I head to the bathroom and splash water on my face. Honestly, I want to hide in here for a bit, but I can’t when they’re out there and El could return.
I climb back in bed but as soon as either of them try to talk to me, I pretend to be asleep. They both know I’m not, but they give me space and let me pretend. And being able to pretend while wrapped up in Asmodeus’s arms calms me down.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
DEUS
Ellison is sitting ramrod straight in front of the TV. We were watching a movie, but that long since ended and some obnoxious children’s show came on right after. He’s staring at it, but I’m confident that he’s seeing nothing on the TV.
Nolan and Lex are sitting on the couch while Nolan reads and Lex plays on his phone. After we spent a large part of the morning working on Nolan controlling Aspen, we decided to watch a movie to give Nolan and Ellison a break.
“No wonder he can put up with you if he can put up with this TV show,” Landon says to me.
My eyes slowly shift to his. “I don’t want to hurt you, my friend, but I will.”
Landon gasps. “I will have my boyfriend beat you up! You hear me? I will have him…” And then he does some strange karate chop thing that I catch before using his feeble momentum to swing him around and lock his arms behind his back.
“You… little… shit,” he hollers, trying to escape my hold. When he discovers he can’t, I see an empty cardboard box flyingtoward my head. I pretend I don’t notice it, and then at the last possible second, I slide him right in front of it. It smashes into his chest as his head slowly turns around to look at me.
“You… youmonster. August, assassinate the monster!”
“Hon, I don’t think it’s a good idea to assassinate your friends,” August says as he examines his lucky doll for an empty space to put a pin. The pin is poised but there appears to be a lack of available spaces, which he seems to be disappointed by.
“Would you like me to make you another?” I ask. “I must first sacrifice the detestable attitude of this underling. Better yet, he will supply the hair for it.”
I snatch up a pair of scissors, which makes Landon look at me in horror. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
“Do you not want August to have a beautiful doll of you?” I ask.
“But… my beautiful hair.”
“It’ll grow back, but what won’t grow back if you refuse August this doll is the hole in his precious heart.”
“It’s… I think I’d rather Landon keep his hair,” August says.
“I will do it for my one true love. Make me bald,” Landon declares as he bows his head. I grab a big lock and slide my scissors around it, but before I can cut down, Ellison jerks back.
“Aspen’s noticed him there,” he says.
I drop my hold on Landon’s hair, deciding I’ll sacrifice it for a greater good on the morrow, slip the scissors in my pocket (in case I find time to cut his hair later), and cram my feet into my shoes.
“What do you mean?” Lex asks.
“I mean that he’s planning on attacking my father,” Ellison says.
“So like… where do you guys want to go for lunch?” I ask.
Ellison slowly looks over at me. “I understand that you hate my father… I do too. But I can’t let El kill him. If I do, we’llbe feeding the fanatics who think that supers are monsters. I’m just going to go… get my father out of the situation until we can figure out a way to get rid of El.”
“Fine, fine, fine,” I say, preparing to follow him.
“No, you guys are staying here. Nolan and I will go alone. He’s going to control El and I’m going to get my father out,” Ellison decides. “Nolan, make sure you grab a mask so no one can identify you.”
“I sure as fuck am not staying here. I understand if you don’t want these other peasants to join our journey, but I’m in it until death do us part.”
“Did you two get married and not invite us or something?” Landon asks. “Because I really wanted to crash your wedding.”
“I don’t even know if we’re dating. I think we are, but he’s never actually asked,” Ellison says.
