Page 6 of Run Like the Devil

“You picked what was easiest for you.” Tyrus had his gaze locked on Gorrin, a threat resting in the darkness there.

I could have drowned in the testosterone in this room.

“You believe it was easy for me? You think I wanted her looking at me like I were her enemy? That I enjoyed that distrust in her eyes?”

“I think you liked her keeping a distance, that you enjoyed having control over her,” Tyrus said.

“You never had control over her. She ain’t yours!” Hale rose to his feet and slammed his palms against the table between us, the sound echoing off the walls.

And, just like that, Tyrus and Gorrin all stood as well.

It left Yazmor and me seated, beside each other.

“Boys will be boys, won’t they?” Yazmor shook his head as if watching kids at a park instead of fully grown, immortal men. “It doesn’t matter how old they get or how mature they think they are—throw a girl they like into the mix and they turn into elementary school children again.”

“Children with blades,” I added on.

“At least that makes it interesting.”

The three had moved away from the table, standing close enough to not need to yell—not that it stopped them from still raising their voices.

“They’re not going to kill one another, right?”

“No.” Yazmor paused and pressed his lips together. “Well, probably not. No Lord has killed another directly. It’s too difficult and it would throw the balance of power off too much.”

“Gorrin isn’t a Lord anymore.”

He sat up slightly, as if cheered up by that thought. “You’re right! Well, then maybe someone will kill someone else! I put my money on Tyrus winning.”

“Over Hale?”

“Hale’s a lot of bluster. Tyrus fights dirty, though, and, since he doesn’t look like it, people underestimate him.”

I went to argue that but realized what we were doing. “Wait a minute, I’m not taking bets on who gets killed.”

“Of course not. We hadn’t put up anything yet. We could, though! I’m willing to bet anything. Wait, no, not my crocodile. It doesn’t matter how sure I am, I never bet Smiley.”

“You named your crocodile Smiley?”

“Of course. We have the same smile.”

And, try as I might, I couldn’t exactly argue the point… Something about Yazmor’s smile always unnerved me, as if he had too many teeth.

Also, had I just accepted he owned a crocodile so easily? I really had gotten myself drawn into the depth of his madness, hadn’t I? I no longer even questioned his nonsense.

“We don’t have time for this, do we?”

“We’re all immortal. Time is the one thing we have in spades. Besides, if you don’t let them work this out, it’ll just keep coming up. Think of it like siblings bickering. Mommy can come in and tell them to stop it, but the moment she turns her back, they’ll just pick it right back up.”

“Don’t call me Mommy. It’s a total mood killer.”

But, on the plus side, at least that let me know there were for sure kinks I had no interest in. Somehow that reassured me.

Just then, Hale took a swing at Gorrin, one Gorrin dodged with ease.

I went to stand, but Yazmor grasped my arm to keep me sitting and beside him. “Let them go. They’ve got to work this out themselves.”

I ground my molars together but did as he said. Without something like my dagger, it wasn’t like they were likely to kill one another too fast.

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