Page 20 of Hope in his Darkness
“Brody, stop!” He isn’t listening. Another roar sounds as the floor beneath my feet shakes. I make it to the door, as Brody’s gorilla seems to break out of his skin. He is massive, standing over six feet tall, his back nothing but solid muscle. Cole is backing up across the yard, his hands out trying to placate Brody.
“Brody, man, I was just joking. Change back dude, this is not a challenge. I would never touch Hope, you know that.” Cole curls into himself like he is in pain as he groans out the last sentence. Brody isn’t stopping, though he keeps stalking toward his brother. Suddenly, Cole’s body gives way to another massive gorilla with a roar. I am standing in awe of the two giants facing off in front of me.
I can barely tell them apart as they circled each other, but the grey on Brody’s back isn’t as pronounced as Cole’s. Cole’s is almost solid grey, whereas Brody’s is like salt and pepper grey. They both let out earth-shaking roars and beat their fists against their chests. Surely, they won’t actually attack each other. Brody is just trying to teach his brother a lesson.
I am wrong, so very wrong. The next second, they charge each other. The ground shakes, and I almost lose my footing. I watch in horror as they use their huge fists to pummel each other. The ground becomes slick with their blood. They are going to kill each other and there isn’t a damn thing I can do to stop it, or is there? Looking around the yard, I find what I am looking for. It is a long shot, but I have to take it. The sheet I have wrapped around me trips me up a few times before I make it to the water hose.
I have this perfect plan. Turn the hose on them like you do with two humping dogs. The shock of the cold water would cause them to jump, separate, and give them time to cool off, figuratively and literally. Reaching for the hose, I unwound it from its spot and turn it on full blast. Then I dragged it across the yard, getting as close to the two idiots as I could.
Brody was using his fists on Cole’s back, and Cole was trying to fling Brody off his back when I finally made it close enough. Aiming the spray nozzle directly at them, I pull back on the handle. The water shoots out of the nozzle, like a fire hose, flinging me backward onto my ass. My makeshift dress falls around my waist, but I am more concerned with separating Brody and Cole to fix it. My boobs being on display seems like the least of my worries since the guys seem intent on killing each other as the guys.
Standing up, the whole sheet dress falls to the ground. I huff out a frustrated sigh before I hold down the handle once more. Water shoots out of the hose drenching both gorillas from head to toe, causing both of them to turn and look at me. Oh shit, two very angry-looking gorillas are now staring me down while I stand there butt-ass naked. Great Cole is seeing my hoo-ha and my titties.
Reaching down I grab for the sheet while still aiming the hose in their direction. Brody turns toward his brother, growling menacingly. Cole answers him with a chuff that sounds like a laugh while continuing to eyeball me. Gripping the sheet, I try to cover myself and I shoot off another blast of cold water at them. Now that they are distracted, even if that distraction is my naked ass, I don’t want them to start up again. Brody turns to face me again, then punches his brother square in the face, Cole groans as his body thumps against the ground, as Brody saunters toward me.
I back up slowly away from his approach, not knowing what he was thinking. Stepping backward, I trip over the sheet that fell again and fall on my ass hard. I am officially the least graceful person alive. Scrambling to get back up I freeze in place when Brody is standing over me, his eyes boring into mine. His giant finger caresses my cheek and I instinctively rub against it. There is a rumble of approval from deep in his chest.
“Can you change back now? Can you even understand me when you are like this?” I squeak out, hoping he can at least understand me.
“He can understand you. You asshole, do you know how long it’s going to take to heal from this shit.” Cole’s voice carries from somewhere behind Brody’s gorilla. Brody chuffs and again it sounds like a laugh. In the blink of an eye, the gorilla was gone, and Brody was standing over me.
“You deserved it asshole.” Brody shoots back over his shoulder, before offering me his hand.
“Sorry about that, my gorilla didn’t like him talking smack. It was like a challenge to him, and he doesn’t like to be challenged for you. That never happened with Georgia, shit sorry I brought her up.” Brody rubs the back of his neck nervously.
“Thanks for the show there, Hope, it was worth the price of admission,” Brody growls loudly at his brother and Cole laughs as he holds his hand over his very naked junk when he passes us.
“Yeah, well I feel like if you got to see mine the least you could do is show me yours, but somehow I think Brody might kill if you did.” Brody’s eyes get as big as saucers in response and Cole is laughing hysterically as he makes his way into the house.
“What? Don’t look at me that way. Fair is fair. He got to see my hoo-ha and danglies. The least he could do was return the favor.” I can hear Cole laughing as we make our way inside and Brody’s shoulders are shaking from his own laughter.
“Good idea with the water hose by the way. That’s how Dad used to separate us when we were learning to control our animals. Bad idea to be that close to us though, Cole could have hurt you.” Brody guides me toward the stairs with his hand on my back, but just as I try to step on the first a wave of dizziness takes over and I wobble.
“And the adrenaline drop has hit,” Cole says from behind us as Brody scoops me up in his arms and proceeds to carry me up the stairs.
“Put some fucking clothes on, you animal!” Brody hollers over his back as makes his way up to his room. My heart feels like it ran a marathon, my muscles feel like jelly, and I’m sweating like a pig.
“What’s wrong with me? Did your weregorilla do some kind of mojo on my body? What did Cole mean by adrenaline drop?” Brody lays me on his bed peeling the sheet from my body as he does. I’m naked again but he looks more concerned than horny as he curls his body around me.
“I’m a gorilla shifter, not a weregorilla woman. Where do you come up with these names? Your adrenaline spiked when you got scared out there. Instead of screaming and running for your life, which is what any normal human would have done, you jumped in the fray. Now your body is coming down from the shock to your system.” He runs his fingers through my hair and my heart rate starts to come back down.
“Normal? What the fuck is normal when it comes to gorilla shifters anyway? Was I supposed to let the two of you kill each other, I don’t think so? I didn’t think; I just reacted. Although you guys separated a lot faster than any of the dogs I’ve sprayed.” I can hear Cole laughing through the door, as Brody smiles down at me. I’m so glad they both find this shit funny because two giant ass fucking gorillas beating the shit out of each other was scary as hell.
