Page 13 of Outlaw Witch

Not that I’ll ever be going back there. The past two days have been stressful enough, thank you very much.

“I’m nearly home. Do I need to be worried?”I ask Ember as I increase my speed until my calves burn and my breath is coming out as choppy pants.

“Not sure yet. I’m hiding out the back. Just get here as soon as.”

By the time I get back to the warehouse, I’m sweating like a pig and I can barely catch my breath.

The sight of two men lounging on our living room sofas almost causes me to lose my balance.

I don’t know who they are or what they’re doing sitting on my couch like they own it, but I don’t like it.

The first guy is covered in black tattoos, runes marking every inch of his exposed skin from his neck down to his knuckles. He has black hair and is just as built as the guy beside him and is staring at me with a half smirk in place.

It’s the second guy that really pulls me up short.

He is a seriously intense-looking guy, staring at me with a cool, unfriendly expression from beneath a mop of dark, curly hair. He’s broad shouldered and sturdy and kind of looks like he could plow through a wall and come out on top.

“You,” I breathe the word like a curse in the wind, recognizing him instantly.

He’s Back Alley Jerk-off.

Mr Mutual Bad Decision.

What the hell is he doing here?

He quirks an eyebrow. “You’re Silver? Silver No-last-name?”

“Who wants to know?”

My eyes scan to the guy beside him again. My eyes catching on his eyes as he smirks at me.

They’re hazel. And very familiar.

Why is the guy that got me off in an alleyway last night sitting on my sofa with the guy that just dragged me out of a house fire?

“What do you meanhim?” the tattooed guy says. “I’m the one that saved your life, sweetheart.” He turns to the guy beside him. “How come it seems like the two of you know each other? I would have thought you might have mentioned that at some point, Zeph ol’ buddy, ol’ pal of mine.”

“Fuck off, Roscoe,” the other guy grunts back. Good to see he’s equally lovely with people he knows.

My brain shorts on the names they just called each other.

Zeph and Roscoe. They’re not exactly common names around these parts.

Which means I know exactly who they are. Back Alley Jerk-off is Zeph Stormrider and my unwanted savior is Roscoe Hawkshead. Both members of the Nexus Mages, one of the major mage circles that deal in morally gray activities in this city.

In fact, if the rumor mill is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure they’re both high up the ladder of the Nexus Mages. Almost as high as you can get.

Roscoe’s smirk widens. “I’m Roscoe and this is Zeph. We met earlier, but I’d understand if you didn’t recognize me. Here, sweetheart, you can take a whiff of my shirt and maybe that’ll jog your memory.”

Oh right, because I sniffed him.

Good times.

I glance around at the faces of my closest friends. My family. And I wonder which of these idiots thought it was a good idea to let these people into our home.

“That’s why you were there?” I ask. “You were looking for me?”

“Sure was, honey. Although, I’d have appreciated it if you’d stuck around, so I didn’t have to follow you all the way back here.”

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