Page 61 of Hell on Wheels
Damon moves to square off with his twin, but I step between them. My wings pop free as I glare at them, then shoot a deadly look at the rest of the angry-looking men in the kitchen.“Absolutely the fuck not. I refuse to let you guys fight over or about me, especially when you’re all full of shit.”
“What?” my vengeance demon says as he frowns. “How are we wrong?”
Rebel crosses his arms over his chest, surprisingly quiet. Usually, he’s the one pissing me off with overprotective bullshit, but this time, he’s leaning against the counter with a smirk. Archie’s prowling around the room while Javier looks at me in concern as he pours drinks. That’s less shocking because his go-to for calming the room is to play the affable host.
“The rink might not be safe; that’s true. But you’re wrong to assume I’ll sign off on being cooped up here until you deem it safe. That could be a long damn time and I refuse to put my life on pause for that bitch or her mobbed up friends.” Lifting my hand, I let a fireball form in my palm, watching it shift from Damon’s blue to Angelo’s red. “Besides taking care of myself for years without babysitters, I seem to have picked up a few new tricks. I’mnota damsel in distress.”
He sighs, pursing his lips in irritation. “I didn’t say you can’t, Princess. But you don’t understand how goddamn scary it was forallof us to walk into Flo’s and see you laid out like a broken doll. It damn near took me out at the knees.”
I blink, looking at each guy for confirmation, and the devastation on their faces confirms his words. “I-I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“Rogue, you must be blocking some of it out. Youused your wings, sis. Youneveruse your dust because it’s classified as lethal force.” Reb’s voice is hoarse as he looks at me with haunted eyes. “That should tell you how frightenedyou wereforyour life, much less how terrifying it was when we found you on the ground.”
“We can’t help being overprotective now,” Archie adds. “Since we mated with you, Wheels, that drive is pushing my cat to protect his queen. I’m sure their demons, his phoenix… and even dumbass’ Fae power… are all doing the same to them.”
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I suppress the urge to scream. I’m a big girl and I can handle damn nearanything butemotional shit. No one taught me what to do with this kind of conversation; Graciella and Odhran didn’t give a flying fuck if I was well adjusted. Reb’s worse off because he’s a dude, but we didn’t have good examples like Archie did.
“Dragonfly, my parents weren’t exactly warm and you know the twins grew up with… challenges.” Javier holds out my favorite drink, the Rainbow Mule, and I give him a grateful look. “Only the big pussy over there had that advantage. So this is hard for us, too. We’re trying to respect your boundaries and act like adults versus knuckle-dragging idiots.”
“Hey!”
Archie’s protest makes me giggle, and the tension seeps out of my shoulders. “You’re right. None of us except him have experience dealing with emotions healthily. We’ve all been taught violence or rage is the way to express shit.”
“If it works, don’t fix it,” Rebel mutters with a pout. “Doing it this way isn’t fixing anything, as far as I can tell.”
Frowning at him, I shake my head. “That’s not true, actually. I’m calmer now than I was and so is Spite Boy. In fact, the vibe in the room has settled down immensely. Maybe it’s not so bad.”
Javier grins, handing Reb a Jameson. “See? We’re learning together. And maybe our girl understands why we’re so hyperactive about her safety now.”
“I do, Javi, but we have to come to a compromise. I have practice tomorrow and a match this weekend. The caged bird doesn’t sing, right?” I sip my drink with a cheerful smile, then go on. “Plus, wehaveto go to that damn triathlon thing. Reb and I will probably switch off during and we can’t scratch our entry.”
My step-brother blinks, cursing under his breath. “And we have to figure out what the fuck is going on with the meeting. That means we have to see and be seen so we can pump people for info.”
Angelo winces as he rubs the back of his neck. “And our parents will have to be informed one by one. No way we can go into that thing with such a big secret. If come fucking empath or spell sucker or whatever figures it out, it’ll become leverage.”
“Do weneedleverage?” I ask curiously.
Damon shrugs and tugs me against his chest. “Who knows? We might and I sure as hell don’t want them to get any on us. Even my dad can’t be trusted with that kind of shit.”
This is why I don’t trust anyone—you have no idea what their motivations are until they throw their cards down.
***
The guys let our imminent trouble drop for a bit until after dinner. I was glad for it because I got to shower, change into a comfy PJ tank set, and chow down on Javi’s famous fajitas. Having some self-care time and a full belly went a long waytowards helping me be less grouchy when we finished cleaning up. One by one, everyone filed into the living room, getting comfortable in the massive furniture.
“Okay. So we need to make plans or we’re gonna fuck this shit up,” I say as I look at them. “You guys are so pumped full of testosterone because of the… sex… thing that it’s making your short tempers worse.”
Archie snorts. “Tell me about it. I almost took a dude’s head off at practice today. He was being a dick, but no more than usual.”
Great. There’s another fucking thing for me to worry about.
“That’s my point. We have to engage the damn logic brains, not the lizard ones.” I wink at him playfully and he rolls his eyes, but nods. “Damon, find a notebook or something. We have to write all the shit we have going on and what we’re doing.”
The submissive demon smiles at me as he hops up, following my order without a word. Angelo laughs, shaking his head. “Oh, Princess. You’ve got my twin wrapped around your pinky like a promise string.”
“As if he’s complaining,” I shoot back. He holds up his hands, still smirking as we all wait for D to get back. When he does, he hands me a small black hard cover journal and a pen.Perfect.“Thanks, baby. This is exactly what I needed.”
“Alright, alright. Enough praise,” Reb grunts. “You have the right idea; let’s get all of this shit down and assign tasks.”