Page 53 of Missiletoe
I felt a little bad about Vale; he was going to be blind for at least an hour because he’s insanely light-sensitive, but he was choking Baz, and it was a terrible example for the kids, so it was necessary.
Hey! I got my revenge on Vale for attempting to kill Paris without even trying! Score one for subconscious retribution.
I didn’t worry about Gareth because he would recover within a minute because he was just like that.
Paris was probably the best off because I maybe, kinda purposefully threw the light bomb at his back, so his vision should have only been weird and sparkly at the edges.
Baz was going to be living in a total white-out for the next ten minutes because the only enhancements he’d gotten out of life were anger, spite, and chaos.
…I was probably going to have to make Baz that drone after all. Surely there was a way to only make it a little lethal.
I watched as Paris slammed Gareth’s hand to the floor while he was distracted. The wetness I told you about earlier was no longer metaphorical. My dick was leaking precum like there was no tomorrow, and that was when I decided I should probably start carrying around extra panties from then on.
Paris seemed like a complete sweetie, but apparently, he had a streak of pettiness in him. Hopefully, there was more pettiness in there because I was going to need him to have at least a tiny bit of evil inside him if I was going to win his heart.
“I let you win,” Gareth said, rubbing his eyes.
See? Pettiness is a basic, entry level requirement to be part of my family. There are others, but if I list them all, we’ll be here forever.
“Of course you did,” I said because sucking up to Gareth was my best bet right then. Then I butted between him and Paris with my back toward Gareth, and mouthed to Paris, “He totally didn’t.”
“Vix, I’ve stopped loving you,” Baz said, burying his face into Vale’s chest. Vale was blinking rapidly, and he was doing a marvelous job of doing it in a grumpy, goth-like fashion. “Vale doesn’t love you anymore either.”
I put my hands on my hips, lost to the fact that the only person who could appreciate my fear-inspiring pose was Paris, who didn’t deserve it. “I’m sorry, but you all had it coming. What kind of people start a brawl in an animal shelter?”
“Fine, I’ll love you again in ten minutes,” Baz groaned into Vale’s shirt.
“I’ll love you again never, because I never started in the first place.” Vale had pressed both palms against his eyes, completely ignoring the fact that Baz was shamelessly cuddling him.
I decided it was time to let bygones be bygones and changed the subject. “Hey, speaking of horrible people doing bad things to animal shelters, someone just tried to burn this one down.”
Gareth’s head perked up. “The fire was on purpose?”
“According to Mike the ugly fireman, it was a bunch of kids pulling a prank. I think we should find them andtalkto them.” I turned my head a little and winked really hard, so Gareth would know what I actually meant.
“Why are you winking, bunny?” Paris asked.
Oops. I forgot to turn completely so Paris couldn’t see me.
Gareth sighed. “You know the only one of us who can see you right now is Paris, right?”
Double oops. I’d forgotten about the blinding incident already.
“I had something in my eye.”
Gareth snorted. “You go take care of that. I’ll find whoever is responsible and talk to them.”
“When you go talk to them, let me know so I can come with you and maim some of them,” Paris said like he was inviting himself along on a picnic.
“Maim?” I squeaked. Surely, he meant metaphorically.
“Harming innocent creatures is inexcusable, bunny. A message has to be sent. A missing limb is a good reminder to make sure they never forget the message.”
Gareth looked at Paris in a squinty sort of way. His eyesight must have been coming back already. After a long moment, he clapped Paris on the shoulder and said, “Welcome to the family.”
Then he scooped Baz up out of Vale’s lap and into one arm, tugged Vale to his feet, and put Vale’s hand on his shoulder. After shooting an ironic salute to me, he made for the door.
“Don’t let anything happen to Vix or they’ll never find the body!” Baz called cheerfully.
