Page 101 of Not Your Ex's Hexes
Julius left without another word.
Damian half-expected Rose to wake up and yell at him for making decisions on her behalf, and it was a lecture he craved hearing like he’d craved nothing before.
Even to retain what remained of his humanity.
21
It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere
Rose bolted upright with a sharp gasp, heart lurching in her chest as each breath stumbled over the other in a mad dash to push fresh air into her lungs. The abrupt move sent a searing jolt of pain through her abdomen and she sucked down a hiss.
It took a minute to rein in the double-assault, and while she did, she slowly registered the pale yellow walls and white lacy curtains that looked familiar and yet not. She definitely wasn’t at her place because the room was blessedly warm and her building’s super still hadn’t managed to fix the dilapidated furnace.
Rose kicked the gold-threaded comforter away from her bare legs and peeked beneath theIT’S FIVE O’CLOCK SOMEWHERET-shirt for the source of the hot, throbbing pain. What she found confused her even more: her braless boobs, and bulky white bandages that wrapped around her torso and covered her from the waist of her panties to the bottom edge of her sternum.
“Definitely didn’t go to sleep with this here.” She poked it. A searing pulse of pain ripped through her abdomen, stealing her breath. “Found the source. What the hell…?”
A mummified abdomen. A pounding headache. Gran’s clothes. How the hell did she get to Athens, and into Edie’s bed?And why?
Did she get hit by a Mack truck? Or maybe a bicycling touristfinally took her out because let’s face it, it was only a matter of time beforethathappened. Throwing together busy, narrow roads and out-of-towners who didn’t know how to navigate them was a multi-vehicle accident waiting to happen.
Shifting slowly in bed, Rose worked her way through her fuzzy memories, starting with the last fully formed one and working backward.The Gryndor.At Times Square, she’d climbed out of Julius Kontos’s Audi and…
Loud shouts, two of which were distinctly male tones, erupted from her gran’s living room. Something crashed, the sounds drilling a pain-wave right through her temples. Vi’s not-so-veiled warning went ignored as two freight trains slammed together.
Enough was enough.
Pulling up her big witch panties, Rose sucked down a groan and padded barefoot to the living room. A vase crashed against the wall, a scant few inches shy of hitting her head.
Vi threw her an apologetic look. “Sorry, sis. I tried dousing them with water to cool things down, but it didn’t work as planned.”
Normally, she’d have a snarky comment at the ready. Instead, she turned to thethemher sister had mentioned, and shot both Damian and Julius hard glares. Not that they noticed. Locked in a battle of wills and fists, the two men moved around the room as if it were a boxing ring.
“Pretty sure I told you to be gone.” Damian swung at his brother and Julius ducked, the hit clipping his shoulder instead of landing on his jaw.
“And I told you I wanted to make sure she was okay first.” Julius—in full red-skinned demon mode—returned Damian’s punch with one of his own, landing a solid hit to the kidneys.
Damian winced, but didn’t stop moving. “Maybe you should have thought about that before dragging Rose to a Hunt involving a female Gryndor, asshole! Do you have any idea what that she-demon’s toxins could have done to her?”
“Yes!” The demon representative’s flushed face blanched to a pale petal pink. “Why do you think I brought her straight to the Prima?”
“Well, thank fuck you hadsomesense in your damn head.”
“Stop…” Rose’s voice caught in her throat, croaking softly.
The brothers continued their brawl.
“Stop it…” Rose demanded, clearing her throat.
Neither so much as acknowledged her presence.
“Guess we’ll do this the hard way.” Taking a deep breath, she summoned her Magic. Instead of its usual quick blast to the forefront, it slowly filled her empty well, gliding its way through her body and toward her palms like a leaky faucet.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Winded and a little light-headed, she leaned on the doorframe for support and kept her right hand trained on the dueling demons. The second she built up enough oomph, she fired.
A hot stream of Magic collided with Julius and Damian, the flickering pink power-surge spilling them onto their asses. It lacked its usual punch, but it did the trick.
They noticed her for the first time, Julius releasing a relieved sigh as he collapsed onto his back. But Damian’s emotions flickered over his face too fast for her to pin one down.
