“Isn’t he like a Ken doll?” Asher countered.
“You guys are way off topic. Also, isn’t your whole dad an angel?” I asked. “How does that work if he doesn’t have man parts?”
“Technically he’s a fallen angel.”
“So he lost his wings and grew a dick?” Kingston asked.
“How the fuck should I know?” Asher asked, nose crinkling like he smelled something foul.
“Personally, I’d rather have a dick than wings,” Kingston said.
“I have both,” Kai offered smugly. “They’re excellent teammates.”
Tor silently held up his hand for Kai to high-five. I shuddered.
“Annnd, that’s about enough of that for me.” Shoving the orb back in my bag, I stood. “Clean up after me, would you, boys? I’ve met my testosterone quota for the rest of my life.”
“You’re not going anywhere without us,” Alek said. “If something happened to you, we’d never forgive ourselves.”
“Aw, you’re sweet. The duke is going to see me to safety. He’s fast. I’ll be back in the shelter before you can say abracadabra.”
“Abracadabra,” Kingston shouted.
I shot him a hard side-eye before giving him the finger and climbing onto Gavin’s back like a much less clumsy Bella Swan. “Fuck off, Kingston.”
“Love you too, Elphie!”
Taking my life into my own hands, I leaned close to the vampire’s ear and said, “All right, Sparkles, let’s see how impossibly fast you are.”
“Fucking Twilight,” he grumbled, grabbing me under each knee as he started to run. “That book wasn’t even close to accurate.”
I snorted, but kept my comments to myself because he wasn’t kidding. Closing my eyes against the blur of the scenery, I madea mental note to make some corrections to vampire lore in fiction if we survived this. It was the least I could do.
Chapter
Twenty
SIN
The warm ocean breeze brought the scents of plumeria and sea salt to the forefront of my awareness as my dream came into focus. I knew the moment I turned my head I’d find Merri next to me, and I was right. Since coming to Malice, she hadn’t missed a night. Loath as she’d be to admit it, she needed us. And I was not-so-secretly preening because if you counted my venture into her dream a few nights ago, I was the only horseman she’d talked to twice. Grim hadn’t even gotten to see her once yet.
Not that anyone would be surprised she was avoiding him. The real question was whether she would visit him next or just circle straight back to Malice. It would serve that stuffed shirt right if she skipped him altogether.
My mouth ran dry at the sight of Merri, posed on a lounger in a tiny black bikini with her hair piled high on her head in a messy bun. She was reading a paperback, lower lip pulled between her teeth as she focused on the words on the page and ignored me.
“You need a cocktail, kitten. Can’t be sitting poolside on a day like this without one.”
Without missing a beat, she reached beside her and lifted a fruity umbrella drink, the glass dripping with condensation as she put the tiny straw between her lips.
I’m not ashamed to say my gaze followed a drop of water as it fell from the base of the glass and hit her chest, sliding slowly down her body until it disappeared in her bikini bottoms.
“You’re drooling,” she murmured.
“You’re gorgeous.”
She flipped a page, still mostly ignoring me. It might have hurt my feelings if Malice and Chaos hadn’t both warned me that she was definitely still punishing us. And fair enough, honestly. We deserved it—some more than others. The difference between me and them? I wasn’t going to roll over and take it.
No way. No how.
