Page 60 of Commanding Flame and Shield
“Picky about your music?” August finally asked.
“Sometimes,” I admitted. He drove the road with familiar motions, and his eyes continually flicked back to me. Back there, on those long empty roads, he couldn’t seem to wipe the grin from his face. My eyes raked over his handsome features. His strong, bearded jaw line, defined cheekbones, full lips, and those incredibly sharp green irises beneath thick brows and dark lashes. I just drank him in. The blood rushed to my cheeks each time he caught me studying him, and with effort, I’d direct my eyes to the fields and farms we drove by.
“What kind do you like? I might remember a station?”
“I’m kind of in the mood for seventies or eighties. Hair bands were a lot of fun.”
“A fan of the classics?” There was that heart-melting smile again. I laughed.
“They’re only classics to a spring chicken, like you.”
“Spring chicken?” He raised his brows. “What does that make you?”
“A history book, I suppose.”
“Well, that’s not very fun.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. I’m not all that creative.”
“Somehow I doubt that…Try eighty-nine point five.”
“Will they have myclassics?”
“They should.” He forced his gaze back to the road, but kept glancing back at me every few seconds. I swapped the channel and laughed as “Highway To Hell” by AC/DC came on.
“A little generic, but it will work.”
“Angels like ‘Highway to Hell’?” Mirth was thick in his tone.
“I’m no angel,” I reminded him with a wink. Amusement played on his lips as he shook his head.
“Alrightrebel, put that on.” He pointed at the hoodie, still draped around my shoulders. I did as I was told, curious as more visions sparked, and he pressed a button that retracted the top back. The wind immediately blew my hair away from my face, and I turned to the sun as the shadow crept past me.
He turned the music up, and I raised my hands to feel the wind.
Chuckling under his breath, August slid a pair of sunglasses on before leaning into his accelerator, attention on the road for once, giving me a few moments to admire his handsome face again. Not for the first time, I studied the nearly imperceptible crook in the bridge of his otherwise straight nose. A frisbee, he’d told Aren and I during training, hurled by a too-enthusiastic James when he was ten.
Bobbing his head, he started singing the words, and I threw my head back in laughter, stretching my right arm out my window to feel the sun on my hand. Fae wasn’t wrong. It was one of the last beautiful days of the season here, and August’s fleece hoodie gave me just enough warmth. His voice was as stunning as his face, smooth and low. I’d heard him sing with the guitar in the cabin, but it was different out there. With nobody else watching, and the sun on his face, he belted out the lyrics brazenly. He was better than he thought he was.
A joyful noise squeaked out of me when Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” came on next, and he shook his head in disbelief when I raised my voice with his. Together, we sang both parts of the song in its entirety, laughing when one of us reached for a note we shouldn’t have. By the halfway mark, we were both animatedly gesticulating our hands and faces. Laughter consumed us by the end of the song, and I reveled in the sound of it. The ease of sitting next to him in his Rubicon, combined with the immense trust I had in his hands on the wheel, left me feeling completely optimistic for the first time since we’d hidden in the cabin.
We left the singing to the professionals for the rest of the drive, riding together in effortless, wordless companionship. Our journey ended too quickly, as we entered the city, and I remembered we were here with work to do. August was meeting with James and Sam to catch up and go over things. He’d always intended to walk away from running their company together. It was just a more abrupt end than he’d anticipated.
“Eh. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns. Never know where the road is going to take you, so you might as well enjoy the ride.”
“Very apt description, given the afternoon you gave me.”
That damn entrancing smile was back. “It was intentionally chosen. Do you have things you can do in the meantime?”
“Layla never saw me. I’ll go place stronger protection over the loft. Alec and Fae are planning to join me at some point. We’ll inevitably grab tea, and lord knows he can’t ever come to this dimension without buying new books. There’s plenty.”
“Okay. And we’ll meetup after, and place new wards over James’, and my parents’ homes?”
“Perfect.”
“Perfect,” he echoed. “This might be overboard, but can we guard Samuel too?”
“Not overboard, August. Anyone you care for. Anyone that could be linked to your scent. Of course, we’ll protect Sam.”
