Page 81 of Oath
He sighed.
“You can kick my ass as soon as you’ve healed up. I made the call. She handled it.”
I nodded. Good to know he understood.
But at the same time. “Thanks.” Then I raised my voice. “Thanks for coming for me.”
“Always.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
GRACE
The next few days were an exercise in patience, frustration, and at times, hilarity. It ran the full gamut of emotions, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with all of it—or them for that matter. Goblin, AB, and I took a lot of long walks in the snow.
Oddly, when AB first invited me to go out in the snow, I said I didn’t have enough warm weather gear. Voodoo disabused me of that swiftly. Apparently, a wholewardrobehad come in while we were away and the guys had found time to collect it. Included in this wardrobe was an adorable purple and blue ski suit, insulated leggings, and warm, water proof boots. Everything fit.
Like fit almost exactly. He was so pleased with himself so I kept my creepy stalker teases to myself. But seriously, how did he nail my size so accurately? I liked the outfit, it was comfortable and made the walks fun. It wasn’t so deep we had to wade through it, but it had been a long time since I’d been anywhere with snow quite this pristine.
Yes, I’d been to Banff, Zermatt, and St. Moritz. I liked skiing, though I was a better snowboarder. But there were always people and this… This place was magic in the snow. The crisp air and the blanket of hush that lay over everything, made it easyto forget the bloody madness we’d been dealing with on and off for…
Months.
All at once, my mood plummeted and I retreated from the window where I’d stared out at the snow. Flames licked over the wood in the fireplace merrily crackling. With a sigh, I turned away to head to the kitchen.
I’d made it exactly nine steps into the kitchen. Nine. That’s how far I got before Voodoo, perched like some unholy gremlin on top of the fridge, shot me in the neck with a Nerf dart.
“Holy shit—why?!” I hissed, rubbing the welt like it was a real bullet wound.
“Situational awareness,” he said, grinning like the devil. “You’ve got the instincts of a day-old kitten, Firecracker.”
He tried to hand me a little plastic pistol. I stared at it like one of us had lost our damn minds. “Don’t you want me to learn to fire a real one?”
“Not with that reflex time. Maybe once you master the nerf, we’ll take you to the real thing.”
“You’re not funny,” I deadpanned.
Then he shot me again and took off with a whoop, after he leapt down from the top of the fridge and I chased him. I had no idea what Bones had said to them, buteverysingle one of them was in on my training now.
The next time it happened,I was working on laundry.Mylaundry. I’d been innocently folding sports bras—bras—when Bones materialized behind me like a damn poltergeist and wrapped me up in a surprise wrestling hold.
“What the hell?!” I squawked, flailing.
“Get out of it,” he grunted, amused, as I elbowed him in the ribs. “If I were a hostile, you’d be in a van already.”
“If you were a hostile,” I gasped, still struggling, “I’d never have helped rescue you.”
“Too late now,” he practically purred against my ear. “Now get free, Dollface. The clock is ticking.”
Why did I love these guys again?
Legend got creative.Subtle.
I was standing by the mudroom door, boots soaked and fingers numb, just trying to knock the snow off my coat and feel something like human again. The house was quiet. Peaceful. Suspiciously so.
Then a blast offreezingwater smacked me right in the side of the head.
