Page 64 of TBR: Dead But Well Read

Which was adorable since I was already dead.

I might have lived if Saul had been there the night I died. But I wasn’t complaining. Death had given me the freedom to read to my heart’s content, and it had brought Rhodes, Saul, and Evander into my life… and Lochlan. I was still mad at him.

Saul flicked the lock, swung the door open, and strode out into the hall as if he owned the world.

To my undead horror, five reapers stood against the wall on either side of the hallway, their scythes touching and creating an arch above our heads. My hand had been resting on the small of Saul’s back, but as we exited the grim gauntlet, I twisted my shaking fingers into his shirt and clung to him.

“They’re watching us.” And by they, I mean every freaking patron of the bar had given up all pretenses of doing something and were staring directly at us.

If anyone ever complained about the walk of shame again, I was going to ask if they had to walk under instantaneous death blades held by stoney-faced reapers, all while a drunken crowd of random paranormals watched.

“Yeah, I just had sex. And it felt so right,” I whispered, humming the melody of a song I couldn’t even remember the lyrics for.

My lips had barely moved, so I didn’t think anyone could have heard me, but Saul made a noise that sounded like a cough and sneeze had a baby. And the last reaper on my right snickered. I shot a look at his face, but it was an emotionless mask again… until he winked.

It was good to know at least one reaper had a sense of humor.

Zacharias pushed his way through the crowd and headed straight toward Saul. “What have you done now? Drawing the attention of the court isn’t wise when you have so much to deal with already.” Little drops of spit flew from his mouth, showing just how close he was to losing his grip on the long-suffering friend persona he’d crafted.

I’d gathered enough from his chat with the giant warlock with crappy parents who’d stuck him with the nameTiny Tankto know Zacharias was trying to create something that could bond with energy. What he would do with that creation was loston me, although he’d mentioned planes several times, which had raised my suspicions.

Still, how could a device that sent energy into a plane cause issues? Saul was a powder keg of energy and he moved between the planes with ease, as did my collectors, and although I wasn’t supposed to, I somehow managed to as well.

I needed to think through all I’d heard, and research a few of the ingredients Tank had mentioned. But that wouldn’t happen as long as I was near Saul—or any of the guys. They were distracting as hex!

“Back up.” Saul’s voice was calm, too calm, and it sent a chill down my back.

Fire burned in Zacharias’ eyes, and he opened his mouth to say something, but wisely closed it. He took a half step back, not wanting to give into an order, but too afraid to ignore it.

“I’m looking forward to finding out what I’ve done.” Saul smiled at the ancient-looking reaper who stood behind Zacharias. “It’s been far too long since I disrupted their day.”

The fact that not a single reaper reacted to Saul’s taunting jab, and the ancient reaper only responded with a sigh, spoke volumes about who held the power in the room.

Zacharias dropped his tone and tried to convince Saul he needed to tuck his tail and be an obedient dog. Not in those words, but that was the gist. He was going to milk this opportunity for all it was worth, making sure the group of reapers saw he was a long-suffering friend who kept them all safe from the big bad wolf’s mood swings.

Needing to distract myself before I either vomited on him or bit him again, I let my gaze drift around the club. The place had been buzzing and unbearably loud just an hour ago, but now was as silent as a church, even though it was just as packed. Every patron was leaning in, as eager to hear every word as if this were their favorite telenovela.

Huh.Starring in a romance drama about my love life hadn’t been on my bucket list, but I would’ve devoured a book with a plot exactly like this.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, my eyes locked with a pair of familiar green ones.

Son of a witch!What was he doing here?

If I weren’t so rattled, and it wasn’t my life that had just taken a sharp turn off a tall cliff, I might’ve appreciated how juicy this moment was.

The entire club would eat it up if they figured out that I’d just been banged in the bathroom by the raven-haired reaper who’d broken a man’s arms for speaking to me… and also belonged to the pale-haired, fae-prince-looking collector who sat with his boots up on a table. And to make it worse, it had been less than twelve hours since Lochlan had warned me to run if I ever encountered Saul.

Lochlan’s eyes tracked every movement Saul made—every place on my body that he touched. Gone was his lighthearted, take-nothing-too-seriously attitude. It had been replaced by hard lines and a grim set to his jaw.

His eyes met mine again, and he mouthed the words,Are you okay?

I was still mad about him going on a date and rubbing it in my face by taking her to the cafe across from the library, but it felt nice to know he was worried about me.

Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I nodded. Lochlan’s eyes narrowed, scanning my face before turning his attention to Saul.

The lights above me hummed and flickered as I realized Lochlan didn’t believe me. He thought I was being held against my will. If he suspected what had happened in the bathroom, did he think I hadn’t been a willing participant? No wonder helooked like he was counting how many people he was going to kill.

I needed to talk to him and explain things, but Saul wasn’t going to let me walk around the club alone, especially with so many ticked off reapers lurking about. If I waved him over, it was going to stir the hornets’ nest even more.

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