Page 83 of Malice
Glancing down her body, she took a long breath before looking at me again. “It’s too soon to know. I’m sure Daddy Death will tell us as soon as he can.”
“I guess in the meantime, we just keep trying, then.”
She smirked. “Why am I not surprised that’s your suggestion?”
“Because I’m a man who appreciates a good strategy?”
“Uh-huh.”
Merri playfully walked her fingers down my chest, not stopping until she reached my waistband.
“What are you doing, little succubus?”
“Seducing you?”
Humming in approval, I leaned down, even though my cock still ached. I’d push through. I’d fought battles with broken bones and nearly cleaved in two. I could deal with a bruise.
Hooking a finger under her chin, I tipped her head up. “Say it again.”
It only took her a second to catch my meaning. Throwing her arms around my neck, she pressed her body close to mine. “I love you, Chaos.”
Warmth filled my chest, expanding until I was enveloped in its glow. There was no stopping the smile that stretched across my face.
“I love you too, Red.”
She giggled. “You know, you could have just started with that.”
Huffing out my own laugh, I said, “Words are hard.”
“I know. We got there in the end.”
Brushing my lips over hers, I whispered, “Yeah. We did.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
MERRI
Moving through cobra and back into downward dog, I breathed through the stretch down my tight hamstrings as I lifted my ass in the air and did my damndest to create a triangle with my body. I hadn’t been as diligent with my weekly yoga practice since being abducted by the grump brigade. And before you come at me, I know if I want to get better, I should be doing it every day. I’m sorry that I’ve been a little distracted by the world ending.
And by all the sex... though, honestly, I’m not really sorry about that one.
I let out an exaggerated exhale to reclaim my own attention—sort of the way you might clear your throat when trying to get someone’s attention behind the counter when they’re clearly ignoring you, except in this case, I’m the rude counter girl in question, and it’s my mental health I’m ignoring.
My thoughts had been getting the better of me all afternoon, thus the yoga. I was attempting to find my zen. So far, it wasn’t working.
Yoga was peaceful.
Yoga was calming.
Yoga was fucking hard.
It should have pulled my focus from the heavy things weighing on me. But with each measured breath, each pose, each pull of my muscles, I didn’t find the meditative ease I was searching for. Nope. I was assaulted by racing thoughts. Pregnancy. Apocalypse. Lucifer. Demons. Freaking lightning strikes and cute weirdos in my dreams. I’d been so busy racing from one crisis to the next that I hadn’t had time to dwell on any of them.
Until now, apparently.
I guess the rare moment of solitude was the perfect time for it all to come crashing down and send me on one hell of a panic spiral. Which, frankly, I just did not have the time for. Because the world was still ending, no matter what I thought about it. And I’d much rather deal with it head-on than metaphorically curled up in the fetal position.
