“Stratos—” he said.
“He thinks he knows everything.”
“That’s because he often does.” Wiz was Sheldon, Doctor Strange, and Sherlock Holmes all wrapped together in one handsome, arrogant package.
“I know that!” Stratos said. “Still, that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him get away with acting like he’s all that.”
“Even when he is?”
Stratos growled low and deep in her chest. “Just shut up and drive. We’ll pick him up soon enough. See if you can stand him.”
She slumped back into her seat, but Laddin was watching her reflection in the rearview mirror. Her body was tired and her expression bleak. She was not the firecracker of a woman he knew, the one who had once ruled theWOWgaming circuit as much for her attitude as her skills. “How long have you been in this zone?”
“Since well before you got here.” She looked at Bruce. “You going to solve all our problems?”
Bruce flashed a cocky grin. “Absolutely not. You’ve got way too many issues for me to fix.”
“Great,” Stratos muttered. “Another guy who thinks he’s funny.”
They were both fronting. Laddin could tell Bruce was acting cocky to cover up how shaken he was by the L-word discussion. Stratos was doing much the same, resorting to her angry persona rather than admit she was afraid. They all were.
That left him to infuse some sunshine and light into the discussion or watch his teammates self-destruct.
“What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?”
His teammates stared at him like he’d lost his mind.
“Nacho cheese.” Only he pronounced itnot yo’ cheese.
Dead silence. Then Bruce twisted in his seat. “Did you seriously just make a bad cheese joke?”
He shrugged. “Tough crowd.”
“Don’t you mean, tough cheese?”
Now it was Laddin’s turn to stare. “What?”
“Tough cheese. You know, like tough nugget. Or tough love. Or, I don’t know, tough noogies. Don’t they say that in LA?”
“Never. But then, we don’t have murderous cheese like you do in the Midwest.”
Stratos lost her temper. “Have you both lost your minds? You’re supposed to be looking for the world-ending demon! And the expression istough nut to crack!”
Bruce and Laddin looked at each other, then shook their heads. “No, it’s cheese,” Laddin said.
“Definitely cheese. That’s way more dangerous than nuts. Especially in Wisconsin.”
She gaped at them, and they grinned back. Laddin would have held the pose longer, but they were approaching the second checkpoint. As he pulled the car to a stop, he heard her grumble, “Crazy. The world’s fate is in the hands of crazy people.” But there was a lightness in her tone that hadn’t been there before, and when he glanced back through the rearview mirror, her lips were curved in a slight smile. A very slight one, but it was something.
It disappeared the second Wiz jumped into the car as they crossed through the gate.
“You were supposed to meet us at the third checkpoint,” she snapped.
“Change of plans. Park wherever you can. We’re getting out here.”
“What? Why?”
He turned dark eyes toward her, but his voice filled the car. “Because something strange is going on, and it starts before the third checkpoint. Don’t ask me what it is. I’m still thinking, but my guess is it’s some sort of fairy shit. Nothing else can confuse my brain like the damned fae.”
