by Jen L. Grey
“Knoxy, what are you doing over here?” A girl with boobs bigger than her head strutted over to our table. “I saved you a spot by me.”
“Did I ask you to?” His tone was raspy and deep.
“Well, no …” She pouted, emphasizing her large lips.
She was hot but looked as if she could play the part of a porn star. Somehow, she had made our drab brown outfits look seductive. She spun her hair around her pointer finger and leaned over ever so slightly, putting the girls on full display.
“Then I’d recommend you not ever saving me one.” Knox took a large bite of his bacon and focused forward, ignoring her presence completely.
I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Part of me was livid that he would treat anyone that way, but hell, I was told that was just him. On the other hand, another part of me was ecstatic that he didn’t appear interested. The second was a problem … a big one. I couldn’t be interested in a narcissistic asshole. Granted, he hadn’t been that way to me … yet.
“But your crew is over there too.” She stomped her foot a little.
“If you couldn’t tell, he’s not interested.” Deissy pointed her fork in the girl’s direction. “I’m sure his posse will be fine with him not sitting over there for one meal.”
“I wasn’t talking to you b …”
“You better be careful about how you decide to end that sentence.” There was no way in hell I was going to let some girl talk down to my friend. “Because if I don’t approve, then I’ll have to get involved, and that’s not good for anyone.”
Knox closed his eyes and shook his head as his shoulders silently shook.
“Just because he’s sitting over here with you doesn’t mean shit.” Her voice raised an octave.
“Yes, I know that.” I turned around and glared at her. “But I’m not the one making a big fucking deal over it either.”
Her mouth dropped, and she spun on the heels of her feet. She stomped off, not even attempting to not make a scene.
“You have bad taste.” For someone who comes off gruff, he could pick some crazies. “She must be good in the sack.”
Deissy spit out her water and began choking.
“You really are something.” Knox had a small grin on his face. “And no, I’ve never slept with her. If you want an answer to something, all you gotta do is ask the question.”
“First off, I assumed you had, given your rep. And secondly, would you tell me anything?” For some reason, I didn’t believe him.
“I never said I’d answer, but you never know unless you try.” He took another bite of his food.
It never hurt to try. “So why are you sitting here?”
He paused for so long I stopped expecting an answer. “You’re strange.”
Wow, he was blunt, but still. Damn.
“Oh no.” Sol giggled and shook her head. “I thought you had better game than that.”
“Right.” Deissy snorted. “Once again, you probably would’ve done better by keeping your mouth closed.”
“Thank you for your feedback.” Knox scowled in their general direction. “Can we talk about this when they,” he said as he pointed his fingers at my two friends, “aren’t around.”
“No, I think I’m good.” It was obvious that I must have amused him. At least, I hadn’t fallen for him or something more stupid.
“Of course you won’t.” He sighed and pushed his near-empty plate away. “In this type of place, strange is a good thing. It’s both refreshing and annoying at the same time. I can’t predict what you’re going to do or say next. And you keep winding up in precarious situations, which is driving me insane.”
“Yeah, being quiet definitely would’ve been better.” He said it was a good thing, but I didn’t think driving someone crazy was a compliment at all.
“How am I supposed to know how you were going to take it?” He sighed and stood. “I can’t win with you.”
“Do you want to?” The words were barely a whisper, but with all the supernatural ears around, everyone at the table heard them.
He huffed and glanced at me. “It would be nice if I did at least once in a while.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he headed to the door.
“Well, damn.” Sol shook her head and glanced at Deissy. “I never thought I’d see the day come.”
“Right?” Deissy laughed. “We better get going or we’re going to be late.”
I had no clue what they were talking about, and something told me I didn’t want to know. “Yeah, the last thing I need is to be late and have to do more work as punishment.”
“Then let’s go.” Sol waved us on.
The day’s work was hard labor. We had to plant seeds, and the soil couldn’t be too tight and had to be clear of rocks so the carrots didn’t get damaged when they began growing.
I had never seen Sol working the cotton plants, but she was here now, planting the carrots beside Deissy and me.
It was at least nice having them near so we could chat periodically throughout the day. However, something unsettled me though I wasn’t quite sure what it was.
Aaron had somehow weaseled his way into working as a guard watching over our section. It felt as if his eyes were on me the entire time.
Right as I was finishing my last section, Jenee strolled over in my direction.
She wrinkled her nose as she approached. “What is that horrible smell?” She waved her hand in front of her face, making a show.
“Oh, that’s probably your one half smelling your dog half.” I dusted my legs off and stood. “When it gets hot, you smell.”
“You bitch.” Her eyes flared at me, and she took a jerky step in my direction. “You can’t talk to me that way. Just because Knox is intrigued by you doesn’t mean you’re in his pack and protected.”
“Is something going on here?” Aaron appeared beside me.
Great, that probably made it all that much worse.
“Not at all.” Jenee forced a grin with her mouth wide open.
“Lexy?” His eyes landed on me.
Jenee jerked back when he used my name.
“It’s fine.” He had to keep popping up everywhere. I had been crystal clear with him last night. It didn’t make any sense why he was here.
He opened his mouth to keep talking, which was going to make it all that much worse.
“She was coming over to help me, but I told her I had finished.” He’d better have gotten the hint. I nodded at Jenee. “But thanks for the offer.” I smiled at her sweetly.
After a few moments, she must have gotten her shit together because she finally spoke. “Yeah, okay. Just thought I should be helpful and give you that warning.”
“What warning?” Aaron glanced at her.
“That I was going to miss dinner if I didn’t hurry.” Of course, she had to threaten me with Aaron here. “I’ll be right there, so please don’t wait on me. I don’t want to hold you up.”
Her eyes narrowed barely, but she nodded. “Okay, great. See you soon.” She went back in the direction she had come from.
“What the hell are you doing?” His main purpose in life had to be screwing up mine.
“Helping you.” He pointed in the direction of Jenee. “She is a problem here, and she was threatening you. Why did you lie?”
“Because your attention on me makes it worse.” He had to be either deaf or stupid. I wasn’t sure which one or if it was a combination of both. “You’re putting a target on my back.”
“How so?” He lifted his chin. “They should be more afraid if they know a guard is looking out for you.”
“And that’s how I know you are clueless.” Between him and Knox, they must have wanted me to die. Bringing all the negative attention to me. “She’s determined to be on top, the alpha here. So you helping me makes me more of a challenge for her to take down.”
Realization must have sunk in. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Just like that, I knew he had declared war. The only problem
was it was my war, and he was waging it for me.
Chapter Eleven
As I sat at our usual table, I wasn’t surprised when Jenee plopped beside me. I’d hoped to at least finish dinner before psycho pulled her claws out.
“So, did the guard finally stop protecting his princess?” Jenee crossed her legs and flipped a piece of her red hair over her shoulder. She had laugh lines beginning to peek through near her eyes.
“What are you talking about?” Maybe I could play dumb. It shouldn’t be that far of a stretch.
She crossed her arms and stared at me. “I hate to say this, but I know you aren’t dumb.”
Well, at least I tried.
Deissy paused when she saw who was at our table.
Well, I couldn’t blame her, but it still stung a little. “Couldn’t we both pretend?”
“I wish we could, but you’re getting too big for your britches.” Her gray eyes somehow seemed colder than normal. “Who the hell do you think you are, waltzing in here and getting pampered treatment?”
“As much as I would like to have been pampered, I’m going to have to disagree.” I took a bite of my food as if I didn’t have a care in the world. Yeah, I was stoking the beast within her, but damn. I couldn’t sit back and take her shit. If I started that, then it would be ongoing and never stop. “I have the same rules as you, I have the same guards as you, and I do the same damn work as you. So how the hell am I pampered?”
I almost fell from my chair when Deissy sat across from me.
“She’s right.” Deissy picked up her fork and took a bite of her spinach. “She does. So what’s the problem here?”
“Are you sure you wanna do this, Deissy?” Jenee arched her eyebrow and pointed at her. “We’ve been good. Is she worth risking it?”
“Here’s the problem.” Deissy placed her fork back on the plate and laid her hand on the table. “You see, she’s become a friend of mine, so I can’t let her be subjected to your desperate stunts in an attempt to keep your place in this prison.”
“So that’s how this is going to be?” She sighed and stared at the ground. “That’s a damn shame. I’d hoped that it wouldn't come to this. You should watch your backs. This isn’t over.”
“Figured it wasn’t.” Even though she didn’t want to admit it, she had to be slow on her feet. She hadn’t decided on how to punish Deissy or how to get me in line, but she would soon. Probably after she chatted up her four close gal pals.
When she was a safe distance away, I glared at Deissy. “You didn’t have to get involved.”
“Hell, one of the reasons she painted a target on your back is because you defended me against Knox and the fact that he’s being weird about you.” She frowned and picked apart a roll on her plate. “But I told you to prove your worth, not make yourself a target.”
“I have a problem following directions sometimes.” The more time I spent here, the worse it was getting. “I think this whole thing has ruined me when it comes to that. I pigeon-holed myself growing up. It was only a matter of time before I stopped caring.”
“It would’ve been nice if you conformed a little bit since getting here.” Deissy sighed and took a big bite of chicken.
“You didn’t have to stand up for me.” In fact, if she was going to act this way, I’d have preferred it if she didn’t.
“No, sorry.” She took a sip of water. “I’m being a bitch. It’s that we’re going up against not only Jenee but her four little groupies. I’m freaking out a little. That’s all.”
“I get it.” It was never easy to do the right thing. “I hate it too. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
“You’re telling me. But in a way, it’s made a hierarchy here that everyone follows.” She shrugged and continued eating dinner.
“Where’s Sol?” I glanced around, looking for the ballsy girl.
“She’ll be here in a second. She had to finish up something first.” Deissy snorted and rolled her eyes. “She told me that I was so right about you. You had spunk and seemed genuine.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I normally wasn’t praised unless it came from mom and dad. They had always been my main supporters and told me to be myself. Even though they had hidden the adoption from me, I couldn’t be mad at them. Now that I had time to reflect and think, I realized they had always been supportive and loving. It didn’t matter that they weren’t my parents through blood.
“Are you okay?” Deissy gave me a small smile. “It’s fine. We’ll be fine. I’m sure we can get through it.”
“No, it wasn’t about Jenee.” I wished I would’ve said something more to them. “Just thinking of my adoptive parents. They encouraged me to love myself. It took me growing up a little more for me to understand what they meant.”
“And that’s why you’re stronger. You’re accepting yourself.” Deissy winked at me.
“Another reason why Jenee hates you so much.” Sol dropped her plate on the table. “I heard she had another go at you here at the table.”
“Yeah, if you don’t want to be added to her list, you should probably sit somewhere else.” She appeared to be a nice person, and I hated to get her mixed up in my shit. Deissy already was in the middle of it, which I hated.
“You know what.” She sat down and lifted her hand in front of her body, making a smooth straight line. “I’m tired of everyone cowering down to her. I’m game. And let’s be real. You two need me.”
“Of course we do.” She was the light to my and Deissy’s dark. “Though I really don’t want either of you to get hurt.”
“Eh, if we all fight together, we can take them scrawny bitches down.” Sol popped a strawberry into her mouth. “What is she, half-wolf and half-pansy?”
Despite everything, that made me laugh. “Unfortunately, we all wouldn’t be talking about her if she was a pansy.”
“She’s half-vamp and wolf like Knox.” Deissy nodded in my direction. “So, very similar to Knox.”
“Yeah, but his vampire is more dominant while she’s more wolf.” Sol shook her head. “But both of them are badasses in their own right.”
“Speaking of which, what are you more of?” Sol took a big swig of water, and her eyes landed on me. “I can’t get a read.”
“You know as much as I do.” I shrugged. I was kind of curious myself, but since there was no magic here, I couldn’t figure it out.
“Which one is your dominant one?” I was an ass since I didn’t know already. Granted, all this stuff was new to me.
“Thankfully wolf.” Deissy placed her hand on the table. “If I were more mermaid, that could be a problem working in the field during summer.”
“Yeah, there was a girl named Angel, who showed up here shortly after I did. She was half-mermaid, but that half was stronger. She didn’t last longer than a week when the summer took hold.” She frowned and tapped her fingertips on the table. “That’s one reason why it took me a while to warm up to you. You made it through the heat of summer and the big house.”
“She and Angel had been close.” Deissy wrapped an arm around her friend and squeezed. “I wasn’t here when it all went down, but things change you here.”
That was not an exaggeration, but for the first time in my entire life, I had actual friends. For some reason, Sol slipped past my defenses, and it didn’t hurt that Deissy vouched for her.
As the three of us headed back toward the cabins, the sunset filled the skies with shades of various blues, pinks, and purples. In these times, it was kind of nice to have a moment like this.
“The days should get shorter soon. Until then, I’m kind of glad our cabins don’t have windows.” Sol lifted her head, taking in the brief time of peace we had. “Otherwise, I’d never get any sleep. The moon somehow still calls to me though my magic is gone.”
“Some things aren’t tied to our magic.” Deissy ran her fingers through her beautiful hair. The sunset somehow emphasized the rainbow colors. “For example my hair. It’s technically mermaid,
but with my magic gone, it’s still as vibrant.”
Her words were what I needed to hear at the moment. “That makes perfect sense. Our magic doesn’t define us, not completely.”
“Aw, look at you three bonding.” Jenee walked out from the tree line right in front of where we were heading with her hands behind her back. “It almost made me sad to interrupt.”
“I’m sure it did.” She was such a freaking jerk.
“That sass is part of the reason why I’m having to do this.” She moved her hands to the side, and her right hand held a large, thick branch. “Sol and Deissy, you girls go on. This is between Lexy and me.”
“What? No.” Deissy stepped beside me and straightened her shoulders. “Have you lost your damn mind?”
“No, she feels threatened by Lexy.” Sol sneered at her. “So she’s acting out.”
“You think I feel threatened by her?” Jenee growled, and her body stiffened. “Don’t try to make her feel special. She already has a problem with that and not knowing her place.”
“How the hell have I not known my place?” I hated bullies, especially when they were women hating on each other. We already had enough struggles. Why turn on each other? “I’ve left you alone. You come seeking me out.”
“And that’s part of the problem.” Jenee lifted the stick and hit it against the palm of her free hand. “You didn’t try to join my pack or even Knox’s. These girls are part of mine, but somehow they’ve become loyal to you instead of me.”
“I only ‘joined’ so I didn’t become the butt of your anger.” Sol crossed her arms. “There was nothing more to it than that.”
“This is your last chance to bow out.” Pure hate flashed in her eyes as she stared at me. “Don’t be stupid.”
“Guys, go on. It’s fine.” The last thing I wanted was for one of them to get hurt by protecting me. “It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.”
“But …” Deissy glanced back at me.
“It’s fine. Go on.” The fact that they wanted to stand beside me meant more than they’ll ever know.