Page 26 of Tangled in Knots

“She smells good,” I mutter. In a way, it reminds me that she’s still here. Demon didn’t kill her when he tripped and accidentally shot her. Fuck, the way my black heart stopped.

I honestly don’t think it’s completely restarted. It feels… odd. Almost as if I give a shit.

“Stop being creepy. Food will be ready in a few hours. Do you want to see if I can scrounge up deli meat for a sandwich? I haven’t fully investigated what’s available yet.”

“Is any of it still good with Morris’ sister being gone?” I ask. I’m killing time before Jed decides to hit me with information I’m not ready to hear.

“They had housekeepers come in to clean. There’s a lot of shit in the freezer, let me look,” Jed mutters, opening it. After a few seconds, he pulls out bread, cheese, and deli meat. “It won’t be fancy, but it’ll be something.”

Nodding, I watch as he opens and defrosts the food. Either Zela or the housekeeper froze it individually, so that they could be used and nothing spoiled. It feels like something a mother would do. Not that I know, Jed and I practically raised ourselves.

“Now, mind telling me why you’re acting more unhinged than usual?” Jed asks as I gaze at him with dead eyes.

Bleeding our gaze of all warmth is a talent we all have. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any effect on him.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I mutter. “Can we keep her?”

“She’s not a pet,” Jed growls.

“No, she’s a person, and you’re planning on dropping her at the auction house to be sold as if she’s not,” I say mildly, boxing him in using his own logic. “Where did Morris go?”

Maybe he’ll trip himself up at some point if I continue to serve him up questions like a tennis match. Not that I watch that shit, but that’s what this reminds me of.

“He’s taking a nap upstairs,” Jed murmurs, unfazed. “We need him for the drive when we are ready to get out of here, so he needs the rest. I’ll ask again, where is our brother?”

The bread Jed put in the toaster pops up, and he pulls mayonnaise out of the fridge, making sure to check the expiration date. Nodding, he retrieves the bread, putting it onto a plate, and constructs a quick sandwich. Even without lettuce and tomato, it’ll taste delicious, because it’s the first thing I’m eating in days.

We were woefully unprepared for a heat. Demon and I still don’t know what to do with the little rabbit, and now he’s bonded to her. Fuck, a little green-eyed monster perks up within me, taunting me, reminding me that she’s not truly mine.

Shut up.I often fight with myself. There’s nothing to see here. I won’t be jealous of my baby brother. There are too few things that are truly his in this world, thanks to our father and this life.

“He left the living room shortly after I came to sit with the little rabbit,” I tell him. “What are you hiding from us? You could have taken a call with our father in the kitchen.”

“I needed to collect my thoughts,” he says, walking over to give me my sandwich.

“Thank you,” I murmur, taking a big bite and moaning happily.

“Please don’t come in your pants again,” Jed says, lips twitching in amusement as he moves back to the kitchen and begins to clean up. He seems unmoved by my pestering questions, and it’s annoying.

I need to get under his skin.

“That was one time,” I complain, covering my mouth as I chew. “Okay, maybe more than that.”

Jed barks out a laugh, and I notice that he didn’t make himself a sandwich.

“You’re not eating?” I ask after I swallow.

“Nah,” he says. “I see a few protein bars. I’ll eat one of those and wait for the pulled pork to be ready. There’s a timer set to tell me when it’s done. I also found frozen hamburger buns. We’re going to be here for a while, so I need to do a full inventory later. The snow is still coming down pretty hard.”

Watching him as he finds the protein bar in the pantry and rips it open, I get the feeling that he’s filling his pie hole to keepfrom telling me anything. Eyes slitting, I push again as we both eat.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I remind him. “I’m waiting.”

“You can keep waiting,” Jed says with a shrug. Insufferable prick. “Dad wants the omega at the auction house, so that’s what’s happening. We’ll get her upright and a bit more healed, head down to the second safe house closer to Minnesota, and dump her ass on Ophelia’s doorstep, because that’s what we’re being told to do. It's really that simple.”

Jed inhales his bar in two bites, while I eat at a more leisurely pace. I don’t plan to save him if he chokes. I’ll let him struggle for a while until he gets someone else’s attention. Besides, it’s just a protein bar. He’ll live. Being related to me can be bad for their health sometimes.

I enjoy pushing the envelope of their sanity.

---