Page 25

F oxx sighed. He’d really much rather talk about sex lives, but… “Well, I was thinking about Charity and her funeral, and realized I didn’t even know how old her niece was. She's the last family she has, and I don’t know anything about her. Or even if she’s been told.”

Gavin held up the messenger bag that Foxx just noticed he had. “I can look for you?”

He smiled. “Please!” Foxx chimed as he got up and hurried around to the other chair at the table and sat, while the dragon pulled out his weird laptop.

Gavin started typing away, and after a few moments, he hit one last key and said, “Found her. Name: Serenity Bartlett, aged five. Her father is Braxton Davis, and her mother’s name was Faith Bartlett. According to the records, Faith, who was Charity’s identical twin, passed away two years ago. I have a photo, by the way.”

Foxx’s mind barely got to process that there used to be two of the woman he called a friend, before he was instantly sad that the world had now lost both of them, followed by perking up a bit at the word photo . “Of the little girl?”

“Of Charity and her. Though it’s from a year ago, so it's likely Serenity has changed a bit. I pulled it from your friend’s phone.”

He frowned. “From Charity’s? How?”

Gavin snorted. “Cloud storage.”

“Ah, let me see!”

Foxx’s breath caught in his throat once the dragon had swiveled his laptop screen. Charity’s smiling face was pressed against a little girl’s, who looked just like her, and who was grinning just as brightly as she was. Platinum-blonde curls cut into a bob, Serenity had pale skin, a heart-shaped face and lips, large baby-blue eyes, and a soft dimpled chin.

“She’s like a…mini Charity, but then I guess her mother was her twin,” he rasped, before clearing his throat, barely managing to hold back his tears. “Is there—” Foxx took a deep breath. “—a number for her guardian?”

Gavin twisted the screen back around and started typing again, the smile on the man’s face dropping as he read something.

“What?! What is it?!”

“I found the reason why the photo was a year old. A year ago, Charity entered into a custody dispute with Braxton Davis, who at that time demanded the girl back…” The dragon trailed off.

Foxx sighed as he eyed the pained expression on the man’s face. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

“Yes. Half a year before she died, Faith fled with her daughter, running from her then partner, Braxton. There were allegations of partner abuse against the father, charges that remained up until her unexpected death.”

Gavin turned his screen towards him again, showing a new photo beside the first one.

The new picture gave off a completely different feeling. The first was happy, whereas the second was like a prison shot. It was the same little girl but younger. Her smile looked oddly tense for a child, and the one on the face of the woman next to her was the same way.

The woman looked like Charity, yet he knew it wasn’t her. This had to be Faith. The differences were subtle, even missable, if one wasn’t looking, but…the curve of her chin was slightly softer, Faith’s nose was a touch more pointed, and her smile lifted up more to the left, while Charity’s had always tilted more to the right.

The biggest difference, however, was her eyes. Even if he had missed all of the other things, the second Foxx looked into her eyes, he would have realized that she was not Charity. Because Charity’s eyes had always had this spark of mischief, of humor, while this woman’s held sadness, worry…the weight of the world. They were the eyes of someone who had seen too much.

There was a touch of the same worry in the little girl’s eyes as well. The man with them, on the other hand, was the only one who looked genuinely happy in the photograph. Tall with brown hair, Braxton was Hollywood handsome, he supposed, with his strong boxy jaw and perfect white…punchable teeth. In fact, his smile pissed Foxx the fuck off. It was too bloody smug.

Taking a slow, even breath, he asked, “Did he kill her?”

“No, a fast moving cancer did that. He was in jail at the time of her death, and it took a while, but eventually, the charges were dropped, since his accuser was dead. But the man has some serious legal connections and pull.

“When he came back and demanded custody, Charity fought against it, bringing back the former charges, but with child abuse tacked on. From what I found, she had proof, but she just never got a chance to present it.

“Unfortunately, like I said, Braxton has some pull. That fact just driven home by him managing to get Serenity taken from Charity’s home. She’d been fighting for her day in court ever since then. I could look, but I’m thinking we’d likely find that he has something to do with the constant court delays.”

A little girl sat in limbo, kept away from the person who loves her just because of some asshole who likely doesn’t even give a damn about her. “What’s going to happen to Serenity now?”

“The courts may still look into the allegations, but as his original accuser is dead, and the person fighting him over custody is as well, on top of the connections he has…” Gavin winced. “Well…”

His hands clenched in his lap. “She’s going to end up back with her bastard of a father, isn’t she?”

“Yes, most likely.”

“Bloody hell…” Foxx bit his lip as he looked back at the screen, at Serenity’s smiling face in the photo with Charity. They both looked so happy… “Where is she now?”

“Temporary foster care placement until a judgement is made.”

“I see.” He gritted his teeth, and then snapped, “No, I don’t see. I don’t see how any of that is okay! And I wish Charity had said something. Why was she—” Foxx let out a frustrated hiss when his voice caught. “Why was she fighting this alone?! I could have helped her! Hell, Tony could have! But if it was money, I have loads of the shit. Too much to ever spend. I could have bribed some fucking judges if I wanted to! Better yet, I could have just KILLED the bastard keeping that little girl away from the one person who loved her!”

Gavin smiled, but it was more sad than anything. “I’m sure she wanted to. But sometimes, it’s hard to ask for help, especially when you are sinking.”

But wasn’t that the time one should ask? Maybe she had though…? Tony… Tony had to know. There was no way the man didn’t, especially with their jobs. Any Guild employee getting into legal disputes, well, Tony would know about it… Legally, he’d have to, in case there was any chance it would become a risk to their work.

But Tony knowing didn’t matter now. What mattered, the real question was, what could he do about it now?

Foxx took a deep breath, looking towards the door at the sound of it unlocking. Seconds later, Harlow walked in carrying bags. “Sorry for taking so long. Traffic jam on the way there, and then a long ass line both inside and…” The man trailed off on a frown. “What’s wrong?”

Gavin cocked his head slightly, curious to see that Harlow so easily realized something was wrong with his boyfriend.

Foxx let out a distressed whimper, before blurting out all they’d learned.

Harlow stared silently for a moment once the vampire had finished, before calmly suggesting, as if it was completely normal, “We could swing by and kill him?”

Foxx’s eyes lit up. “Really?!”

Gavin’s own widened when the light in the vampire’s eyes was suddenly reflected in Harlow’s, the dhampir almost beaming that his suggestion had helped.

“Sure.” Harlow chuckled. “We’re already killing illegally, what’s one more body?”

That spark he’d seen brightened still as the vampire gleefully giggled and clapped. “YAY! Let’s kill the bastard!”

That brightening was once again reflected in Harlow. “More than that, Brat, we’ll make him suffer.”

“Murder and torture is always fun,” Foxx hummed happily. “Now, food. Gimmie.” The smaller man made grabby hands at the bags. “What did you get me?”

“The most fattening, greasy things I could find on the menu, along with some desserts.”

“OHH, GIMMIE!”

Gavin watched the two as they continued to interact while unloading the bags. It was…odd. But it was clear that their emotions practically fed off of each other’s. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen Harlow so undeniably affected by someone else before. In fact, Gavin couldn’t say the man ever had been before this…

His brow pulled together as he thought over the past, over every interaction he’d had with the man, and found…not a single situation that even suggested it. Not once.

Sure, the man ‘reacted’. He’d get angry, and would have varying responses to the things going on around him, but it wasn’t like this. Before now, Gavin would even say Harlow didn’t care enough about anyone for their emotions to change anything in him at all. Like, his brother would show discomfort, or even disgust at the grief of others…but when it came to joy… There had never been a reaction.

Truthfully, it hadn’t been an emotion he’d assumed Harlow could feel. Gavin had felt plenty of happiness while being near him, but not from him. In place of that, what he’d always felt from the man was…glee.

Violent, unfiltered, murderous glee is what he’d always associated with his brother. But what he was seeing now wasn’t that. Warm and soft, it was very much the joy he had once thought the dhampir was not capable of. A joy that was clearly for one person only.

The glee was still there though, underneath. And from what Gavin had seen so far, Foxx had the exact same violent glee that he’d seen so often in his brother, but alongside it was a hell of a lot more emotion. More than Harlow was capable of. Yet…they fit…

“I get it.” Gavin chuckled softly.

They paused in what they were doing, the pair looking towards him at his words. “Get what?” Foxx asked with a smile, while the dhampir stayed quiet.

He shook his head. “Nothing, just talking to myself.”

The vampire frowned but didn’t push. The two men started to talk amongst themselves again almost instantly, while they began to eat.

He had to say, as much as Gavin got it, it was still very bizarre to watch the two of them.

For one, Harlow normally didn’t talk much. Sometimes, one was lucky to even get a grunt out of the man. With Foxx, however, the dhampir seemed to go out of his way to talk. Yeah, he still grunted, but not nearly as much as he did with everyone else, and with the vampire, he always answered in some way.

An odd tightness began to form in Gavin’s stomach as they continued talking without him. On realizing he’d started to glare at them by accident, he quickly blanked his face.

Ah shit…was he possibly jealous?

Gavin winced. A little, just a little. He maybe wanted Harlow’s attention…just a little more than he was getting. But at the same time…it was really hard to be mad at how happy the man seemed with Foxx.

The paranormals’ conversation paused as one of their phones started ringing. Shoving the rest of the fry he’d been eating into his mouth first, Harlow then reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone.

A wide smile spread across the dhampir’s face as the man looked at the screen. “It’s Tony.”

Foxx bounced in his seat. “Oh, answer it! Answer it! This is going to be hilarious!”

Yep…he saw exactly why they got along. They were both menaces, but then…so was Gavin. He smirked at the thou ght, holding back his laugh when Harlow tried to answer the call and…failed.

“Fuck!” the dhampir growled.

“I thought you’d been practicing, Old Man!” Foxx huffed.

“If you had just let me get a flip phone, I wouldn’t have to practice anything, Brat!”

The vampire smiled, but it definitely didn’t reach his eyes. “You had a choice. Get an old man flip phone and be boyfriend-less, or get a smartphone and my ass that you love so much!”

Ah, the Old Man nickname must have come about due to the dhampir’s obsession with holding on to technology beyond obsoletion. And Brat was… Well, Foxx was a brat, but then so was Gavin, so he couldn’t judge.

“Fucking blackmail is what it was,” Harlow grumbled.

“That isn’t your normal phone, it's the one Sephira gave you! Regardless of what I did, you would still have to bloody well learn!”

Foxx rolled his eyes when the dhampir failed to connect the call again. Reaching over, while staring Harlow dead in the eye, the vampire answered without looking.

“ HARLOW, FOXX !”

The two stopped arguing, both smiling like pleased cats at Tony’s angry yell. Menaces indeed… Tsking, he grabbed a fry and popped it in his mouth.