Page 50 of The Magic of Revenge
"Sure," she responded, walking past me with the scent of vanilla swirling around in her wake. I sat down, my body angled slightly towards her. My palms felt sweaty and I felt increasingly uncomfortable with the entire conversation, despite it not having happened yet. I eyed her wings, which gave her a total fairy vibe. The green in them shimmered as the soft light in the room hit them. She caught me looking and they fluttered as though they liked the attention.
“You know how to use those?” I asked.
She smiled. “Yeah, Bram taught me how to fly. It’s amazing.”
“I’m jealous. I’ve always said if I could choose a superpower it’d be the ability to fly. You’d always have the perfect means for escape,” I admitted and then wondered why I had.
“Unless you’re in a cage,” she replied and I frowned.
Saige laughed and shook her head. "Gods, Sloane. You look like you're being tortured."
"Feels like it," I admitted quietly. "I just wanted to apologize. For everything. I didn't mean for you to get tangled up like that." She lifted her brows in disbelief and I held up a hand before she could speak. "No, I know what it looks like. I'll be honest, it started out as any other assignment. We get in, do the job, we get out. This one was more important than normal because our boss, the CEO of the entire organization, was assigning us a mission personal to him. What an honor, right? I'd always dreamed of the lifestyle we had, Red. The excitement, hunting down bad guys, traveling the world, not having to put down solid roots anywhere. There weren’t supposed to be any distractions..."
She settled further back against the sofa, crossing her legs beneath her. "And that's what I was? A distraction?"
"At first, absolutely. I'd never seen them so crazy over a woman before. It wasn't just one of them either. You had all three of them hooked almost instantly and I didn't know what was happening. By the time I realized how serious things were between you all, I'd already fucked up so badly... and then Khol, he didn't know you were his daughter. He ordered me to get closer to you," I confessed. The pain in her eyes had my stomach clenching uncomfortably, but I had to get all of this off my chest. It was the only way forward.
"I'm not saying this to put the blame on him. No, I should have put my foot down and said I wouldn't do it... But then I thought maybe I could negotiate with him. We've wanted to investigate Cam's family and what happened to them for years, but between the two solid years of training with Radical and then quickly rising through the ranks, time off was a pipe dream. So I agreed to do as he asked, but in exchange, he would have to give us leave for a personal mission." My foot was bouncing as I explained and I promptly stopped the moment I realized I was doing it.
"And was that before or after the garden? With us and Fischer?" she asked softly and I winced.
"I'm so sorry, Red," I blurted, ashamed at myself.
"I see," she said. But she didn't. Not really.
"Before Fischer came out, when we were talking, I felt this connection with you. Nothing I said to you then was a lie. It scared me.Youscare me. I didn't have the best life growing up. My dad was—is—a son of a bitch. It's not an excuse, I know. But the guys, they're all I have. They're all I've ever had. I don’t handle change very well…”
I wrung my hands together as Red sat there. Her eyes were already rimmed with redness thanks to the scare Bram had given her. The roundness of her cheeks were not quite as full as when I’d first met her. There were shadows beneath her vibrant green eyes and the mirth that usually danced within them was muted. My heart clenched at the sight, making me feel like an even bigger fuckwad.
“When they took you through that portal... I have never felt fear like that. I’d fucked up so royally. I had no idea if they planned to harm you, and I’d betrayed my brothers, the only people I’ve ever given a shit about. They left me there after some harsh truths and I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I had to fix it," I explained.
Red regarded me and it was as though her gaze was piercing my soul. It made me uncomfortable but I was starting to see that uncomfortable didn't necessarily mean bad.
"So what did you do?" she asked, angling herself so she was now facing me completely.
"I fucking stayed with Randy Roger," I grumbled, as a look of disbelief flashed over her face and then morphed into a slow smile.
"You what?" she laughed. I liked that about her. Even though I'd hurt her and this conversation wasn't particularly fun, she still had that lightheartedness to her that was utterly Saige. She was like the sunshine to my storm.The sunshine to my storm? What in the fuck?
Clearing my throat, I clarified. "Well, I didn't have anywhere to go. I didn't want to go back to the apartment because I didn't know how that would go over. Plus, it just didn't seem right. I mean, it's your apartment and after what I did... So I went to the diner to get something to eat and Roger came in and knew something was up. I didn't explain, just told him I'd fucked up and didn't have anywhere to go. I was looking at hotels in Kingstown on my phone when he insisted I stay at his house."
Saige threw her head back and laughed, and the corner of my mouth lifted in response. It surprised me that I didn’t seem to mind that she was laughing at my expense. All I saw was how carefree she looked in that moment; I hadn’t seen it in a long time. Most of that had been my fault, so in a way, it was fitting that the tables had flipped.
"And you had no idea what you were getting yourself into?" she guessed and I shook my head.
"I mean, I knew the guy was an interesting one when I met him in the grocery store while he was inspecting cucumbers like they were show pigs. I just hadn't realized the extent of his vegetable fetish," I laughed as I recounted the memory to Red.
"I swear to the stars, Roger, that had better be one of your cucumbers poking me in the ass, or we're going to have issues," I gritted as I parked my bike on the street.
"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch, my boy. It was actually an eggplant," he said as he hopped off the back of my bike. How I got roped into giving him a ride was still a mystery to me. I groaned and swung my leg over the seat. Roger was already across the street by the time I'd fully dismounted. Little mage was fast as hell.
He was wearing skintight jeans with huge bell bottoms and a light tan leather vest with all kinds of fringe and tassels. They all blew in the wind, drawing even more attention to the outfit. The two shopping bags on his arms were filled to the brim with an assortment of vegetables. Honestly, I didn't know how the handles hadn't ripped—
"Well, fuck me running!" Roger shouted as one of the bags split and his shit rolled all over the sidewalk. Sighing, I hurried across the street to help him pick them up. He bent over just as I approached, his vest riding up his back to reveal a matching leather g-string.
"Fucking shit, Roger!" I hollered, stumbling back. He stood and turned to see what the fuss was all about.
"Oh, heavens. Pardon me, I didn't mean to give you a sneak peek at my goodies. Must be your lucky day." He shimmied his shoulders and went back to his task, while I purposefully put myself in front of his body so I wouldn't get anymore peep shows.
