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“Hey,” Darien protested. “It was eight against one, and I was so plastered I couldn’t even see straight. I got my ass handed to me, so my pissing and moaning was justified, thank you very much.”
Tanner sat down on the arm of the couch and crossed his ankles. “I thought you said Dominic was there.”
“Dominic was so high, he was standing by the bar taking swings at his reflection until someone pushed his head through the mirror.” The others burst into laughter. Darien added, “Don’t tell him I told you that.” The Angel was staying the night. He was on the top floor, too far away to hear this conversation. Blue had the room right beside his, and she was being monitored by Familiars and Devils that were taking shifts.
Loren eyed him with a mixture of humor and disapproval.
Darien laughed, shoulders shaking with amusement.
She swatted his arm. “Don’t move,” she scolded.
Tanner said, “Reminds me of that time you took out those seven kids for me at school.”
“There were eight,” Darien corrected. “And I won.” Loren was looking up at him in question. He explained, “Tanner had just moved to town and didn’t have any friends—”
The hacker cut in, “Darien saw me getting picked on, so he decided to stand up for me. The assholes had stolen my tablet.”
“You won against eight of them?” Loren asked him.
“He did,” Tanner said. “Only got hit once, right?” He looked at Darien.
“Twice,” Darien admitted.
Tanner smiled in remembrance. “Good times.”
Loren smiled up at Darien. “You’re amazing,” she told him.
“I’ve had my moments.”
Loren finished up with the salve and sat back to assess her work. She popped the lid back on the tin, twisting it tight.
“It probably won’t scar,” she said. “But I’ll have to get you some more. You’ll need to apply it three times a day.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
Mortifer hopped down onto his lap to inspect the wounds, his mannerisms reminding Darien of a squirrel monkey.
“Don’t worry, buddy,” Darien told him. Red eyes peered up at him in concern. “I’m fine, I promise.”
“What do you think that thing was?” Tanner asked around a yawn.
“I have no idea.” When he spoke again, he looked his sister in the eyes first, followed by Max and Tanner. “But I don’t want any of you taking jobs at the Crossroads until we find out. Understood?”
All three of them were quick to nod.
Loren was staring at the angry wounds, her teeth worrying her lower lip. “Your ink…” Her mouth twisted into a frown. “Well, I hate to say this, but it might be wrecked.”
“I know,” he sighed. He tipped up her chin with a knuckle. “I’m trying not to think about that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for that, silly girl.” He circled her mouth with his thumb, the sensation making her shiver. Even with the level of pain he was experiencing, the sight of that mouth brought back very recent memories of being inside there. Damn, that had felt incredible. Best blowjob he’d ever had. “Don’t ever apologize.”
Ivy said, “How did you kill it, Darien?”
“I used a blade I found in the tunnel. Must’ve been an old weapon or something.”
Mortifer suddenly clambered down off the couch and padded into the entrance hall, his webbed feet making a sticking sound on the hard floor. Everybody watched in silence as the Hob leapt up onto the glass table to inspect the hand-carved bowl of coins, small fingers braced on the curved edge as he stood on his tiptoes to peer inside.
