Page 47 of How to Trust a Hellhound
Aiden and Q looked amused, and Liam and Atlas looked like sulky little boys. I swear they weren’t normally like this, especially Liam, and I wondered if Wilder being here gave them an opportunity to let loose and be kids again. Well, my mind must have thought so, because they were my hallucinations, after all.
“He started it,” Liam mumbled.
“Excuse me? What did you say?” I asked, staring at Liam. Andyes, I was totally using some kind of angry parent voice I didn’t even know I had.
Liam looked at me, opened his mouth, and then wisely shut it.
“Mmhmm. Because I thought I heard you making fun of your brother and saying he was raised by wolves.”
“But hewasraised by—” Liam started, but I cut him off.
“You were being a smartass, and don’t even tell me you weren’t. I expect that of Jude, but not of you, Liam.”
Aiden giggled. “Oh, Liam, you got compared to Jude.”
I glared at Aiden, who put his hands up. “I didn’t break your camera!!” he said.
“Who came to my apartment the night I called you?” I asked, and Aiden looked a little guilty.
“Uh, Fluffy and I did,” he answered.
“Mmmhmmm. Who came to my apartment the night I called you?” I asked again.
Because I was just going with the chaos at this point, and the flamy dog was Aiden’s boyfriend. Aiden had brought his boyfriend to my house as a dog. And I think I’dcriedon him. And cuddled him. And stroked his fur. And that was just… nope.
I turned to Atlas. “Would you care to answer the question?”
Atlas looked at Aiden and then back at me, and he looked nervous and absolutely ridiculous—this big, muscled guy holding a dish towel in front of his junk. The only thing that kept me from breaking into hysterical laughter was my mortification.
“Icuddledwith you,” I said accusingly.
“He’s really good at cuddles,” Aiden said, and I shot my glare over to him. “Uh, I mean, sorry? We went over to help, and Atlas prefers to be Fluffy, because hewasraised by wolves, but it still isn’t nice that Liam was being a jerk to him. But anyway, you were upset, and he would have given you cuddles whether he was Fluffy or Atlas.”
I stared at Atlas, and the big man just shrugged his shoulders.
I’dhad enough. I was done. Flamy dogs and naked men and a broken Lego camera—I had reached my limit.
“Out,” I said, pointing to the door.
“Would you like us to put your camera back together?” Liam asked.
“Nope. I would like you all to leave for now. I’m obviously having a stroke or a brain bleed, or maybe it’s a brain tumor? At any rate, I’d like to have my mental breakdown in private, please. So off you go.”
They shuffled out, although Q definitely looked like he wanted to argue. For once, he kept his snark contained.
I walked them to the door. “You can bring the finance stuff over tomorrow for me to look at.” As I ushered them out, I added, “And no more fighting!”
Did I maybe slam the door? Yes, I did. But… Well…
I walked back into the living room, where Wilder was sitting on the couch. He was leaning forward on his elbows, and he opened his mouth to say something.
I didn’t want to know what.
“Nope! I am having some type of break from reality, and they broke my Lego camera, which, fine, that really isn’t a big deal, because it’ll probably take me five minutes to put it back together, but Fluffy was all flamy! The cabin could’ve burned down!” I sat down next to Wilder as I finished.
Wilder pulled me into his arms. “Hellhound fire only destroys what we choose for it to destroy. Well, mostly, anyway. The boys are pretty good at controlling things now. Not so much when they were younger.”
I didn’t answer. He pulled me tighter, and I snuggled into his chest.
