I nearly ran out of the room. The sight of the three of them, naked, smelling of sex was too much. I needed air. Space.
Despite the night and morning I’d spent in Riley’s arms, I couldn’t bear seeing the other three like that. It was a reminder of how much had been lost.
As I rummaged through the refrigerator to find anything that wasn’t expired, I reminded myself of why I’d gone into that particular room to begin with: My mother’s safe. I’d already checked the one in her bedroom and came up empty. There were two more that I knew of. I wish she’d had time to be specific.
Fuck! I wished a lot of things had been different.
After I pulled a pack of frozen sausages from the freezer then leaned my head against the door frame, allowing the cold air to flow over me. I wished I could freeze all the damned feelings running through me so I wouldn’t feel it anymore. Freeze my brain so it would stop thinking about everything.
I shoved away from the cold metal and shut the door.
“Get your shit together,” I muttered and slapped my face a couple of times. I shook out my arms then conjured a bottle of vodka from the stash in my bedroom. I could use a little splash to go with my orange juice.
By the time the others (fully dressed, thank fuck) filed into the kitchen, I had a decent buzz going on as well as several stacks of pancakes and sausages on the marble island in the center of the room.
“Salud!” I raised my spiked OJ in a toast to the gathering.
“Bro, this early?” Riley laughed and clinked my glass.
I threw my arm around his shoulders and jerked him close in a one-armed hug, nearly spilling juice everywhere. At least he was smiling at me, unlike the other three who looked worried.
I didn’t need their judgement.
I speared a link with my fork and brought it to his mouth. “Open wide, sweetheart. We know you love a thick sausage in your throat.”
“Indeed, I do.”
Sierra choked a little, Torin chuckled darkly, and Enzo just shook his head and continued to shovel food into his own mouth.
“So, what’s the plan, folks?” I asked then answered my own question, howling. “Oh, yeah! I had the plan!” It seemed hilariously funny at the time.
“Oh, lighten up, sweet-cheeks,” I told Sierra who was eyeing me warily. “We’ll both get to be part of this cluster fuck.”
“Duuuude.”
Well, hell. Now even Riley was appalled. I leaned my head on his shoulder, feeling a bit dizzy.
So … maybe I’d had more than just a “splash” of vodka. And perhaps … one might think that maybe, just maybe, I was already drunk off my ass, and it wasn’t even noon.
“Gotta get revenge on mother’s safe,” I mumbled into Riley’s shoulder, nuzzling.
“What?” He tried to pull back, but I held him in place.
“Revenge. On the safe,” I muttered. What wasn’t he getting? It was perfectly clear.
“What do you mean?” Torin asked.
“I know what he’s talking about,” Sierra said, softly.
With my eyes closed and my head still on Rye’s shoulder, I waved a hand in her direction. “Yeah, she knows.”
“Is there such a thing as a “sobering-up” spell? I’m afraid my Reaper training didn’t cover that.”
Was that sarcasm? She sounded funny, so I laughed.
Torin said dryly, “Results may vary.”
That made me laugh even more, which caused me to slip off Rye’s shoulder and nearly bust my ass on the floor before he caught me.
“Maybe I should go back to bed,” I admitted.
“Ya think?” Enzo’s voice was full of irony, but his eyes were full of worry. Torin’s too.
It made me sad, which pissed me off. “And don’t you two go fucking without me!”
I tried to point my finger at the two of them but was having trouble controlling my arm. It swung widely until I was pointing at Sierra.
And I burst into tears.
I was completely sober by the time I woke up alone in my bedroom. There was a hazy memory of Torin leaving me here, and even vaguer memories of Enzo and Riley whispering soothing words and maybe a spell or two.
Unfortunately, there was a clearer memory of me sobbing like a baby in the kitchen.
God, I felt like an ass. I couldn’t face my friends yet. I slipped through the passageway to check the security monitors to see where they were.
My shoulders dropped in relief to see they were all dressed and not in either of the rooms I wanted to go. Enzo and Sierra were checking on Anna who was still sleeping. Tor and Rye were battling something on the screen in the game room. I was free to check Helene’s last two safes. At least, the ones I knew about. It would be just my luck that she was referring to one in some location I’d never find.
Part of me didn’t even want to bother. But curiosity got the better of me. What was so important that she’d try to fend off certain death to get those last words to me?
