Gargoyle (Woodland Creek)(22)
He simply chuckled quietly. “Not likely…Little One.”
I blinked. “It really is time for you to go.” I lowered my arms and marched straight for the door. “I’m sure you know how to use a door the proper way.” I jerked it open and stared at him, waving my hand outside. “Please. Go.”
Both men weren’t looking at me. Instead, they wore completely neutral expressions on their faces, more blank than I had ever seen on them before. They were both gazing outside my opened doorway.
I blinked, then turned my attention slowly around.
I stared at what I saw outside. Ah…f*ck.
My smile was completely forced. “Hanna, what a lovely surprise.”
The wizard I had met before lowered her fist, apparently having been ready to knock. She smiled, and it gleamed brightly. The man—Caleb back for more!—behind her simply stared over my head inside my home, a tiny smile playing on his lips. Hanna nodded her hooded head regally, a few inches taller than me, and then…yeah…stepped inside my home uninvited, her companion following in behind her.
I glared at my door. It was like the gateway to hell’s dominions.
“It’s lovely to see you too, Kennedy,” she stated cheerily and dropped her hood back. Her loose dreadlocks spilled around her shoulders, just as beautiful as I had remembered. She leaned, grabbed the edge of my front door, and gently pried it from my clenched fingers and shoved it close.
How kind. She even locked it for me.
Her attention turned to the men in my apartment, dipping her head. “Isaac. Jonathan.”
They merely stared. No love lost there.
I cleared my throat, more polite then than the other two had been. “Hello again, Caleb.”
His smile was roguish. “It seems like it was only a few minutes ago that we last met.”
“It was.” My gaze gradually drug away from his chiseled features and returned to Hanna. “As pleasant as this is, is there a reason why you dropped by?”
She had turned and was glancing between Caleb and me, then pointed a finger at my nose. “He’s off limits.”
“That’s nice.” My brows stayed raised. “And?”
“No, really.” Staring straight at me, she grabbed his balls, holding them tightly through his worn jeans. He grunted in surprise, his eyes widening, and smartly, not moving. Hanna stared at me pointedly, still manhandling his manly bits. “Off. Limits.”
I took a step back, my own eyes wide. “Okay.” I pointed where she held him, but didn’t glance there, keeping my eyes on hers. “I won’t go near…any of that.”
She huffed quietly and then released him.
Caleb appeared more than relieved, even if slightly pained.
He bounced a little in place. I didn’t ask.
Hanna’s golden eyes narrowed further, and she took a quick step between us, and then crossed her arms. She asked pointedly, “Don’t you have enough men in your life already? Perhaps you should pick one?”
“Oh, for the love of God,” I muttered, tossing my hands up in the air, “Do you know how bizarre this is?” I waved my hands all over the room, my agitation breaking through my control. “This is not how this evening was supposed to go. There have been uninvited people coming and going, hardly anyone making any damn sense, and now, I have another uninvited—powerful—wizard inside my living room acting nuts.” I wanted to bang my head against the Hell Door. I pointed harshly at the ground below, where this evening belonged. “This night is turning into shit.”
Hanna stared. “So…you don’t find Caleb attractive is what you’re saying.”
I shut my eyes. Kept them shut. Prayed that when I opened them only Jonathan would be here—as this evening was supposed to turn out. I whimpered quietly, “I even wore my best pair of underwear.” Peeking open one eye, it revealed my prayers had not been answered.
That was enough for me.
Abruptly, I pivoted, and walked around the new uninvited guests and went straight to my purse. Grabbed it. Marched straight to my door. Opened it. Glanced over my shoulder to Jonathan. “I’ll be back. Later.” I paused with an afterthought. “Behave.”
With that, I left my apartment, slamming the door closed behind me.
Late into the night, I arrived back at my apartment. My exhale was a shaky mess when I closed and locked the door behind me, seeing the oven light on over the stove, the rest of the apartment dark. But it was enough to see the black leather boots aligned against the wall beside my couch.
Jonathan had stayed. He was here.
Relief and a smidge of trepidation made my limbs jittery. Tossing my purse on the couch, I toed off my month-old tennis shoes. I walked silently over the carpet and peered into my bedroom, the door open. The two windows inside allowed the moon to shine in just enough to see.
Lucy’s head popped up from on top of my fluffy comforter, staring straight at me. I smiled and hushed her gently when she began to wiggle where she was resting next to Jonathan. He was asleep, lying on his side. His bare feet stuck out from under the covers at the bottom of the bed, a bit of black flannel pajama bottoms could be seen at his ankle while the pink and red comforter was piled around his lower section, his torso not covered. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, so all of his bronzed flesh and muscles were on display in the moonlight, his red head of hair sunk down in the monstrous pillows I adored. One of his arms was also reaching across to my side of the bed, his hand fisted in the sheet.