Page 106 of The Cruelest Undead

When he disappeared, Flynn rolled his neck to release some of the tension.

Then, of course, Rinnon went there.

Women are difficult.

Pregnant women make it even worse, but she has a right to feel the way she does, like we had a right to take Mathew apart piece by piece.

He deserved it. I didn’t like what he smelled like. It was rotten souls and gym socks.

Flynn wasn’t going to ask.

He knew better.

Heading toward the house, he went in, and once inside, Jolie was talking to Percy. Jolie gave him the cold shoulder, and he’d carry that.

They knew this was a possibility at some point, and he’d suck it up.

Marriage was mostly about navigating what pissed off your partner, and not going there.

Well, they went there.

“Where is the injured detective?” he asked, giving Jolie some space to work through it.

“Upstairs in the first room. Seth is up there with him.”

He motioned toward Cerise and Tommy. Since they were going to play cop, and try to find those relics, they might as well have a meeting.

“I’ll see what Rinnon can do to help him,” he said. “Then, we’re going to have to work on this mess. Give me a few,” he said.

Percy simply nodded.

As they headed upstairs, Cerise was looking around, and on the walls were hundreds of pictures of the family.

“Are they real?” she asked.

Flynn looked confused.

“What?”

“The pictures. My mistress only had pictures of herself. The one I had of me and Tobias…that wasn’t allowed on the walls.”

That wasn’t surprising.

“Jolie is a different kind of mistress. They are legit pictures to remember. When you’re as old as she is, you sometimes want those mementos to hold onto that fleeting piece of your past.”

She said nothing more.

Upstairs, Flynn opened the door to the room, and they went in. There was a shirtless man in the bed, and he didn’t look good at all.

Oh, he was definitely infected with something.

“What happened?” Flynn asked Seth.

Not far away, Cerise was standing there, staring at the man. The look on her face was something he’d not seen from her before.

Lately, she was mourning.

Now, she looked…surprised.

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