“Come on.” Rack stepped closer and clapped a hand onto my shoulder, tipping his head toward the exit. “Clean-up’s already coming for him.” He threw his head toward Manshu’s husk. “Let’s get home before she wakes up.”
“Yeah.” I immediately shrugged his hand off with a look of disgust. “I love you, dude, but I don’t feel for you in that way.”
His laugh echoed through the room as he walked ahead of me. “You’ll share a woman with me, but touching your shoulder crosses the line?” He glanced back, still laughing under his breath. “Fucking psycho.”
***
Rack peeled the car away from the track the second I ducked into the backseat with Via in my arms. Behind us, the crowd poured out of the stadium entrance in loud waves, but the tinted windows and roaring engine cut most of it off until it sounded distant and unimportant.
Via rested limp against my chest while I stared down at her, unable to stop the smile tugging at my mouth.
Lately, everything had felt like it was pressing down on me. The blade. The Syndicate. The weight of being the one everyone expected answers from. Then Via crashed into my life like a meteor, and she was… Beautiful. Violent. Complicated.
Every emotion inside me had been clawing in different directions ever since, but now? Now, something inside me finally felt… lighter. Like I could breathe again. Like the version of myself everyone used to know wasn’t gone after all.
The car rolled into the garage, and the second the engine died, Via stirred. Her lashes fluttered before her eyes slowly cracked open. Confusion crossed her face first, then heat flooded her cheeks the moment she realized she was sprawled across my lap.
Her gaze dropped downward, and she immediately folded inward on herself, one arm flying across her chest while she squeezed her thighs together and twisted sideways like she could somehow hide her nakedness all at once.
“C-Calix…”
The embarrassed stammer barely got out before I leaned forward and lightly bumped my nose against hers.
“You don’t have to hide from us.” My hand brushed teasingly at the arm covering her chest. “You have a gorgeous body.” My eyes flicked toward Rack in the front seat before settling back on her. “And when it’s just you and your mates…” My grin widened. “You can show us whatever you want.”
Her entire face short-circuited. “M-mates?”
“Calix.” Rack’s voice carried that calm warning tone he used whenever I was being unbearable. “We agreed we’d explainafterwe got to the house.”
I spread my hands dramatically. “Weareat the house. The garage counts as part of the house.”
Rack rolled his eyes so hard I thought he might actually injure himself. “You know exactly what I meant.”
“I know what you meant,” I shot back immediately, lifting my chin. Via tried to slide off my lap, but I tightened my hold and pulled her back against me without breaking eye contact with him. “But what was I supposed to do? Sit there and suffer silently?”
He pointed toward the door with sharp annoyance. “You couldn’t wait ten more steps?”
I looked toward the door like I was genuinely considering the distance before turning back to him in horror. “That far? Absolutely not. That’s basically torture.”
Rack climbed out of the car, muttering under his breath, but he opened the car door for me so I could carry Via into the house.
“And don’t act like it would’ve stopped there,” I continued loudly. “You would’ve wanted to get her upstairs first, then abath, then some overly emotional quiet moment while steam filled the room and?—”
Rack’s mouth twitched. Just once.I knew it!
“While this is very entertaining…” Via interrupted, her voice dry despite the pink still staining her cheeks. “I would actually like to know what’s happening.”
I looked down at her with a grin, pleased that we were so similar. “Of course you do. It only makes perfect sense.”
Kissing her forehead, I shot Rack the most obnoxious look possible. He only sighed like he regretted every life choice that had brought him here.
Before he could say anything else, I blurred into motion and carried her inside.
I dropped onto the couch with her still in my arms while she glanced down at herself, blinking. “Wait… Didn’t I have blood all over me?”
Without answering, I zipped upstairs and back down again fast enough to stir the air. I dropped a shirt and shorts beside her.
“I personally think this conversation would benefit from less clothing,” I announced while she snatched the clothes at lightning speed. “But Rack informed me normal people enjoy comfort and dignity.”
