“I hate all of you!” Loxley shouts as The Conjuring plays over Alana’s flat screen. The hide-and-clap scene just jump-scared my friend, and she cuddles impossibly close to me on the sofa as she hides her eyes.
“That was the worst part!” Alana reaches for Loxley’s hands, prying them away from her face. “I promise.”
“You said that two jump-scares ago!” Lox fusses, batting her hands away. My best friend nearly crawls out of her skin as she screams and bolts off the couch.
I side-eye Thalia, whose arm is stretched across the backrest and oddly close to where Lox was just sitting. She gives me a shit-eating grin as my friend huffs.
“That wasn’t funny,” Lox mumbles before plopping back down beside me.
“I thought it was hilarious,” the assassin smirks.
“Can we watch something other than horror movies?” My friend asks. “You’ve tortured me for half the day.”
Alana peeks out at the steadily setting sun, sighing. “Actually, it’s getting late and I have some work I’ve been putting off.”
“Kicking us out?” Thalia nudges the intel expert.
“Until tomorrow,” Alana rolls her eyes. “Then I know you’ll be right back on my doorstep.”
“You can’t get rid of me!” Thalia boasts as she rises from the sofa and stretches her long limbs out. “If you don’t open the door, I’ll use your bedroom window again.”
“Stop breaking into my house!” Alana bites before shoving a finger into the assassin’s chest. “You almost sawsomething you wouldn’t be able to unsee.”
Thalia only smiles like the deranged human she is. “You were both covered.Relax.”
I chuckle at their antics as I stand. Lox is right behind me, clinging to me as if the demons will crawl out of the TV. She’s never been good with horror movies, and I’m proud she stuck it out as long as she did.
“Do you want me to walk you home?” I ask my friend as I peek at her over my shoulder.
“I’m not walking in the dark by myself,” she frowns.
Oh, boy.
I get to return her to her husband with unresolved fear. Atlas is going to love this.
We tell everyone goodnight before heading out. Luckily for us, Rowan and Atlas’s houses are pretty close, and I already see the massive dark shadow standing on Loxley’s front porch.
“The warden is out,” I jab.
Loxley giggles at my joke. “He’s just protective.”
“And a pain in our asses,” I mutter as we get closer to her cottage.
“They made me watch scary movies!” Lox snitches to her bodyguard.
Atlas’s brows pinch. “Short Stack, you know you don’t handle that stuff well. You could have told them no.”
“No, she couldn’t!” I call back with a grin, then give my friend a tight hug and say bye.
Atlas slings an arm across her shoulder before throwing a wave at me and steering her into their home.
I sigh as I observe the sunset, a lightness making ease stretch over me. When I turn toward Rowan’s house, I’m surprised to see him standing in the doorway, waiting for me. His hip is propped against the door’s frame, and his arms are crossed over his chest as he watches me with a heated smile.
He looks good enough to eat. The t-shirt stretching over his chest only draws attention to the bulging muscles earned through hard labor. The tattoos on his skin add to the dangerthat seems to surround his being, and my mouth waters.
“Had fun?” He asks, his tone making a shiver wrack my spine.
“Mhm.”
