“I’ll find it,” Grim states.
A bang on the door startles me and I spin around.
“That was fast,” Gunnar mumbles under his breath, as he hops up and walks the few steps to the door, opening it without even verifying who it is.
Calix has both hands braced against the doorframe. His bare chest is heaving as he gulps in lungsful of air as if he’s been running. I move in his direction. “Are you okay?” He steps into the room, his nose wrinkling as he quickly glares around the space. Calix tosses the crumpled fabric in his hand on the bed. It takes a moment for me to realize it’s his shirt.
“F-Fine,” he finally pants, making direct eye contact with me after he assesses the room, seeming to find it as lacking as the rest of us.
Gunnar snorts and pushes the door shut too hard, so it slams. “Kitten, we need to use our manners,” I warn him, so we don’t disturb the entire fourth floor. The man-child gives me a slight eyeroll, and I snicker a bit. I do love his little tantrums.
“Took you long enough,” Gunnar goads Calix, even though he’s only been here a handful of minutes himself, and he told me it would probably take Calix hours to arrive.
Calix turns slowly to face the other man. There’s something exceptionally graceful about the way Calix moves. It’s even more pronounced now. I’m not sure if it’s because he just came out of a shift or not. He tilts his head slightly and lowers his chin. “I can’t just snap my fingers and fucking appear.” Calix’s voice isn’t much more than a growl.
He’s usually laid back, making a joke out of how easy it is to rile up Gunnar, but he seems pretty on edge himself right now.
“Grim, did you say you were going to get the stuff from the car?” I interject to de-escalate the situation like a fucking adult. That’s all we need, them trashing a hotel room like a bunch of teenagers. I don’t know if I should feel proud of myself or check to see if someone delivered my AARP card for senior citizen discounts in the past few weeks.
I cut my eyes to Gunnar, as if he’s the one to blame for my newfound maturity. The look on my face must say a lot, because he jerks his head back and looks around a little confused as to why he’s on the receiving end of my ire. Wisely, he doesn’t poke at Calix again, and it seems to work. Calix, still breathing hard, returns his gaze to mine.
I school my features and wait for Grim’s response. “I will shortly, now that the Nemean has arrived,” he answers, then lifts one elegant finger into the air and makes a small circle. “This isn’t going to work.”
“What?” My mind immediately starts constructing scenarios of him telling me he’s leaving for good.
“This hovel.” Grim pulls his shoulders back as if he’s waiting for someone to argue. I don’t acknowledge the relief I feel when I realize my thoughts were misplaced. I don’t want my first thought to be that they’re going to leave me when shit like this happens, but I don’t think pretending it didn’t happen is the right thing to do to make it stop.
“I’ll get us an Airbnb,” Gunnar says, returning to the end of the bed where he was sitting before Calix arrived.
“Something with more privacy. You should have seen the receptionist’s face when I walked in. She had her hand on the phone, ready to call the cops on me, I’m sure.” Calix heads straight to the bathroom, not waiting for anyone’s reply before closing himself inside.
“Walking around half naked in the middle of the night probably didn’t help your case.” Gunnar leans back and folds his arm behind his head, relaxing.
“She’s lucky I was only half naked,” Calix retorts loudly through the door.
“So are you,” I mumble under my breath. All three of them make me irrationally territorial. I thought after a little time passed, it would get better, but I’m still waiting.
“Don’t worry, Dami. I like my parts right where they are, and fortunately for me, I know you do too.” Calix struts out of the bathroom. His hair is damp around his face as if he may have splashed some water on himself. There are a few drops of water sprinkled on his chest too. I get distracted for a moment.
“I never threatened to cut your parts off.” I try for an innocent sulk, but I know I fail miserably. “I just told her what would happen if she bumped into you again.” He’s referencing a night a few weeks ago. We went to check out Vanessa’s old club. There’s a new witch running it now, and we needed to make sure she wasn’t up to the bitchy dead witch’s antics.
Calix tosses his head back and laughs. I rake my eyes over him. Damn, he looks delectable. His easy grin has returned, and he looks at me with a twinkle in his eye. “You told her if she needed a dick so badly, you’d ‘saw one off and shove it in her head.’ I’m just relieved to know you weren’t talking about mine.”
“Of course I wasn’t talking about yours,” I scoff quietly. Hearing him say it out loud, I have to admit it does seem rather harsh, but she did brush up against him three times. I think I showed restraint. I mean, I didn’t do it, did I?
Grim walks over and places a soft sweet kiss on my temple. “The sun is almost up. Get some rest. I will return soon.” I lean against him and gather a bit of his shirt as I give him a tight half hug.
“No staying gone forever without checking in,” I warn, taking in a deep breath of his unique scent. He still makes my mouth water, but I haven’t beeneatingvery much. I feel like something inside me shifted when I consumed those souls the night we killed Vanessa. I won’t allow the fact that she offed herself before we could do it sully the memory of her death.
“Never forever.” He cradles my cheeks and slides his lips over mine in a delicate dance of destruction. I lean up on my toes to steal a few moments more as he begins to pull away.
Before I open my eyes, I hear the bathroom door shut loudly. It’s not slammed though, so I’ll take that as a win. I don’t need to look to know it was Gunnar. He’s still not okay with open affection, unless it’s him showing the affection, that is. Then he doesn’t mind at all.
Chapter 6
I’m used to waking up hot—horny too, considering I’m between at least two very sexy men—but this is damn near ridiculous. The room is so hot, I’m literally damp with sweat. I went to bed in just my t-shirt and panties since Grim hadn’t returned with my things when I climbed onto the lumpy, overused bed.
I push my arms against Gunnar’s chest, vying for enough space to free myself from him and Calix. He doesn’t even budge, the big bastard. Instead he lets out a rattling snore. “I’m cooking. This is how I’m going to die. Stuck between you two like some fucking hog on a spit.”
