Page 71 of The Magic of Betrayal
‘Duh.’
My mouth dropped open.Did I just get sassed by a fucking jungle cat?
Rumbling laughter filled my head.Great. Now he’s laughing at me.
We stared at one another, but having him in my head right then was such a huge comfort, I wished I could snuggle against him, though.
‘It hurts, Baggie. So much,’I choked out, gasping as the weight of everything crushed me once again.
And then something really fucking bizarre happened. I saw myself in my vision or whatever the hell this was, walking toward him and collapsing on his big body. I buried my face into his neck and squeezed him as sobs overtook my body. His purring vibrated my body with how loud it was and it was calming. Perfect. Soothing.
‘Rest.’
My body slipped down beside him on the floor and he curled up against my back, flopping a big black paw over my waist, his nose nuzzled my neck and those deep purrs lulled me into a deep sleep.
* * *
Three days.
I’d been here for three days and every time I closed my eyes, Baggie was right there. He was my anchor to my life, the life I’d known up until it all went to total shit. My headaches had been excruciating whenever I opened my eyes, so I tried to do it as little as possible. Plus, it was easier to keep tears from falling if I kept them physically locked down.
Bram however, must have had enough of my moping. If the way he was glaring down at me with his hands on his hips, skin glistening with sweat after his morning workout, was any indication.
“Goldie, you’re getting up today. Now, in fact. It’s time for a bath. You stink.” He clapped his hands like some kind of drill sergeant and I wanted to stab him.
I rolled over and gave him my back. These fuckers brought me here, they could kiss my ass.
A gust of air had my lungs sharply inhaling as he snatched the covers off my body.Okay, now, I’m pissed. Who the fuck does that? It’s barbaric!
My eyes narrowed on him and I quickly launched a vine from my palm, snatching the blanket before he could get it in his hands again.Holy shit, my magic was fast. Guess that’s a perk of becoming a demon?The second the blanket hit my body, I barrel rolled like a fucking crocodile and made myself into a nice little burrito and I encouraged the vine to wrap around me, nice and tight, so that demon dickheads couldn’t steal my damn blanket again.
Bram was laughing so hard and it just pissed me off even more.Why won’t he just shut the fuck up and leave me alone?
“That’s cute, princess. But like I said, you’re getting up and taking a bath.”
My eyes were barely peeking out of the top of my cocoon, glaring at his dumb face.Well, he could fuck off, I’m not going anywhere, and he can’t make me.
Then his arms were underneath me, lifting myself, the blanket, and the vine into his arms. Fuck, I hadn’t planned on him doing that. I squirmed like I was trying to get a spider and it’s web off me, but his arms were banded around me and there wasn’t anything I could do.
When we were in the bathroom, he put me down on my feet, but the blanket had slipped up so my eyes were covered and the only parts of me that were exposed were my bare feet, and my hair. And I’m sure that looked like a bird’s nest after three days in bed.
“You look like a walking joint right now,” Bram cackled and if my hands were free, I would’ve given him double birds. Fucker.
“Are you going to strip or am I going to have to improvise?” his deep voice asked, and I could just picture him walking around me, surveying how he was going to solve this problem.
I didn’t move. He could fuck off.
“Improvising it is!”
A moment later, I was once again being lifted and when I realized what he was doing, I found my voice.
“Put me down, you son of a bitch!”
“Ahh, she speaks! Praise the stars above and Saturn’s silky—”
“I’m not joking, Bram. Put me down!” I shrieked, letting the vine around myself and the blanket fade away so I could attempt to fight him.
“No. I’m not going to put you down. You’ve done enough laying around. It’s time to get the fuck up and sort your shit out."
