I reached the clearing to find Roxy fussing over Gus. She was holding his head to her chest, rubbing his back and making him promise her to be safe and stay close to us. The pup was nuzzling her tits, looking more than a little pleased with himself.
“Gus,” I barked.
Roxy jumped, her eyes flashing. “What’s your problem now?”
“The pup doesn’t need to be soothed, he’s fine.”
“He needs hugs like the rest of you, isn’t that right, Gussy?”
The little shit nodded, making her chest jiggle. Yes, we craved hugs and affection, needed it, but Gus was taking it too fucking far.
“Having his face buried in your tits is not the kind of hug the pup needs, Rox.” My voice sounded deeper, gruffer, but seeing Gus all over her was starting to piss me off for some utterly fucked-up reason. Probably because although Roxy was many centuries old, and tough as fuck, she still had this naivety about her, this innocence that made no sense and always made me feel more protective of her than any of the other handmaids—which again, made no sense.
She blew out a long breath and shook her head, before her gaze sliced back to me. “Gods, you are such a dick.”
My brows shot up. “You think I’m a dick?” Rox had been acting weird with me for a while now, I kept asking her if something was wrong and she kept denying it, but she’d never said shit like that to me before.
She shoved Gus away and shot to her feet. “If it acts like a dick and looks like a dick, then it’s probably a dick,” she said and planted her hands on her hips.
I studied her. “What’s really going on here, Rox? You’ve been giving me attitude for months, and I haven’t missed that you try to avoid hugging me when you come to the clubhouse, and only do it when you absolutely have to.” I crossed my arms. Yes, her scent fucked with me, and I kept our hugs short because of that, but I didn’t like that she didn’t seem to want to hug me anymore, when she used to always come to me first. “We’re going to be traveling together for a while, babe. You got a problem with me, we should probably sort that shit out now.”
“I hugged you earlier, if you’ll recall,” she said.
“Yeah, and you snapped my head off then as well.” Her gaze sliced to Ursula, and the other handmaid subtly shook her head. “What the fuck was that?”
Roxy’s gaze shot back to me. “Nothing. Like I said earlier, I’m not pissed at you, I’m just pissed off in general for reasons that don’t concern you.”
“Nah, I call bullshit. It’s not just now. It’s been for months, at least when I’m around. I’m the only one out of my brothers you’re giving the cold shoulder to, Rox.”
Her face flushed a dark pink, and her eyes glittered brighter. She wasn’t embarrassed, she was flat-out pissed. “You want to know why?” she fired at me.
“Rox,” Ursula growled.
“Yeah,” I said.
“You really want to know why?” she repeated.
“Yes,” I bit out.
Ursula stepped forward. “Rox?—”
Roxy’s hand shot up, silencing her sister. “No, he needs to hear this.” She pointed at me. “People underestimate me all the time, Lothar. They think I’m too soft, that I’m some goofy, ditzy idiot, that they can manipulate me?—”
“No, they don?—”
“Yes, they do, but at least your brothers don’t try to take advantage of it.”
My head jerked back. “You think I take advantage of you?”
She huffed out a humorless laugh. “I sought you out, Lothar, all the time, you know I did, to hang out, to have a drink, to just sit and gab, but you always, always brush me off…until you want something, then you put on the charm, that’s when I get the grins and the winks and the hugs. I’m sick of you treating me like a fucking moron. That a good enough reason for you?”
Had I done that? I planted my hands on my hips, my gut in fucking knots. Yeah, shit. I had. I avoided her because her scent fucked with me, but I knew she had a soft spot for me. My brothers said shit about it often enough. She was right, wasn’t she? I brushed her off, and I put on the charm when I wanted something from her, info or some other bullshit. “I’m sorry, Rox, if I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean to…”
She snorted. “You haven’t hurt my feelings. I’m just sick of playing the fool, and I’m not going to do it anymore.” She sat down and yanked Gus back, pressing his head to her chest and running her fingers through his dark blond hair.
“Rox—”
“I’m done talking about this,” she said. “I’ll take first shift. Everyone needs to get some sleep while they can.”
