The three of us smoke and banter about Fates knows what until suddenly Seiji stands and almost trips trying to yank his pants down.
“Dude! This is not a bathroom. What are you doing?” I cover both mine and Harvey’s eyes as he strips, leaving him in just his boxers.
I think I jinxed myself.
“We’re diving!” Seiji whoops, throwing his clothes at my face before jogging back to prep for a run-up.
The world spins as I try to stand. “You’ll die, you fool! And if you’re dead, who’s going to feed us?” I try reasoning with the half-naked menace.
“Seriously, Anxo? You don’t want me to live my life because you need my finger-licking recipes? Why don’t you love me?!”
“No, of course I love you. You’re my best friend—”
“Anxo. My brother. I love you, too… but I’m jumping.” Seiji grips my shoulders and tries to shake me, but we’re too stoned for our muscles to follow basic instructions.
Remind me to ask Seiji where he got this batch. It’s really strong.
“Me too!” Harvey yells. I turn and yep, he’s nearly naked too, like just the other peabrain.
Am I the only one with functioning brain cells?
I drop Seiji and sprint toward Harvey, who’s seconds away from jumping. I barely catch the idiot before he launches himself.
I’mwaytoo high to be babysitting these morons.
“Anxo, it’s okay to be afraid. We all have fears.” Seiji wraps me in a half-hug from behind and pats my head like I’m a kid. “It’s okay to be a scared little puppy.”
Maybe I should let him jump.
“I’m not scared, you airhead. Nevaeh will kill me if I die. I promised her I wouldn’t let you rope me into anything life-threatening—which, in hindsight, would’ve been more helpful if I’d remembered that twenty minutes ago.” I drone on while dragging the two fools away from the edge of the cliff.
The thought of Nevaeh spreads through me like wildfire. I know it won’t settle until I feel her soothing touch again.My sweetheart.
The brown-eyed beauty who has me hopelessly wrapped around her pinky. She’s the reason I’m living instead of just going through the motions of life. She is the love of my life.
She’s the rarest sight. The most seductive view. She’s like acomet that comes around once in a lifetime, and I’ll be damned if I don’t sit back and watch her shine.
Lately, she’s been training harder than ever to wrest back control from her Divine. No matter what stunt it pulls, my mateneverbacks down. Watching her fight her own essence even when it hurts makes it impossible to keep my eyes or hands off her.
It makes something else hard too, and when I—
“What I’m hearing is you’re pussy whipped, and I can take your throne when you die.” Seiji stumbles around.
“What throne?”I never agreed to that… right?
“Harvey, tell him we need to jump. It’s fun. Stop being a grandpa, Anxo!” Seiji whines, leaning his head on Harvey’s shoulder and admiring his oh-so-strong muscles.
What’s going on again?
“Sorry, buddy. Dad’s right. Grace would be upset if I got hurt.” Harvey finally takes my side.
“Whipped bitches! Announce your defeat, King Anxo!” Seiji cries, grabbing a soda can from the ground and pretending it’s a sword. “Charge ahead!”
Suddenly, I’m under attack—breadsticks and soda bottles wielded like weapons. I duck and dodge, but it’s not easy when the ground won’t stay still.
Harvey, on the other hand, is laughing his ass off and rolling in the dirt.
After an hour of running around and demolishing the rest of the snacks, we somehow made it back to the Horsemen castle.
