Page 30 of Sleeping Redemption
Attempting to steer the conversation away from Rook’s dick and back to the serious situation we had on our hands, well…that Kinley had on her hands, I turned my back to Rook and walked up to her.
“While we look for your sword, we should probably discuss the other night.” I placed my hands on her arms gently.
There was a sudden splashing of water from behind me, and the next thing I knew, one sopping wet arm wrapped around my shoulders, and Rook’s lathered up and naked body was at my side. The water dripping from his body soaked into my clothes.
His black polished fingernails dug into my shoulder. “You know what, love? I bet it’s down in your little love dungeon in the basement. Have you checked there?” Rook removed his poor excuse for a top hat and began to place it on my head.
Before it touched a single hair on my head, my hand snatched it and flung it at the toilet. The sense of satisfaction that came over me as it landed in the bowl with a splash was a small win I was willing to take for the day.
Rook whimpered with a pout as his demonic circus accessory was discarded.
Ready to launch the trickster through the glass shower door, I glared at him, hoping he would feel my annoyance with him one of these days. Meanwhile, his puppy dog eyes were firmly affixed on the woman standing before us.
Looking at Kinley, her sapphire pools watched as each sud and water droplet trickled over Rook’s body until they joined the puddle of water forming at his feet.
Begrudgingly, I agreed. “Sounds like a good place to look, Kin.”
She flinched out of her thoughts and smiled at us both. “Hmm, you’re right. I bet that’s where it’s run off to.”
Turning on her heel, she marched out of the bathroom and moments later her feet tapped down each step of the main staircase.
I grabbed Rook’s hand and shoved it off of me before distancing myself from him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.
Both his hands landed on his hips as he stood there comfortably in his nude state.
With a lack of his trademark playfulness or humor in his demeanor, he solemnly stated, “We need to have a chat, Sylas.”
It caught me off guard, and it was the only reason I decided to hear him out. Sighing, I motioned at the stack of towels. “Get yourself together first.”
Not giving him the chance to argue or make a sly comment, I left the bathroom and waited for him by the picturesque window in the bedroom.
The view beyond the glass pane was stunning. Beyond the front of her property line and across the street was a large open space with a healthy green lawn only interrupted by a narrow walking trail. The open space was perfect to see the sunrise in the morning and the moon and stars cast into the sky at night.
“A word to the wise, I would avoid bringing up her little rendezvous the other night.” Rook’s voice came from behind me.
Turning, I was ready for a conversation but not to see him wearing what was most definitely Kinley’s robe. It was a fluffy bubblegum pink robe that I imagined engulfed her petite frame, but on Rook’s significantly larger body, it looked downright ridiculous. The length stopped above his knees, the sleeves ended at his elbows, and it was nothing short of a miracle thatsomehow it remained cinched enough at the waist that his cock wasn’t waving in the wind.
“I’m not going to ignore it, Rook. She needs to know Atlas isn’t a figment of her imagination—or yours.” I crossed the room, unwilling to debate whether or not she deserved to understand Atlas’s return was a reality and one where he had a purpose to fulfill here with her.
With supernatural speed, Rook was instantly in front of me, his eyes filled with a darkness that rivaled the seriousness of death itself. “I do not think you are hearing me, mate. Let me lay this out for you real nice and simple-like. You didn’t see her that night, you didn’t see the tremors in her soul.”
An ache formed in my jaw from wanting to disregard the gravity of Rook’s words. I wanted to take what he said with the same absurdity as what he was wearing.
Rook continued. “Her mind is circling the drain to a descent into utter madness, chap.” He shook his head. “I am fairly certain, had I not intervened, you would have had at least three more souls to transport at the behest of our little fallen angel.”
“Since when does a demon give a damn about an angel’s affairs?” I crossed my arms before me, wondering what angle Rook attempted to play.
Thrusting his hands into the shallow pockets of the robe, he stared me straight in the eyes, his hazel hues displaying more brown than green as they met my aquamarine pools. “Since said angel started giving a damn about a demon thought to be good for nothing but parlor tricks and treated like a jester in Lucifer’s court of fools.”
When he put it that way, I had to take a moment to pause and consider perhaps I didn’t know all there was to know about the trickster before me. His oddities aside, there may have been more than met the eye.
“Kin has never been particularly….” How could I put this? My pause opened up the window of opportunity for Rook to finish my sentence.
“Sane?” Rook interjected.
“Not quite where I was going. I was going to say she has never been great at coloring inside the lines.”
