Kerri blinks at him a few times, then shifts her gaze to me, her eyes wide. “Faith, you weren’t kidding when you said the Unholy enjoy killing people.”
Jester holds up his hands in mock outrage. “Now, wait a minute. We’re not animals. We have rules. Women. Children. The innocent. They’re off-limits.”
“Rules,” Kerri repeats. “I see.”
Thankfully—or not, depending on how one looks at it—their debate gets cut short when Havoc barges into the room. “The fuck you run through Sanctum like your ass is on fire?”
“Hello, Havoc. Nice to see you again, too,” Kerri says, and wow, I’ve never, notever, seen my friend blush until right this moment.
Again, if the situation weren’t grave, I’d be dying over this. You know what? Screw the seriousness of things. Iamdying over this. We can’t do anything about Davenport tonight, so I’m going to revel in this moment, and currently, my female best friend is practically drooling over my male best friend.
And vice versa.
I love it.
What’s even better is how they’re both trying way too hard to hide their reactions.
But I know them both too well, and I see them.
Oh yeah, I see them.
“We need to talk.” Jester pulls Havoc aside, and after much grumbling, grunting, and growling—all coming from Havoc—Jester fills him in on what’s going on. He ends with, “So, who has the honor of telling management?”
“All you, my man,” Havoc says.
“Fine,” Jester concedes on an exaggerated sigh. Then to me, “Be right back, beautiful.”
He walks out, leaving Havoc, Kerri, and me in awkward silence. Although I want to crawl under the floorboards to get away from the weirdness of the situation, I wouldn’t miss these two together for all the money in the world.
Havoc takes a long swig of the bottle of Sam Adams he’s holding in a death grip before jutting his chin at Kerri. “You’re not leaving Mayhem until this is sorted.”
Kerri’s nostrils flare, and her spine stiffens. My friend does not take orders well. But she’s also not stupid. “Thank you for your concern.”
Havoc trails his gaze over her, and I can almost feel the heat of it. “You’re fucking welcome.”
Kerri drags her gaze from Havoc and directs her icy glare at me. “Is he this rude toward everyone, or just me?”
I cringe under the weight of both of their stares. “No, he’s always rude.”
But he’s laying it on thick with her—probably to hide his attraction, because the sexual tension between them is a living entity. It grows large enough to take up all the room until I become nothing more than an intrusion.
“I don’t like people,” he tells her.
“Obviously,” she drawls.
To give myself something to do, I hop up and try to make the bed look like Jester and I didn’t have sex all over it. “But he likes us.”
Kerri shoots to her feet, too. Havoc watches her every move, his dark eyes following her when she walks across the room. “This is him being friendly?”
“Yes,” he grinds out between clenched teeth. “If I didn’t like you, you wouldn’t be inside Sanctum.”
Kerri, bless her, looks him dead in the eyes and gives him a chilling smile. “Well, don’t I feel all warm and fuzzy.”
Havoc takes a step toward her, but I step in front of him. “Hungry?” I ask Kerri. “They made enough food to feed all of Pennsylvania.”
“I’ll get her a plate,” Havoc grumbles.
“Thank you, but I can fix my own plate,” Kerri counters.
