Song- Last Thing by Jack and Jack.
P.S. Jack J is mine.
Chapter #17- Ed shares his secrets.
"Hello, Eduardo" I slid into the chair in front of him and give him a small smile.
"Hello, Delilah. To what do I owe this visit?" He signals for the bartender to refill his drink as he turns sideways to stare at me.
His eyes flicker to the door, and then survey the whole bar not even sparing an extra minute to the singer on the stage who has been singing a song about sex and lust all the while staring at only him.
"Looking for someone?" I ask.
"Uh..." his brows furrow for barely a second, before his face is enveloped by his very famous poker look.
"Why are you here Delilah?" He asks in a no bullshit voice.
"To see you, of course" I flag the bartender and request him for a coke.
"Let the lid be on" I tell him and then jerking my thumd in Ed's direction, add, "On his tab"
The bartender, a cute blonde with blue eyes looks at Ed for confirmation and then struts away to grab me my coke.
"Delilah-"
"I am not at all surprised that you are here of all the places" I grin, waving at a few familiar faces.
"How did you get here, Delilah?" He asks, swiveling his stool around to face me.
"Bas gave me a ride. For ol' times sake, ya know?"
"How come Bas knew I am in Ibiza?" He frowns. "I thought I had kept my whereabouts under wrap"
"I told him" Duh.
"Oh"
The bartender slides me my coke and I gingerly crack the lid. Ed then asks, "How are you doing, Delilah?"
"I am marked" I slide my t-shirt aside to give him a perfect view of my mark. The one my Mate gave me. I know that is not what he asked, but I feel like flaunting my mark to him. Make his realize what he missed out on.
He stares at the mark for a few seconds, as if memorising it, and then gives me a smile. A genuine smile. Weirdly, it makes my heart ache.
"It's beautiful. Congratulations" He says and leaning in, he pecks my cheek softly. My skin tingles where his lips brushed and I scowl at him.
"You're happy" I accuse. Okay let's face it. My ego is bruised. I thought he would feel at least a tad bit bad and (I know this is a stretch) jealous.... but he seems delighted to see me marked by another man.
"Was I not supposed to be?" He frowns and I want to scream, 'YES' and then bash his head on the granite bar. But, I don't. Instead I give him a once over.
He hasn't changed. Not even a teeny-tiny bit.
His eyes are still the electric blue that I fell in love with, and his jaw, as usual, is brushed with days of unshaved stubble. His skin is tanner though. He's been in Ibiza for a while then, I conclude.
"How old do you think I am?" Ed asks, drawing my eyes back to his own.
"Old..." I have no idea what his age is. From what I have heard, he is the oldest dragon alive. Or so Bas' bitch for a Mate had claimed.
He laughs at that. Throwing his head back, he laughs like I have cracked the funniest joke ever. The humor is lost on me.
"I am more than a thousand years old, Delilah" He says with a smirk and I inspect his face for any signs that he might be pulling my leg, but all I get is a deadpan look.
"Wow" The word is out of my mouth before I can even think it through.
"Yeah, wow" He grins, "And all the while that I have been alive, never once have I remained a recluse" He says.
"Okay..." Where is he going with this?
"I know more about the supernatural world than you'd ever learn in the library from the council"
"Alright-"
"Once upon a long time ago, I was best friends with the Alpha of the strongest wolf pack in the world-"
"Oh..." Wait, what?!
"His name was Ashley Azure Black" Ed states looking me dead in the eyes. "He was the Alpha of the Ash Moon Pack of Little West" Holy Fuck.
Leaning in, he slides a finger underneath my chin and jerks it up. Only then do I realize that my jaw had slackened and I was gaping...
"You are surprised"
"You... He.... You..." I am reduced to gibberish now.
"Ashley was an asshole and almost everyone in the supernatural world hated him. But, I didn't. That man stood by my side when I had no one" He has a faraway look in his eyes as he continues.
"I still remember the day he was cursed by the demon lord, the same day I lost Mina. My, mate" His voice has lowered now, and though the bar is buzzing with drunk humans, dancing to the live music of today's performer, I can feel the pain his words are coated with.
"Everyone thought that Ashley did not care about the demon's curse, that he could give two less shits about his mate when he was too busy taking over the world, but what they don't know is that he was busy alright. Busy picking up the pieces of my life. Trying to restore it" Ed sounds bitter.
"It's hard to believe that someone can forget all about their own life's trouble when helping their friend, but that is the truth. In Ashley's case..."
"Ed-"
"He forgot all about the curse when his Mate, Lilian came into his life. And this happened after he was done fixing my life for me" Ed smiles a grim smile.
"Ed-"
"I'll tell you a secret" He whispers and then beckons for me to come forward. I give him my ear, just when my eyes clash with a different shade of blues entering the bar.
My eyes widen.
Fuck. FUCK.
"Get away from her!" Alpha Ulysses spits out and his voice is louder than the music being played.
"Ulysses!" Ed waves at my mate as if they are long lost friends.
"Get away from her!" He repeats, this time, standing right behind Ed.
"How are you, son?" Ed asks, barely fazed.
"Get away from her before I break your neck, asshole" Spice clenches his hands into fists.
"I will. After I am done sharing a couple of secrets with her" Ed says and pats on the empty barstool to his left. "You can hear too"
"He feels suicidal, Mate. Maybe you'd like to help your 'crush' out by getting the fuck away from him" My Mate is glaring daggers at me, his eyes burning with rage at the distance, or lack of it, between Ed and I.
Where the fuck is Bas? He had one job. One fucking job. To keep my Mate busy in the parking lot for at least 15 minutes so that I could catch up with Ed without any interruption!
"That asshole is in the trunk of his car, Mate. And so will he be-" My mate glares at Ed, "If you don't get away from him right now"
"In his trunk?" He is reading my mind again! Fuckkkkk. I make a mental note about it, to tear him a new one once we are back to little West.
"Mate-"
"What did you do to Bas?" I glare at my mate. He meets my gaze without flinching.
"What he deserved" My Mate hisses, stepping forward between Ed and I, and giving me his back, he is now facing Ed.
"When I came here, I had not planned on killing you. Given how you haven't laid your hands on her. But, I have now reconsidered" My mate's voice is granite as he announces his intentions.
I push my stool back, stand up, bunch my hand in my mate's shirt, and pull. He turns to face me wiith pissed off eyes.
"Sit" I hiss, pointing at the stool I was perched on.
"Mate-"
"Sit your ass down, Spice. Now" I growl and his eyes turn the same shade that they were in the car when we were talking about Ed. I know that force won't do it this time. So I do what I had done in the car.
I lean in, and press my lips on his exposed shoulder blade. Where my mark is. Parting my lips, I slowly lick it and his body shivers underneath me. I smile.
"Please, Spice" I whisper in the crook of his neck, sure that he is going to hear me anyway. His eyes are the darkest shade of blue now.
Pulling me into him, he sits down on the stool and I sit on his lap.
"That is the only thing I don't envy about having a mate" Ed breaks the spell around us with his amused drawl, "Nobody to use their female wiles on me!" He announces with a self-satisfied smile, but I can read the lie in his eyes.
"Fuck off" My mate's chest vibrates when he growls and I frown.
"You were going to share a secret, Ed" I distract Ed from my mate's rudeness. I'd rather they don't fight. Because though I think Ed will win, I am not willing to bet on it.
"Oh... the secret. Yes" He smiles mischievously.
"We are waiting, Eduardo" I hiss when I feel my mate tense.
"If you haven't already realized by the story I shared with you-" My Mate starts to ask what story, but I mind link him that I'll tell him about it later. "I had always known why he did not accept you all those years and if I had made a move on you like you wanted me to... like my dragon wanted me to, all of us would have regretted it in the future" He says in a dun tone and it is my turn to tense now.
"He would've come for you sooner or later and with a bucket load of guilt, you would have left me and shit would have gotten complicated for no reason" Ed's glass is empty so he signals the bartender for a refill.
My denial is at the tip of my tongue, but something in me stops me. It's not because my Mate is here that I don't deny his statement. It's because, deep down, in the most primal part of me, I know it to be true
Fuck.
"You want something, man?" The bartender asks my Mate when he leaves Ed's drink. One glare from my mate answers his question.
"Okay. Now secret number two!" Ed raises his glass for a toast. We just stare at him.
"Party poopers" He grumbles as he downs the whole glass in one sip.
"I should open a bar, ya know? With the amount of alcohol that I consume, it will save me a lot of money" He murmurs staring at the empty glass. Looking at my mate, he asks, "Do you know how expensive drinks are in this club?!"
"Ed.... your second secret?" I probe kicking his shin not so gently to get him to focus.
"The drinks here are $20 per glass!" He says to my mate and I can feel my mate's impatience.
"Eduardo!" I hiss and he stares at me, cocking his head to the side.
"I love hearing my full name from your mouth, Delilah. It sounds so much better when you say it..." He makes a move to touch my face, and in that moment I know that the momentary peace that my mate had established has come to an end.
"Spice don't!" My shout falls on deaf ears as my mate swings his fist to meet Ed's face.
A crunching sound echoes in the bar and the music goes down instantly.
We have attracted attention. From humans. Fuck.
If either of them shift, then we are fucked!!!
"Ulysses!" I plead my mate to stop but he keeps on hitting Ed, bashing his fist in his face with blind rage.
"MATE!" I pull him back, try to peel him off my friend, but he doesn't get off. People are busy clicking pictures and videos and nobody is helping me.
Just when I am about to give up hope, imagining all the worst case scenarios, a voice says, "What the fuck is happening over here?"
I turn to ask the speaker for help, hoping against hope that it is a supe of some kind, when my eyes land on the reason why I came to Ibiza in the first place.
The 5 feet something woman with jet black hair and doe like eyes is staring at me with no colour in her cheeks. Her eyes are hard as they glare daggers at the two men on the floor who are beating the shit out of each other.
"Can you pull your mutt off Ed, Delilah?" She drawls and I feel chills right down to my bones when I see the very protruding belly she is sporting. That and the blood red eyes.
"Vanessa" Her name is a cuss from my lips.
(O•o)
Okay.... There you go .
What do y'all think about this chapter?
I am having mixed feelings.... And poor Bas. Still locked in the trunk 😳
Also, have you ever felt the urge to make somebody feel jealous? You know, just to feel good about yourself? A boost to your ego. Kinda.
No?
It's only me then. And Delilah, of course.
Answer to last chapter's question- Harry Potter.
Today's question- Hunger Games or Percy Jackson?
And... this is an early update not because I am an awesome person (That I already am...) but because I have my college orientation tomorrow. And my classes start the day after.
All in all... I am screwed.
I am going to log off now. And go do some work.
Mischief managed.
#Peace
-N.