Page 4 of Liberating Water

Lailah

Sleepingwith two extremely cuddly men was wonderful, but when you woke up and needed to pee like a racehorse, it had its challenges. Brayden had my legs trapped between his, and Micah was sleeping with his head right on my bladder. The more I tried to move, the tighter they held on. I let out a loud groan of frustration that apparently had been loud enough to hear in the living room, because the bedroom door opened and Parker’s grinning face appeared.

“Trouble, you are in a bit of a pickle, aren’t you?” Parker teased as he sauntered into the room shirtless, sweatpants low on his hips. I would have appreciated the sight of him more if I didn’t have more pressing issues.

“It would be rather lovely if you could help me get out of this mess,” I begged, waving a hand at my situation. “I have to pee so bad.”

“What do I get out of it?” Parker asked, crossing his arms at the end of the bed.

I growled as Micah shifted and nuzzled into my bladder. “Whatever you want! Please, I’m going to pee my pants!”

Parker gave me a wide, toothy grin. “Alright, Trouble. I’ll get you free, but you owe me, and you have to do whatever I ask in return.”

“Fine, fine, I agree. Now help me!” I said, nodding my head as sweat started to break out on my forehead.

“Be right back,” Parker said, heading back out into the living room. A minute later he came back with the ice bucket in hand.

“No! No, Parker! Don’t do that! If you do that, even I can’t protect you,” I hissed, but it was too late.

Parker upended the bucket full of slushy ice water all over Micah’s back, causing him to bolt upright, gasping.

“Holy fucking shit!” Micah bellowed.

Hearing Parker snickering, Micah flew off the bed, blessed sword in hand, and lunged for Parker. Being smarter than I gave him credit for, Parker bolted out the door, closing it behind him to slow Micah down. Unable to hang on any longer, I scrambled out of the cold, wet bed and dashed for the bathroom.

“What the hell is going on?” I heard a gravelly Brayden call from the bed.

I smothered my laughter as I relieved myself, waiting to hear the telltale signs that Micah caught up to Parker. When I still didn’t hear anything after walking back into the bedroom and finding it empty, I headed to the living room. I paused, seeing a shivering Parker on the small balcony in only his boxers, pounding on the glass door. Micah stood near it with a smirk on his lips, his arms crossed.

The door to the room opened, and Hudson walked in and also took a moment to assess what he was seeing. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not, but I’m just glad they aren’t actively trying to kill each other,” I said, walking over to Hudson. “How’s your dad doing?”

Hudson shrugged. “As well as can be expected. He left before the sun was up with an action plan in place.”

“Can we help? I know it’s your parents’ company, but surely there is something the Elementi can do to assist,” I said, grabbing Hudson’s hand and twining our fingers together.

Hudson gave my hand a squeeze, and a soft smile appeared on his lips. “Actually, I said the same thing. My mother and her people have open access to his office and lab, so both staffs will need to be looked into. I believe it would be best to have an outside group handle the situation, especially since we know the demons are a part of it.”

“So does that mean we are going to your house for Christmas?” I asked with a grin.

I knew we had an opportunity to stay here and to celebrate with Brayden’s family, but I felt like so much had happened, it might be better if we didn’t. Besides, who wouldn’t want to travel more of the world if you had free transportation and a place to stay?

“Yes, it seems that’s the way things are turning out. I will have to call my mother to give her a heads up, but I know we have more than enough room in the villa for us all to fit,” Hudson said.

“Where exactly does your mother live?” I asked, realizing I didn’t even know.

“Nice, right on the coast of France.”

I let out a shriek of happiness that seemed to get everyone’s attention, causing Jay to come out of the back bedroom. The rest just gawked.

“Micah, let Parker back in before he freezes to death. We need to get back to the house so we can pack. We are going to FRANCE!” I crowed as I did a happy dance.

I heard the sliding glass door open and was promptly scooped up by a frigid Parker, who rolled me up with him in the comforter on the bed.

“Oh my god, I think I might have literally frozen my balls off. They are so far up inside me I’m surprised I’m not talking like a girl,” Parker said, shivering around me.

“We don’t have time for this! We need to get going, we have important things to do,” I grumbled, squirming around in the blanket.