Page 24 of Burn of Obsidian
His punch caught Lucy square in the jaw, hard enough it knocked him back, his teeth red when he turned back with a grin. “See, he’s fine.” He spat blood at his feet. “Same old cheery self.”
Jax really needed to stop sharing shit with Lucifer.
Axel stormed over, and before he could react he’d yanked at Jax’s shoulder. The bone popped back into place, the dull ache immediately relieved.
“Thanks,” Jax grunted.
“What the fuck was that about?” Axel hissed, getting in his face.
Jax stepped back, not wanting to argue with his brother. “Nothing.”
“That’s not fucking nothing, J! You’ve been in a foul fucking mood for days now, and now this?”
“It was nothing,” Jax growled, taking out his frustrations on him. Thea hadn’t called, and Riley was up his arse about the pages. He didn’t have the patience to deal with Axel, too. It was an ongoing argument that Jax allowed his beast to take control too much.
“And what’s Luce going on about a wallet?”
Lucifer chuckled behind, and Jax shot him a warning glare over his shoulder. “It’s nothing.” He wasn’t sure why he’d allowed Thea to take his wallet from his back pocket. He was hyper aware of everything she did, and it had amused him at the time.
Most people quaked in their boots if he was in their face. But rather than be intimidated, his rainbow girl had stolen from him.
Why the fuck had that turned him on?
“I’d hate to break up this naked party thing you have going on,” Lucy interrupted, his smirk growing. “But the cleaners are about to walk in and see everything.”
Jax simply crossed his arms while Axel scrambled through the scraps of their clothing. He didn’t give a shit if the two witches saw him naked. He’d dealt with the cleaners on numerous occasions, and he was as wary of them as they were of him.
Little tapping of heels echoed, and all three of them turned as the witches appeared. They both wore all black, with Viktoria dressed in an ankle length tight dress, and her husband, Viktor, in a matching suit. Not a hair was out of place, a stain on their clothes, or a single smudge on their patent shoes.
“You,” Viktoria barked, pointing a perfectly manicured nail toward Axel. “Tell me what happened.” Her accent was that of the perfect upper class English.
Lucifer moved to stand beside Jax as Axel explained, holding a chunk of fabric in front of his groin. Jax’s nose scrunched, the reek of ozone pouring from the witches so strong he wanted to sneeze.
“They give me the creeps,” Lucifer muttered quietly, and Jax simply nodded.
Viktor turned, dark eyes narrowing on them both. Jax met his gaze, only looking away once Viktor dropped his attention to his briefcase. The only reason Riley had them on retainer was because they were the best, even if they were strange. They sold themselves as witches, but they had more characteristics of vampires. From pale skin and black eyes, to precise movements and pointed canines. Except vampires were once human, and didn’t have access to their chi. The cleaners clearly practised magic, which meant they couldn’t possibly be vampires.
With a click, the gold clasp of the briefcase opened, and Viktor rummaged inside the red velvet. Without a word he pulled out a cloth, holding it up toward his wife.
“Da,” she said, waving her hand towards him without looking away from Axel. “You need to leave – all of you – before you make it worse.” Her head turned, studying Lucifer, then Jax before returning quickly to Axel.
“We need to up our prices, Zayka.” Viktor muffled low in Russian. “Too often, we’re called to deal with this mess. They do not take proper precautions.”
“You can discuss that with Mr Storm,” Jax answered in the same language. “If you’re unsatisfied with the business, then we’ll look elsewhere.”
Viktor blinked in surprise, lips parting slightly.
“Ignore my husband,” Viktoria snapped in English, shooting him a scowl. “We accept the job, and will send our usual invoice to Mr Storm. He is our most generous client.”
Viktor looked disgruntled, but didn’t comment.
Viktoria, while continuing to scowl at her husband, pulled out her phone and lifted it to her ear. “Da?” She turned to Jax, her boots clicking against the concrete as she closed the distance. She thrust the phone at him, only to immediately turn back toward her husband. “Be gone, we have work to do.”
Axel bowed his head gently. “We appreciate your discretion as usual, Viktoria. Viktor.”
Jax copied the bow, taking a step away before placing the phone to his ear.
“The Council’s called an emergency meeting,” Riley said without a greeting. “Seems they’re finally showing concern for Gideon.”