Page 35 of The Blood Widow

Brian was still sleeping, so I cracked the door.

Cole was practically breathing down my neck. “I wasn’t asking.”

Turning to face him with a glare was a mistake. He was too close and smelled too good. All the annoyance seeped out of me even before it could settle in. Especially with the worried glint in his eyes. He ran his hands through his dark red hair.

“Look, I know I just got injured and?—”

“That’s enough reason for me,” he cut me off.

That earned him a glare. “I don’t need help. I’m?—”

“I know you can handle yourself, but you’re also not feeding well and are restricting your demon.” He closed the spacebetween us. “Even if Dominic helped you yesterday, it’s not enough.”

I sucked in a surprised gasp. My eyes narrowed at Dominic. He was leaning against the wall in the living room watching us.

He put his hand up. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell him. You’re the one that didn’t wash my scent off of you. He knew one his own.”

Cole tugged on a strand of my hair. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. I’m just glad you were taken care of.”

That surprised me, Cole tended to be a jealous person. Before, when we were lovers, I’d find him scowling at other men that got close or looked too long at me. I liked it then. Most men annoyed me or put me on edge, so he was the perfect person to go out with. That was why he needed to stay away. I liked everything he did too much.

Couldn’t he see how difficult it was to have him around? Probably, which was why he pushed so hard, hoping that I’d cave. Little did he know, caving meant his death.

Instead of arguing more and wasting time, I just sighed and called on my magic. “I should make you get your own ride to my place.”

That made Dominic laugh and saunter over to us. Ezra was chatting with Lauren in a hushed argument that I tried not to notice. Lover’s quarrel? Ugh, it was none of my business.

“Be safe guys,” Dominic said as he put a hand on Cole’s shoulder.

Cole answered as my focus was on calling my magic. “We’ll be careful. Safes get broken into.”

Shoving him playfully, Dominic shook his head. “Corny dad jokes are my thing, don’t piggyback.”

I chuckled. I couldn’t help myself, why did I have to like these guys so much? “Let’s go.” My portal appeared halfway on the door, so I had to climb in.

“Well, I hate that you’re going, but I do love watching you leave.”

I snorted at Dominic and flipped him off. Of course, he did, my ass was in the air, and in this body, I had tons of it.

Crawling through to the other side, which was onto the floor of my room, a sick form of worry overtook me. What if they didn’t like the real me? What if they only liked this soft version? I scoffed at myself. They knew what I looked like. Besides, I needed to stop thinking like I had a chance with them. It didn’t matter what they liked.

I got up off the floor, brushed myself off, and stopped dead in my tracks at the scene happening in my room.

Beaut was already back, storming around. She ordered around an army of Brownies, yelling at them to ‘put their backs into it.’ They didn’t seem to mind. It just made them move faster putting in new flooring and bedding.

“Um, what’s going on here?” I asked Beaut as she chastised a purple-haired guy. He had no shirt and even with his small body, I noticed the swagger of a man showing off. He either knew Beaut found him sexy, or he thought all women found him sexy.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Cole whispered from behind me. I closed my portal now that he was through.

Beaut waved us off like we were intruding in her home uninvited. “These toe lickers are my harem.” Her words caught me off guard. I glanced down at her.

“All twelve?” I asked with wide eyes. That was a lot of men.

“Yep.” She shrugged. “What can I say, poop face, I’m irresistible.”

She brushed off her fancy black silk dress. Even her green dress shoes were fancier than anything I’d ever seen her in. I wondered what the special occasion was, but I didn’t have time to ask. The Blood Widow’s letters weren’t always urgent, but I didn’t want to take that chance.

I shook my head all the way to my window. One of my favorite things that Bell had made me was a pair of message stones. They were fist-sized, in a rose quartz. If something small touched the stone, it got sent to its twin. Nifty thing to have, too bad they were a pain in the ass to make or more people would have them.

---