Page 38 of Stuck with my Frenemy
Breaking our connection, I tore myself away from his gaze, though it was not an easy feat at all. Good thing I had willpower in spades. “The truth will always come to light, so one day, we will know.”
He stepped ahead of me after that, and his slumped shoulders and droopy head told me my words had hurt him. Admitting we were actually mates was important for him, obviously, but he would have to wait until I dug into it a little more.
The truth of it was, having a mate scared the crap out of me. What if I screwed up? What if he ended up hating me? I sucked as Aphrodite’s daughter and couldn’t do anything right in the men department. And I didn’t want to screw things up with Bernie.
I liked him. A lot, actually, and getting to know him was important. He didn’t talk enough, but he could make me laugh. That was definitely a big part of his appeal.
After the next block, the house came into view, and I bounced forward in excitement but also nervousness because if Ebony wasn’t here, I didn’t know where to look next.
I shouldn’t have been worried.
She was there, alright, sitting on the porch and staring at the hammer with a blank look on her face. Barreling past Bernie, I rushed toward her, but the minute I came up beside her, I almost fell over when her emotions slammed into me … grief. Was that what that was?
“Ebs, what are you doing?” I asked, and Bernie scraped the walkway as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
“Staring at the thing that ruined my life even more than it had already been.” Her voice cracked with each word as if she was trying not to cry, and it broke my heart to see her like this. This was not Ebony.
“Bernie, babe, can you go wait inside and give us girls a little alone time?” I shot out, and he wasted no time hiking up the stairs.
“Oh, and take the hammer with you inside.” Ebony nudged Thor’s weapon toward him. “The house is warded, so if anyone else comes looking for it, it’ll be protected, along with your fragile humanity. That way you won’t get in the way this time.”
I gave her an exasperated look, but she ignored me.
“Just holler at me when you are done.” I had to give it to the guy, he didn’t take the bait to start arguing.
“Will do, and Bernie.” His eyes locked on mine as he opened the front door. “Thanks.”
A nod was my reply, and the moment he was in the house, I focused on Ebs again. “Okay, tell me again how this hammer ruined your life. We only searched for it because of Karma.”
Jumping to her feet in one fluid motion, she stormed down the stairs and paced in front of the porch, her arms waving at her sides. “If I wasn’t sent here to do this, I would’ve never spent time with you. I would’ve never met my mate. Human of all things, let me remind you. I would’ve …” she trailed off, and so did her movements, but she still didn’t look at me. “I would’ve been able to stay right where I was. I could have kept people away. No one would get hurt.”
I ran down after her, taking her hands in mine. “What do you mean, Ebs? Who will be hurt? We beat up the bad guys, remember?”
She shook herself as if she was breaking a spell over her. “Never mind. Don’t worry about that. We got the hammer. So why isn’t Karma here picking this shit up?”
Ebony was seriously the master of subject change, but I knew when not to push, and now wasn’t the time. She’d been close to opening up more than I’d ever seen, and that meant it would only be a matter of time until I crushed her walls.
It felt amazing because, even though I knew I’d be able to push my way into her heart, I had thought I’d be trying for decades before she ever let me in. I was just getting way too good at this.
“I have no damn clue, girl, but I was wondering the same thing.”
Her jaw clenched, and I knew in that moment I had to do something.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I shouted, bending my knees and positioning my hands in front of me as if waiting to fight her. “Karate chop!” Without another second’s pause, I leapt forward, tackling Ebony to the ground.
And then, completely uncharacteristically of me, I dug my fingertips into her sides and tickled her.
Laughter bubbled out of her, and it was one of the best sounds I’d ever heard in my life. This girl didn’t do that, and the fact that she let her guard down enough to do it with me was everything.
My heart swelled with love for my best friend.
After she threw me off her, we sprawled on our backs on the grass staring at the stars. Ebony sounded wary when she asked, “Where is Ash?”
“Oh, Ash. He went to check for you at the bar.”
“By himself?”
“Sure, he runs the place, duh!” I reminded her.
