As if a man as conniving as him did anything by chance.
“Well then, it’s good timing,” Homer offered. “We were about to end the day with some sparring.”
An already annoyingly perky Magnum seemed to perk up more at that. “Excellent. That’s the most fun part.” He then looked at the five of us expectantly.
It was only then that I realized my friends and I were standing around openly staring at him, our postures tight and angry—and he was supposed to be a longtime family friend we adored.
Not the man who’d orchestrated everything in our lives only to study and murder us, study and murder us, rinse and repeat.
Fuck. Him.Hard.
Any qualms I’d had about wiping him from the face of the Earth: gone.
My previous exhaustion: gone.
I was jittery with the desire to pounce and attack until his bloody corpse lay on the ground.
But we couldn’t fuck up. Not now, and especially not with him.
Before I could overcome the disgust of being near him, I forced myself to paste a smile on my face that said I was happy to see him, not that I was in that very moment fantasizing about clubbing him to a bloody death with a fallen branch.
“Hey, Uncle Magnum,” I heard myself say like the words didn’t make me want to gag. “How’ve you been?”
I had no idea how we were expected to interact with him and hoped that was a safe bet. “No hugs today unless you wanna smell like you’ve gone ten rounds with these beasts of instructors you sent us.”
Magnum studied me for a beat too long, long enough for me to worry we weren’t huggers. But then he smiled again.
“Aw, then you’ll owe me double hugs next time.”
Layla warned,
Griffin said.
Magnum drew closer to me, and I felt Griffin move to my back.
Hunt cautioned.
Griffin remained where he was.
Magnum’s gaze traveled from me to him and back. “How’s the training been going?” He glanced at our teachers for a moment. “How’ve they been treating you?”
I chuckled, surprised I was able to. “Like they don’t think we’ll need to be able to walk tomorrow.”
Brady stepped forward. “Like they’re trying to kill us.”
From behind Magnum, I caught Armando’s reaction—he jerked, then tried to pretend he hadn’t.
Brady laughed and palmed Magnum on the back. “You know us well, Uncle Magnum. We’re eating this shit up. Guess we’re gluttons for punishment.”
“Not me,” Layla said. “I’m not.”
Laughter circled our group, and I felt my body relax, even if it was all fake.
“What, Lay, can’t keep up with the others?” Magnum teased.
I immediately told her. If I was wrestling with the urge to twist his head till his neck wentpop, then so must she be.
Laywasournickname for her.
