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“Stop.” I gulped. This hurt like hell. “Stop calling me that.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Goodnight.”
Damn him!
CHAPTER 14
Maxine
Ellie woke up with a start. I knew this because I was leaning over her and looking at her beautiful face. She went wide-eyed and said, “Hey there.”
“I’m hungry.” I was feeling better this morning. I had a renewed sense of confidence and an appetite for two things. One of them, I was going to indulge. The other, I was going to avoid to the best of my ability. That meant getting to common areas like the line for breakfast, first.
She eased to a sitting position as I moved to stand. “Ready?”
“Uh. Two minutes.” Then Ellie surprised me by saying, “Um, Case?”
I felt my brow go up.
Ellie got out of bed and went to her wardrobe as Case moved slowly out of mine. Was Case upset with me or still recovering? I didn’t know. It was the first time in a long time that I felt disconnected.
“Case, do you have a uh… comb or… hat… maybe?” she asked and I crossed my arms and looked at her like she was nuts. Why did she need to borrow my hair products?
“Your hair looks on point, Ellie. Like perfectly tousled braids. What do you need a comb or hat for?” I asked.
She cleared her throat as she pulled her casual clothes on and said to Case, not me, “Something that will help make it a bit more… traditional Maxine and less… Medusa-like, maybe?”
“What?” I made my way to a mirror. The scream was not silenced and I was certain everyone on our side of the building, much less our floor, heard it. Hell, they may have heard it in town.
The scream was all it took for my crazy-ass hair to drop from the ‘electrocuted serpent’ stage and back into blonde strands. A banging at the door was no doubt expected.
Ellie went to answer it and I heard her say, “I mean, she is kind of a princess, so you understand, right?”
When she closed the doors, she said, “Good thing I’m your bestie because I don’t think you made new fans this morning.”
“What the hell is happening to me?” I asked and looked at my bestie for an answer.
“My understanding was that you are evolving.” She made a bit of a celebratory hand gesture. “And if anyone understands what it’s like to not know herself, it’s me. Only, your evolution is taking on a much more physical transformation than—”
“Suck me.” I offered her my arm, then my neck. Her shocked expression didn’t change. “I’m serious! Get over here and take it. All of it.”
She giggled and said, “If our monsters could hear you talking like this we may have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Your monster does hear her. Let her talk.” Braz was at the window. As a gargoyle, he could fly so he often popped by.
“Ellie!” I was going crazy. I looked at Case who was heading back to the closet and said, “Stop!. You wait right there. What is going on with you? With me?”
Case couldn’t speak with words, but there was always something inside it could show me to help me understand and it always understood me. The lid started to open, then closed as if on a sigh, then it turned and went back into my wardrobe and closed the door to that closet.
“I can’t.” I was going to have a complete meltdown. “I can’t do this. I don’t know what this is.”
“Did you tell her?” Braz asked as he propped an elbow up on the windowsill.
Ellie answered, “Tell her his theory? No. It’s a theory. Not fact. Until there is evidence—”
“I’m right here.” I pointed out to the couple debating my situation. “Tell me the theory.”
“You’re pregnant.” Braz had none of the subtlety his mate possessed.
