The Vigilante & The Dragon - Book 1 of the Guardians Saga [COMPLETED]

Brutal Truth Ch. 14.3

Alex loved the New Orleans tradition of a champagne brunch and had ordered a feast to distract the brothers. All of them. Next Sunday she planned to take them to a real jazz brunch at the Court of Two Sisters. The lighting there was much lower than the brunches at the swankier hotels and the Atchafalaya Café was too small and crowded for Alex's taste. She turned on jazz music to complete the atmosphere and sat at her battered table, now covered with a white tablecloth.

Gabe arrived first and Alex poured the tall, fluted glass full of champagne. She handed it to him and prayed that he would drink it quickly. To encourage him, she drank deeply of her own glass. Cale turned up next and Alex served him as well. He sipped at his champagne until Alex nudged him, took a long drink of her champagne, and nudged him again. He took the hint and tilted his glass bottoms up. Gabe watched them both and sipped lightly at his glass.

Jerk. You really are the Perfect Eldest Son.

"Where were you last night?" Gabe demanded of Rile as soon as he entered the room, cutting off Alex before she could serve him champagne.

"Ask Alex."

Alex glared at Rile. She slumped down in a chair at the table, arms crossed on her chest.

"Rile can play the game as well as Gabe," Cale whispered. "Usually better."

"I'm asking you." Gabe stood in front of his youngest brother.

"Patrolling. Making New Orleans safe one block at a time," Rile said.

"Did you patrol with Alex?"

"She fights tolerably well," Rile said.

"Thanks." Alex slumped down further.

"I forbid you to patrol with Alex," Gabe said.

"I'll go by myself. What a bunch of critics," Alex grumbled.

"I said you did tolerably well," Rile said. "Who said I was listening to Gabe? We'll go again tonight."

"What about when she gets hurt or killed, Master Instructor?" Gabe said. "Her blood will be on your hands."

"Rile, wait!" Alex jumped up from the table when Rile stormed off.

"Don't waste your breath," Gabe said.

"Or your time. He does that a lot." Cale said in a practical way.

"So? He's obviously upset. We should go after him." Alex said, looking between them.

"He wants to be alone," Gabe said.

"He likes to be alone," Cale added. "Trust us on this one. Sit down and Rile will be back in his own time."

"Has it ever occurred to you that he wants, no, he needs you, to follow him, even if only to yell at you?" Alex said.

Gabe and Cale exchanged knowing looks.

"Be that way. But I remember something. I think my mom read it to me." For a fleeting moment, Alex looked lost, expression innocent, eyes clouded, grasping an elusive memory. "It was about hide and seek. 'Oh the joy of being hidden, but the terror of not being discovered.'" Alex shook herself free of the memory. "I'm going after him."

"The innocence of youth," Cale said.

"Gullibility is more like it. Let her learn for herself." Gabe sipped the champagne.

*****

Alex found Rile with difficulty, for he stuck to the alleys. He was upset and his ability to disguise was compromised.