“Why not?” She chuckled. “Hellgrammite already got away with rioting the blood centers without consequence.”
My jaw slacked, dumbfounded. This hate group was behind the attacks on the blood centers? How the hell had they been operating underneath everyone’s noses?
“That was you?”
“We have multiple endeavors, Wallace.” She snickered, tapping the end of her gun against her chin. “This one with the petrylle is just a hell of a lot more personal to me.”
“Well consider this one officially finished.” I made sure to inject every ounce of bite and bile I had toward this friend turned stranger as Wrex broke free of his restraints in one swoop as he activated his luster, a shiny see-through skin of impenetrable hardness glossing over his grey skin. Stacy wasn’t too keen on being one-upped. Instead of aiming the gun at Wrex, she snarled and pointed the gun at me.
Realizing that he wasn’t her target, Wrex screamed in anguish as she pulled the trigger while he leapt to protect me.
I winced, waiting for the bullet to beat Wrex and pierce the skin around my heart, but it didn’t come. Instead, I watched bewildered as the bullet Stacy fired bounced off of Wrex’s luster, deflecting back to her and puncturing her stomach in a sick squelch that echoed throughout the room.
Chapter 25
The aftermathof what happened at the warehouse was a fiasco, especially when it came to the paperwork. Luckily, no one had died from the crazy circumstances. Even Stacy, or Aspen Rhodes, had managed to survive the gunshot wound to the stomach and was recovering in the hospital under police surveillance, ready to take her to prison after the doctors deemed her well enough to recover in a cell.
I was just glad that we were able to stop the petrylle from becoming genetic guinea pigs all for the sake of revitalizing Archibald Rhodes. The scientists had revealed that they’d intended to inject the bone marrow from the petrylle into the senator. They’d then been subsequently arrested so their level of commitment to the plot conjured by Aspen Rhodes could be evaluated. Maxim was also in custody, even though I had a feeling he wouldn’t be there long. I had made sure to mention that he was helping her because Stacy had threatened his parents. And while his actions had been dumb in helping his bigoted girlfriend, he didn’t deserve to rot because of those choices.
Hudson had a few cuts and bruises from the interaction, but he was otherwise in perfect shape. He’d told me afterward that he’d “taken a beating or two before” and that this was nothing that was going to set him back. I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, only that I was recommitted to staying on Hudson Rowe’s good side by all means necessary.
I’d gone over everything with my boss immediately after police had swarmed the warehouse and saved everyone, including all of the kidnapped petrylle. Apparently, word was traveling fast about the petrylle being recovered and I was getting all the credit for it on social media, much to my boss’ delight. I told her that she needed to make sure the world knew that Hudson and the rest of the ORBIT board were the only reason any of it was possible in the first place, and I wasn’t the hero. They were.
Already living through one hell of night, I made my way out of my boss’ office after debriefing her on all I’d learned about the Rhodes family around midnight, heading home for a very, very long sleep.
By the time I’d gotten home, I’d almost passed out on the couch and decided that was good enough. But the comfort of my king-sized bed lured me to the bedroom, and I was safe and snoring under its sheets before I could even fathom the day I’d had.
Morning came all too soon, and I’d never been happier that it was Saturday than I was when I woke up around eleven that morning. No work to keep me busy, my boss telling me to rest up for an official report on Monday morning addressing the kerfuffle on live television, which gave me the weekend to write up a speech to deliver. But that was going to be Sunday Wallace’s problem. Saturday Wallace was all about relaxing and staying in bed as much as possible.
After wiping the sleep from my eyes, I hesitated about whether or not I should text or call Wrex. I wanted to see him, badly, after he’d dived in front of a bullet for me. But there was nothing I could think of that warranted the big enough praise he deserved for it. So I hesitated for a full hour before I was able to shoot him a text.
I was wondering if you’d be up for a visit?
My heart quickened. Would Wrex feel the same way that I did now after the excursion at the warehouse? While I wasn’t sure that I was ready for a full-on relationship at the moment, seeing Wrex in direct peril had shown me that he was definitely more than just a hot fuck to me. He was so much more than that, and he could potentially be even more in the future.
I didn’t want to scare him. I loved the fun and flirty vibes we’d been having before the kidnappings had wedged hardship between us. There was the very real possibility that he’d realized that living that frivolously was all the more important and that he’d want to keep things even more casual, as in only sharing one night with guys he intended to bed. But I held out hope that we could at least talk it out.
The warehouse had complicated things between us. Now, it felt like there was no chance in hell that we could go back to the lightheartedness we’d been so enjoying. It just felt kind of impossible right now and that’s why I wanted to see where Wrex’s head was at. If it was over, I needed to hear it from him.
A message pinged back, so wrapped up in my thoughts about potential rejection that I hadn’t been paying enough attention.
As long as it involves being in your bed and moving as little as necessary.
Oh well that’s a given. I could order us some pizza and we can enjoy it in bed and talk?
Sounds perfect. I can be there in an hour if that works?
Absolutely. See you then
Clutching my phone to my bare chest, a beaming smile unfolded across my face. Maybe things weren’t so complicated between me and my favorite petrylle after all.
A series of knocks decorated my condo’s door an hour later, and it was the second time I’d gotten up out of bed for the day. The first being when I had answered the door for the pizza delivery just five minutes before Wrex’s arrival. The pizza delivery guy got the Wallace special for free because I hadn’t felt like covering up, answering the door in just my underwear and thanking him for the pizza.
I walked past the two pizza boxes on the kitchen island as I made my way to the front door. I greeted Wrex with the same smile I’d given the pizza delivery guy, only this time there was a growing tent forming in my underwear now as I took in the sight of my favorite petrylle. Wrex was wearing a pale yellow crop top and khaki pants. There was something so deliciously slutty about a man in a crop top. Just the sight of him made my dick twitch expectantly in my underwear.
Wrex smirked as he looked down at my crotch before meeting my eyes again. “Happy to see me, I see.”
“Always,” I chuckled, leaning forward to kiss him. He hesitated for a second, but then returned the quick peck with intent. I mentally notated that, realizing that talking was definitely in order if he was hesitating to kiss me already.
