Page 27 of Coerced

“Don’t. Please? I handled it. Like I said, I don’t think he’ll be a problem for me or Gigi.”

“His name.”

“Really, Goofy, he didn’t do anything tome. Gigi has more to complain about than I do—”

“Jax’ll take care of that, then.” His muscles relaxed again, which allowedmeto relax. “I’m glad you stood up for yourself and Gigi, and I know you can take care of yourself in a physical fight. We’ve sparred together enough in the dojo to convince me of that, although I don’t like how you think the fight’s over just because your opponent’s down.”

“I—”

“We warriors are hardwired to protect, you know, and I wanna protectyoumost of all. I won’t smother you or try to hold you back or down, but your safety is my top priority. And not only physically. Your mental and emotional wellbeing are just as important to me.”

I tilted my head back and gazed up at him with wonder.

“How did I get so lucky to find you?” The words came out in a husky rasp. “If my bus hadn’t broken down on the way back from a school trip, I never would have been walking down that street after midnight. It was a one in a million chance. It had to be Divine intervention.”

“Nah, I don’t think so, angel. Nothing Divine would intervene for a possessed neph.”

He was dead serious, and I had to swallow a giggle.

He’s so darn literal sometimes!

“Here you two are again, all snuggly buggly and blocking the sidewalk.” Jax suddenly appeared next to us.

Kerry narrowed his eyes at him.

“Did you look me and Gemma up on that friend tracker app and come here so you could mess with us?”

“No, I did not,” Jax declared, throwing both hands into the air. “Well, the mess with you part, yes, but I didn’t need the app to find you.”

“Did you make Gigi ’port you here?”

“No, I did not. I walked. I just dropped her off at work and was headed over to your place to see if you wanted to hang out.”

“Work?!” I screeched. “I’m late! Sorry, I need to go!”

I took off at a run, but stopped after a few feet, turned, and blew Kerry a kiss. Jax acted like he was going to intercept it, but Kerry wrapped him in a headlock. With his free hand, my boy pretended to grab my kiss and held his fist against his heart, and nothing could erase my ear-to-ear grin for the rest of the night.

6. Appa-where?

Kerry

“How fast can you get a team together, boy?”

“Huh?”

I wiped the sleep from my eyes with one hand while I held the front door open with the other. I blinked a couple of times, but Clem’s wrinkled old self was still standing on my front porch at the butt crack of dawn.

Guess I ain’t having a nightmare.

“I need a team to kill something in the Appalachians,” he shot out. “You’re going to lead it. I already cleared it with Hank. Grab your go bag, get a team together ASAP, and meet me at the bus stop by the library. We leave in twenty.”

“Wait. What?” I yawned, scratching the center of my chest. “Appa-where?”

“Appalachian Mountains. Well, the Longfellows in Maine, to be precise.” He started to walk away. “Now get moving.”

“What’s a go bag?” I called after him.

He spun around, glared at me, and stomped back.

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