Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (2 page)

Her Handler, with his always slightly dishevelled looking blonde hair and soft probing blue eyes wandered towards her and teased, “You’re not avoiding me are you?”

Yes…she definitely had been.
Lexy suspected the questions would begin the second he managed to get her alone. They hadn’t had the opportunity to have a private conversation yet. Not, since her battle along side of Tiberius at the coliseum. A wave of guilt passed through her as he silently sat down beside her on the cool stone floor, and laid his head against the wall. One of Greydon’s most endearing qualities was the fact that he always wore his heart on his sleeve but in this moment there was something detached in his mannerisms.
He wasn’t touching her.
Usually he’d always be finding a way to make that connection by resting his hand on her leg or on top of hers. There was a distance between them. He was undoubtedly looking for details on how far things had gone with Tiberius. Truth be told, she’d wanted to hurt him when they arrived at the Summit, and he’d known she was mad as they’d travelled there in the tombs. He’d kissed her and blamed it on the fact that he’d been drinking. To add insult to injury, he’d ended up with Lily at the end of the night. She knew it wasn’t that simple because Lily had been having ability related glitches that needed to be dealt with and Frost had pressured him into doing it.
The situation wasn’t simple. Nothing in their lives was…
He probably figured that the self-destructive part of her that he’d been trying to tame for the last forty years had gone out and done the one thing that would hurt him. She knew he couldn’t remember his true feelings for her but in this moment the confusion that was reflected in his eyes suggested that he was starting to, at least on some level.

Jealousy was one of the ways she’d brought his emotions back to the surface in the past, but that wasn’t what she was trying to do with Tiberius. Grey shifted around to face her.

He stared into her eyes, gently caressed her cheek with one finger and said, “You have an eyelash on your cheek.” He held up his finger and an eyelash was balancing on the tip. He grinned and said, “Make a wish.”

She smiled at him and whispered, “I’m good.”

He closed his eyes and with a gentle puff of air he blew her eyelash off of the tip of his finger.

She’d made a conscious decision to let any romantic notions go, but when he did these things she knew she’d never be able to, not completely.
Grey was her kryptonite. Her Achilles heel had always been her feelings for the only person she’d ever truly loved. He was the one person she could never have. Well, at least not in the way that she wanted him.

He put his arm around her and pulled her against him. They sat there in the silence for a moment before he kissed her on the head and whispered, “You didn’t actually sleep with that tool, did you?”

She knew that was coming
. Lexy slipped out of his embrace and teased, “Am I about to get a fine from the booty call police?” Lexy was fully aware that she could have just told him that it hadn’t gone farther than a steamy make out session and that would have ended the conversation but she had never been able to resist the urge to push his buttons.
Why was she still trying to hurt him? This was silly.

He smirked at her, taking her silence as an admission. Grey shook his head, stood up, turned around and walked away from her as he muttered, “Forget about it.”

He was visibly upset. Why did she feel this guilty?
With an exasperated sigh she stood up, followed him, and reached for his arm as she caught up with him. He stopped walking away and turned to face her.

She explained, “It was just a kiss. It didn’t mean anything we were just caught up in the moment.”

Grey smiled at her, appearing to be relieved, he teased, “No worries…I’ll just spray you down with Lysol when we get to the hotel room.”

She playfully shoved him and sparred, “Funny Greydon. That’s hilarious. What have you done in the last couple of days? Perhaps, you’ll need to pick up your own bottle?”

Her charmingly pig headed Handler chuckled, “Touché,” as he placed one of his arms around her and just like that, all was forgiven
.
She recalled Azariah’s words…
Love and lust are temporary but friendship can last forever. She could have him forever but only if she ceased to love him this way.
They made their way back towards the group of animatedly chatting Ankh.

As they approached the others Frost grinned at her and declared, “You two have obviously worked things out.”

Now, she was a little bit lost?

Grey gave her shoulder a squeeze and sighed, “What can I do? She’s turning into a brazen hussy but I still love her.”

Lexy took comic offence to his statement, stepped away from him and quipped, “Seriously… I’m a hussy? I’m sure you spent last night playing checkers.”

Grey glanced at Frost and chuckled, “I did absolutely nothing last night but dwell on your uncharacteristically naughty behavior with our enemy and get absolutely wasted on pimped out ceremonial wine.”

Frost raised one hand and piped in, “I can vouch for that.”

“And what was it that you did the night before that again?” She teased.
That shut him up.

Grey grinned as he sheepishly responded, “Point taken, but in all fairness if you get to repeatedly refer to me as a man whore, then I get to call you a brazen hussy at least once.”

Orin and Markus walked in, both of them lugging large heavy looking coolers. They placed them down on the stone floor and Orin announced, “There are buns with meat and cheese and a choice of either beer or cider. He opened one of the lids, grabbed something, and said, “Here you go Lexy. I imagine you’re absolutely famished.” He grinned and winked as he chucked it at her.

She caught it, smirked at him and replied, “Thanks.”
Oh wonderful. They were all going to mess with her.
She unwrapped what he’d tossed at her and it was black forest ham and cheese on a bun. She devoured the whole thing in a couple of bites. Another bun came sailing through the air without warning and she caught it and smiled.

Orin flirtatiously chuckled, “Damn, you’re good.”

Lexy glanced up at him.
How far did they all think she’d taken things with Tiberius?

Orin had been hitting on her at the banquet. She recalled that part of the evening. He tossed a beer across the room without warning her, still trying to catch her off guard. She caught it in one hand and gave him a cocky smile. They all began eating and telling tales of the Summit while she listened with a mouthful of bun, unable to speak. Grey was sitting beside Lily. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled.
That was going to be irritating.
So, she grinned and gave her can of beer a few good shakes before popping the tab in his direction. It started to spray all over them both.

Grey started cursing, “What in the hell, Lex?”

She placed her hand over the now slow spurting beer and sweetly apologized, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Grey stripped off his soaking wet beer scented shirt, dropped it on the stone floor behind him and glared at her.
He knew she’d done it on purpose. He couldn’t prove it though.

Orin had her back as he took the blame by piping in, “Sorry kid. That must have happened when I tossed it to her.”

She had to cover her mouth to stifle her response. A giggle just about escaped. Grey hated it when any of the older ones called him kid. Theoretically they were both in their late fifty’s in mortal years, but next to almost everyone else in the Ankh crypt they were nine and a half centuries younger. Arrianna had her lips pressed together to stop herself from laughing and she couldn’t even look at her because she was still hungry and if Grey stormed off she’d be obligated to follow him. She went to place her hand on his leg and he shifted and it accidentally landed on his lap.

Grey’s eyes widened and he pretended to be shocked and teased, “Not now Lexy we’re eating dinner.”

She rolled her eyes and playfully smacked his arm.
These jokes were going to get really old fast.

Orin grinned at her and jested, “Well, I hope this isn’t how you treat Tiberius.”

She crushed her empty beer can in one hand and politely requested another.

Orin smiled at her and said, “I don’t know. I’m afraid to give you anything you can use as a weapon.”

She met his eyes across the room lit by flickering torches and sweetly responded, “But I don’t need a weapon, Orin.”

Frost broke up the tension by standing up and taking off his shirt. “If Grey doesn’t have to wear his shirt, I’m not going to wear mine.”

Lexy knew she should just stand up and tell the whole room that she hadn’t slept with Tiberius but something made her want to keep that to herself. When Orin took off his shirt too, she found herself staring at his chiselled abs. She had to look away.
What was wrong with her today? These guys were always shirtless. Was it an immortal thing or just a guy thing in general? What was wrong with her? She never thought about this stuff.

Orin caught her looking at him. He raked one hand through his hair, smiled mischievously at her as he grabbed a beer out of the cooler. He stood up, walked across the room, passed the can to her and said, “Just so there are no more accidents.”

Lexy went to take the beer from his hand and he flirtatiously held on to it for a second longer, before releasing it.
She was pretty sure she wasn’t imagining this. He was hitting on her.
She glanced at Jenna and she appeared to be oblivious.
Maybe, it was all in her head? She still wanted another bun with meat and cheese.

Grey stood up, walked over to the cooler, opened it and started to rifle around. He hollered, “Heads up!” as he tossed a bun at her. He ruffled Arrianna’s hair and she swatted him away before he walked back across the room and took his seat beside Lexy. She took an enormous bite of her sandwich just as Grey leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Yes, most guys like to walk around with their shirts off, even the mortal ones. Nothing’s wrong with you for noticing it or liking it and yes… Orin’s been shamelessly flirting with you.”

He’d been listening to her thoughts.
She smiled, and nonchalantly nodded to signal that she understood what he’d said as she continued to devour her bun.

Markus stood up raised his beer in the air and toasted, “To Lexy. You did us proud at the Summit.”

She almost choked on her last bite of bun but managed to disguise it with a smile.
She’d taken that the wrong way for a second there.
Everyone raised their beers in salute and then carried on with their conversations.

Markus made his way across the room towards her, took a seat on the other side of her and enquired, “Did you have fun catching up with Prince Amadeus afterwards? He’s the only member of that whole family that I like. He’s actually a good guy.”

Lexy nodded as she answered, “Yes, he’s always been a good friend. Thank you for not making me sit through something public after that whole mass murder thing.”

Her clan’s leader chuckled and quipped, “I’ve known you long enough to know that would have been a horrible idea.”

That, it would have been.

“How are you doing with everything?” Markus inquired.

She nodded and gave him her token response, “I’m fine.”

“Alright, I was just checking to see if you were good to go for tomorrow.” He gave her leg a fatherly pat, winked at her and added, “I’m off to bed. You should try and get Grey to go to sleep early; your Handler there was one of the reasons I had to stay at the banquet until the bitter end last night. He was a wreck.”

Lexy smiled at Markus and replied, “I’ll make sure he does. Sweet Dreams.” She turned to look at her party animal of a Handler. She’d thought he’d been upset about what had happened between her and Tiberius during the little intermission at the coliseum. She was seeing the big picture now.
She’d been taken to Amadeus’s chambers but nobody had informed Grey. If Tiberius was also missing from the banquet, he probably would have assumed the worst. Oh, everything was starting to make sense.
She waited until Markus was out of ear shot before she whispered, “You thought I was with Tiberius all night, didn’t you?”

Grey squeezed her knee and quietly responded, “I’m your Handler. When I don’t know where you are, especially after a day like that, I’m bound to be slightly agitated.”

Lexy smiled at him, took the beer from his hands and said, “Let’s get out of here.” She stood up and motioned for him to follow. As she scaled the stairs to the forest she glanced back to see if he was following her. The crypt slid open with the grinding sound of stone rubbing against stone to reveal a starry night sky.

He grabbed for her and whispered, “We’re not allowed to go out there until tomorrow. This is their last night to do the whole inter clan bonding thing before their Testing.”

Lexy dodged out of the way and in a hushed voice she responded, “Oh, nobody’s going to see us and we won’t go far. If we hear anyone coming, we’ll hide.” Grey hesitated but followed her out into the lush green foliage of the forest. Lexy paused and savoured that first breath of fresh forest air. This world was so much more than the place the third tiers had chosen to call home. Everything was alive and vibrant in comparison.

They took a starlight stroll to the symphony of the woods at night. Crickets chirped and toads croaked as they took in the sensory delight of being outside of the stone crypt. They decided it would be for the best if they travelled in the opposite direction of the campground. They knew they couldn’t risk being seen, so they made sure to stay away from the cleared trails. They forced their way through the bushes and after a couple minutes of bush bombing they stepped into an isolated looking open meadow. They made themselves comfortable and sprawled out together under the absolutely spectacular ceiling of stars. At this point in her afterlife few sights left Lexy awestruck, but as she lay in the lush grass next to the person that mattered most to her, while gazing at the glittering display from the heavens above. She smiled as her heart recognized the beauty of the moment…it was pretty close to perfection.