Page 71 of Eternal Light

“You really should get going.”

“Luca eats first,” Nix insists, and he stuffs pieces into Luca’s mouth until his cheeks are puffed up like a chipmunk’s.

“Here, put these on. I don’t have shoes to fit. I’m sorry, but I did find these flip-flops in the pool house earlier.”

He lays a stack of clothing on the bed, stepping over the prone magic user.

There are two t-shirts and two pairs of sweat shorts. It pains him, but Luca doesn’t waste any time pulling them on and exchanging his dirty t-shirt for a clean one. He still smells a little like motor oil and wine, but the shirt is clean, and it helps.

“You should come with us,” he hears himself say—and while it surprises both him and Connall, the butler just shakes his head.

“I have unfinished business, but I appreciate the ask. Consider us even, yeah? Now, let’s go. Here’s some money for a cab.”

When their purloined phone drops to the floor, it’s deader than its owner. Connall just raises an eyebrow.

Nix cracks it in two with his bare hands and offers it to Connall, who looks surprised and then laughs.

“I think people underestimate you all the time.” The bigger man smiles at that, and it looks a bit rusty.

Luca nods vehemently as Nix shrugs.

He opens the door, and they creep back the way they’d come.

“Where is Carnell?” Nix asks, claws at the ready, regardless of Carnell’s threats about a protection spell.

“He has company.”

“Ew,” Luca says.

“Preach,” Connall agrees. “But they’re eager and well paid.”

Well, that’s something, at least.

They get to the kitchen door again, and this time, Connall tells him the code to the gate is Gideon’s birthday.

“Hey, don’t come back, yeah?” he says and waves before shutting the door to do whatever he’s going to do to Withers—and to somehow explain their absence without losing his own life.

Luca can’t think too hard about their ally, though, because the pain in his belly is getting persistent. When this is all over, he’ll tell Gideon how nice Connall was, and maybe they can figure out what made Carnell so happy that the big man caters to his every whim. Maybe help him be happy and keep that very nice smile on his very handsome face.

They get to the gate, and the security code works perfectly.

In minutes, they’re running down the drive toward the street.

Nix is letting Luca set the pace, and since his idea of cardio is riding Finn, it’s not long before they’re walking instead.

“Nix?”

“Mmm?”

“Would you really have done what Withers wanted?”

He’s quiet for a minute before taking Luca’s hand and stopping them in the middle of the sidewalk, the late-night traffic passing them by.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. Nothing. Since I woke up to you telling me about Jensen Ackles, I knew then that I would protect you from every hurt. Especially from the likes of Hayes or anyone else.”

“But?”

Nix smiles, and it’s both sinister and sweet.