Page 9

“I just…I don’t want to do this right now, Travis. Okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I turned and ran the rest of the way up the stairs and right into my bedroom. Once free, I took a deep breath and let it out. My magic was surging inside me, practically begging me to go back downstairs and be surrounded by Gabe and Travis. It really liked when Travis touched me. Like, really, really enjoyed it. I was full of expectation, sweaty palms, twisting stomach, excitement burrowing through me. I was giddy. There was no way around it.

I stood in the middle of my room and took deep, calming breaths before I returned to a somewhat normal state. Then, I pulled my pajamas on and got ready for bed. I was finishing up brushing my teeth when Randy sauntered his way into my room. I saw him through the bathroom mirror as he sat on the edge of my bed. “Hey,” I said, wiping my mouth one last time and putting my toothbrush away.

I turned and walked over to him. He eyed me in my short silky shorts and my flimsy tanktop. I stepped right into his space and his hands rested on my legs and then moved up my thighs where they stopped just at the hem of my shorts. I wound my hands around his shoulders and stared down. “You okay? You seemed out of it after we left Ren’s.”

Randy closed his eyes and a hundred different emotions flickered across his usually passive face. He shook his head and burrowed it in my sternum. “I just want to say something.”

“Okay…” I said, pulling him closer to me. “What is it?”

“I’m nothing like my dad.” He looked up, his dark eyes intense as he stared at me. “I’m nothing like him.”

“Of course not,” I said, reassuring him. I pulled my hands through his hair. “You don’t have to tell me something like that. I saw you at your old house, Randy. I saw some of the horror your dad put you through. You’re not capable of that.”

“But I threatened Ren. I wanted to beat his ass, and more.”

“We all have those moments,” I said, thinking back to me trying to take out Madame Serena. I would have too if Travis hadn’t stopped me.

“I just…” He sighed, and fell back on the bed, taking me with him. I landed on top, my knees on either side of his torso and my elbows next to his shoulder blades. “It felt wrong being there. I’ve dreamt about fucking shit up for Ren and whoever else goes to that Godforsaken place, but I never did because I thought it might put me over the edge.”

His hot release of breath hit my chest, sending a shiver down me. “I know,” I told him. “We went for Liam, though, and we found something out, too, so it wasn’t a lost cause. There’s a book full of bad magic that probably has something about familiars in it. Even if Ren can’t get it for us, we can look for it ourselves. One exists, so we can get answers one way or another.”

“I just want him to be okay,” Randy said. “I tried to talk to him when we got back, and he completely blew me off.”

“I wish he would talk to one of us,” I said, biting my lip. I tried to tell myself we were closer, but it still felt like we had a ways to go yet. “It’s obvious he’s scared, but he’s keeping it all inside.”

He shook his head. “I thought maybe if I invited him to your room, he might come.”

“You’re trying to pimp me out?” I teased.

“I just wanted to connect with him somehow,” Randy said, his eyebrows pulling in. “Besides, you love it when the three of us are together, don’t deny it.”

The rush of heat to the area between my thighs left nothing in doubt on that front. “Well?” I asked, curious to see if he’d gotten through to Liam that way.

He shook his head. “He hasn’t answered, and he probably won’t.”

“Maybe we could go in there?” I suggested.

“I don’t want to push it on him. He acts scared to be around us. I don’t want to push him too much and have him just completely retreat.”

He had a point there. That would be the worst-case scenario, and I wasn’t ready to consider that. I could lock myself in a room with him some other time and get it out of him. “What you did today was a really good thing. Brave, too. I know how much it must’ve killed you to ask someone like Ren, who helped destroy your father, for something. Liam knows how good of a friend he has, and as soon as we can get that familiar off him, he’ll be back to his old self.”

“I hope so,” Randy mused. He pulled me over until we lay side-by-side. Tugging my tanktop down, he kissed the swell of my breast. “Are Gabe and Travis still watching the game?”

I nodded, his hot breath caressing me and exciting me at the same time.

“So, we can have some time to ourselves?”

I moaned. “If that’s what you want.”

He took my hand and placed it around his cock, which was already hard.

I smiled. When Randy and I were together, it never took either one of us very long before we wanted to jump the other. The electricity between us turned me on. I rubbed his cock on the outside of his pajama bottoms. “You definitely came in here with too many clothes on then.”

“I wasn’t sure if you and Gabe, or you and Travis had made it up here.”

I stuttered out a breath. “Me and Travis? You’re insane.”