Chapter 5:

"Why am I doing this again?" Elain asked as Feyre put the last roller into her head. She looked like a beauty school dropout with all the pins and overly large rollers in her hair.

Mor raised her eyebrows and smirked, "This will seal the deal,"

"And how do you know that?"

"Well Mr. Bartender kissed you right?"

"He also never called me or made any other attempt to contact me," Elain interrupted, "So I would say I'm far from 'sealing the deal' with him."

Mor shrugged and returned to her phone, whoever she was texting was eager to talk to her, but she promised she wouldn't bail on them for the one-hundredth time. "He ate dinner with you and the girls right? That totally means he wants you!"

Elain pursed her lips, planning to continue her denial streak, "He was probably just hungry. Wanted a free meal."

"More importantly," Feyre said, "Graysen is finally starting to come around!"

"I never said he was-"

"Elain he wouldn't offer to drive you home for thanksgiving unless he was interested. And besides you're only going to visit dad for the day. We'll meet you down there later."

Mor chuckled looking up from her phone; "No man would endure a four hour car ride with a woman he doesn't want to sleep with."

"Morrigan!" Elain exclaimed biting her lip.

"It's nice, a little pampering doesn't hurt every now and again. And maybe, just maybe when you're Mrs. Elain Archeon, you will get to be pampered even more often!" Elain smiled at that. Mrs. Elain Archeon. The name she would have when she married Graysen, and even though he was planning on being a brain surgeon she was never interested in him for the money. His family was perfect; she wanted that, a perfect, happy family.

And somehow she still couldn't stop thinking about that steamy bartender.

The one who had kissed her and eaten dinner with her. The one who was good with kids and who was also a super handy man. He and Graysen were so different and now she couldn't help but notice Graysen wasn't occupying her mind as much as it should have.

As Feyre unraveled the hot rollers and placed a few simple pins in her hair Elain was, "Stunning," Mor said. Elain's golden hair, the lightest of her sister's, raveled in small loose curls. With a dash of blush and a fresh coat of lipstick she was good to go. Midterms nearly killed her, she deserved a break.

"You look amazing Elain," Feyre said.

"Thanks," Elain said tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Now what to put you in," Mor clicked her tongue and walked over to her closet.

Elain grabbed her sweater, "I want to wear this."

Feyre flashed a glare at her sister, "I did not make your hair look all femme fataley just so you could dress like a basic white girl. You have to look sexy and that sweater doesn't cut it."

"But it's cold," Elain whined.

After wrestling with each other for a moment they made a compromise. Low-neck line, cardigan.

[-]

The group found a table next to the jukebox, a perfect view of the bar.

"He's working tonight," Elain whispered in Mor's ear.

She nodded, "I'll bring him over,"

Elain's head whipped around, "What!? You can't do that he's working!"

Mor rolled her eyes, "He's not that busy, it's barely ten o'clock." Elain's eyes were wide with worry, what the hell was Mor thinking? Bringing him over to their table was a big mistake; then again… maybe it would work in her favor.

"Oh… Okay," Elain said.

Despite Elain's worrying Mor only smiled, "Elain come on, I wouldn't embarrass you like those other two idiots." That statement earned a "HEY!" from both of the other girls, Mor only rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have talked you into flirting with this guy if I didn't know he would take care of you. He's a good guy, yeah he can be… flirtatious more often than desired but he's a good guy." Elain nodded, she trusted Mor. At least… she wanted to.

Wherever Mor ran off to, the Archeon sisters didn't know. But Elain's eyes kept flickering to the bar until a loud and obnoxious woman interrupted her view.

Amarantha.

The sight of her set Elain's blood on fire. She was another reason they knew about Lucien. Apparently Amarantha had been the one to tell Feyre about Lucien. It shouldn't make her mad, she knew that much. What did she care about who Lucien had slept with in the past?

"Whatcha doing Doe Eyes?" She said with that piss worthy smirk.

"None of your business." Nesta growled.

But Amarantha's eyes followed where Elain's had previously been and she let out a cackle, "Oh that's so sweet Elain, you have a crush! I thought the only think you fooled around with was your calculator!"

Elain bit back every ounce of hate she had for the woman before her. "Don't be a bitch," Nesta snarled.

"So who is he Elain?"

"Apparently you already know him," Elain decided to speak up. "The bartender who works here."

Amarantha's eyes widened, "Wow Elain I didn't realize you could be so flexible. I mean I dated him for a while but ever since we ended it he's been such a whore. Although I should have figured that when we would fuck in the back seat of his car."

And there it was. The sour image that filled Elain's mind. Her bartender and the piece of filth in front of her banging in the back seat of a car, the mirrors completely fogged up. And suddenly her spontaneous kiss out by her car had molded. The kiss had seemed so unplanned, so natural, almost as if it had surprised him too. Had she been the third? The fourth girl he had kissed that night? It made her heart sink; she wished Amarantha had left them alone even more now.

Elain's phone buzzed in her lap, she looked down and read a text from Feyre. "Don't worry, we've been watching him for weeks. If he was hooking up with someone we would have noticed." She looked up from her phone to find her sister smiling at her; she returned it graciously, the moldy image from her mind now cleaned up.

"Well let's just ask him shall we?" Amarantha smiled.

Elain swallowed as the image of her Mor returned to their table with another person following slowly behind. "Rhys," Amarantha said, "It's been a while."

The man who had followed Mor was not her bartender. Elain whipped her head around to her sisters. Nesta looked confused and Feyre looked as if she were watching a thousand shooting stars at once. She couldn't blame her, the man was gorgeous, almost completely opposite of Lucien. His skin was tan and his eyes were full of violet, full of starlight.

"We've been over this," Rhys bit out, "You're banned from the bar."

Amarantha pouted, "That's ok baby," She stepped forward placing a crisp kiss on his cheek. Elain could have sworn he winced at that. "I'll be back when you're ready."

As Amarantha walked away none looked back. But as the bell rang at her departure a feline grin appeared on his face. "Now that that's over with, Mor what did you want to talk to me about?"

Mor rolled her eyes, "Well you know my friend Elain, and these are her sister's Nesta and Feyre. You probably recognize them too."

"That's not him Mor," Elain spoke up as Rhys gave his cousin a concerning look.

He raised an eyebrow at Elain, "Should I remember you? I mean I'd never forget people as pretty as you sisters are." Mor slapped Rhys's arm. "You've been hanging out with Cassian too much since he's gotten back." She sighed.

"Whoa whoa you work here?" Nesta intervened.

"Honey I own this fine establishment." Rhys said.

"Then how come I've never seen you here before," Feyre said for the first time since he had approached the table. It was the first time he had really paid attention to her either. But he looked like he had been hit by one of the shooting stars that she saw in her vision. His smile grew more genuine, "Recently," he began, "I've had to deal with some business endeavors so I haven't been able to be here at night as often."

"Lucien?" Elain said, her eyes squinting from embarrassment, shame.

Rhys turned back to her, "You mean my brother, what about him?"

Her eyes widened at the declaration, "Brother?"

"Well in the sense that all bastards are brothers, Lucien might as well share my blood."

"Wait," Mor said, "You've been trying to make a play at Lucien? He never gives anyone the time of day."

"Well he gave Elain the time of day! He kissed her!" Nesta said, "Also how did you not warn us that he wasn't your cousin. The guy you wanted to set her up with!"

"I don't know, you never said his name around me. He was just 'the bartender' and I completely forgot about our familial endeavors Rhys has been having to deal with."

Rhys, ignoring the drama at hand, lit up like a Christmas tree. His eyes twinkling, his mouth in a full blown genuine smile, "My brother kissed you?"

"Don't you get it?" Mor said, "She thought he was you,"

He turned back to Elain, "You came here to make out with me?"

"Of course not!" Elain exclaimed, "I have to go," she said getting up from the booth. She had to get out of Illyria as soon as she could, the over whelming embarrassment was too much for her.

"I'll go with you," Nesta said taking Elain's hand and weaving her through the crowd. Of course they stopped a couple of times to talk to people that Nesta knew. And as the sea of people got thicker it became harder for Elain to keep a tight grip of Nesta's hand. She eventually lost that connection for a few moments before she felt someone tug at her wrist. She sighed in relief, now they could leave. Elain turned but saw Lucien's face, hard as a rock, instead of Nesta who had probably run into someone else she knew.

Her face burned at the sight of him, his hand wrapped around hers like chains. "Hey there," she managed.

"Heard you met my brother," Ok so just right to it, no greeting or anything.

"Yeah I did, nice guy."

"Is it true?" her stomach dropped at the sudden change in his russet eyes, "That you thought I was him, that you came here looking for him?" Elain shook her head, not being able to find the words to tell him the truth. So he laughed, "Then why did he tell me that? That that's why you've been so… so friendly with me…"

"No," Elain said shaking her head again, "Absolutely not."

"You wanted to hook up with my brother because of the rumors you've heard around him." It was a statement, not an accusation. Full of imperial judgement.

"Rumors?" What the hell was she doing trying to play dumb. She knew he wasn't stupid.

"The rumor that my brother fucks any girl who so much as gives him a smile." Elain's heart jostled at that. How now how low he thought of her. How he thought all she wanted to do was fuck him and leave him. Which is actually sort of what she wanted, but now it felt so much dirtier that she thought it was ten minutes ago. There was genuine pain there, from what she didn't know.

"I didn't throw myself at him," she snapped, "I just met him tonight."

"But you came here for him, you thought I was him." He repeated.

Avoiding confrontation, that was what Elain was best at, so she decided to loosen her grip around his and disappear into the crowd. A few moments later she found Nesta near the door, her phone in her hand. "There you are, I've been looking for you."

"Let's go," Elain growled, grabbing the keys from inside her purse.

"What's wrong?" Nesta asked, "I mean besides the fact that we confused your hottie with another."

"Lucien cornered me when we got separated."

"Oh,"

"Yeah 'oh', he pretty much knew everything. He thinks I'm a horrible person now."

"Hey according to Mor, Lucien's the elusive one and you got him to kiss you. So it's good to know that you do have some sensual powers after all." Elain wanted to laugh at that, but the aching in her heart wouldn't allow it.

The whole ride home they were silent. And as Elain laid in her bedroom that night she couldn't help but feel vulnerable, shaken by the change in his eyes that night. She couldn't get that damned picture out of her mind, how much she had hurt him without even realizing it. Why did she care? Why did she care?

"I have to go and apologize to him," Elain said the next morning. They were all three piled around the table eating their breakfast.

Nesta and Feyre looked up from their plates, "To Lucien?" Nesta said. Elain nodded, "What for?"

"Well… I used him."

"So what? You flirted with him a few times because you thought he was his man whore of a brother? Not harm no foul."

"You're just so nice Elain," Feyre said taking another bite of her cereal.

"He at least deserves an explanation. I kind of just denied everything and ran like a bloody coward. I owe him the truth, the whole truth."

Nesta shrugged and went back to eating. "You don't owe him anything Elain," she said almost too harshly.

But she still needed to see him again.