Page 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Henley

T hese past couple of weeks have been pure bliss, passing in a blur. Elodie and I have been able to connect on a deeper level, and not one where I’m six and a half inches deep inside of her. I figured out that her favorite color is green, except there are multiple shades that she likes. I have no idea what seafoam green is, but I know she will educate me on the different shades at some point.

Shit, she even expressed a willingness to learn how to ride. Something about feeling independent and in power for once. I didn’t really care. Skoll, one of the shop hands, had an old dumping bike that was sitting in the back of the garage. He offered it up for her to learn. She and the bike took quite a few spills, but if her getting a little banged up wasn’t a turn on, then watching her peel out of the gravel drive sure as fuck was.

Elodie has made exponential progress in these past two weeks too. At first, she shied away from everyone and everything. She didn’t talk back, didn’t fight me on anything unless we were in bed together. Surprisingly, that was one of the only places she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Now? Shit, I have created a fucking monster. I asked her what she wanted for breakfast the other morning, and instead of giving her usual answer–waffles–she decided to be a smartass and say, “something edible”. When she realized what she said, her poor hand flew over her mouth as if she swore. I couldn’t contain my laughter, and kissed the ever loving fuck out of her for it.

Currently, I’m sitting with a few of the guys as they bullshit about what they did over the weekend. A lot of their Ole’ Ladies have gone back to work since it’s Monday, yet that doesn’t stop them from talking about how much fun they had.

“Fuck, Drenched in Sin was a blast this past weekend, too,” Zale declares as he takes a gulp on his coffee. “I met up with Senka, and by fucking heaven, I didn’t want to leave.”

“Pussy that good?” Arik chuckles, though the look on Zale’s face is one of pure rage. “Shit, put the guns away, man. I was just fucking with you.”

“Whatever,” Zale grumbles, turning away from Arik and flagging down Mal with another request for a refill.

“How are things with Elodie?” Kaemon asks. He types away on his phone not even looking up at the rest of us. I’m sure he is doing whatever a treasurer does, but I have no idea. Just as I go to answer, I get interrupted.

“Blood Reapers got the call,” Hael calls out to the bar area. There’s no time for me to even react as my ass is out of the chair and on the move. “Henley, Deimos, I need you on the road.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, rounding the table to meet him. He pinches the bridge of his nose, irritation flaring in his eyes.

“Apparently they need us to go there with them. Ruel and the team got more intel that there is double the number of people we estimated. I spoke with Shark, he confirmed they are going to need all the manpower we can spare.”

“What does that have to do with me going?” I clarify. I’m not trying to be a bigger pain in the ass than he needs right now, shit is going to hit the fan any minute, but I can guarantee I’m not fucking prepared to go out right now. Shit, my knees fucking hurt just from standing that fast.

“You and Deimos are going to figure out what all they need from us. We need you on the front lines with them. If I can trust anyone to get our guys home safely without fucking something up, it’s you.”

Elodie comes down the stairs, her hair slightly mussed and her eyes full of sleep. “What’s going on?” She yawns as she rubs her eyes adorably. Instead of going to church, I stop her at the bottom of them and envelop her into my arms. Instead of answering the question, I press my lips to hers. Her arms wrap around my back, her hands clasping as my hand slides across her face. Tilting her head back, I deepen the kiss. Our tongues tangle in a slow dance, one that isn’t hurried or trying to overpower the other. Right now, we are simply existing amongst the horizon of chaos.

After a few moments, I pull back and rest my forehead against hers, taking a moment to just breathe in her existence.

“I need to talk to Hael before I say anything definitive, but it sounds like I might have to go out into the field for a bit.” My voice is quiet against the roar of men behind me, and if we weren’t this close, she may not have heard me.

“Oh,” is all she breathes before pulling away from me slowly. She smiles at me though it doesn’t reach her eyes. “It’s your job, if you need to go, I totally get it.”

“You’re not happy about it,” I comment. She laughs gently, shaking her head.

“No, I’m not, but I don’t need to be happy about it. I admit that I am still inquiring about a full understanding of what this life entails, but I have deduced that this is part of it.”

“I love it when you talk smart, it’s so sexy,” I grunt, diving back into her lips. She laughs again, shoving me away from her. There’s no stopping my own chuckle from escaping. I may not have felt it before, but I truly believe she is blowing life back into me. “Once I know when we will return, I will let you know, m’kay?”

Nodding, she pulls away. “Sounds good, speed racer.” Turning on her heel, she slowly ambles half way up the steps before sighing and coming back down. Opening my arms thinking she is coming to me, she scoffs and gently pushes me out of the way. With a pout, I watch her walk toward the bar where Mal slides a cup of coffee toward my bunny.

“Creamer is in the fridge,” she states as she thumbs over her shoulder. Elodie smiles at her then goes to grab the creamer. That’s another fun fact I have learned about my Ole’ Lady. She sure loves french vanilla coffee creamer. One time, I swear she didn’t have any coffee in there and it was all just creamer-

Wait.

Ole’ Lady.

A weird piece of my stomach turns at the thought of Elodie being my Ole’ Lady, but mulling the feeling over for a few moments, it’s not a bad feeling. No. I would say that it’s one of…relief? Maybe.

“Don’t look too deep in thought. You don’t want a headache before you need to leave,” she chirps, swaying her ass in a way that should be fucking illegal.

“Hardy-har-har,” I mock, then say, “keep your phone on you. I don’t know what today is like, so try not to leave the compound, okay?”

“Actually, I have an appointment that I can’t miss today,” she says as she nibbles her bottom lip.

“Can you reschedule?”

“No, it’s my follow up from when…” she trails off with a look of absolute pain and torture on her face. I don’t let her finish.

“Yeah, you definitely need to go to that…” I look around the guys milling around, but I have no fucking clue what’s going on anymore. “You aren’t going anywhere by yourself, got it?”

With an eye roll, she props a single hand on her hip and holds her bright yellow coffee cup with the other. “If I remember right, my mom is dead,” she snips, her eyes narrowing. “Your lack of estrogen would also indicate that you aren’t a female. If that wasn’t clear enough, your long ass beard and giant penis would also be big indicators of such lack of maternity.”

“Woman, I swear,” I threaten, taking a single step toward her. The sharp little brow on her face raises as in challenge.

“Henley!” Hael calls, waving me over. “Hey, Elodie. Sorry for the last minute changes. We gotta go, man.”

“Shit,” I mutter, giving him a thumbs up before pinning Elodie with a stare. “Please listen to what I’m telling you. There’s a lot of fucked up shit happening that I can’t explain. Be good. Your ass will be purple if you disobey me.”

She rolls her eyes, waving me off. “Will do, love-see you soon!” It’s almost enough to halt me in my tracks, but the frantic look on Hael’s face has me putting one foot in front of the other. Once this shit gets squared away, I’m going to call her out on that shit.

Life is too fucking short not to get all the answers, but right now isn’t the time to chat. I need to figure out what the fuck is going on between my head and my heart. From my thought process, I think they are on the same page.