Page 99 of Moonlight Hearts

“You may keep your deviancy to yourself, Young Hawthorne,” Soyer said as he was opening the freezer to get out the chocolate ice cream.“I’m guessing you like cream.”

Elias lookedthrilled.It was a little like having a sibling again, so I didn’t mind.

Ella had come over to Soyer from where she’d been chatting with Sophie and Ant.“You said you’re making milkshakes?”

“Amory asked me to make him and Elias one, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“That’s a yes.Can you make me one?”

He sighed.“Try again.”

She had that annoyed teenager posture, but it was like she was trying too hard with it.“Can you make me one, please, with two straws, please?”

Soyer started spooning the ice cream into the blender.He let her stand there a while before answering, and to her credit, Ella just waited.“One milkshake.Fine.”

Ella nodded.“Thanks.I guess.”She looked around.“Want me to wash the dishes or anything?”

Which made my eyes go wide.As far as I was aware, the expectation of adolescence was that you tried to avoid chores.

“We have a dishwasher,” Soyer said, then hit the blender’s start button.

“That one has potential for delinquency as well,” Elias whispered in my ear, and I just barely caught it over the blender noise.

It was probably better to keep him occupied with juice dates and photo shoots if that was what it took to keep him thinking I was a good delinquent.Of course, I wasn’t, but I’d rather not risk his influence on Rae’s sister.

Ella watched Soyer while he made the milkshakes and eventually walked off with hers, two straws sticking out of the cream on top.

Soyer handed first Elias then me our respective milkshakes.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You are quite welcome, Amory.”Soyer watched me.“Just don’t share this one with anyone, hmm?”He looked right at Elias when he said it.

Next to me, Elias gasped.“Oh, to undress a lover with your hungry gaze alone…”

“And what have we here?”Valentin had broken away from a hushed conversation with Dwayne to join us.

Elias beamed.“Amory made Soyer make me a milkshake, and it’s chocolate!That way, he didn’t break the rules, and I get what I want.Isn’t that just perfect, Valentin?”

Valentin looked at Soyer.“You had to?When he’s in a mood to gloat, it can get difficult to shut him down.”

Soyer shrugged and put his arm around me.“Amory asked me.It’s not my problem what you do with your very youthful lover.”

“I see.”Valentin caressed Elias’s cheek, his touch lovingly gentle.“You enjoy yourself, Elias.”

Elias nodded while sucking on the straw, his eyes big.He wasn’t subtle, not even a little.

I didn’t really see Soyer smile at all, not in the way you might when you’re talking to friends, when you’re just being happy and having fun.Still, I could tell he was enjoying this.I could tell, no matter how much he would deny it, that he liked the kids.

Out of the corner of my eye, when I was chatting with Ant and Ben, I saw him talk to Sophie, and it looked like he was giving her a talking to, at least from her body language.I had no proof that he was telling her to be good to Ella, but I had a feeling.

Close to midnight, Dwayne picked up a sleeping Laura off our couch, and the two of them were the first out the door.Everyone else took that as their cue, and before too long, it was just the relative silence, the absence of which I hadn’t noticed, Chef, Vico, Soyer, and me.

“We should help you put things back to order,” Vico said, rolling up his shirtsleeves.Chef was in the kitchen and putting leftovers away already.

“There’s no need,” Soyer said.

Vico began piling plates.“I did not say there was a need, Bennet.”