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“Drop him in.” I snap my fingers and all three men freeze in place, silence blanketing the hallway.
“What? You can’t mean that! Izabella, no!” Nic finally stumbles to his feet, hands reaching out in defense as he backs gingerly down the hall. All three of us follow him step for step and a wicked grin lights up my face at the terror plastered on his.
I whistle sharply and my little trash pandas come running, their barks and squeaks like a soundtrack to Nic’s worst nightmare. They round into the hall from their room, coming to a stop directly behind Nic, crouching low in attack mode. All they need is a cue and they’ll corral him with ease. For now, they just snap warning bites at his ass, making him squeal in a rather girlish way.
“Yes,mi vida, I do.” I take a page out of Nic’s dictionary, and what was supposed to be a cheesy line to egg him on, doesn’t end up how I intended.
Instead of the fear of navigating my nana’s sex toys staying prevalent on his features, his eyes soften into dual melted dark chocolate abysses, his gaze glued to me as his mouth props open and doesn’t close. Instead of a grimace or sneer, his features slacken before brightening right before Ezra’s eyes. His stance switches from defensive to lazy and his gaze never leaves mine.
It stuns me in place.
“Where is it?” Nic suddenly straightens in place, his strong, brisk hands unbuttoning and rolling up the sleeves on his collared shirt, revealing a myriad of tattoos on his toned forearms. Heat flairs at my core at the display, curiosity pushing me a step closer to him, even though it’s not my eyes I’m seeing through.
I am able to make out a delicate, beautiful portrait of Mother Mary before Ezra flicks his gaze up to Nic’s face and I can’t see the inky artwork anymore. I almost whine, but seeing the determination on Nic’s features stops me before I can.
I’ll be needing an appointment with Nic’s body soon. What else does he have hidden under those ridiculously expensive threads?
“Izabella.” Nic snaps his fingers before pulling a set of black latex gloves out of his pocket, garnering my attention and making me roll my eyes. Of course he still carries gloves around, being neurotic as hell and all.
“What?”
“Where is it? The tape? Did Dorothy tell you where it is?” Nic’s focus is on his gloves, his thick dark hair falling slightly into his eyes, messy as if he’s been running his hands through it. I shake my head to try and focus, repeating his questions to myself until I realize what he’s said.
“Oh. Right. Uhh. She said it’s in her fire safe lock box in her closet.” I state dumbly, my mind not truly on the task at hand.
“Did she say why she has it?” Kai interjects and Ezra’s gaze shoots to him. He’s wearing a simple black t-shirt that does nothing to hide the lines of muscles on his frame and that Goddamn fire in my stomach rages to an inferno.
His hair has grown a little longer, all of the guys’ have, but fuck…Kai is absolutely devastating with the long, luscious locks hanging into his face. Maybe he’ll consider growing it out completely for me.
“Earth to Wicked! Why does your nana have the tape?” Kai repeats his question, smirking as he catches on to the blush that I’m sure is overtaking my porcelain skin. Considering it feels like someone stuck me under a heat lamp, I wouldn’t be surprised if I resembled a ripe tomato.
“I don’t know.” I shrug, cutting off my connection with Ezra as a pang of pain slices through my skull. I’ll need to save it for the video.
I seem to be able to channel him longer these days, like I’m working out a muscle that’s in dire need of it and it, in turn, is getting stronger. Or maybe I’m just getting closer to him. I don’t know. It’s not like there’s a damn guide book on psychics for me to study.
“Nana loved my dad like her own son, probably even more than she loved my mom, who is her actual flesh and blood. He did right by us, and Nana adored him for it. So the night he died, it felt like she lost her own child. She probably used it to torture herself.”Well, shit just got dark.
“Sounds like you’re more like her than you think.” Kai’s voice is still light, trying to avoid the heaviness this topic always seems to bring to our little group.
“Honestly, that’s not the worst thing to be.” My nana is my hero, there’s actually nothing better I could strive to be.
“Found it!” Nic shouts from the room before there’s a bang and a flurry of Spanish curses. I didn’t even know he had gone in yet.
“Well come on then! Bring it out here!” Impatience smothers me and I bounce on my toes as Gizmo and Snitch dart past my feet to the kitchen, probably wanting dinner.
“Do you have a VCR?” Nic finally emerges from the room, his aura flustered and frantic, his mind focused on his need for a shower. I don’t even want to know what happened in there.
“Of course I do! Who do you think I am?” I gesture across the hall with my free hand, the other still very much wrapped around Ezra’s tree trunk arms. “It’s in the case closet.”
It takes only another couple minutes before we’re all seated in the living room in front of the old school style TV and VCR combo cart that I keep around. I have a hard time letting go of the past. Hell, I still have a tamagotchi–that is most definitely dead–tucked away in my underwear drawer. Thank God I’m a better raccoon momma than I am a virtual pet mom.
“You ready?” Kai asks everyone, and I nod, grabbing Ezra’s large hand in both of mine before channeling his sight once more.
“Ready.”
“And…play.”
The screen lights up, the display crackling with those gray strips of color before settling into a view of a desolate darkened street with only a payphone and a forested cliffside off in the distance by the road, too far away to make out any real details. The black and white view is slightly blurry and little balls of white–bugs, I think–zip in front of the camera, lit up by the lone street light above the area. It’s quiet and still for far too long, and my leg starts to bounce erratically in front of me as Ezra stays focused on the screen.
