You did an amazing job catching the crowd.”

  “Well, I suppose I have you to thank for that,” she confessed. She walked up to the bar and picked up her check. Then she met Ari, who stood in the back waiting for her. “So, umm. On patrol tonight?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

  “Sort of. I came down because I wanted to apologize for this morning, last night again, and...well, sort of everything.”

  “I told you, I get it. It definitely hurt a little, but I get it. I never want to talk to anyone about my sister. But I get how it hurts so much that the pain sometimes it just slips out.”