Page 9 of Nita's Redemption

“I’ll get that bubbly shit.” Colt turned toward the wine fridge.

The female gasped, her hands went to her chest like she was wounded. “How dare you say such negative things about the bestest alcohol ever made? If I don’t bitch about your drink of choice, which is nasty as fuck, then you can’t say such outlandish things about Moscato, which is, as I said, Jesus Juice. Now go on and get us a couple bottles to drink. I have the fancy straws in the drawer next to the wine fridge.”

Link was pretty sure he was gonna need to breathe soon, but dammit, if he let the air out of his mouth, the laughter would get him in trouble.

“Go on, I know it’s hurting you,” Jaklyn said, waving her hand in his direction.

At the same time he expelled the air from his lungs, the guffaw burst free from his two closest friends, one of which was his twin, the other Tank. The three of them had grown up with Jaklyn and her crazy.

“Um, why do you call it Jesus Juice?” Nita asked, accepting her own bottle of sweet wine with a long pink straw coming out of it while Jaklyn was handed her own matching bottle with a purple sparkly straw.

Jaklyn took a long pull, swallowing several times, her wine bottle appearing to go down several ounces. She let out a loud sigh before she answered. “Well you see, Jesus did this water into wine thing right? So, all wine in my mind is Jesus Juice.” Jaklyn brought her straw back to her mouth and took another long pull as if she didn’t need to explain any further.

Nita blinked and looked at her own bottle. She took a sip followed by another. Link watched her perfect bow-shaped lips surround the pink straw each time, wishing he was a fucking piece of plastic. When she went down for the third time, he had a hard time keeping the growl from escaping, especially when she sucked that fucker like a starving woman. Her eyes flicked up to him, the bright blue shining with... excitement. Damn woman knew what she was doing to him.

He couldn’t tear his eyes off of her until she stopped sucking from the straw and gave a very unladylike burp. If he hadn’t already been head over ass in love with her, he’d have fallen right then and there. His brother coughed from somewhere to his right making him jerk his head toward him. It was no surprise to find him every bit as enthralled as he’d been with Nita’s little display. A quick look at Tank showed he too had been staring at Nita. The three of them were going to need to go for a long run and probably fight one another to work some steam off before the night was through. Fuck.

“So, what was it you wanted to ask me. I’m an open book. I mean we’re like sisters right?” Jaklyn set her half empty bottle on the wooden tray that set on top the large square ottoman in front of her.

Nita licked her lips. “I know that we have the same blood in our veins thanks to us having the same sperm doner, but you and the others welcomed me even though I was raised by such a monster. However, anyone looking at us would never guess we were related at all. You are everything I’m not. You’re beautiful with red hair, green eyes, and light skin. I used to wish I looked like you even though that would make me more like him.” She held one hand up and took a sip of wine. “I was a kid who thought things were skin deep until I learned better. Besides, it was you and your males who said you wanted to talk to us.”

Jaklyn patted Nita’s hand but didn’t say a word for a long moment. “It’s true that I wanted to see the four of you together and speak with you, but it wasn’t meant to be an order.” She looked at her two males with a raised brow.

Link wanted to lift Nita into his arms and settle back onto the sofa with her on his lap. He held back, not wanting to betray her or himself, staying silent like the other males.

“How about I tell you some things that you don’t know about me?” Nita began, stopping to take another sip of her drink. “You all know what I suffered as a child I’m sure. I will always be grateful Akra, and the other demoness females realized I was damaged. When they decided to take me to Olympus, I breathed easier for the first time. That decision wasn’t made lightly by any of them, but they realized it was truly the only place I would’ve been able to heal. Here on Earth, it would’ve taken me years to accomplish the miracle they performed. Actually, even if I’d stayed on Earth, I don’t think I’d have survived with my mind intact. While many of my scars weren’t physically seen thanks to my shifter blood, my mind was a total mess. I guess Seamus learned physically hurting a female child did nothing but bring shame upon him, even by those deplorable beings he created. So he got smarter.” Nita looked down at the bottle.

“He still wasn’t a smart male.” Jaklyn picked her wine back up and drank deeply, sucking until the bottle was empty.

“You know when I was young, like three or four, he liked to show me in great detail what he’d done to you?” Nita looked over at Jaklyn after she spoke.

Link wanted to howl, and then he wanted to go into Hell and destroy Seamus, again. The male was truly a sick bastard who deserved to die the most painful death, repeatedly, for all of eternity.

“I’m sure he did. Of course, he probably exaggerated what he did in order to harm you more.” Jaklyn shrugged her eyes bright with anger.

“Dammit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you.” Nita attempted to get to her feet, but Jaklyn put her hand on Nita’s arm.

“You said you wanted to ask me something. Do you want to know about what really happened to me, or is there something else? I promise, you can ask me anything, or if you want, I’ll let you look into my mind and see for yourself. I’m pretty sure there is nothing you’ll see that will scar you any worse than what you went through. Well I mean, I’ll put walls around my sexy times with my males.” Jaklyn winked at Nita, easing the moment.

“That’s gonna be a whole lotta walls you need to erect.” Colt said. Both he and Gray moved behind where Jaklyn sat as if they couldn’t stand to be too far from where she was.

Nita shook her head, turning to look around the room. Her eyes found his, then moved on as if she was searching for the three of them. Once she had located all of them she turned her focus back to Jaklyn. Link moved closer to where she sat, grinning when the other two did the same thing. Between the two Ravens who called Jaklyn theirs, him, Abe, and Tank, they made a pretty intimidating wall of muscle.

Nita took a deep breath then turned slightly, lifting one leg up onto the cushion and rested her left arm on the back. “You had a lot of scars that your shifter healing didn’t heal. Why did you decide to get the tattoo of a butterfly to cover them?”

SHE WAITED FOR JAKLYN to tell her to fuck off or to mind her own business. Time ticked by in slow motion. Shoot, she was sure she could count dust motes as they floated by like time had stopped.

“I’m sorry, I have no right to ask such a personal question.”

“No, it’s okay. I hadn’t thought of the why in a long time. To be honest, my back is healed thanks to my two males. They even offered to get rid of the ink but... well, it’s part of me and my journey. You see, the butterfly is proof that I can get through anything, even darkness and the greatest evil and still become beautiful. That’s what butterflies represent to me and why I had it inked on my back, covering up the scars that I hated.” Jaklyn lifted her right hand, reaching over to her left shoulder and rubbed at her back or as much of her back as she could reach.

“That’s really beautiful. How do you find beauty for scars on the inside though?” Nita asked, ducking her head, and wishing she could call the words back.

“Are you having problems with your past? I thought the demonesses took care of that?” Jaklyn looked over her shoulder toward her males then back at Nita.

“It’s nothing like that. I just have a lot of questions and a lot of shit to figure out. Everyone assumed my mama was a witchy woman or something. That’s what I got from the wolves in the pack. Bakra gave me access to the old trailer park where Seamus was holding me and the others after I returned from Olympus.” Nita moved, needing to walk while she navigated her way through her confession.

“She did what?” Vasilis asked in a deadly tone.

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