Page 78 of Hex
That’s fine with me. I don’t particularly want to think about the fact that I’m probably going to die for real sometime in the near future.
Settling myself beneath the blanket on the couch, I glance over to my best friend. She’s not okay, but maybe being with her brother will help. In a few hours, he will be taking her to Velmore because he’s not convinced that the threat to Danika ended with Dei Rafi. The Dei of Monsters is a potential threat because so many of her kyn have been involved in both Danika’s and my disappearances, but whether she’s been complicit like Rafi is yet to be determined.
A few hours later and I’m loving the show. It’s violent and brutal, and there was a moment where I wondered if Danika was okay with it, but she seems as into it as I am.
The Viking, Ragnar, has just taken the blame for killing a horrible fucking man, when in actual fact, it was his wife, Lagertha, who was responsible. It’s romantic in the best of ways and I wonder if this new world I’m in has altered my perception of all things.
I know we’re no longer alone when there’s a shift in the atmosphere. It’s not a bad shift, but it does mean the end of our girls’ night. Gotta say, it’s one of the most muted girls’ nights we’ve ever had, but sitting quietly together has been healing in a small way.
“Having fun?” Hack doesn’t waste time lifting me from the couch, then sits with me on his lap.
It feels natural to curl into him, his warmth addictive.
“Yup. We ran out of popcorn an hour ago, though. We need way more snacks next time.”
“Where’s Des?” Danika sits up and looks toward the back door. The Horsemen and Desdemon wandered outside ages ago to discuss whatever it is they’ve been discussing.
We could have been a part of their conversations, but in all honesty, we needed the time to do nothing. To let our brains switch off to the shit swirling around us. I know Hack will fill me in soon enough.
“Still outside with Slash. Something about you, actually.” His chest rumbles against my back as he speaks and Danika’s eyes widen.
“I think I’ve had enough of men deciding crap about me.” She frowns and huffs. “Sage, babe, I think it’s time for me to go. I’ll text you, though, and we need to see each other again in like, an hour, because I don’t think I like the fact that we don’t live together anymore.” She stands at the same time as I wriggle myself free from Hack’s lap, and the hug is one of the best ever.
“We’ll be working together, though. That chain of Mystic T shops is happening as soon as I know I’m not going to be executed.” The optimism is strong, and I’m well aware that I’m also a little delusional, but Danika doesn’t need my shit on top of her own shit.
Hope is what we need.
“If Desdemon allows the Thirteen to do that to you, babe, I’ll kill him myself.” Kissing me on the cheek, Danika winks and saunters out of the glass door to the back yard.
“Is thisVikings?” Hack points to the paused TV screen.
“It is. Danika’s choice, but it’s pretty good. Have you seen it?” I crawl back into his lap and get myself comfortable, resting my head against his firm chest so I can hear his heartbeat.
“Never. Slash was friends with the real Ragnar Lodbrok, so he made us promise we’d never watch it.”
“Wow. Who else do you guys know?” I sit up and glare at him when he chuckles.
“It would be a shorter list to tell you who we don’t know, Satapti.” His mouth is saying casual conversation, but his eyes are eating me alive with how he’s looking at me.
“I have a better idea for a list.” Grinning, I sit up straight and tug at the base of his black T-shirt.
“You do, do you?” With a panty-melting smirk, he shifts slightly and raises his arms, allowing me to drag the fabric up his torso.
I don’t pull the T-shirt all the way off, doing my best to trap his wrists in the material. It wouldn’t take a lot for him to get out of it, but he obliges and keeps his arms raised above his head. The view from here is fucking spectacular.
“Mmmhmm.” I nod, my eyes grazing over the sculpted muscle on display.
“I don’t think you’ll find a list there, Satapti.” His chuckle makes his chest tense and makes me want to lick him all over.
“True.” Licking my lips, I make eye contact, his bright-green irises practically glowing with heat. “The list is like a bucket list.” He tenses for a whole different reason this time, but I continue before he can interrupt. “I know you guys have made this plan, but if it goes wrong, I need a backup. This is it. I need t—”
Hacks frees himself from the hold above his head, the T-shirt flung across the room and forgotten. He grips the back of my head, my hair entwined in his fingers, and brings his face close to mine.
“I won’t let you talk like that, Satapti. It’s not happening. If you want to do it, we can make that list, but we will be ticking every fucking thing off it and adding more along the way. It will be a life list, not a fucking bucket list. I did not spend the last two thousand years watching you die over and over again only to lose you now. Understand?” His words are firm, but there’s asoftness to the demand that makes me want to be as hopeful as he is.
It works, because yeah, he’s right. Our happiness has been ripped away from us so many times, we have well earned the reprieve.
Nodding, I decide that this, right here, is my focus. My chosen, my Hack. My Zelos Adofo, Conquest of The Four Horsemen. After everything he has been through, the lifetimes he has suffered…the lifetimesIhave suffered, the Thirteen are just an obstacle.
