Page 51 of Killer of the Bells
Maybe I’d pass on that idea. It was Vale or no one at this point.
I pointed indignantly at the wiring and made atchsound to show my displeasure.
“You don’t like my trap? Baz told me it’s awesome,” The person I realized was probably Vix said, eyes welling up.
Baz came up behind Vix and said, “Hey, stop pretending to be me! We talked about this, Baz. You can’t trick Paris into fucking you because he can totally tell us apart.” The person who might actually have been Vix punched the person who might actually have been Baz in the shoulder.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. When I opened them again, I squinted, trying to figure out who was who. Eventually, I gave up with a sigh.
It didn’t matter who was who. I wasn’t going to be able to talk to them much anyway, so it was a moot point.
Once again, I pointed at the wiring and gave it a dirty look before turning back to the twins and gesturing to them and then back at the wiring.
“Hey, I have a lot to do around here, okay?” One of the redheads said. “If you want better concealed wiring, do it yourself.”
I snorted, fished around in my cargo pants pockets, and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves, duct tape, and a pair of needle-nose pliers. I was loaded to the brim with trap-setting supplies, so it would be child’s play to do as they suggested.
I tried to mime shutting off a switch, but both men gave me twin expressions of confusion. I groaned in frustration, then pointed to the wiring and pretended to get electrocuted.
Once again, I was dying by Vale’s hands or nothing.
“Oh, shit, right. You don’t want to get electrocuted. Hey, Love! Shut down all power connected to the porch.”
Both redheads sat down on the porch and watched as I quickly tucked the wiring away and made it blend seamlessly into the faux wooden siding of the porch.
“He did that in two minutes; did you see that?”
“I could have done it that quickly if I’d wanted to?—”
“But you didn’t, butt face, so shut up about it.”
“You’re easily three times uglier than I am, soyoushut up.”
I put my tools away while they bickered about who was uglier, stupider, and worse at blow jobs, wondering how anyone ever managed to get anything done with them around.
I cleared my throat to get their attention, and when that didn’t work, I stomped the floor next to the closest redhead. “Vale,” I said firmly. I was there for a reason, not to be an audience for a two-man show, no matter how entertaining it may have been.
The closest redhead stopped mid-sentence and turned to me. “Here for another round? Vale’s dick is pretty spectacular, right? He doesn’t get a lot of repeat visitors, though, other than us, I mean.”
Before I had a chance to process that mess, the other redhead smacked the first one’s head and said, “Cut it out, Baz. You’re going to scare Echo away, and I like him. He tried to protect me earlier, and Vale likes him. Let me repeat that second one. Valelikeshim. Have you ever seen Vale like someone? Because I haven’t, and I’ve known him for years.” Without letting the redhead who might be Baz answer, he continued. “No, you haven’t. No one has. I’m sorry for my asshole brother, Echo. Baz wasn’t trying to be awful. He was just born that way. Vale hasn’t fucked either of us in ages, and he isn’t going to, so don’t let us get in your way.”
I blinked rapidly from the rollercoaster of emotions I’d just gone on. Angry, jealous, scared, relieved, and utterly, hopelessly confused in a matter of seconds.
“Oh yeah, seriously. Vale isn’t into us. Dude only cares about science and being irritated all the time,” possibly Baz said.
Okay, I don’t know who the fuck I was talking to, so I’m just going to give them names and run with it, okay?
Vix scrambled to his feet and tried to take my hand. What was up with these guys and hands? I tucked mine into my back pockets to keep them safe, but I gave him my attention.
“Vale isn’t here right now, Echo. He’s been gone since you left yesterday. Gareth might know where he is, but he’s been busy since the attack yesterday. The Dawn Initiative has never been so overt about coming after me, and?—”
“Vix, you’re breaking protocol,” Love’s voice came from the ceiling.
“Oops! Sorry, um, those guys from yesterday… our… um, rival paintball team?” Vix threw a frantic look at Baz, who gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. “Yeah, those guys were being serious jerkasaurs and now Gareth is going to ah… definitely not kill them or do anything illegal because we don’t do stuff like that.”
“Nailed it,” Baz said, clapping slowly.
Annoying and adorable. Any other day, and I would have been compelled to stay and watch the show, but I had too much on my agenda, so I said, “Vale,” once more, only louder.
