With me,Chloe prods me to say it.Don’t forget me.
“With Chloe.” A breath hitches in my throat for a moment as I let her name slip. And yet a part of me doesn’t care if he puts the pieces to the body-snatching puzzle together or not. “And you turned it into a pile of steaming horse crap,” I continue. “You are the equivalent of a walking, talking anus who does nothing but churn out crap from everything that was once good. You’re a genuine asshole.” I poke a finger in his chest. “The real stinking deal. And I’m so glad Rory lifted your skirt so we could all see you didn’t have a dick swinging between your shaven legs after all.”
Chloe belts out a husky laugh.Kudos, Messenger. Kudos!
Gage’s eyes widen a notch as he examines me as if searching for answers.
“That’s right.” The words puff from me in anger. “Your whole life is a steaming pile of shit. You feared losing Skyla so damn much, you let your insecurities eat you for breakfast.”
Gage snatches me by the shoulders and gives me a rattle. “You don’t get to say her name.” He lets go as if resisting the urge to push me through a wall. “Skyla is dead to me.” It comes out with a whimper, and assumingly so because he’s being literal.
“She’s dead to you?” I riot. My eyes snags on that frying pan once again, and I snatch it up and belt him over the skull without hesitation. A horrible thunk resonates in the kitchen as his head flies to the left.
“Geez!” he shouts as he snatches the pan from my hand and flings it clear into the living room like a Frisbee until it smashes against the wall, leaving a dent. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you.” His voice shakes as he does his best to control himself. “Leave now before I do something to you, and we both regret you came over.”
My feet carry me toward him as if he just issued a challenge.
“I’ll leave when you tell me where Logan is.” I grab him by the arms and rattle him the way he did me. “Tell me where Ezrina is. Where the hell Nev and Alice are, too. Nowspeak!”
Gage pants angrily as the veins in his neck bulge for me to see. “There is a long line of people I would whisper my secrets to, and you aren’t even at the bottom of the list. All of those people you’re wondering about? They’re not wondering about you, Chloe. If Skyla is giving you the finger, it’s because you deserve it.”
Chloe growls like a demon roaring out of Hell, but I’ve got this one.
My knee lifts right into his balls at supersonic speeds, and I hear a satisfying pop.
Gage howls so loud the roof might as well have disjointed.
“You littlebitch!” he bellows as he bends over, and I snatch up that frying pan again and whack him over the head once more, putting all of my—all ofChloe’sCelestra strength behind it.
Gage tilts to the side, leaning against the refrigerator as if for support before sinking to the floor.
“It’s nice to know your newly-issued body still feels something,” I say as my chest heaves with each erratic breath. “Even though your heart is incapable.”
I turn to leave, and he snatches at my ankle and pulls me to the ground.
My face hits the floor with a violent slap, and it takes me a moment to regain my bearings.
Messenger,Chloe snaps.This is the exact kind of crap I warned you about.
A grunt comes from me as I turn to look at him. Gage has a wild fury brewing in his eyes.
“You don’t get to beat the hell out of me and get away with it so easy,” he grits the words through his teeth.
“Yes, I do.” I shove my heel into his face, so fast, so hard, it’s like a speeding train meeting with a building, and Gage lets out a furtive roar.
“Damn you,” he growls as he pulls me under him. “Get the hell out of my house. On second thought, I’m going to throw you out—of a damn window.”
“Get off of me.” Shielding my thoughts around Gage has never been easy, but I’ve got twice the reason to keep my internal musings to myself. After he garnered his new body, he gained just about every power under the heavenly sun, and reading minds while touching was one of them. I struggle to push his body from mine. Gage has always been built like a linebacker, but since he’s been back, his muscles are the equivalent of steel cables.
Gage bows his head toward mine as if he were going to kiss me, and my stomach squeezes tightly as it’s been prone to do, as I’m sure Chloe’s is prone to do, too. He dips his mouth to my ear.
“I’m going to kill you, Chloe,” he pants the words out as if he were caught up in ecstasy, and considering how long he’s probably waited to whisper those deadly sweet nothings, he just might be. “And maybe, just maybe, I’m going to make it look as if Skyla did it. Or better yet, she just might want to help. Consider it an early Christmas gift from the both of us.”
A shriek of a cry expels from me.
How dare he ever think of me in any form of a union with him ever again. How dare he consider smearing my name with my children still roaming free on this planet. How dare he become the dark-winged demon that fooled the masses and now is bent on killing everyone he once pretended to love—with the exception of Chloe. He was always very honest about his feelings for her.
Not to me, he wasn’t, she pipes up.Gouge those blue eyes out, Skyla. Do it for the both of us.
