Pride (Living In Sin #1)

Chapter 17

Pry

Alec's first week worked out better than I could have hoped.

I don't know what Des was doing, but they had decided not to appear at the club for a while. It wasn't abnormal. Des was driven by passion, so when they were caught in a whirlwind, they would simply disappear. Over all the time we'd been together, we all knew what to expect, and it was easy enough to forget about them.

I had gotten caught in their passion quite a few times. Des was easy enough to love. They found lots of fun in many people and it meant they stayed away often. When they finally got back, hopefully Alec was a lot more comfortable.

At the moment, he was not as comfortable as I'd like. I hated he was so tense during his work. I'd even offered to give him a massage. It hadn't gone as well as I would have liked either. Alec was remarkably good at dodging any of the things that were fun.

Ace kept to themselves, too. My sleepy sibling wasn't much for new people anyway, so the fact they were keeping away from Alec was understandable.

However, I hadn't been able to keep Envy away. My brother got over his issues with Alec fairly quickly. It didn't stop him from being a sarcastic little shit, but Alec took it all in his stride. Within the week it was amusing to see them verbally sparring.

"This invoice for the whisky. It doesn't have any contact details. Who am I paying?"

"Like I care." I couldn't tell if Envy just liked to be contrary or if he actually did not know. Considering his brother's nature, it could go either way.

Alec was non-pulsed. "Well, I guess this'll be the last whiskey delivery for a while. Hope you're ready to deal with that."

For a few moments, Envy glared at Alec. The human waited, and I pretended to continue with my already completed phone call. Watching the interaction was more amusing than anything else I could be doing. Eventually, Envy broke. It probably had more to do with having to put up with grumpy drunks than anything else. But it was still a point in Alec's favour.

Continuing to scowl, Envy flicked a business card at Alec. Alec wasn't some spectacular supernatural being, so the card bounced off him and he had to fish it off the club floor with a little grimace. Even though I made a mental note to ask Ace to mop around the bar again, pride surged through me as Alec headed back to the office.

Because I wasn't able to control my response, my power ballooned out into the quiet of the daytime club. Now Envy's glare found its way to me. Blowing him a kiss, I headed off to find something to do. None of us could control what our power did. If it reacted to Alec in a certain way, I was a firm believer that wasn't my fault. It was simply the nature of the beast.

Envy didn't really have a leg to stand on, anyway. I'd felt his reaction whenever he caught me flirting with Alec. My brother was not envious because of me in those situations. That all had to do with how he felt about Alec. And whenever I had the chance, I enjoyed rubbing salt into that wound. To say Envy and I had a volatile relationship was an understatement.

"Where's the kid?"

Now it was my turn to scowl. Chef had taken a liking to Alec as well. It wasn't something I was used to, feeling anything that wasn't something to do with pride. It had been so confusing that it had taken longer than it should to realise I was jealous. I didn't want anyone spending time with Alec who wasn't me. When I'd first had the feeling, Envy had grinned. At least he enjoyed the upheaval Alec was causing in my psyche.

Chef was carrying a plate of something that smelled amazing. It turned out that Alec loved food. And if there was one thing Chef was good at, it was cooking. When I was in a better mood, I could admit my younger brother was good at many things. I could even be proud of the fact. But right now it grated, and I wasn't used to it.

"In the office," Envy singsonged. He was enjoying this, at least.

Chef looked between the two of us. If I was being a glutton or overindulging, Chef would know. But jealousy was Envy's domain, so the entire conversation just seemed strange to Chef. Especially as I wasn't about to explain what I was going through. So Chef just shrugged and headed out the back toward Alec.

"You should chase after him." Envy was delighted. It was frustrating. "Sweep the boy off his feet before Chef's cooking does."

I didn't bother answering. I just scowled. Tonight, Alec was working a few extra hours to see the club on its busiest night. I was going to collect on that dance and banish these feelings. Hopefully, I didn't screw things up too much with the young human, but right now, I didn't care.

Alec would know what it was really like to be swamped with pride. Whether he wanted to be or not.