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I tried, but couldn’t get my leg around his, since two of my legs was like one of his.

“You all look ridiculous.” A voice boomed behind my head.

Enzo let go of my neck and rocked back on his hind legs, still straddling me, while I tilted my head backwards looking upside down.

Gage.

“Well, at least he’s helping.” I spat back, rolling onto my stomach so I could face him. I was glad Enzo didn’t move because I knew Gage seeing him on me would make him mad.“Is that what you call it?” Gage crossed his arms. “Do you really think the dark Queen is going to choke her out?”

Enzo climbed off and we both stood up.

Barrett looked at Gage. “What do you propose?”

“I don’t know… maybe magic.” He threw his hands in the air and continued, condescendingly. “She is the dark Queen after all and uses… magic. You’re filling her head with false hope, trying to teach her how to fight. She has no chance against the dark Queen. She’s powerful and is not afraid to use it against you. We’d all been better off if Snow never landed at our door.”

“What crawled up your ass and died?” Enzo asked, stepping forward.

“Enzo.” Barrett cautioned.

“No.” Enzo batted the air. “He walks out here and is a complete ass. More than usual! We’re just trying to help her, which is more than we can say for him.” Enzo nodded towards Gage. “You just run away to wherever it is you go on your little overnight trips and then come back super pissy. I’m tired of it.”

“You’re tired of it?” Gage asked, stepping forward, his body tensing.

Sensing where this was going, I stepped in between them and pressed my hands on Gage’s chest.

He stopped in his tracks and looked from my hands up to my face.

“You can leave. You’ve made it clear you don’t care about me and they’re only trying to help. All you will do is get in the way and cause problems and quite honestly, we don’t have enough time for your bullshit. The dark Queen will continue to come after me no matter what, so I have no other option! I’m not going to just lay down and let her kill me. I will fight until my last breath.” I started walking away and then spun around walked back to him and spoke quiet enough so only he could hear. “I know you care and when you want to help I will be waiting, because I will take whatever I will get, but until then, stay the fuck away.”

He glared down at me then turned without speaking.

I watched him walk away, my chest heaving and my pulse pounding. I tried not to be turned on by his tight ass in those pants and his shirt hugging his arms because I was mad at him. I wanted his help. I probably needed his help, but he was just giving up.

I unclenched my fists and turned to face Enzo and Barrett. “He wasn’t wrong, though. I need to use the spells Lilibet taught me- I need to master how to deflect and redirect. She said those were the best ones to teach me right now so I wouldn’t have to learn as many spells in such a short amount of time. If I mastered those, especially the redirect, then I could cast the Queen’s spells back onto her.”

“That Lilibet.” Enzo said, smiling. I tried not to get jealous about the twinkle in his eye when he said her name, but I had let myself develop feelings for him, all of them really, and I didn’t want them to think about others that way anymore. Which I know was hypocritical. Here I was thinking about all of them, all the time.

“I sent Calix earlier to get her.” Barrett stepped up.

“I don’t want to wait around for the Queen to come back. I need to take the fight to her.”

Barrett and Enzo both pulled their faces and looked at one another.

“Look, I know you don’t like the idea, but she won’t stop coming and at least I have more control if I go after her. Plus, what if she comes and you all are here next time? I couldn’t handle if any of you were hurt because of me.”

Barrett shook his head. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m not a fan of it either, but it’s all I have right now. With her body jumping, I will literally be second guessing everyone I meet. I can’t live like that.”

“I know. I just don’t like it.” Barrett said, worried. “I don’t want you hurt.”

“Oh, you like her... like, like her, like her.” Enzo teased.

He cocked his head. “She’s grown on me.”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around Barrett’s neck and then planted a quick kiss on his cheek. “You’ve grown on me too.”

“What’s going on out here?” Dresden asked, walking up.