Page 43 of Snake Eyes & Bad Luck

“Get up, we’re heading out.” Skull-face pushed away from the door. Rat skittered inside the doorway with a sheepish grin.

“Rat, who was that?” she grumbled.

“Take a guess,” Rat snorted as he crept up beside the bed.

“Don’t tell me his name is Bones.” Avelina rolled her eyes.

“Wow, you are good. Boss doesn’t pay you enough.” Rat bobbed his head enthusiastically as the grumpy warlock clambered out of bed.

“Boss,” she sneered with heavy venom. Once up on her feet, she stumbled over to the dresser for whatever clean clothes she could find. “Does not pay me.”

“Well, he will after this job!” Rat toddled over to where she was. He touched everything in the room as she pulled on a skirt over the leggings she wore to sleep. Then, because she was a hollowed-out husk, carved out potato with a spoon, or whatever other delightful metaphor her brain came up with as an excuse, she pulled the sleep shirt off her body. Rat had the decency to turn away but was still fiddling with stuff as she pulled on a clean shirt. She was out of outfits and would need to do laundry.

Except she wasn’t…Avelina was leaving today. The first moment she got? Out she went. Avelina was booking it for the hills and never looking back. Callum didn’t get to rip her heart out of her chest, stomp on it, and keep her.

Avelina wasn’t getting paid for this job and she wasn’t getting any of her other things back. Funnily, she didn’t care. There was no planning. If she planned, there would be time to talk her out of it. No, she could only improvise and go. That way, she had no way to find a way to redeem him in her head.

In the midst of tying her boots to her ankles, Grahm popped his head in. “Ya almost ready?”

“Yeah!” Rat chirped.

“Not you, numbskull,” Grahm grumbled.

“Wow, you all hate each other as much as he does,” she blurted out. Both men blinked at each other than glanced at her, bewildered. Avelina glared at her own toes. Inside thoughts, Avelina! Slowly standing, she turned to face them. “What are you two doing? Why isn’t Callum here to get me, himself?”

“Boss went ahead,” Rat murmured. He shuffled out fast, darting around Grahm. Avelina followed his movements, but Grahm shifted specifically to be in her way.

“We’re meeting him at the tavern.” Grahm studied her with a long, hard stare. She looked him dead in the eyes. No one is going to make me cower again. He stood straighter, sizing her up. Her hands immediately went to her hips, and she raised a brow in response.

“Are we going to look at each other all day or are we going to the tavern?” she blurted out.

“I don’t get it,” Grahm sighed, shaking his head. Oh great, more games. Avelina sucked on her teeth. There was a moment when she could shove her way out into the cabin. If Callum wasn’t there to protect her, she couldn’t be caught being soft or complacent with his crew. Most of them didn’t even know her name. She’d spent less time with them, either by Callum’s design or chance, who knew, but she didn’t want to find out.

“Get what?” she asked, cocking her hip.

“Why he cares.” Grahm squinted at her. Flames licked up her inside. Why he cares? She could taste her anger, a bitter vinegar filled her mouth as she closed the distance between them. Grahm flinched backward, falling back on his ass. The whispers started again. They licked the back of her ears as she loomed over him. Magic thrummed under her skin.

She blinked, glancing up to find a room full of Callum’s crew. About thirty or more faces, some crammed in the room, some peering in from outside, all dirty and scuffed. They watched her with a variety of expressions, some intrigued, some disgusted, some angry. She took a few seconds to scan them before swallowing the madness brewing in her mouth. If she broke out into a fight here, there was no winning. The bottle neck alone to the front door was a fool’s errand. She didn’t imagine she could get to the trap door either. Every fantasized escape route ended with a dagger in her back.

With a sharp, deep breath through her nose, she smiled down at Grahm. Each word came through gritted teeth. “Don’t. Make. Me. Laugh.”

“Yeah, Grahm,” Bones sneered with a disgusted curl of his upper lip. “She’s creepy when she smiles.”

“Fuck off,” Grahm barked and climbed to his feet. He kept glancing back at her with disdain. He’s going to be a problem. She didn’t spend any time with any of them, but Grahm seemed to hate her on principle. It didn’t make sense. Guess it doesn’t have to…These were Callum’s outlaws. He may hate their guts, but they belong to him. She was the new shiny toy. She slept in his bed. Realistically, she expected it.

She just did not expect it without Callum somewhere nearby.

Avelina stepped out into the room and took the offered, tinfoil-wrapped something from Rat. The crew filed out, listening to barked orders from Grahm. While they all unwrapped their food, she let hers go cold in her hand. She kept to the back and her mouth shut. Everyone filed out and she followed them out into Gloomsdale.

As much as she hated to think it, her best plan of attack was still to slip out at Parandor. Especially as every move, she felt eyeballs stuck to her. Someone from somewhere watched everything she did. It made sense to act compliant. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, leaving the breakfast behind, and kept up with the crowd. With Tala’s message stone in one pocket, the seeing stone in the other, she twisted the smooth rocks around in her fingers to keep herself grounded. The whispers started up again, growing more rowdy with each passing moment.

Feed us.

She swallowed over her dry tongue.

Let us eat them.

Her skin itched. She craved the release of digging her fingernails into the back of her neck. The skin would peel back so easily, she was sure if she just dragged her nails across it.