That makes me pause. Even if Wes has amnesia, he’s never been someone who’d make reports to the authorities. He has a long standing hatred of everything WMO-related.
I glance at Dono who looks equally confused; he puts an arm around Wes’s shoulders. “Actually, the girl is someone you love. Someone we both love.”
A sneer tugs at Wes's lip. “Her? That scrawny bitch? Hardly.”
Again—weird. I’d definitely use derogatory descriptions for women, but that’s not a Hart-twin way of talking.
“Brother,” Dono says to Wes, “do you trust me?”
“Of course,” Wes nods.
“Then listen to my words. You don’t remember the last year, but a lot has happened. The girl and man who helped us are your friends,” Donovan says. “And now we’re just arriving back at Validus Vale after a year away.”
“And we’re telling people you’ve been partying around the world,” I add, looking at the confusion on Wes’s face.
“I-I..if you say so,” Wes nods eventually, none of the bewilderment lifting.
“Ooh, we can say he had a mega-acid trip and it’s fried his memory,” Max suggests.
That isn’t a bad idea.
“Come on, we need to move. We’ll figure this out later. By the way, do we trust Feniks? I don’t like him having a hold over us.”
Max instantly bristles. “My cousin is solid, man,” he replies, curling his fists.
“If Tee-Tee likes him, so do I,” Dono adds.
“I don’t know either of them,” Wes says to me, ignoring his brother, “so I willnotgive them any trust. This is all fucking with my head, but especially that girl. My gut says she’s wrong and I don’t want to be anywhere near her.”
A year ago that would have been music to my ears. “That’s fine, Wes, you don’t need to hang out with her. I don’t like her either.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he mutters. “I thought I was the only sane one. All this bullshit about portals and realms. Did we really go traveling? I guess my brainisfried. You said it was LSD?”
“Er, sure.” I have no idea what the fuck to do with this situation, but letting Wes believe the cover story seems to solve the immediate problem. “And I met up with you in Europe when I was in Amsterdam.”
“What were you doing there?”
Fuck my life. “Buying a diamond for a ring.”
We are still trudging through the thick forest understory, and Wes slows down. “A diamond ring? What? You getting married or something?”
Not if I can help it.
“My father has commanded me to get engaged to Jordan Singleton-Smith.”
Wes is silent for a moment then shrugs. “She’s got great tits and it’s a powerful family. Could be worse.”
Yeah, my boy is definitely not himself.
“This is taking forever,” Max grumbles. “Maybe I should just shift.”
“Shift?” Wes questions.
Before any of us can debate the wisdom, Max starts grunting and throwing his body around. “FUCK!”
“Problem?”
“Can’t do it. I can feel my hellhound deep inside, but he won’t come out to play, or can’t.”
