The sudden anguish surged inside him like a punch to the gut. Oliver staggered backward a step then pounced on the other man to grasp him by the collar. "What do you about Savage? Who is he? Tell me!"
His grip on Carter Hall latest a full three seconds. Pain exploded in his skull at the side-jab on his temple. He retaliated and felt as if he'd smacked his hand in a concrete wall.
"You suck at hand-to-hand combat, green boy. Always did."
"Stop it! Stop it, both of you! Oliver, enough!"
Chloe stood with her hands on her hips, haloed by the sun like a furious ancient goddess. Oliver forced his eyes to accommodate until she regained her normal petite size. Carter snarled once before he lowered his hands.
"Oliver."
He let go, palms up in a peace offering to her temple.
"Sit down."
Finding his chair was a tad complicated by the ringing in his ears. The man had fists of iron.
"You too, Mister Hall."
"Call me Carter."
Oliver hissed low in his throat. A small hand pressed on his arm, and the anger dampened somehow. Seriously, how did she do that? He was the seducer in every scenario, never the lapdog. He focused on Chloe, watching her take a sip of tepid coffee and pulled a face. She refilled her cup then sampled it again.
"Much better." Oliver wondered if she talked about the coffee or the two grown men she'd brought to heel.
"He had seen me but he doesn't know my name. He didn't even touch me… He was very close but Oliver…interrupted? The details are a little fuzzy. Why is it important? Who is he?"
Her hand brushed over Oliver's forearm back and forth, light as a feather. He doubted she even noticed. Oliver tried to link their fingers over the table. She allowed it for a short moment before she returned to her previous caress.
Carter started talking. "His given name is Hath-Seth. When Shayera chose me over him, he called to the red god to curse us and our family. Life after life, we would come back, fall in love, then she would die while I live. While I remember."
Insane. The man had to be insane. Eternal Love? Endless Torment? Oliver knew an alien—okay two—, he played pool with Atlanteans and fed Speedsters but this? Fate turning a wheel of endings and beginnings where souls met again and again? He didn't believe it. What he believed though, was that man… Savage-Hath-Seth-whatever was dangerous. He knew it.
"What does it have to do with Chloe?" Something sour began to burn a hole in his stomach. Oliver gripped her hand again, crushing it to the point of bruising. "Wait, don't tell me you think she's your wife reincarnated."
She's mine.
Chloe shifted on her chair, crossing and uncrossing her shapely legs. "Not his wife, Ollie, his daughter. He's been hinting at it from the beginning."
Oliver swallowed a groan when she freed herself to lean toward the other man. "Am I right, Carter?"
The piercing blue eyes softened. "I wasn't sure until I saw your mark last night."
"What mark?" Oliver asked. His head hurt from the lack of sleep—and Carter's battering ram-like wallop. It would be nice if the two stopped talking circles around him.
To his surprise, Chloe flushed a delicious pink. She swallowed audibly, before she stood with her back to the men and lifted her sweater up to her breasts.
She was perfect. Cream skin promised a softness beyond measures. The temptation of her curves invited him to touch and kiss…
Carter smacked him behind the head. "Can't you do anything right? It's incomplete!"
"Ow! What's incomplete?"
"Her sigil, you half-wit!"
A teardrop teased his eye, tattooed upside down near the dimple above her hip, then disappeared from view when Chloe dropped her top.
Carter growled. "What are you waiting to put it to bed, marriage?"
Oliver felt the tip of his ears burn. He risked a glace toward Chloe to find her even more crimson. For once he didn't enjoy her embarrassment. Anger rose to the surface again. "That's not of your business what we—"
"Sive and Fionn Mac Cumhail, Yseult and her Tristan, Helen and Paris, Merope and Orion, Annurefret and the Prime Archer of Kush. You belong together. Complete the ritual! She's beautiful it shouldn't be such a chore!" Carter fought visibly to keep his temper in check before he turned to Chloe once more.
"I have to go, Nedjem. Meet me at the Marina at eight. We'll have diner and talk some more."
By the time Oliver scrapped his jaw off the overheated stones of the floor, Carter was gone and Chloe was nowhere to be seen.
He found her in the kitchen, perched on a stool watching fresh coffee percolate into the pot. Oliver binned the vestige of their breakfast before he came to lean against the counter island next to her.
"I keep hoping he'd included Robin Hood in his list, you know."
Her nose wrinkled.
"I mean, come on, how could I be all those famous archers and not Robert of Loxley?"
Her lips twitched.
"I'm serious here. How is that fair?"
Finally a chuckled escaped. Then another. Chloe shook in mirth. Her quiet laughter pearled between them until the cheerful note drifted away and her eyes clouded once more.
Oliver wanted to touch her. He didn't, unsure of both their reactions.
Instead, he supported his upper body on his elbows on the counter, close enough to feel the warmth from her petite form. His body shivered in awareness. He ignored it. Mostly. "Talk to me Chlo. What are you thinking?"
"I don't know what to think." She spared him a glance before her eyes returned to the coffee pot. "Carter is right in a way. After all I've seen, reincarnation isn't that farfetched."
"So you believe his story?"
Do you believe we could be soulmates?
The word blew his mind.
"I don't know…"
Oliver began asking another question then noted the frustrated frown between her brows so he snapped his mouth shut. Chloe considered the pot and reached for her cup. "I'm going to do some research."
"Okay."
"Do you want some coffee? You look like you could use it."
"I'm good, thanks."
Considering how very few things she'd uncovered about Carter Hall, he doubted she was going to find much on Savage, if that was what she had in mind. Oliver stifled a yawn. His restless night started to catch up with him. "Not sure if I'll be of any use, but do you want the company?"
Chloe offered one of those secret smiles he liked more than her brilliant ones. "I'd like that."
"Lead the way, Sidekick."
They set up shop in the living room. She sat with her laptop balanced on her crossed legs and a coffee at her elbow. Oliver elected to lie on the wide ottoman facing her, one arm behind his head in support while he skimmed through the files he'd gathered about the JSA. He had focused more on the dynamic of their society than their identities before, out of respect for their secrets and their cause, but now he was curious. If Carter was Hawkman, it wasn't hard to guess his wife Shayera had been Hawkgirl and the man had confirmed she was dead. Where were the Flash, Starman, Wildcat and Doctor Fate now? Dead? Alive? Were had they gone after the false charges pressed against them had been abandoned? Were they still around? If they were, would they accept to meet with them? Work with them even?
Considering Tweetie's reaction, he doubted they would. Or maybe the old man had a problem with him specifically because of his non-relationship with his non-daughter.
Oliver leaned further into the couch and closed his eyes.
"You're going to cramp if you fall asleep like this…"
Dainty hands slipped over his elbow to dig into sore muscles. He sighed in pleasure. "'m fine…"
"Huh huh. Roll over, Archer."
He obeyed without further protest, half asleep, almost purring when the gentle kneading left his biceps to move to his shoulder. The tips of her fingers dipped under the fabric then pushed south, at the exact place where his trapeze muscle ached still. He tried to find something amusing to say, tease her about her masseuse's talents, but the light pressure along his spine stopped him. He muffled his moan in the cushion.
Her hands moved to his waist and then up again dragging fabric with them. Uncomfortable with the bunching material, he bucked a little to help her get it off, finally noticed she was straddling his thighs to work on him. Her knees squeezed the flesh of his waist. The heat of her body sipped into him slowly. He had to bite back a groan. Her hands were fully on him now, mapping the ridges and plains of his back and sides rather than rubbing tired muscles. Lying on his front with his arms below his head he couldn't touch her, and he wanted to touch her so bad…
"Oliver?"
He jolted up so fast he almost sent his laptop flying. One cushion did zoom past Chloe's ear, earning him a glare. Oliver placed the other pillow on his lap to hide the hard ridge tenting his pants.
"Yes?" He croaked.
He was puffing like a grampus. This dream wasn't even that hot compared to the ones that plagued him last night so that he'd taken three cold showers until he'd cracked and allowed himself the release. Jesus. Oliver counted down from ten before he met her curious gaze.
"We should call Zatanna."
"Huh?"
Chloe narrowed her eyes on him. "Zatanna Zatara. Mistress of Magic. Part-time League member. Stunning brunette with a fetish for fishnet, totally your type."
You are my type. Didn't you hear what Carter said? You and I, we're endgame…
"Sorry, I guess I dozed off and I'm not awake yet. Why do we need Zee here?"
She stared at him with the patient look a professor reserve for inattentive children. She wasn't that off the mark. His body clung to the feeling of her weight on him, his upper brain too starved for blood to engage.
"Because her father studied every possible sort of sorcery and collected books about curses and charms?"
"Right… Right. Okay. I'll give her a call. I just… I think I'll take a quick dive in the pool."
And soak in the cold long enough to be able to look at you without regressing to a callow teenager.
"Good idea. I'll do too. I need a break, it's hot."
Sweetheart, you have no idea…
