Page 20 of Damned and Broken Gods
“Oh my god, me too!” Priti said.
“Yep,” Dharma agreed. “Same here.”
“It’s a bond thing,” Vick said, rolling a plinka counter between his fingers. “Happened to me with Gia too. We…meshed.” He smiled slightly. “That’s what she called it.”
I considered the observation. “I don’t know. I don’t think I do that…”
“Okay, ’ere we go!” Blue dropped a twig on the edge of the picnic blanket, then stepped back to make room for the other anchors, all much bigger than him, all able to carry more.
Twigs and branches and bracken were deposited.
“Perfect!” Sylvie sat up and rubbed her hands together. “I can work with this.”
“You want to build the fire?” Joe looked at her in surprise.
She gave him a stern look. “I went camping a lot in the mortal world.”
Dharma sat up and rubbed her arms. “It is getting a little cooler. Shame, I would have liked to take a dip. The water looks so nice.”
“Me too,” Priti said.
“Theydon’t seem to have an issue with it.” Vick pointed toward the drohi, and I turned my head to see Keyton and Chaya stripping off their clothes.
“Fuck!” I looked away quickly.
“They’re naked.” Vick sighed. “I love the fact that they don’t give a shit.”
Keyton and Chaya linked hands and ran into the lake, diving deep and vanishing beneath the surface, only to emerge a few moments later somewhere in the center.
“How deep is it, do you think?” Priti asked, chewing on her bottom lip.
“Deep, but it shouldn’t matter if you can swim,” Vick replied. “If not, I’m sure your drohi will carry you.”
“I mean, I can swim but…” Priti’s eyes lit up, a cheeky smile on her lips. “I do like the idea of being carried.”
I risked another glance at the rocks to find Mahira and Pylar deep in conversation. But Araz was walking toward the edge of the lake. He reached over his shoulder and tugged off his tunic, dropping it to the ground to reveal the gorgeous expanse of his luscious brown skin. My hands curled into fists, my breath coming faster as he reached for his waistband and pulled down his pants. Damn, he had the nicest ass I’d ever seen. I wanted to grab it and take a bite and?—
“Close yer mouth, chickadee,” Blue said. “You ain’t gonna catch ’is truncheon from all the way over ’ere.”
I snapped my mouth closed and fixed Blue with a glare. He shrugged and plucked a grape off the picnic blanket. “Ya want ’im, ya gonna have to go get ’im.”
“I don’t want him.”
Joe coughed the wordbullshitinto his fist.
“Fine. I do…want him. But it’s complicated.”
“Pashim?” Dharma asked, her expression sobering.
It was so much more than that, but I couldn’t explain it to them. Not yet.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Joe said.
Blue regarded me with knowing beady eyes but didn’t say a word. He knew my desires, confusion, needs, wants, and theweight of guilt I carried for Pashim. But he didn’t know about Araz’s past or the vow I’d taken.
“Pashim would want ya to be ’appy and follow yer ’eart,” Blue had said. “Yer bonded to granite ass fer a reason.”
But the reasons didn’t matter. Not anymore. Blue didn’t understand that; all he knew was that I wanted to be in the water with Araz, and Blue was nothing if not persistent.
