Page 29 of Live Like Legends

He brought his hands up to settle at my waist. “Maybe a little.”

My lips met his in a kiss that felt hotter than when my hands created their own little fire. I broke the kiss to lean towards his ear. “How about you show me how proud you are, hmm?”

A small, strained,fuckleft his lips when I nipped his earlobe with my teeth.

The door opened and Natalia strolled back into the room, attracting everyone’s attention immediately. “We have a guest everyone.”

A girl with shiny dark hair that came in waves around her shoulders came through the doorway with a kind of confidence I knew well. She had a complexion that was a warm brown like mine and rectangular glasses that showcased the mass of freckles that decorated her nose. She was cute and if I wasn’t so enamored with my angel, I probably would have hit on her. She’d only just walked into the room, but I could tell she wasn’t an Enchanter, especially with the anxious look on Natalia’s face.

Natalia motioned towards the new girl. “Everyone this is?—”

Reese let out a strangled cough. “Oh fuck.”

“Morgan?” Nick pushed me up so that he could sit up and look over his shoulder.

Natalia pulled her eyebrows inward. “Uh, yes. This is Morgan, she is going to be around for all of our sessions from now on.”

Reese waved his hands in the air. “Wait, wait, you’re the babysitter? Ariel’s little spy.”

Natalia tucked one of her braids behind her ear. “It seems that Ariel didn’t want to intimidate us by sending a sentry to be on guard. I assume it’s just to make sure Dani is here doing what he said, no harm in it.”

“Intimidate us? Of course that’s how you would fucking phrase it.” Reese crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at Morgan. Clearly, he had some dislike for her that ran deeper than this moment.

Elise pushed past him. “Okay, who the fuck are you that gets Blondie so riled up?”

I felt Nick lift me off of him and head towards the others, placing his hand on my lower back so I could stand close to him.

When she spoke her voice came out like honey, but almost like honey that was too sweet to consume. “I’m not here to bother you Reese, I’m simply here to keep an eye on you all. Ariel thought that it made more sense since I’m a guardian. It’s kind of my job to watch over things.” She gave each of us her eyes, but those brown eyes of hers lingered too long on me, like she was sizing me up somehow. Her words were meant to be innocent and understanding, but they had a condescending tone that made me want to wring her neck.

“Did Ariel promise you a fucking promotion? We both know you aren’t doing this for the well-being of this realm,” Reese said, his tone accusatory..

I ruffled my curls, clearly confused. “I’m sorry, did you two used to date?”

“Or fuck?” Elise added. The sound of Beetee hissing at her friend from behind us would have made me laugh if I wasn’t on edge.

Morgan laughed, but it was laced with arrogance and something else I couldn’t place. “Oh, no to either of thosequestions, although, I’m sure he wishes.” Reese sneered at her, but she simply pushed her hair over her shoulder, every shiny piece falling down her back. “Should we suppress their confusion, Nicholas?”

Nick pressed his fingers into my back, like I was the only thing anchoring him in place. I looked up at him, but his eyes were narrowed at her. “I would really rather not.”

Elise circled around Nick’s back and over to me, whispering loud enough for everyone to hear, “oh, so Blondie isnotthe one she used to fuck.” I heard Nick’s sharp intake of breath and nearly bit my own tongue.

Morgan’s eyes went from Nick to Elise then onto me. She tilted her head to the side and scrunched up her nose in a way that told me she thought I was beneath her in some way. “Fucking makes things sound so impersonal, doesn’t it?”

Natalia scratched her temple clearly wondering how this had even happened, but not wanting to interfere. Beetee and Garrett were smart enough to stay on the sidelines, while everyone else watched as Morgan bit her lip and stared at Nick. He kept his hand at my back but wiped his other one over his mouth. “Fine. Um, Morgan is my ex-girlfriend.”

I didn’t feel jealous. That was for people who didn’t know how solid they were with someone else. Nick was mine and that was that. If I had to use my newfound powers to burn this girl from the inside out so she understood that, then so be it.

Natalia closed her eyes and looked as if she were mentally counting to five before she spoke again, “you two have had a previous relationship?”

Morgan shrugged as if it was obvious and batted her eyelashes over at Nick.

“Isn’t that like some kind of conflict of interest?” Elise asked, turning her nose up at the angel.

Morgan rolled her eyes. “Not at all. We are all professionals here, well…” She looked Elise up and down, her eyes widening a tiny bit as if what she saw shocked her, “maybe not all of us, but what can you do.”

I could hear the growl come from the back of Elise’s throat and if I was being honest, I wanted to unleash my own growl.

“We are doing just fine as you can see, so really, your presence isn’t needed. So can you go crawl back into whatever socially climbing angelic hole you came out of.” Reese pointed his finger at her.

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