Page 16 of Endlessly Raphael

Raphael chuckles as we begin walking. “We’re all a little on the quiet side except for Thorn.”

“How many brothers do you have?”

“Five. Well, I think six now.”

“You think six?”

“We just added on.” Then he pauses. “Oh. We are chosen family.”

“Ah, okay. That’s cool. What about your folks and stuff?”

“Dead.”

His answer is so blunt it startles me. “Real broken up over that, huh?”

He glances at me. “It was a long time ago.” We stop in front of a much nicer car than the one he had last night. “Here we are.”

“Holy shit,” I whisper, dragging my hand over the hood of the red car. “A Bugatti Centodieci? I’ve only seen this at car shows.”

“It’s Syn’s. He prefers flashy cars.”

“It’s gorgeous.” I slip into the passenger seat, running my hands over the supple leather. “Amazing.”

Raphael only smiles as he starts the engine, the rumble of it purring beneath me. “You like it, huh?”

I turn in my seat to face him. “Would he kill us if we fucked in here?”

He raises an eyebrow in amusement. “I’m not sure it’s large enough for that, but Syn would likely destroy whole city blocks with rage if we so much as sneezed in here.”

I laugh. “That’s fair. This is nice.”

“Hold on.”

Raphael tears off into the night, and I lean back to enjoy the smooth ride. We attract a lot of attention driving through this shitty neighborhood in a car worth more than most of the real estate here. For the first time in a long time I feel like my old self again. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

We exit the neighborhood and Raphael merges onto the freeway, glancing at me.

“Why are you so dressed up?” he asks.

“Husband hunting,” I answer honestly. “I figured you were gonna say no, so I was heading out for the night to see if I could find someone even half as interesting.”

He nods, but I notice how his jaw ticks.

I touch his arm with a grin on my face. “Does that make you jealous?”

Raphael scoffs. “Hardly. I’m not a jealous man.”

“Well I am. Possessive too. But I guess we should have rules since this whole thing isn’t real.”

“Like what?”

I shrug. “Um, I don’t know. Do you still want to see other people?”

His brow creases again but he doesn’t respond.

“I guess it’s not fair of me to expect you to put your life on hold for me,” I continue. “I would just ask you to be discreet in case my family follows me or something. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

“I have no intention of seeing other people. What happened between us last night isn’t something I do a lot.”