Page 61 of Riot Reunion
“PAX!”
Fear like nothing I’ve ever experienced before slams me square in the gut. I stop dead, spinning around so fast I make myself dizzy. Chase is out of the car, and she’s running toward the house.
“What the hell are youdoing? Get back!” I’m sharper than I intend to be, but the anxiety firing up and down my spine has me temporarily out of my damn mind.
Keep her safe.
Keep the baby safe.
What the hell? I can’t fuckingbreathe.
Chase shakes her head, thick auburn hair cascading around her shoulders as she jogs up the steps to meet me. Fuck, should she even bejogging? “I’m not waiting in the car while you go charging head-long into a potentially dangerous situation. What if you need backup? A witness? What if you get hurt?”
“I am picking you up, throwing you over my shoulder, and forcibly putting you back in that car in three seconds. Do not fucking make me.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” The outrage that flashes across her face suits her. Her hot temper has put some color back in her cheeks.
I set my jaw, staring her down. “Try me.”
“My god. Will you two cease your bickering and come inside already? You’re letting in the cold.”
Surprise ratchets up my heart rate all over again. By the look on her face, Chase shares my sentiments. Mercy Jacobi saunters across the entryway of Riot House, heels clicking against the polished marble floor. She looks like some kind of fucking Bond villain with the black-on-black outfit, the blunt cut to her hair, and the obnoxious slash of bright red lipstick she’s wearing. Her eyes—eyes the exact same color as Wren’s—dance with amusement as her gaze bounces from me to Chase and back again. A slow, annoying smile spreads across her face. “Oh my. I heard about this little predicament, but I didn’t reallybelieveit. Looks like you’re packing some powerful swimmers, Pax.” The arch to her perfectly plucked eyebrow suggests all kinds of sin.
With one cursory sweep of her cool gaze, she manages to perfectly communicate what she thinks of Chase, which is to say not very much at all. I can take her poking at me—I’m used to it after all the years she spent lurking around the house, showing up unannounced and generally starting shit for her own entertainment—but Chase? She can think a-fucking-gain if she thinks she’s going to get away with treating her like shit. “Fuck off and die, Mercy. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Of course I should.” Her eyes flash like knives.
“This is Wren’s place, not yours.”
“Precisely. My twin brother’s house. Blood relative. I have far more right to be here thanyoudo.”
This. Fucking. Bitch. Mercy lives to provoke a reaction from people; I’d only be giving her what she wants if I let my temper flare. “When Wren finds out you’re here, he’s gonna kick your ass out. That’s all there is to it.” I imbue the words with as much disregard as I can without sounding angry, but Mercy doesn’t give a shit; she picks up a small golden skull paperweight from the mail stand in the hallway, turning it over in her hands as she smirks to herself. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll tell me to leave. At first. But then he’ll get over himself andbegme to stay once I inform him that I have news about Fitz. News that he’s desperately going to want to hear.”
Chase glares at Jacobi’s witch of a sister. “What news?” she demands.
Mercy embodies the proverbial cat that got the cream. She doesn’t even have the courtesy to look at Chase; she peers closer at the golden skull, the arrogance of the girl choking up the entryway. She parts her blood-red lips, about to respond with something catty and vile, no doubt, but another voice fills the silence before she can say a word.
“She’s yet to part with that information.” Wren thunders his way down the stairs, ends of his hair wet and curling into his face, chest briefly bare as he slides his arms into the sleeves of a sweater and pulls it over his head.
I throw my hands in the air. “Fuck’s sake! I thought you were in town! This place was supposed to be empty for a while!”
Wren stops at the foot of the stairs, regarding me with a heaping amount of disdain. “We decided we’d better wait here to see what state you came back in first. Given your temper of late.”
“Bullshit.”
‘It is, isn’t it?”
“That’s his way of telling you that he loves you and he cares about you.” Elodie appears out of nowhere, padding down the stairs to join us.
“No, it’s not!” “The fuck it is!”I object at the same time as Wren, heat flaring in my cheeks.
Elodie wears a pair of black silk pajamas, her hair ruffled and wet, too; Wren and his girl must have just gotten done showering. She rolls her eyes, walking straight past me to greet Chase, folding her friend into a tight hug. “Love you, Pres. I’m sorry I told this idiot where we were back in Alaska.”
Chase smiles over Elodie’s shoulder. “It’s all good. I know you only did it because you care. I love you, too, E.”
Elodie pulls back, eyeing Wren and me with fake annoyance. “See. Easy. Why are guys so emotionally inept? Why can’t you just tell each other that you matter to one another?”
“I couldn’t care less about Jacobi.”
