Page 26 of How to Trust a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls #4)

Josh

A iden’s boyfriend was naked in the living room, and no one thought that was weird. And Fluffy… Nope, not thinking about that. Nope.

Aiden’s boyfriend was naked in the living room.

I tried really hard not to stare at his dick, because, you know, it was just there . And that was definitely enough for my mind to focus on. Or not focus on. Or whatever. Dear god, would no one give the man some pants?

“Atlas, you can’t go walking around naked,” I said. I thought my voice was quite reasonable considering… you know, everything .

“Clothes are itchy,” he answered.

“Yes, well, that’s neither here nor there. You still have to wear them, especially when you’re with company.” My god, I sounded like someone’s mother. Maybe I could lecture him about washing behind his ears next.

Atlas just grunted, though, and then he was gone.

Fluffy was back. He grinned a doggy grin at me and sat down.

Nope. Not thinking about that. Nope .

“Is Atlas going to get pants on?” I asked, and yeah, I knew it was stupid even while I asked it, but Atlas was gone.

Q dragged his hands down his face then gestured to Fluffy. “Actual hellhounds, Josh.”

“That’s not a hellhound. That’s Fluffy,” I answered.

Except Fluffy was on fire. I stared. Yes, that was fire, dancing all along Fluffy’s body.

He seemed fine, but the cabin was brand new.

New wood everywhere. Did they even have a fire extinguisher in here?

I kind of doubted it, and I was going to live here, and now it was going to burn down before I ever got the chance.

Everyone was staring at me. I could feel it, but I was staring at Fluffy as the flames seemed to reach a little higher, and he wasn’t standing that far from a small, wooden side table.

“Fluffy, we do not go around all…” I paused and gestured toward him. “Flamy. It’s rude. This is a brand new cabin, and I will not be happy if anything catches fire.”

Fluffy was no longer on fire, but he huffed at me in displeasure.

Liam chuckled, and using a typical you got in trouble and I didn’t voice said, “Yeah, Fluffy, no flames in the house. First the naked thing, then this. What, were you raised by wolves?”

Q elbowed Liam in the side, and Fluffy narrowed his eyes and growled.

“Boys,” Wilder said mildly, and everyone settled down and looked at him. And at me. At us. Wilder was still holding my hand.

“Not my fault he’s mad he offended step-dad,” Liam muttered.

Well, that seemed to be the point where reality checked out, because Fluffy was once again Atlas, and he was still naked, and Atlas lunged at Liam, and the two of them were rolling around on the floor smacking each other and wrestling.

I must have been the only one having a break with reality, because Quinton just muttered, “idiots,” under his breath, and Aiden just backed up. Wilder heaved out a sigh of exasperation.

“I think I need a CAT scan,” I murmured. “Unless it’s a CT scan. Never can remember which is which. Or if they’re the same.”

Q snorted, but I ignored him. I was too busy watching the grown men—the hallucinations—rolling around on my floor.

They seemed to be mainly playing, although they were coming awfully close to the wooden side table that had my Lego camera on it.

As if manifesting the chaos, which is probably what I did, because they were my hallucinations, after all, the two rolled into the table. The Lego camera fell off and broke into pieces.

Both of them stopped, staring at me guiltily. Atlas was still naked, but my hallucination at least kept Liam clothed. They literally had their hands around each other’s necks, although they didn’t appear to be choking each other at the moment.

I stood up, staring at them. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do, but then I saw the broken Lego camera again and sighed.

“And this is why we don’t roughhouse inside,” I said, going over and picking up some of the camera pieces. “Stand up, for goodness sake. And put some clothes on, Atlas. Or a towel. Or something.”

Atlas grabbed a dish towel to hold in front of himself. Yeah, that was definitely going in the wash. Because apparently I was just going to embrace my mental breakdown.

Why not? Wilder was here, and when I looked over, he just looked pleasantly amused. He winked at me, and my insides felt a little warm and fluttery. He didn’t seem bothered in the least.

I turned back to Liam and Atlas. “You’re grown ass men, and you should not be rolling around on my floor fighting each other.”

Aiden and Q looked amused, and Liam and Atlas looked like sulky little boys.

I swear they weren’t normally like this, especially Liam, and I wondered if Wilder being here gave them an opportunity to let loose and be kids again.

Well, my mind must have thought so, because they were my hallucinations, after all.

“He started it,” Liam mumbled.

“Excuse me? What did you say?” I asked, staring at Liam. And yes, I was totally using some kind of angry parent voice I didn’t even know I had.

Liam looked at me, opened his mouth, and then wisely shut it.

“Mmhmm. Because I thought I heard you making fun of your brother and saying he was raised by wolves.”

“But he was raised by—” Liam started, but I cut him off.

“You were being a smartass, and don’t even tell me you weren’t. I expect that of Jude, but not of you, Liam.”

Aiden giggled. “Oh, Liam, you got compared to Jude.”

I glared at Aiden, who put his hands up. “I didn’t break your camera!!” he said.

“Who came to my apartment the night I called you?” I asked, and Aiden looked a little guilty.

“Uh, Fluffy and I did,” he answered.

“Mmmhmmm. Who came to my apartment the night I called you?” I asked again.

Because I was just going with the chaos at this point, and the flamy dog was Aiden’s boyfriend. Aiden had brought his boyfriend to my house as a dog. And I think I’d cried on him. And cuddled him. And stroked his fur. And that was just… nope.

I turned to Atlas. “Would you care to answer the question?”

Atlas looked at Aiden and then back at me, and he looked nervous and absolutely ridiculous—this big, muscled guy holding a dish towel in front of his junk. The only thing that kept me from breaking into hysterical laughter was my mortification.

“I cuddled with you,” I said accusingly.

“He’s really good at cuddles,” Aiden said, and I shot my glare over to him.

“Uh, I mean, sorry? We went over to help, and Atlas prefers to be Fluffy, because he was raised by wolves, but it still isn’t nice that Liam was being a jerk to him.

But anyway, you were upset, and he would have given you cuddles whether he was Fluffy or Atlas. ”

I stared at Atlas, and the big man just shrugged his shoulders.

I’d had enough. I was done. Flamy dogs and naked men and a broken Lego camera—I had reached my limit.

“Out,” I said, pointing to the door.

“Would you like us to put your camera back together?” Liam asked.

“Nope. I would like you all to leave for now. I’m obviously having a stroke or a brain bleed, or maybe it’s a brain tumor? At any rate, I’d like to have my mental breakdown in private, please. So off you go.”

They shuffled out, although Q definitely looked like he wanted to argue. For once, he kept his snark contained.

I walked them to the door. “You can bring the finance stuff over tomorrow for me to look at.” As I ushered them out, I added, “And no more fighting!”

Did I maybe slam the door? Yes, I did. But… Well…

I walked back into the living room, where Wilder was sitting on the couch. He was leaning forward on his elbows, and he opened his mouth to say something.

I didn’t want to know what.

“Nope! I am having some type of break from reality, and they broke my Lego camera, which, fine, that really isn’t a big deal, because it’ll probably take me five minutes to put it back together, but Fluffy was all flamy! The cabin could’ve burned down!” I sat down next to Wilder as I finished.

Wilder pulled me into his arms. “Hellhound fire only destroys what we choose for it to destroy. Well, mostly, anyway. The boys are pretty good at controlling things now. Not so much when they were younger.”

I didn’t answer. He pulled me tighter, and I snuggled into his chest.

“Josh, you know…” he began, but I reached up to put my hand against his mouth.

“Not now. Let’s just… bask in the weirdness of my hallucinations an d cuddle a bit. It’s been a long day. Maybe we can finish that documentary on the giant music festival gone wrong?” I asked.

I could feel Wilder’s stare, but eventually, he grabbed the remote and switched the television on.

We passed the night watching documentaries, and someone—I didn’t ask who—dropped dinner off for us. If Wilder seemed to know about it before it happened, even though I didn’t see him on his phone, that was fine.

We ate, and he helped me put the Lego camera back together, although I certainly didn’t need help. Seeing his thick fingers handle the Lego pieces was weirdly sexy, though.

And we chatted about mundane stuff—jobs and different places in the country we’d visited and music.

Wilder asked about me growing up, and he shared stories about when he was raising the boys.

If some of the stories seemed a little odd, that was fine.

As was the comment that Wilder didn’t have parents, since “first gens” just came into being.

Totally fine. Not everyone liked their parents, after all.

We had a really nice evening together, and the cuddles and chatting were amazing. If Wilder occasionally threw a concerned look my way when he said something weird, well… It was fine.

Everything was fine. Totally normal.

Really. Fine.

I woke up the next morning feeling like a bus had hit me. I knew I’d fallen asleep on the couch in Wilder’s lap while binging documentaries, and my body didn’t thank me for that. Luckily, I was in my own bed.

Wilder must have moved me here.

I could see my phone resting on the night table, and when I picked it up, I saw text alerts. The multiple dings was probably what had woken me.