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He shifted as though uncomfortable and then stepped out of my hug. “You only heard a few seconds of my playing.”
“I’d like to hear more.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think—”
Ram rushed around the corner of the shelves with his usually perfect hair sticking up at wild angles. He carried a large tome in his hands. A rusty lock held it shut. “I think I’ve got the answer to the portal spell! You”—He pointed at Elliot—“ need to drop your pants to open the book.”
Chapter 28
IgrabbedMoe’sshouldersand shook him. He groaned and sat up, yawning wide enough to swallow Jag’s cock. His hair lay flat on one side from where it had rested on the table. He was so cute and disheveled that I just wanted to hug him and ruffle his hair.
You can,my brain reminded me.
Oh yeah, love and all that.
I wrapped my arms around Moe’s shoulders, and my heart immediately felt cozy and warm.
Moe squeezed my arms. “Wow, that was a good nap. I told you a normal amount of wake potion would make me sleepy.”
Ram leaned on the table with the locked book before him. “How? Why? I don’t get it! Do you have some kind of nervous system condition?”
“No… oh, wait, I mean, yes. The school kept saying I might have ADHD—I think, like, ten teachers said it. But my parents didn’t believe it was a real thing. They thought essential oils and hiking would fix my focus. The hiking helped. It’s hard to be brain loud when there are trees. They must put out some kind of vibration that says, shhhhh. The oils only made me itchy. I probably should have been checked for allergies.”
The wild thing was that not a single word of that was surprising. It was peak Moe—and strange that I knew that after only a couple of days.
Jag crossed his arms over his sky-blue jacket. “Fucking negligent bastards.”
Moe shot him a look as though he didn’t like anyone calling out his parents.
“Stimulants are used to treat ADHD,” Elliot said in his soft voice. “It has the opposite effect on their brains.”
“Unless I drink a crazy amount of potion,” Moe pointed out. “Enough to… what did you say? To wake a comatose dragon? Then I’m even faster.”
Ram sighed, almost as though he was disappointed.
“Did you hope for a more exciting answer?” I asked.
His mouth quirked as though he was trying not to smile. “I do enjoy a magical mystery. Speaking of which…” He tapped the book. “The title is Portals and the Multiverse, written in Ebuni, a magical language created by the Medieval witch, Wren Knotley.”
“And of course, you can read it.”
He shrugged. “I can read anything magical. The book is locked, though, and none of my spells will open it. According to the runes—these are in Norse for some reason—it will open with a live song that is played with magic and”—he made air quotes — “‘sings of battle’.”
Moe gasped and jumped to his feet, forcing me to let go of him. “Our Viking battle hymn!”
I grinned and glanced between the three members of JEM. “I need to hear this more than I need—”to hear y’all moan my name.
“Shut up, brain!”
The four of them turned to me, and heat flushed my neck. Jag smirked while Ram raised a brow and Elliot looked worried.
Moe squeezed my shoulder. “I say that a lot too.”
“Um…” I looked away. “Anyway, get to it. Drop your pants.”
“Alyssa,” Ram said in mock indignation and placed a hand on his chest as though clutching pearls. “Buy me flowers first.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. This was Ram’s better side: the playful part he had kept hidden except from me before our relationship died like every succulent I ever owned. Easy to care for, my fine ass.
