Page 26 of Sleeping Redemption
The shrillness of Zorah’s voice cut through the air. “ROOK?! What the fuck are you doing here?!”
Startled at her sudden outburst, my arm fell from hers as I stared at them both.
The normally chatty trickster standing there nearly naked appeared to come down with a sudden case of laryngitis. “I, uh…”
Zorah turned to face me, her shell-shocked expression and emotions running wild over her features. “Please tell me you didn’t… oh, fuck, you totally did. I’m going to be sick.” She doubled over with one hand on her stomach and the other on her forehead.
I placed a hand on her back, completely baffled by both of their reactions.
It seemed completely out of character for Z to be damn near dry heaving over a mostly naked man. Her preferences were strictly relegated to females, but I’d never seen her nearly ill when casting her look on the opposite sex before.
Rook slowly put the stack of pancakes down on the center island, awkwardly shuffling behind it so that my view of him from the waist down was blocked.
“Love, I can explain,” he started, but Z flipped herself back upright after several cleansing breaths.
She stared me down while pointing her finger in Rook’s direction. “You let him fuck you, Lee-Lee?” Her dark brows creased together.
Blinking a few times, I didn’t see the need to deny it and just shrugged at her.
“Lee-Lee?” Rook questioned as he looked at my friend. “Thisis Lee-Lee?Kinley?”
Rolling her eyes, Z tossed her hands up in the air in exasperation. “Yes, Rook! Kin-LEE is Lee-Lee.”
There was not nearly enough coffee in my body after last night’s ongoing activities to sort through whatever these two were going on about. I stepped over to the espresso machine and began preparing myself a latte.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Zorah stepping up to the center island and placing one hand on her hip with the other on the edge of the counter. Her eyes were practically white hot as she stared at me. “Do you even know what his,” she made a ridiculous jacking-off motion with wiggling fingers, “you know, his…deposit, does?”
The visual made me giggle and that only made Z scowl more.
With a steaming and excessively caffeinated latte in my hand, I took a careful first sip before responding to her. “Yes, and he already knows I’m not happy about him stalking me via demon cum. Why do you give a shit?”
She shuddered and shook her head. “Lee,” she strained to keep her tone even. “Because it impacts me. Chuckles over here can now track you, but this fully explains why I can sense all your feelings. Because you—because he—and—gah!”
Odd, because I was still in the dark about everything she was bent out of shape over. I blew on my beverage to try and cool it down some more.
Zorah rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you how many times that I have a jackass of a twin brother?” She raised both brows at me, waiting for the figurative light to turn on above my head. When it didn’t, she continued the explanation. “An unfortunate side effect of our twin connection is that when he fucking leaves a piece of himself behind, the connection is shared with me—emotionally.” She glared at Rook for his part in all of this.
Oh. I looked at Rook and then at her. Now that she mentioned it, there was a bit of a resemblance there between them. “Z, how was I supposed to know?” Not that it would have made a difference if I had.
Finally, trying to smooth things over, Rook looked at his sister. “Zorah-bug, these things…happen.”
“Don’t fucking Zorah-bug me,” she grumbled and reached for the pancake on top of the stack before her.
Rook grimaced and raised his hand, stuttering as his sister prepared to take a bite out of it.
Noticing the panicked expression on her twin’s face, Z paused and glanced between him and the fluffy flapjack. “Are these…?”
He nodded. “Rookcakes.”
With disgust on her face, she immediately released the chocolate pancake, and it landed on the counter with a light flop.
I reached over and snagged the dropped breakfast food and indiscriminately took a bite.
“I can’t with either of you right now.” Zorah shook her head as she turned to leave the kitchen, shouting on her way out, “I’ll call you later, Lee-Lee!”
Shrugging, I looked over at Rook and grinned. “Rookcakes?”
He smiled proudly. “Same secret ingredient as my PB and J sandwiches. A little bit of me in every bite.”
