Page 83 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“Yorick, get on the ground,” Ezio says, even though he also isn’t on the ground yet.
“Right where you belong,” Atticus comments.
Yorick gasps. “Who even invited you here? This is my best friend circle, and you’re not included. Why are you here?”
“Ezio asked me to stay here to help protect Cyrus,” Atticus says as he folds his arms over his chest and gives Yorick a defiant look. “He said, ‘You must stay here because Yorick’s weak little arms can’t protect anything.’”
Yorick’s eyes narrow, like he’s struggling to comprehend these words. “Stay here… as in… stay… at… Casimir’s?”
“That would be correct. If you have a problem with it, you can stay in that fun little shed over there. I’m sure it’ll be roomy compared to the shack of a house you live in.”
“You’ve never seen my house,” Yorick growls.
“Haven’t I?”
“Have you? What the fuck are you doing looking at my house! Were you going to burn it down? Casimir, you’re letting that man into your home? He’s clearly here to kill me.”
“Says the man whostabbed me in the back,” Atticus snarls.
“By accident! Casimir, please!”
“He never tried to kill Julian like you did. Go on now, off to your shed,” Casimir says while Atticus chuckles. Then Atticus claps his hands, which… is beyond bizarre.
“Johnny, come carry the wounded one.”
The doors burst open and Atticus’s butler Johnny comes dashing out.
“You even brought your butler?” Yorick asks. “Ha, you can’t go anywhere without him. How sad.”
“Johnny, please remove Borick’s head from his body. It’s quite useless, so he’s no longer in need of it,” Atticus says.
“Yes, sir,” he says as he reaches for Yorick’s head. This makes Casimir cackle for some reason, while Yorick mostly looks furious at what Atticus called him.
“If you do manage to remove it, please don’t leave the body in the front yard. I have a nice packaging box that he fits in and this on-call lady who will dispose of the body,” Casimir informs them.
“You’re not having the delivery lady dispose of a body!” Julian says. “I’m not even sure why I need to clarify this.”
“There will be no body, Julian!” Yorick protests. “You’re supposed to go, ‘Don’t joke about the murder of one of my best friends!’”
“Well… obviously. Come along. Poor Cyrus is just stuck waiting for you all to get done being fools. Do you need a hand?” Julian asks me.
“Johnny, carry the wounded man,” Atticus orders.
“I’m good, thank you. And this just makes me feel better about myself. It’s odd how hanging around vampires makes that happen,” I say.
“Right? Like you’d think after hundreds of years they’d get wiser instead of weirder,” Julian agrees.
“The shed is also open for judgmental wolves,” Atticus says, like this is now his home and he’s allowed to decide who goes where.
“Ezio, has Maeve contacted you yet?” I ask.
He checks his phone in case he missed it during our strange debate. “Not yet.”
Once we get into the house, I’m paraded over to the couch where there are blankets and pillows, and I feel quite ridiculous as all of them stare at me and expect me to just ooze down into it all. And of course they all surround me expectantly. Gustov, seeing the comfy nest that’s been made for me, jumps into it and sinks down with a pleased sigh.
“Gus, no, that’s not yours,” Julian chides while he tries to get the dog off it, but Gustov just rolls onto his back, like he assumes Julian is here to give him a belly rub.
“I’m fine sitting here,” I say as I sit next to the dog.
