Page 96 of Medium
Rory scooped them up and took them over to the nightstand. “Excellent. We can have some fun with these.” He opened the drawer and put the items inside.
“Um.” Ellis rubbed the back of his neck. “Before we go out and see everyone, the rest of the stuff in this bag....”
I turned to give him my full attention. “Whatever it is, you can tell us, Ellis.” I projected my feelings for him through the bond, and he turned shocked eyes on me. I smiled and shrugged. “We’re here for you.”
Rory stepped up beside me. “No judgment here.”
Ellis looked down into the bag and took a deep breath. Rory and I both tensed, and I hoped his trick with the privacy wall worked, because I was trying like hell to hide my worry that I wouldn’t appreciate whatever Ellis was into.
He reached into the bag and pulled out a round red... Yo-Yo?
“You can Yo-Yo?” I blinked. I didn’t know anyone who knew how.
“Show us,” Rory urged.
Ellis glanced toward the door. “Real quick.” He put his finger through the loop on the end of the string. “This is called Sleeping.” He threw the Yo-Yo toward the floor, and it stayed there, spinning without reeling back up the string. “Then from here you can do lots of things, but the most well-known is Walk the Dog.” He jerked his hand up, and the Yo-Yo retracted to his palm. Then he threw it toward the floor again, but this time instead of just letting it hang in the air, he let it touch the ground. The Yo-Yo rolled in a circle on the floor before Ellis pulled it up into his hand again.
He looked up at us with a slightly sheepish but proud smile. Rory and I clapped and hugged him.
“That’s so impressive,” I gushed. “How did you learn it?”
“I’ve had Yo-Yos since I was a little kid. It’s relaxing and I enjoy it.” He snorted. “I had to hide them from my father, of course.”
“You have to show Pia!” Rory tugged Ellis toward the door, but he balked.
“No. Arch never understood why I liked it. I’ll show her later.”
Never understoodbeing code formade fun of. Got it. I wanted to protest, to tell him Rory and I would tell Arch off if he tried to say anything derogatory, but it wasn’t our battle to fight.
Instead I hugged him again. “Whenever you’re ready.” I’d expected him to put the Yo-Yo back in the duffel bag, but he stuck it in his pocket. Maybe he was considering bringing it out later. I’d support him either way.
At long last we emerged from the bedroom. Pia cheered when she saw us, leaping up from where she’d been watching what looked like a Thai BL drama with Ms. Jackson. She hugged us, one after the other. “Manny said you were bonded! Is it true?”
Rory picked her up briefly and put her on her feet again. “It’s true! Now we can be together for ever and ever, and you’ll be with us too.”
“Yay! Can Ms. Jackson and Manny and Uncle Arch stay with us?”
“Uh....” Rory gazed around a little desperately.
I took that one. “They’re welcome to stay as long as they want. But Ms. Jackson sometimes travels around.” Okay, they’d traveled once. “And Manny and Arch have jobs and lives of their own.”
Pia pouted a little, but I was glad to see a hint of brattiness coming out. She seemed to be bouncing back from her kidnapping, but I still wanted to get her in to see a therapist.
“Speaking of Manny....” Rory pitched his voice loud enough to be heard in the kitchen.
“Sí, mi amigo?Also, congratulations on your bonding!”
Rory put his hands on Pia’s shoulders, and they led the way to the kitchen. Manny was wearing one of Granny’s old aprons, which had “Your opinion wasn’t in the recipe” on the front
“Don’t you have to go to work today?”
“I’ve got an overnight tonight, but I’m calling in sick tomorrow so I can help with the rescue.” He opened the oven a crack and peeked at whatever was inside. He still had a magic aura, and it didn’t seem to have faded much, if at all.
“Not happening.” Arch scowled from his seat at the breakfast table next to Ms. Jackson, who was in their black panther form.
Manny rolled his eyes. “Not the boss of me.”
“My Hunter team will be setting up a perimeter starting this afternoon. We’ll be the ones to breach the building and arrest the perpetrators. You wouldn’t have anything to do.”
