Page 84 of Entangled

“So I was on the ground, andthreeof them were attacking me,” the annoying kid chatters excitedly, waving her hands like she’s doing charades. “He fought them off with his bare hands.”

Three?

I scowl at her. The girl is parked in front of me, talking at a mile-a-damn-minute to two gray-haired old bats who look like they must have been around for the fall of Rome. They have me boxed. I consider shoving past them, but that seems like an asshole move. They’d probably break a hip.

“Oh my!” one of the broads exclaims. She has a dozen eye-bleedingly colorful necklaces around her neck and flowers tied in her hair. Must be a hippie. “Did you hear that, Ida?”

“Oh yes, so very brave!” The fancy-looking Black woman next to the hippie pats my arm like I’m some stray mutt looking for approval, and not a six-three tatted soldier still stained with yesterday’s bloodbath.

I glare at her too, but she’s beaming at the brat, so I glower at the kid instead.

“There wasoneguy attacking you, not three, and Ishothim—and then I left your ass behind!”

That part’s important. They’re making out like I did something special, when all I did was dispose of some trash. Of course I was going to take him out—he was the damn enemy.

The kid just happened to be there.

But instead of giving me that disgusted look I’m used to, the woman is stillpettingme. I shouldn’t have stopped when they said they needed help setting up their camp. Should have known it was a trap.

“Such a hero,” the hippie murmurs.

The sweaty feeling increases. What iswrongwith these people?

The moonlight glints off something behind them, and I realize it’s Eden’s glasses. Her face is tense and white, and I frown, distracted. She looks like she’s being chased, but a quick glance around tells me there’s nothing behind her.

Who the hell scared off Miss Manners?

Just then, she looks up, her big eyes getting all wide as she takes it all in.

And fuck if this isn’t embarrassing. Pinned to a boulder by an infant and two geriatric hippies.

The girl—Kasey or whatever—rocks back on her heels excitedly. “I think he used kung fu! That’s how he killed all five of them. He’s probably a master.”

The hippie nods seriously. “And thank God for that. It’s been too long since I trained.”

I stare at her. Are theyhigh? “It wasn’t kung?—”

The fancy one, Ida, starts stretching, and I’m so fucking done. Fuck dignity.

“I don’t know kung fu!” I snap as the hippie joins in, dropping into a deep lunge.

I shoot Eden a panicked look over their heads, to find her anxious frown gone. She looks like she’s trying not to smile—so I scowl at her too.

Eden presses her fingers to her mouth, then walks over. “Jayk, could you help me find something to eat?”

Relief breaks through my chest. As the flock of hens in front of me turn to look at her, a gap opens, and I start edging between them.

And I’m notfleeing. This was just a stacked fight.

“Did you hear?” the kid asks Eden in an innocent voice that makes my hackles rise. “He’s a total superhero. He killedtenof those jerks with a Pez dispenser and then carried me out of the battle by his pinkie.”

I pause my retreat as it finally hits me. “Are you allfuckingwith me?”

Kasey snorts first, then the women next to her, then suddenly they’re all breaking into peals of laughter.

The hippie howls. “Kung fu! At my age! Could you imagine it?”

“Ethel, my God.” Ida slings an arm around her shoulders and laughs into her hair. “I’m going to imagine it daily.”

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