War

by R. S. Broadhead

  He snapped to attention and wrapped his arms around Shayla’s waist, hoisting her into the air. Her legs kicked frantically. One connected with Jace’s mouth. His head bobbled to the side, blood pouring from an already swelling bottom lip.

  “I hate you! I wish you would’ve come back in a body bag just so I could shit all over your grave.” She squirmed against Payne’s arms as they backed out of the room. “Let me go! He has to pay. He needs to hurt like I did!”

  The two of them disappeared through the door, and Fuzz quickly shut and locked it behind them. He turned slowly, crossing his arms in the process. My heart jumped in my throat. I’d seen that look before. Fuzz had one of those insanely scary pissed off expressions and Savannah was on the receiving end of it.

  “Why would you tell her that he was here? I mean, shit. I thought all this high school drama was over. That all of you had grown up enough so we could act like adults in here finally.”

  Savannah shook all over. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop her. When I heard Reese tell you he was in here, I thought Shayla needed to know. She needed to calm down before she saw him. But as soon as the words came out, she only asked one question and then took off from the room.”

  “What was the one question?” I asked, giving Fuzz a look. He needed to take a few minutes to cool down himself. He nodded once, jerked the door open, and disappeared through it.

  She shook her head, giving Jace an almost apologetic glance. “She wanted to know if the bastard was dead.” Her gaze dropped to her knitted fingers.

  Jace had been right. I was wrong. Shayla didn’t want to see him.

  Unless he was dead apparently.

  13

  Reese

  Despite wanting to keep out of the whole drama thing going down between Shayla and Jace, I knew she needed to vent. After telling him that I would catch up with him later to finish getting the information regarding this Nekroun Earth place he was in the process of telling me about, I forced myself to walk the halls and search the rooms for her. I found her sitting on the floor of a closet.

  Her wild eyes snapped in my direction. I lingered in the doorway for a second before entering. “Want some company?” Her mouth opened but before a word could rush out, I held up my hand to stop her. “We don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to. I’m just here to sit. It can be in silence or we can talk or we can shoot the shit up out of this closet if you want.”

  Her damp eyes pierced me with a stern look. Uneasiness knotted in the pit of my stomach. Why didn’t I leave her be? Obviously, even my trying to make her laugh wasn’t going to work. Maybe this was a bad idea. I ignored the misgivings, and shuffled deeper into the tiny room. My back touched the wall, and I slid down to the floor to match her position.

  The minutes marched by. I stared at my nails and picked at the cuticles. When did my fingers start looking so gross? Ah, probably when I stopped caring about being girly and started slaying monsters. My shoulders bounced as I laughed silently. If the old me could see today’s me, she would have a panic attack; want to put me in a sundress and insist on doing my hair and makeup for some cold beers on some old dirt roads. Sighing, I dropped my hands so I couldn’t think about those things any more. There was no point to it. I looked around the room, clicking my tongue against the top of my mouth.

  “Could you stop that?”

  My stare landed on a heated expression from Shayla. “Of course.”

  A whole minute passed by before the violent spew of word vomit erupted from her lips.

  “I just can’t. I can’t believe he is here. Of all places in the world.” She gripped the hair near her temples. For a second I thought for sure she was going to rip it out, but somehow it managed to remain lodged into place despite the notorious yanks. “I mean, this gives me all kinds of feels. Like I don’t know if I want to kiss him, fuck him, or kill him.” Her eyes met mine. “You know what I mean?”

  I didn’t, but I nodded. “You could do all three. Like in that exact order if you wanted.”

  Vessels popped out as her face turned red. “He left me. Alone.”

  Clearly, she had decided to ignore my comment. Or maybe she was too lost in her own thoughts to actually know that I had spoken.

  “I had to deal with all this shit by myself while he was off prancing around having the time of his life with Payne.” Her head twitched back and forth almost like she was seeing the two of them skipping hand in hand frolicking through the flowers.

  I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. “I don’t think he was having a good time without you.”

  Her mouth fell open. “You don’t think so?”

  I shook my head. “Dude looks like shit. Were you not looking at the same person I was?”

  She cocked her head to side and screwed up her face. “Guess I was too busy trying to hurt him.” Her lips pursed together. “Maybe that was a just a little over the top.”

  A little over the top? Try a lot. “Nah. I think you acted like any girl would.” I hesitated with my next words. “Maybe you should go talk to him. Bet he wants to see you without you trying to strangle him.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Nope.”

  I wasn’t expecting that. I’d thought we were making progress here.

  She hopped to her feet and dusted her butt off.

  “Why not?” I searched her body. Her hands. Anywhere there could be a gun. She had made a total three-sixty. This couldn’t be anything good.

  She snorted. “I’m going to drive him crazy like he did me. Only I’m going to do it with another guy.” She laughed softly as her eyes danced. “Oh this will drive him insane.”

  I couldn’t believe the words I was hearing. We fought and risked our lives every day. I would give anything for Steele to walk through our doors. She had no idea how lucky she was to have Jace back.

  I stood. “Don’t you think that’s a little…” I didn’t know the right word to use without offending her.

  “Juvenile?” she finished.

  I nodded.

  “It is, but I don’t care.” She whirled on her heels dramatically, flipping her hair through the air. “He deserves it.” Her hand landed on the door handle. “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to get serious with Hollywood.”

  I nearly choked on my own spit. “Hollywood?” I jerked her shoulder back before she could leave the room. “Have you lost your mind? That guy is such a D-bag. Like literally, he makes me want to vomit every time I have to converse with him.”

  She rolled her eyes and walked out of the closet. “I’m sure he isn’t that bad.”

  Bad was an understatement. I had spent the last several months with him in the middle of nowhere. He tried to kill me for crying out loud. I mean, I was trying to kill him, but that was beside the point. She had no idea what he was really like.

  “Um, he’s so much worse,” I tried to argue.

  A grin pulled at her lips. She stopped, faced me, and put her hands on my shoulders. “Reese.” She licked her lips.

  For crying out loud. She was really about to give me one of those “talks.”

  “Lots of things changed since you’ve been gone. I’m stronger now.” Her finger went to her lip and tapped it. “I know that’s hard to believe because, well, let’s face it, I was a total bad-ass before you left. But I promise it won’t be a Zane thing all over again.” She trotted off, leaving me still reeling over her ridiculous idea.

  I had a bad feeling about this. Deep down in the pit of my gut. Kind of like when you eat something that’s been in the fridge too long and smells funny, but you’re hungry so you eat it anyway. Later you regret it when you’re shooting hellfire’s lava out of your asshole. Yeah, that’s where the idea of Shayla and Hollywood took me. It wasn’t pretty.

  I shoved my troubled thoughts deep down to a place I hoped they remained for the rest of my life. Thinking of the two of them… I shivered, forcing back the bit of vomit that threatened. Reapers. Nekroun Earth. Jace. Abby. Those were the things that I n
eeded to focus on right now. No more wasting my time on things that weren’t important.

  Roaming the halls, I managed to find Jace, shirtless, doing pull ups in the gym.

  “Too hot for words, Jace,” I teased as I rounded the metal frame of the machine he was using.

  He dropped to his feet with a heavy breath. Snatching a towel off a nearby bench, he swiped it across his sweaty forehead. “She okay?”

  His expression was way too hopeful. It hurt my heart. “She’s fine. But she still doesn’t want to talk to you.”

  He dipped his chin. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  “I really wish I didn’t have to.” I meant that. I wanted so bad to tell him that she was waiting for him to come whisk her off her feet, but she was delusional. I could only hope that this awful idea would fall to pieces once she was around Hollywood a bit more. Regardless, I wasn’t about to get into all that with Jace. “So you think Abby is stuck in Nekroun Earth?”

  He balled the towel up and tossed it into a basket near the wall. “Not sure.”

  I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. He looked distracted now. No doubt he was probably in deep thought of how to rectify things with Shayla. Exasperated with his lack of devotion to the topic, my jaw locked as I snapped my fingers in front of his dazed expression. “Hello? Right now, there are more important things to do instead of thinking about Shayla. She’ll come around.”

  Slowly, his lids lowered as his gaze narrowed to meet mine. “Well, Nekroun Earth is the only place outside of here I’ve been to.” He paused and grimaced. “After that little visit, don’t think I really care to venture to any of the others.” His arms snaked through a shirt before tugging it the rest of the way down. I fell into step beside him as we walked.

  “Was it really that bad?” Despite what he said, I had already made up my mind. I was going to this place. I only needed to find one of these Death Dealers he talked about.

  Before he could answer, a high-pitched giggle echoed down the hall. Dread set in. I could recognize that laugh out of a thousand others happening at the same time. That was Shayla’s ‘I’m trying to flirt’ laugh. Normally it made me laugh at how ridiculous she sounded, but now all it did was make me cringe.

  My fingers curled around Jace’s bicep. “Maybe we should go this way.”

  One side of Jace’s mouth curled up. “Why?” His naiveté filled me with such pain that my mind went blank. Before I could come up with a lie to shield him from what he was about to see, he cut to the right and came to an abrupt halt.

  I swallowed and peeked around the edge. Shayla’s back was against the wall. Her thighs were slightly apart allowing Hollywood just enough room to position himself in the space between her legs. One of his hands lay flat against the wall above her head while the other cupped her chin.

  Jace cleared his throat loud enough for the two to hear. I didn’t want to look in his direction. I felt mortified for him.

  Without turning in our direction, Hollywood averted his eyes to the ground as a heavy sigh puffed up his thick chest. “What’s up?” The irritation laced in his voice practically sliced the air between us. The condescending tone it took iced my skin. My fingers twitched, wishing for a blade to hurl in his direction.

  Shayla remained silent, but was now running her hands over Hollywood’s chest.

  “Not shit,” Jace answered coolly, void of emotion.

  My eyes widened. Talk about playing it off like a pro. I silently applauded him.

  He took a few steps in their direction before turning to look back at me. “You coming?”

  I nodded and darted forward to catch up with him.

  “Why don’t you two go get a room or something? The hallway isn’t the place for all that.”

  “Oh, and the middle of someone’s party is?” Shayla spat in his direction, finally pulling her eyes away from Hollywood and directing a heated expression toward Jace.

  “I’ve grown up. Unlike others.”

  Shayla’s mouth dropped. I took the moment of silence to get in a quick jab to Hollywood. Sorry, but I was Team Jace all the way. Had been since day one.

  “They can’t go get a room, Jace. Hollywood doesn’t like girls.”

  He scowled in my direction. “Just because you never seen me with anyone doesn’t mean I’m gay, Reese.” He refocused on Shayla. “I’m basically like Jay-Z trying to find my Beyonce.” His finger landed on Shayla’s bottom lip.

  I laughed out loud. It was an over the top obnoxious cackle that made me bend over due to my midsection hurting. “Did you seriously say that?” I gasped for air. “Jay-Z, huh?” I waved a hand at him and walked after Jace who was just as entertained as me. “You do you, Jay-Z. Damn.”

  Jace and I burst through the door of a room down the hall and dropped to the floor. Neither of us could breathe from laughing so hard.

  “That was a shitty situation to walk up on, but at least that dick made himself look like a complete tool. It was almost worth seeing her all over him,” Jace finally managed to get out.

  I nodded. “Jay-Z. What the hell was he thinking?” I pressed a hand to my hot skin.

  “Not a clue.”

  14

  Reese

  The Death Dealer in Africa was the only one Jace knew of. If needed, I would take my ass across the world. But first, I thought my best option would be to ask the creature that knew everyone around these parts. The Jeep bounced from side to side as it crawled down the bumpy dirt road. When I saw the broken down truck, I pulled over to the side and flipped the ignition off. Tall grass scraped against my legs as I cut through the overgrown vegetation.

  “Can’t believe you and Shayla got high as hell out here with Eight Ball,” Harley said with a smile on his lips. A warm chucked erupted. “I would’ve loved to have seen that.”

  We rounded the side of the truck and darted around the trees. “I was sure we were about to be slaughtered by those killer squirrels. You just don’t know.” I peered over my shoulder, enjoying the moment. The thick line of bushes blocked our path, and we came to a halt. Deep hums of someone singing from the other side filled the silence. I walked down a few steps and squeezed through a small opening. Eight Ball had his back to us, sitting on the bench that he shared with Shayla and me that night.

  “You’re really losing your touch. What if I was someone here to take that other eye?”

  He didn’t turn around, merely pulled in a deep drag from the pipe between his fingers. Smoke curled around his large form. “I’ve done my portal duty, so what brings you out here to the pot farm, Reese? Wanting to go for round two with your squirrels?”

  I threw my hands out to the side. “Is no one ever going to let me live that down?”

  “Not in this life time.”

  Harley and I plopped down on the bench in front of him. He turned so that his good eye could focus on us.

  “I need your help.”

  “What a surprise.”

  I shrugged. “Can’t help it you’re the beast with the answers I need.”

  “What answers can I provide you with today?” He leaned down and wrapped his fingers around the familiar box that we were required to pick from. He held it out. “Maybe you’re a narc now. Maybe burn one down to prove you’re not?”

  My brow cocked. “You know I’m not a narc. And you can shove that shit up your ass. No more for me. Ever. I think I gained like twenty pounds that night off of Spam and Reese’s.”

  Eight Ball burst out laughing. “Hey, I told you that combination would cure those munchies though, didn’t I?”

  I nodded. “Look, I think I can find Abby with the help of a Death Dealer. You ever heard of one being around here?”

  He shifted and took another deep drag. “I don’t really fool with that type of stuff. Too dark for my liking.”

  My hopes were crushed. Well, it was off to Africa for me.

  “But I might know someone who can point us in the right direction. There’s an underground club in High Acres. The
owner came from New Orleans, one of the most pivotal cities for things of that nature. If one’s here, he’ll know.”

  Harley and I stood. “Great. Just tell us where it’s at and we’ll leave you be.”

  Eight Ball stood, towering over us. “Oh you won’t get in there.” My stomach dropped to my knees. “At least not without someone that can get you in. I’ll meet you at the training facility at midnight tonight.” He eyed me up and down. “Dress in something revealing.”

  Fuzz had someone go the store for me and bring back a huge selection of slinky outfits. I held up each one with disgust. My, how the times had changed. A few years ago I would have been all over every one of these outfits and going out, even if it was to an underground club for creatures. A black leather number caught my eye. It was cute as hell. I stuffed it under my arm and darted out the room to take a quick shower.

  The romper fit snuggly, hanging low in the front to expose a generous amount of cleavage while the back was high enough to make out the bottom of my ass. I tugged at the fabric trying to get it to cover more but it wasn’t happening. I sighed and dropped a bag of makeup over the counter in the bathroom. I stared at it wondering if I could even remember how to do this stuff.

  It was a struggle, but I managed to decorate my face until I was almost unrecognizable. I stared at the old Reese, back from the grave. I smiled as warmth blanketed my cheeks. I was too excited about this. Really, I needed to get a grip. I gave myself one last look and yanked the door open. A body blocked me.

  “Fuck, Reese. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen you look like that,” Payne said dragging his eyes up my body. “You should dress up more often. You look…”

  “Hot?” Harley finished, his jaw clenched, as he stopped beside Payne.

  Payne nodded, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. Without it being said out loud, I could tell Payne wasn’t a fan of Harley. Who could blame him? Harley was the one trying to step into my life and take Steele’s place. “Y’all be careful tonight,” he muttered and veered away from us.