Page 110 of Anathema Codex

“Did you…” Ichabod starts to ask the million-dollar question, and I can’t help but laugh a little.

“Did I kill him? No. He’s too busy getting high and fucking the queen of the desert for me to waste my time on him.”

“What?” Lakyn’s gruff voice makes me spin around, but the throb of pain in my leg is a distant pain when I set my eyes on him. He’s shirtless, wearing a pair of comfortable pants, and running a hand over his face as he walks into the living room.

“You’re up,” Ichabod says, scrambling up from the floor, and Lakyn grins in the most perfect way.

“Obviously.” He snags his cigarettes and a lighter from the table before dropping into the chair he commanded the room from the last time we were here. “And apparently you picked up a stray while I was napping.”

“She just showed up,” Ichabod replies, shoving his hands into his pockets, but Lakyn just lights the cigarette and takes a long puff, letting out a stream of smoke in our direction.

“I didn’t want to be there anymore,” I explain, trying to make my voice sound cool and confident, even though I don’t feel either of those things at the moment. Still, just the sight of Lakyn fills me with an energy that I’ve been missing the last two weeks. It’s like the sun has returned to my universe, like my center is back and I know my place once more. Licking my dry lips, I set my water bottle aside and lean forward. “I wanted to be with you.”

Lakyn chuckles, staring at me through the haze of smoke. “Why?”

“Because I—” Words escape me, flittering away as I stare at him, and I know I should remember all the things I planned to say. I practiced everything I wanted to say so many times in my mind, rehearsing it on the bus and in cars, but facing off with Lakyn Meyer seems to make all of those planned words disappear in the shimmery buzzing I can see in the air.

“Jinkies, Red.” Rolling his eyes, Lakyn puffs a few smoke rings toward the ceiling. “You made it all the way back here and you can’t even tell me what the fuck you and Ichabod were gossiping about?”

He doesn’t know.

I feel a smile slide over my lips and despite the pounding ache in my thigh, I adjust myself to sit up tall. I want to look strong, in control. I want to remind Lakyn why he wanted me to be a part of his family. “I got bored listening to Aftyn and Beatrix fucking each other all the time, and I really hate that hippie shit.”

Lakyn’s jaw goes rigid, tense, and I feel my own body stiffen in response. Hell, even Ichabod looks like he’s trying to disappear into thin air as Lakyn lets his cigarette dangle while he sits up in the chair and narrows his eyes at me. After a moment, his voice comes out too calm and quiet as he asks, “Aftyn and Beatrix are fucking?”

SEVEN

Trix Aren’t For Kids

LAKYN

Red swallows the lump in her throat and I can see that she’s getting a little nervous at having dropped this bomb on me.

Maybe she thought it would be a good idea to rile me up, and maybe somewhere in that fucked up brain of hers she thought I’d drop everything I ever knew and tell her that all I would ever need is her.

Yeah, right,I think with an eye roll as I clear my throat and attempt to regain my composure.

So, the kid is fucking Trixie and they think it’s okay. She’s probably got him smacked up too—of course she does, she wouldn’t know how to treat him otherwise.

“Are you sure?” I ask, pulling the cigarette from my lips and blowing out a puff of smoke.

“I’m not dumb, Lakyn,” she replies stubbornly. “I know what fucking sounds like.”

I chuckle.

I’m sure she means she had that knowledgebeforethe little show we put on for her, but I’ve already disappointed Ichabod enough and the last thing he needs to find out is that I slipped for sure. He’s been pestering me about that satanic princess he found in the SUV for the last two weeks and I’m fucking over it. Although, considering I didn’t go for the pussy, I don’t think it should count.

Either way, I don’t want to deal with the fall out of another emotional breakdown. When I didn’t have Trixie in tow he full-blown lost it, and it took a couple of days of me fucking him hard for Ichabod to get his heart back into it. So, if Red tries to talk about our little party favor, I’ll just slit her throat and be done with it, cause I’m not putting up withthatagain.

Just like I have no plans of tolerating the kid fucking my new least favorite druggie blonde.

“Alright, so the boy and the bitch think they can just fuck each other out in the desert with no consequences.” Sucking my teeth, I watch the ash fall off the end of my cigarette before I lift it for another drag.

Decision made.

“Guess that means I gotta head back to the Holy Land of Bullshit and break that up,” I finally say as I let out a breath.

“Wait a minute.” Ichabod’s tone is stern, and I grit my teeth. When I got home, I understood his bitchfest. I let him down, I admitted it, and I was hoping that maybe his balls would have retreated over the last two weeks, but I see that I’m wrong.

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