Page 28 of The Magic of Betrayal
Me:Hey, sorry. Forgot my phone in the bathroom at the store. Checking out now, gotta run.
Fischer would tell the others and at least I had a little bit of time to compose myself. I hated liars, I mean, it was really one thing that made my blood boil and here I was lying to the guys, and trying to figure out how I was going to be able to keep what had happened with Bryce to myself. He was a lunatic, and he'd somehow powered up in the time we'd been broken up.
My mind was racing and I felt like I couldn't take a deep breath. All I could do was hope that the guys would understand my reasoning for keeping this from them. I knew they were powerful in their own right, but they were just businessmen dealing with real estate issues, Bryce obviously can drown them just as he promised. He was as dangerous and unstable as a three legged stool. I couldn't give him that opportunity.
Leaving the restroom, I grabbed my cart and threw in a bunch of wine, it was definitely going to be a wine night. Needing to get home quickly, I made as little small talk as possible with Joanne while she rang up my things, and I quickly loaded my backpack up with the groceries. Maven was curled up in the basket on my bike and he slowly lifted his head when I made a clicking sound with my tongue.
I need a shower, I'd have one of the guys get my bike tomorrow. A shiver of disgust rolled through my body when I thought of Bryce touching me like that. The look in his eye so familiar, and I knew had we been somewhere private he would've taken what he'd wanted. My hands were shaking and I could feel the tears rising up now that the reality of what had happened was settling in like a dark cloud that I couldn't outrun. Shots. That's what would help.
Changing my path and heading to The Pig, I had one goal in mind. Drink all the drinks and hopefully numb myself to the feelings of violation and fear, then I'd head home and wash away the disgust and unwanted touches. Everything would be okay. It had to be. But Bryce was in my head now, and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to forget the comments he'd made. His words always had a way of cutting me so deeply and effectively destroying any self confidence I might've mustered up.
Placing my hand on the door of The Pig, the lock recognized my magic and opened, admitting myself and Mave. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up before I walked through the threshold and I turned my head to see who was watching me. A gust of wind blew my hair over my face, the breeze felt really good on my heated skin, but I didn't see a single soul. Shaking my head, I walked through the door and made my way to the bar.
Gods damn, I was one grumpy son of a demon king.
Fuckin' Khol sent me on this mission, and while in the past, I might've lived for the thrill of it, the possibility of maiming and killing... I just wasn't feeling it. Khol had pulled off the impossible, he had a daughter, a daughter who was not only a demon, but more demon than witch. That means that somewhere in her line, a demon would've done this before, maybe it had something to do with the fact that Laura had been a green witch? They were givers of life, so I suppose that made sense.
Apparently, his daughter was shacking up with the entire team he'd sent here, those guys were brutal. I'd know, I helped train their asses. Sullivan and I had a healthy competitive streak between us, but he was that way with pretty much every person who so much as raised an eyebrow at him. Khol and I were fairly certain Laura would be showing up eventually, and we'd be here to snatch her when she did. The witch had some explaining to do.
Speaking of disappearing women... Goldie. I hadn't seen her since she'd been taken from me, and I'd texted and called the number she'd programmed in my phone so many times, but there was never any answer. The thought of her being in trouble had me teetering on the edge of homicide for the past few days, my next plan was to stalk her to the fullest extent over social media, but she had absolutely zero accounts. Then, before I could come up with my next plan of attack, Khol ordered me here, telling me there'd be plenty of time for pussy chasing when this mission was complete.
She was so much more than that, but I wasn't going to admit all of that to any other demon just yet. My father's reach was wide and all encompassing, and while I trusted Khol, the less he knew for now, the better.
The guys were all headed over to their girl's house this evening and by the stars, they were obsessed with this witch. Immediately upon my arrival, I had my ass parked in a chair and been given the sternest talking to I'd ever gotten from anyone aside from Khol and daddy dearest. Thinking about it now had a smirk pulling at my mouth, they were so easy to rile up.
"Johnny, have a seat," Cam directed me to the seating area in their living room and I plopped down on a chair, knees spread wide. Hopefully, they cut to the chase fast so I can get the fuck out of here and focus on more pressing matters. Like Goldie, pressing herself against my—
“Should’ve known he’d send you,” Sloane mused, sitting his grouchy ass down. He looked kind of tired, which was interesting since this was an easy as shit assignment.Why aren’t you sleeping well, Sullivan?
"Sup, Scorch? Burn anyone up lately? I'm itching for a fight." I pinned him with a stare and he grinned. He was just as sick of a fucker as I was; he wasn't fooling me.
"Been too long, man. Don't talk about it, makes my fingertips burn," he bantered back, leaning forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees, and flicking his fists open to release a flame on each tip of his finger.
"Don't burn anything, Saige will kill us. Or Gran will," Fischer piped up, sitting down with a bottle of water.
"Saige is Laura's daughter, yeah? And Gran is her grandmother?" I questioned, piecing together the information from Khol and the little tidbits I was getting from the guys.
A growl rumbled from the kitchen and I directed my attention to Kaito, who was getting snacks or some shit. The guy was always eating, or preparing shit to eat.
"Who pissed in his kitty litter?" I asked the room as a whole and Sloane chuckled, "Okay, you guys are wound tighter than a virgin's butthole, what the hell is going on?"
Cam spoke first, unsurprisingly, seeing as how he was their leader and everything.
"Saige is ours," he said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Let's clear the air right now, shall we?" I held my hands out in front of me, "I have no interest in Saige. First of all, I'm here to do a job, and you guys know damn well I'm celibate. Not to mention, I have my eye on a little witch named Goldie. She’s the most beautiful woman in all the realms and that’s where my focus is, aside from this assignment. Second of all, we've been working together for how long now? You know I'd never do any of you dirty, I've always had your backs. Now, let's just focus on completing this mission so we can move on with our lives. I don't want to be here long, I have more... pressing matters."
Kai sauntered into the living room, moving with a grace that only a cat boy could pull off. "Well, the problem is you haven't met her yet. She's..." He sighed, dropping onto the rug, his legs crossed as he stared off into the distance.
"Okay, lover boy. I see you've got it bad this time, but for real, I'm not interested. Even if she had fourteen karat gold nipples and a diamond studded vagina, not gonna happen."
Fischer choked on his drink and Sloane slapped him on the back a few times, everyone seeming to be much more at ease now that they'd hypothetically pissed all over this poor woman in a show of alpha dominance that I could appreciate. I'd do the fucking same to anyone who ever got near Goldie, and I still had her lover to fight. Oh, I couldn't wait for that day. She'd see my physical prowess and fall in love with me so hard.
"We're actually headed over to her house in about an hour or so, if you wanna come hang out?" Fischer offered, but I shook my head.
"Thanks, man, but I think I'm going to go get the lay of the land, stretch my legs a bit." I'd jumped the main distance of the trip here, but since the guys didn't know I was a demon, I'd rented a car in Kingstown and drove over from there, but the leg stretching suited my excuse for not wanting to go watch them drool over Khol's daughter.
And I wanted to go out into town and explore a little, not only was that ingrained in my head from all the training I’d gone through, there was too much energy buzzing through my bones for me to be able to sit still for any length of time. Plus, the sooner this shit was over, the sooner I could find my saucy redheaded warrior woman.
