Page 30 of Stuck with my Frenemy
“’Not right how exactly, apart from it not being meant for mortal hands?” It was a genuine curiosity, but it pissed him off.
“How can I know that, huh?” Ash snarled, and I flinched away from the fury in his tone. “It was sold at an auction right beside fucking urine basins from the Roman Empire. What do you expect a normal person to think? Oh, look. Here is Thor’s hammer. I think I’ll buy that to match Odin’s eyepatch I bought from Walmart last week?”
“Oh, dear Cupid, you took Odin’s eye patch, too?” Cherry’s shriek snapped me out of my stunned silence. “Holy crap balls, my man. You are in deep, deep trouble, I’ll tell you that much.”
“What? No.” Ash jumped to his feet. “It was just a … you know what? Fuck this shit. I’m out.”
“This is your apartment, dummy. Where would you go?” Cherry watched with pity.
I wanted to laugh.
“Calm down, Ash.” His blue eyes narrowed on me. “This whole thing doesn’t feel right to me, either. That’s the reason I’m asking how you ended up with the hammer.” My mind raced because I couldn’t see the full picture yet, but somehow, I knew it was true. “Why would you be deserving of bad karma if you didn’t steal it?”
“What the fuck do you mean ‘bad karma?’” He took one step toward me, and Sol shrieked loud enough to make us all reach for our ears.
“No one gets hurt as long as you keep your distance, human,” Sol quipped primly.
“Ebs?” Uncertainty rang in Cherry’s tone, and that alone made me ignore everything I had to say to Sol or Ash. “Do you think we were set up?”
Gnawing on my lip, I looked from her worried features to the scowling faces of the brothers. If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck …
“I do have a bad feeling, Cherry,” I admitted. “But we can’t do anything about it until we actually find the attackers and the hammer. We need more information about what is going on.”
“It’s time to go back to the warehouse?” Bernie stood up as well. “Let’s figure out what in the hell is going on.”
“You two follow our lead.” I pointed at him when he started to argue. “And don’t get in our way. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” He pushed through clenched teeth.
“Cherry, you should call your familiars now to meet us at the warehouse. When we get there, we can see what we have to work with and split up if necessary to find those assholes. I have a bone to pick with them still, too.”
“Woohoo. Another road trip.” She spun around in a circle. “This is going to be so much fun, I can feel it in my butt cheeks.”
Bernie choked on air.
“You will be coming with me,” I told Ash, who had creeped close enough to touch, without me noticing. “If you two are being set up, whoever it is will pay dearly for it. If we are the targets for this clusterfuck, then someone is going to die.”
“You are so morose, Ebs. Jeezzzz.” Cherry shivered. “Not everything has to do with life or death, you know. We can … I don’t know … give them a horrible hairstyle for ten years or something.”
“You do you, Cherry.” I pushed off the edge of the couch and rolled my shoulders. “Give them a hug for all I care. But I don’t do well when someone wants to fuck with me.”
“We can think of a punishment when we find them.” Bernie placed a hand at the small of Cherry’s back and guided her out of the penthouse.
“Such a gentleman.” Cherry giggled happily, her voice muffling as they reached the elevator.
“Move it.” I jerked my head to the side at Ash.
“We will deal with this, but our conversation is not over,” Ash threatened and stomped in front of me.
“I didn’t think it was.” Lips pursed, I followed.
The human was the least of my problems right then.
First, someone had to die for getting in my way.
