Page 43 of Hell on Wheels
Good question.
The demon pulls his phone out and scrolls for a moment. “All he said was he didn’t order this one and his staff is working to find out where the call came from.”
“I don’t like that,” Damon murmurs. “A mysterious meeting and anonymous request? This feels like a trap, but I can’t decide if it’s for us or if it has to do with the family.”
“Has your dad done something insane we should all know about?” Rebel asks drily. “You’re supposed to keep us informed if family business might affect the rest of us.”
Angelo shakes his head, furrowing his brow as he looks at his phone. “I know. But nothing out of the ordinary is going on atthe moment. He’s making deals and defending turf, but nothing that would make any of the others demand a sit down.”
“Nothing they’re not doing, too.” Damon shrugs. “It’s pretty quiet on that front. If something is going on that’s bigger, it’s being hidden. And Luca would lose his shit if his spies weren’t reporting every detail.”
“Okay. Not Luca and his goons. Mina and her followers aren’t powerful enough to be doing this shit without someone backing them. There must be a puppet master involved and whoever it is either has the sway to arrange this or friends who could. Agreed?” I lean back against the pillowy couch and Archie’s arm slips behind me to rub the crown of my head with his fingers.
Probably not the smartest move if we want to keep our secret, but damned if I want him to stop.
“Agreed,” Rebel says as he frowns. “If that’s the case, then we have some serious detective work to do before this fucking thing. We have no idea who we can trust if they’re this deeply embedded.”
Javi interrupts us, calling out from the kitchen. “Food’s ready. We can discuss this more while we eat.”
I’m not gonna say ‘no’ to that.
Shut Up and Drive
Javier distracted us with dinner, but I can’t help running everything that’s happened in the past few days through my mind.
It feelsfartoo coincidental that all this shit is happening at once, and since I don’t have all the facts, I can’t put the pieces together. Rogue never hides things from me; the bombshell dropped by that damn package has me seething and I’m sure it was meant to. How someone who has ties to the upper echelon of power inthe city’s gangs knew my sister was coloring outside the lines, I don’t know. It’s possible they have a magic user, I suppose, and if that person slipped a mark or object in her stuff one of the times we were out, they might find out her secrets.
Secrets she never keeps from me—especially not ones this big.
“Reb, you’ve gone silent,” Javi says as he looks at me.
The rest of the table is talking and laughing, passing bowls back and forth as they chow down. I’m sure my reticence is noticeable, but only the quietest of my best friends has noticed. “I can’t stop thinking about Rogue refusing to tell me what’s going on.”
He frowns. “Rebel, she’s a grown woman. Iknowyou know that. She doesn’t have to tell you everything, especially intensely personal shit like her sex life.”
“Mating isnotjust her sex life. It’s… forever, man. This is what our people do instead of marriage. You know as well as I do that while Fae are liberal in accepting mates not of our species and polygamous groups, not all supes are. If she’s destined for someone with traditional ties or blood lines, her hybrid status and being adopted might force them to choose between her and family. There’s so much shit involved here that I bet she hasn’t considered. She thinks with her heart first, man.”
“That’s for damn sure, but Rogue is a smart woman. She wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t right; you know that.” The phoenix smirks a little as he looks at me. “Think about how picky she is about her shoes, and they only go on her feet.”
“Oh, Jesus. You’vegotto stop letting her talk you into watching shit likeClueless. It’s warping your brain,” I say as I shake my head. “Besides, we both know she’s chosen as many morons as Ihave in the romance department. Growing up with all of us has made her think with her little head as much as we do.”
“Who thinks with their little head?”
My eyes widen as I look down at my stepsister. She’s licking the mashed potatoes off her spoon in a way that should be illegal. “Uh…”
Archie leans back in his chair and howls with laughter. “If anyone wants to know how the hell to shut him up, we have the answer, gents.”
“Shut it,” Rogue mutters, elbowing him in the ribs hard enough to make the lion yelp. “What were you saying, Reb? Mmm?”
She definitely heard me and I’m screwed.
“I was saying, uh, well…” I slap my palms on the table and look at them all with a shrug. “I said growing up with us made you act like a dude when it comes to sex. You’ve made as many bad decisions as the rest of us because you were chasing a nice ass.”
Everything goes quiet as she ponders for a moment, but then Rogue grins wickedly. “It’s a shame big dicks are so often attached to dumb as shit and nice tits come with a side of crazy.”
Fuck, she’s perfect.
I laugh along with the rest of them, surreptitiously adjusting my hard as hell dick in my jeans. If Rogue wasn’t my stepsister, I would have locked her down years ago. We’re almost like two halves of a flame, hot and cold, and that we were adopted into the same household has been cursed a thousand times by now. That’s probably why this mating business is bothering me so much—not only is my closest friend hiding shit from me, she’sgoing to ride off into the sunset with several people whoaren’t me.