Page 24 of How to Hack a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls #2)

Quinton

“ I can’t believe you’re subjecting us to those weirdos,” I complained.

I was sprawled across the couch, wearing tight jeans and a fitted sweater. I had to admit that I loved the sexy looks my stalker was giving me. He was all prim and proper in dress pants and a button-down shirt. I wondered if I’d ever get him into jeans? Life goals—I apparently had forever to try.

“You’re one of those weirdos now,” Aiden laughed. He was gathering up some cookies he’d baked to bring over to Toby’s, and he seemed unfazed by my cranky attitude.

Toby had decided that we needed a housewarming party, only it was being held at Toby’s house instead of at our house.

Toby was clueless about a lot of things, but he really did try to respect everyone, and he thought it might be too much for Aiden to have everyone over. So we were doing it at Toby’s house, and there weren’t going to be a ton of people.

I sighed dramatically again, because I supposed I was one of the crazy people now. Fuck. Liam walked over to the couch and leaned down, kissing me on the forehead. “If you behave and have fun, maybe we can sneak out early to do a little work in the batcave.”

My eyes lit up, and I smiled. “Now we’re talking. I respond well to rewards.”

Aiden laughed again over at the kitchen island. “Alright, you lovebirds—time to get going.”

Thankfully, Aiden didn’t seem to mind that we were lovebirds. I worried about him, but he seemed totally fine with Liam.

The three of us walked over to Toby’s house, and when we got there, Toby threw open the door before we even made it up the steps. “Hurray! You guys are here! Aiden, come and meet Josh and Sebbie. You know everyone else. Cass and Kushiel and Steph are all here. So are Dexter and Jude, but Corbin is away working.”

We made our way in, and I watched Aiden carefully as he was introduced to Josh and Seb. He seemed fine, and he obviously knew everyone else, so I relaxed.

We ate and drank, and although it still reminded me a bit of a Sex and the City episode, it was like it was crossed with some supernatural show like Buffy or something, because it was pretty clear that not everyone was human. Dexter kept calling Cass “Oracle” and Cass kept calling Dexter “Hellhound,” and somehow Josh and Seb seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that there were some not-humans amidst them. Everyone was mostly discreet except for Toby, but Josh and Seb didn’t take him seriously, so that didn’t really matter.

Eventually Toby sidled up to me, and he had a notebook and pen. Fuck. I shot a pleading look over in Liam’s direction, but he was talking to Dexter about their “foreign associates” and updating him on their progress.

“So…” Toby started, and he looked at me with these sort of puppy-dog eyes.

I sighed. “What do you want to know?”

“Dexter seemed to think you were chloroformed or something, and I wondered if you could describe the smell, and if there was a taste, and how groggy you were, and how you felt when you woke up…” Toby trailed off as he was already writing stuff down.

I sighed again and asked, “Planning to chloroform one of your characters?”

“Well, it’s a really good idea, and of course the bad guy would get viciously tortured and killed, don’t worry about that,” he added gleefully.

I still couldn’t believe Toby was human—he was such a bloodthirsty little thing.

I eventually managed to extricate myself from his million questions with the promise to chat more later, and I made my way out onto the front porch to get a little fresh air. I wasn’t upset, exactly, but it wasn’t nice remembering what Emmett had done.

When I got outside, I saw Seb at the railing, two crows hopping in front of him.

“Hey, Seb,” I said.

He startled, and one of the crows cawed at me. I put my hands up in a gesture of not meaning any harm, because the crow seemed a little pissed.

Seb just laughed. “It’s ok, guys, he’s a friend,” he said to the birds. Then he motioned me over and grabbed my hand, putting something in it. It felt like a peanut. “Give that to them,” he ordered.

I placed the peanut on the porch railing, and one of them hopped over suspiciously and took it, then hopped back over in front of Seb.

“I thought birds were Corbin’s thing,” I joked.

Seb looked at me. “Oh, cool, does he like crows? I love them. They’re totally cool. They’re super smart, and they’ll remember friends and enemies. You’re not technically allowed to have them as pets, because you can basically teach them to steal from people.”

I laughed. “Now that’s my kind of bird,” I joked.

Seb reached out and actually pet one on the neck, and it tilted its head down for a scratch. Ok, then—maybe he wasn’t human. Shapeshifter? I didn’t think it would be polite to ask, so we made some small talk before I made my way back inside.

I was going to find Aiden and check in on him when I saw Josh standing off to the side. He still pinged my radar. Something was up with him, but I wasn’t close enough to him to pry. Still, maybe I’d ask Toby.

Aiden and Liam didn’t seem to be in sight, and I wandered through the house. I thought I heard voices on the back porch, and I walked over. It wasn’t that I was being sneaky or anything, because I was sure Liam knew exactly where I was at every moment. Aiden was in the middle of a bit of a rant, though.

“—it’s only natural to expect that. And I’ll be fine ,” Aiden was insisting.

“It’s not happening,” Liam answered.

“You think I don’t know it’s weird? I’m a grown man, for goodness sake. I know it’s weird. And I’ll get over it, and I’ll be able to live on my own just fine . You guys won’t be far, and it’s not like I’m not protected, so it’s really okay. It’s natural that you guys will want your own space,” he insisted.

What the fuck? Did Aiden think we were moving out?

“Aiden, enough.” Uh oh, my sexy stalker sounded like he was getting aggravated. “We are not going anywhere. Nothing is changing. You’ll come climb into bed whenever you want, and we’ll cuddle and get up in the morning and bond over Quinton’s foul morning mood. And I’ll continue to enjoy your pastries. End of story.”

I could hear Aiden huff out a breath. “I would be ok. I don’t want you guys to feel responsible for me. I could always adopt Fluffy for company.”

“Fluffy?” Liam asked, and his voice sounded weird.

“Yeah.” Aiden chuckled self-consciously. “I don’t know the guard dog’s name, so I just call him Fluffy.”

“Fluffy.” Liam was making some kind of strangled noise—I couldn’t tell if he was trying not to choke or trying not to laugh.

I didn’t know what was up, but I stepped outside, pointing a finger at Aiden. “Listen, asshole, you are not going anywhere . How dare you think of leaving us!”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t leave you. You guys would just move into Liam’s house. I’m sure you guys want privacy.”

“Why would we want privacy?” I demanded.

Aiden tilted his head back in exasperation, and Liam just muttered, “Fluffy,” and made that strangled choking-laugh sound again.

“Stop making fun of my nickname for the guard dog! He’s super sweet! And he is fluffy!” Aiden demanded, pointing his finger at Liam. Then he looked over to me, adding, “And you guys are going to want to have sex and stuff. Hello.”

“Um, yeah, we already have sex. Lots of sex,” I told Aiden. “What, you think we can’t be creative? Who has sex in the middle of the night, anyway? If Liam wakes me up from a dead sleep for sex, he’s more likely to get his dick punched than he is to get it into any one of my holes.”

Aiden snorted at me, and I looked over to see Liam smiling like I was just the cutest little feral cat he’d ever met. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Q…” Aiden started.

I cut him off. “We aren’t going anywhere, and neither are you. We have plenty of time for sex and we do have a whole other house if we need privacy. And you go for those nice long walks in the woods, or hell, you can use the other house if you want to get away from us. Or you can kick us out for an afternoon or something if you’re sick of us, but we are not moving out. We’re family, and we’re staying.”

“I don’t get sick of you,” Aiden said softly.

“Well good, because you’re fucking stuck with us,” I scowled.

Aiden pulled me into a hug, and I grumbled, “Fucking mushy shit.”

“I love you, too,” Aiden mumbled, and he reached out a hand and pulled Liam into the hug too. “I love you both. Thank you.”

We may have all sniffled a bit, but eventually we made our way back inside. Aiden headed back to our place not too long after that, and Jude walked him back, telling some story about the sheriff.

Liam and I found ourselves relatively alone in a corner of the living room, and when he sat on the couch, I draped myself across his lap. He kissed me gently on the lips and smiled. I’m sure I was grinning back, because I really did love him. I snuggled into him. I loved that he knew, without even asking, that I wouldn’t want to leave Aiden behind.

I realized that eventually Aiden would die, and I apparently wouldn’t be growing old and dying.

“What is it, my hellcat?” Liam asked, resting his chin on top of my head.

“You sniffing my feelings again, weirdo?” I asked.

He just huffed.

“Aiden will grow old and die, and that thought just made me really sad,” I answered. “I know it’s part of life to lose people we love, but… it’s hard.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not so sure Aiden will be getting old and dying,” Liam answered.

I turned around in his lap, facing him. “What do you mean? Aiden is human.”

“We don’t have a guard dog,” Liam answered.

It took me a moment to puzzle out exactly what he meant. Of course they had a guard dog. Aiden had been talking about the guard dog since we first moved in. Then it hit me.

“Who is it?” I asked. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine Jude or Corbin not telling Aiden it was them, just to put him at ease.

“Atlas, probably.” Liam shrugged. He chuckled then. “I’ll call him Fluffy next time I see him and check.”

I smacked him, but I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped.

I looked out at the crew gathered in Toby’s living room. It was family, and apparently it wasn’t complete quite yet. I looked forward to the chaos that adding more members would create.

They were weirdos, but they were our weirdos, and I loved them all. I snuggled back into Liam. I had my very own hellhound, and I couldn’t be happier. He snuffled into my hair.

“Stop sniffing me, weirdo.” I was smiling, because I loved when Liam did that, and he knew it.

“Love you, too, my little hellcat,” he answered, kissing my head.

Yup, life was pretty damn weird, but it was pretty damn perfect, too.