Page 239 of Mayhem and Minnie

Realizing her intent, I go to one of the guests and pat his pockets, finding a lighter.

She gives me a knowing smile.

Flicking the lighter on, I throw it toward the car.

The explosion is immediate.

“They’ll think reckless driving caused the fire. Your brother and his fiancée died as a result of it and his body could not be recovered,” Minnie adds.

Unable to help myself, I grab the hand currently on my arm and pull her to me.

It’s cold but damn hot, too.

Her eyes widen and she looks at me in surprise.

The mask around her face recedes, the ice seemingly melting in her face.

Her hair, too, becomes shorter while her eyes return to their original dark color.

She swallows hard.

“You were amazing,” I murmur as I press a kiss on the tip of her nose.

She sighs and leans into my touch, letting herself react.

Her armor melts into her skin, too, until she’s almost naked in my arms. The scraps of clothes barely cover anything, so I take off my blazer and cover her with it.

Sweeping her in my arms, I head toward my car. She must be exhausted after defeating that demon.

Once more—hot.

Perhaps I should feel sorry for my brother’s death, but at this point, I can’t seem to muster feelings toward any other person.

“Marlowe?” Minnie whispers, her face buried in the crook of my neck.

“Huh?”

“I used my full powers.” She pauses, then gulps down. “I need to run away… Again…”

I open the car door and place her on the seat. Kneeling in front of her, I lay a kiss on one knee. Then the other.

Then I simply place my head on her lap for a few moments.

“No. We need to run away. Where you’re going, I’m going, Minnie.”

32

Running away with a wanted goddess might not have been on my bingo card for the new year, but I can’t complain. I get to keep Minnie all to myself, and that in itself is a win.

I leave a voice message to Giles to take care of my mother and then I direct my focus to the most important part.

The actual running away.

Since we’ll be leaving together, we need to find those plants Minnie mentioned that will allow me to go to other worlds. That means we must first find a witch who has those plants—though seeing how my last meeting with a witch went, I don’t think they’ll easily hand over the plants.

Alas, we’ll just have to apply a little force.

“And this is…” Minnie blinks as she assesses our new vehicle.

---