Page 24 of Stuck with my Frenemy
Chapter Ten
Cherry
Ikind of liked being manhandled. Ebony, on the other hand… not so much. In front of me, she kicked, snarled and wriggled to free herself from Ash’s hold. Not me, though. Bernie could carry me all he wanted and I was happy to lay in his arms.
Princess Cherry on top.
If I say half the things that go through my head out loud, everyone would just be laughing all the time, I thought with a snicker, though honestly, that was kinda my goal in life. If people laughed at me because I was funny, well, they didn’t look too closely at the hot mess I hid inside. Especially when you feel like you’d never be enough to meet the expectations of your mother.
Humor usually worked wonders.
After I’d pulled my little stunt in the warehouse, the thieves disappeared since everyone’s eyes were on me. Whoopsies times ten, but in my defense, I hadn’t meant to do that. I just needed to shut my eyes in that moment because, holy Cupid balls, that attacker had almost made me piss my pants. How embarrassing would that have been in front of the Princess of Darkness?
“Get in the car Ebony,” Ash shouted, pulling my attention out of my thoughts and onto him. I couldn’t help but shake my head. That was such a wrong move, dude.
My thought proved correct when Ebony slapped him across the face. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
I would say that the smack she gave him was only about at half-strength, so he’d been lucky on that one. I’d seen her throw a real punch and man; It was so not pretty.
When we reached the car, Bernie set me down like a gentleman ignoring the other two that were arguing. I patted the top of his head a few times with a smile. “Thanks for the ride, kind sir.”
“Anytime.” He winked, then his features went blank as if he couldn’t believe he’d just done that.
Welcome to my world, Bunny, I thought to myself.
“Ash, let me give you a little piece of advice,” I offered so I didn’t say something to hottie. I watched the poor guy struggle to bind Ebony’s arms behind her and open the car door at the same time. “Back away from the wild animal before it’s too late. Trust me on this.”
“Cherry, you are fucking dead.” Ebony’s snarls were vicious. “So fucking dead.” Her shouts only made me laugh. She loved me too much to kill me now. She’d proven that way too many times. And that meant I’d already poked a hole in those walls of hers.
“Save it, Gloomy, and get in the car. We need to get out of here and recoup.” Opening my door, I slid in to set a good example in the hopes she would do the same. I even went as far as to gesture like Vanna White at her seat.
Did that work? No? The minute Ash took my advice and let her loose, she ran in a circle screaming and stomping like a damn cat in heat. Well, an angry one, but at least there was the whole “in heat” part. Ash still had a chance.
Minutes passed as she picked up rocks and threw them randomly. At some point, through the open passenger door Ash propped on, I heard Ebony scream, “Fucking humans,” while kicking the ground, but eventually the old girl calmed her ass down and climbed in beside me, shutting her door and slumping in her seat with a huff. Quiet filled the space when the boys jumped in, but it was loaded and heavy like the pin would be pulled at any minute and the explosion would commence.
Truthfully, it kicked my anxiety into overdrive because if words and accusations started flying, Ebony would lose her shit again and she didn’t need all this stress. I cursed Karma in that moment and wished we were alone where I could make her laugh a little just to break the thick tension circling around all of us.
“So, how about you tell us what you know about Thor’s hammer?” Ash asked, shooting a pointed look over his shoulder at Ebony, who crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window. “Because right now, things are looking mighty suspicious and not very good for the two of you.”
The protective monster reared its ugly head at the nasty look Ash just gave Ebs, and her stoic, angry glare out the window only made the feeling stronger. “Suspicious, muspicous. Newsflash cute guy who likes Ebony, nobody cares. Aim your suspicion at the people who broke into your warehouse and tried to kill all of us.”
Take that, Asshat. Mama Bear comes out to play when her bestie gets looked at wrong. Now you know. My thoughts were running wild, and it made me think I was hanging around said bestie way too often and picking up some of her traits. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, though if this guy kept staring at her the way he did.
“I never said I liked Ebony,” Ash retorted, his voice cracking on the lie.
I chuckled, unable to do anything else because hello, I was Aphrodite’s daughter and could sniff out attraction from miles away. “You didn’t have to. Your dreamy eyes said it all, mister.”
Ebony growled.
Suddenly Bernie barked out a laugh, and I watched Ash toss him a narrowed-eye look that could have burned him to ashes. Winking at him when he peered at me in the rearview mirror wiped the remnants of the smile off his face, but the humorous glint still made his eyes twinkle. And they were such nice eyes. A deep dark grey that reminded me of the ocean at night when the moon glinted over the water. Yummy.
Shaking myself, I realized I needed to get my ass in gear and change the subject. Bernie wasn’t driving yet, and we needed to get this sandwagon somewhere else so Ebs and I could figure out what was going on.
Well, I would just have to be myself in the meantime. And I could do that with my eyes closed and my brain cut out of my head. Yeah, I was definitely hanging out with Princess Death too much. The imagined lobotomy just confirmed it.
“Anywhooo, are we gonna be sitting here all night? Because it’s like way too hot in this car and I really don’t like to sweat?” Aaannnd, I was back.
The car started instantly when Bernie turned the keys, the engine roaring to life. Air conditioning blasted me in the face where I was leaning in the middle between the front seats, though I wasn’t too close to either human. Close enough to tell they’d both had a nice cologne on, though.
