Page 44 of Stuck with my Frenemy
Ebony groaned. “Cherry, just sit there and don’t talk. Okay?”
I saluted her. “Aye aye, Captain Darkness.”
Rolling her eyes, she paced in front of the first stair leading up the stage, until Loki spoke. “I know it is hard for you to trust. I give you my word you will know all soon enough. Until then, focus on your tasks and each other. When the time is right, I will find you again.”
With that, Loki started moving toward the doors we’d originally walked in.
“Wait, you can’t just be all prophetical and then just take off. We need answers.” I stood, and the chair flipped behind me. “Like now.”
His lilting laughter echoed in the room even after he disappeared. Only the doors never opened. What was he up to, and how were we supposed to trust him?
I had no idea, but maybe Ebony did.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked, stepping up beside her and bumping her shoulder.
When she met my gaze, there wasn’t a lick of worry in hers. “We don’t trust a word he says. All this stinks to high heavens of deceit, but we need more information before we do anything about it. For now, we hand over the hammer and act like we never saw Loki. The less Karma knows, the better. That is all we can do right now.”
Loki’s voice rang through the room again. “Oh, and girls. Just a little advice. Get back to the house and get that hammer. Karma will arrive sooner than you think.”
“Well, shit,” Ebony growled.
A beautiful scroll glowed between the pile of papers stacked on the table, and I brushed my fingers over it. It was glittery and light shimmered through the symbols I could see, calling to something inside me. After making sure Ebony was not looking my way I snatched it and shoved it between my boobs so it wasn’t visible. I didn’t want to steal it, but I felt powerless to stop myself.
“Double shit,” I added, jumping to grab her arm and yanking her to the door. “But don’t worry, Ebs. The yellow ranger will get us home in a flash.”
“No singing, Cherry. None,” she warned. “I mean it. If I have to hear that again, you won’t live long enough to worry about Karma.”
I flashed a grin at her. “Oh, I’m gonna sing. My car, my rules.”
Ebony growled deep in her chest like a beast. “Wait till you see what happens to your car while you sleep tonight.”
Running through the casino, we rushed out the entrance. The moment we were out of the casino, panic gripped me so hard it almost doubled me over. Shoving Ebony ahead of me, I yanked the scroll from my cleavage and threw it as hard as I could at the tall shrubs lining the front of the building. We were in the parking lot in a flash, but her threats were kind of haunting me. “Oh, Ebs. You really are just too funny. You should get your own show and make all the humans laugh while we are in their realm.”
“That has been my life dream. To be a comedian.” She paused before getting in the passenger’s side. “I’m serious, Cherry. No music.”
I slid into my seat and turned the key dramatically, my eyes never leaving hers the minute she fell into her seat. The radio blared, but I wasn’t a total jerk. I hit the volume down button five times before I took off, my hands strangling the wheel and my voice firing lyrics heatedly. Ebony covered her ears, but I knew it wouldn’t help her.
Plus, who wouldn’t want to hear this magical voice fed by the anxiety of trying to make it home in time to beat Karma, who could literally pop in and out as she pleased.
Ebony thought of me as a friend, and that hadn’t been an easy thing to achieve. She would learn to love my singing, too.
If I lived through the car ride home.
