Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (27 page)

Grey took a seat on a large rock and questioned, “Is it just me or does it feel like something is off between us?”

Lexy sat on a large lump of rock close by where he sat down.
She could barely see him.
The shadows from the trees had quite effectively blocked out any residual light coming from the moon. She looked in the direction of his voice and replied, “It’s not just you. I feel it too. I think I know what it is though.”

Her Handler’s voice travelled through the darkness, “What do you think it is?”

Lexy knew he was smiling even though his face was hidden in the shadows.
She’d feed him a few breadcrumbs of the truth and see how he dealt with it.
She answered, “For many years I haven’t exactly been dealing with my wants and needs in an emotionally progressive way, but I have them and you need to understand that even though you’ve been my whole world for a long time, sometimes I’m going to need to do something for me.”
Now, that speech had been a long time coming
.

There was a long drawn out moment of silence where the only response was a few long croaks from a toad and then he replied, “I know.”

She wasn’t sure how to take those two words.
What had he meant by, I know?

Lexy decided to call him out as she responded, “What do you know?”

“I know about the parts of our relationship I can’t remember and I also know how much I’ve hurt you over the years. Lets’ just say that somebody filled me in on what an asshole I’ve been. I thought I was going to be able to just keep this to myself, but I think that might be what’s causing this odd vibe between us.”

Maybe it wasn’t all her
. Lexy wished she was still holding his hand. The distance between them was magnified by the isolating darkness and lack of contact. Frost had told him everything after the orange juice incident. She’d initially suspected he had but then he’d acted completely normal afterwards. She’d always fixed this situation by sleeping with him and erasing his memory giving him a clean guilt free slate. But for the very first time that didn’t feel like the answer to anything. Lexy smiled knowing she could probably thank Orin for her enlightened point of view. He’d shown her that sex could just be for recreational purposes. It didn’t have to be complicated and end with her heart breaking. Lexy nodded even though he couldn’t see her and replied, “What can we do to fix this?”

Grey laughed and said, “I have an idea but we need to take off our shoes and socks. It’s going to be muddy.”

Why?
Lexy didn’t bother saying it aloud. She just took off her shoes and then tucked a sock in the toe of each.
This ought to be good.

Grey started to giggle as he squished his way through the muddy swamp towards her and gallantly held out his hand.
What a weird thing to want to do?
She took his hand and scrunched up her face knowing how much she hated the thought of what they were about to do.

Grey led her a couple of feet and exclaimed, “If we lose our balance it’s going to be messy.”

“Do we really have to do this?” Lexy sighed as she humored him and went along with his little game.

He spared, “Live a little. I bet you haven’t done anything new today. This will be something new for both of us. It’s a bonding experience.”

Well, actually she had done something new today…Orin
. She smiled to herself.
Oh, the things she’s always done to placate her Handler
. Lexy became a bit squeamish as her bare feet sunk ankle deep into the muddy marshlands.
Ewww. It was the creepiest feeling
.

Grey laughed as he pulled her against him and announced, “I think we should dance the stress off.”

Now, Lexy did not find very many situations that gave her an unsettling feeling but this one was definitely in the top five. She might even go as far as to say it was epically disturbing.
She laid her head on Grey’s shoulder and they tried to dance but it was really not as easy at he’d probably imagined it would be.
She did not like this game at all.
The squishy mud slid between her toes and it felt like they were sinking each time they swayed together.

Grey kept the marsh dance going as they awkwardly waltzed together to the tune of a toad’s baritone croaks for a few more minutes; he whispered in her ear, “Yah, I was totally wrong. This is disgusting.”

Laughter sputtered from Lexy’s lips as she agreed whole heartedly as they helped each other to solid land.
Well, now what were they supposed to do?
They both sat back to back on the stone she’d been sitting on before their little swamp dancing experience.

Grey chuckled, “Well, I obviously didn’t think this far ahead.”

Lexy jousted, “Are you’re referring to the inability to put our shoes and socks on for the walk back to the campsite because we’re covered in mud?”

“Oh, we’re not covered in mud yet,” was his response.

Once again she could tell he was smiling without actually being able to see him. Lexy asserted, “Don’t you even think about it Greydon.” He hopped off of his side of the rock and darted towards the swamp where he picked up a handful of goo and raised one hand ominously into the air.

The way Lexy saw it she had two choices. She could grab her shoes and sprint back to the campsite hoping she could outrun him and dodge his swamp bombs or just leap up, run over there and give him the face wash he deserved in the goopy marsh. She glared at him and threatened, “I wouldn’t do it.”

Grey was poised with mud in hand with it oozing from between his fingers and dripping down his arm as a couple of Dragon flies appeared, hovered around him and began their own dance in the air in the space between them.
He couldn’t throw anything without hitting them
. Lexy smiled, grabbed her sock filled shoes and left him standing ankle deep in the swamp. As Lexy strolled away she called out, “By the way, I saw some glowing eyes behind you over there. Hope that’s not anything that is looking to eat you.”

Lexy started to run because she knew he was coming now. She heard him pursuing her all of the way back to the campsite but as always she was able to maneuver through the woods in the dark using nothing but her senses. This had always been one of her strong suits. She was way ahead of him. There it was, the crackling fire beckoned her and it could be seen through the brush ahead of her. Lexy stepped out into the cleared area around the fire and announced, “What did we miss?”

All eyes traveled down to her hilariously muddy feet.

Frost stood up, walked over to her, grinned widely and said, “It’s been a long time since I got muddy like that on purpose. Did you guys have fun?” He looked over her shoulder and slowly shook his head from side to side.

Lexy sighed, “It’s right behind me isn’t it?” Both Frost and Lexy ducked as a ball of well-formed squishy swamp mud flew through the air. With the most hilarious timing ever Markus wandered over to stand by the fire and took it right on the back. It sprayed everyone sitting on either side of him.

Grey froze once again as everyone began to howl.

Markus turned around, glared at Grey and growled, “Are you five years old?”

He started to apologize and Markus said, “Come on muddy people. Well, and you two. It’s all over your backs and in your hair.” He signalled Astrid and Orin over. “Let’s go to the public bathroom. None of us are walking into either one of the motorhomes like this.”

Orin stood up and followed the muddy herd towards the showers.

Jenna hollered, “Wait a second. You guys are going to need soap and shampoo.” She darted up the couple of steps into the other groups’ motorhome and returned with a basket of hotel shampoo and soaps. They all grabbed what they needed except for Lexy who hadn’t had the opportunity to speak to her friend alone since she’d broken the girl code the night before. Jenna called her over as the group was already walking away and held out the basket. Lexy took the toiletries she needed.
This was a seriously awkward situation.

Jenna whispered, “Maybe, we should talk. I’ll walk with you.”

As soon as they were out of ear shot Lexy whispered, “I should have talked to you about watching a movie with Orin before I did it.”

The clan’s Oracle grinned at her and replied, “Don’t worry about it Lexy. Our relationship has been over for decades. We have to learn to be friends now.”

She looked at their clans Oracle and asked, “You were together for almost a thousand years. It can’t be that easy for you to walk away.”

Jenna grinned, and emotion flickered through her eyes as she answered, “It’s not easy but I have front row seats to the big picture and we don’t end up together. I’ve known about this for hundreds of years. At first I tried to ignore the visions but when Azariah asked me to be her right hand, having the last twenty years apart allowed me the distance I needed to see clearly. I could never regret our time together but it’s two centuries past when I should have allowed him to move on.”

Lexy smiled and nodded.
She was tempted to ask her what she’d seen in the big picture but didn’t bother, knowing she’d never say a word for fear of affecting the future
. Jenna placed her arm around her as they strolled down the gravel trail. They approached the others travelling in the opposite direction.
They must already be on their way back to the campsite. That was quick.

Jenna whispered in her ear, “Do yourself a favor and don’t stress about anything. It’s high time you had some fun with your afterlife.”

Lexy felt the weight lift off of her shoulders.
She was relieved that Jenna appeared to be fine
.

Jenna turned around, once they reached the bathrooms and unceremoniously waved goodbye to her. As Jenna wandered away from her she called out, “We have to take off before dawn. We’re sending the five out on a job alone. Thanks for playing along tonight, Lex. Make sure you grab your back pack and put it in our motorhome.”

“How long do we have?” Lexy hollered back.
She didn’t even know what time it was?

Jenna paused as she yelled her response, “We’re leaving in a couple of hours. Make sure you have a shower if you need one.”

Lexy waved and tugged on the door that had the girl symbol. It was locked and there was an out of order sign on the door. She gave the men’s bathroom door a good shove and it opened. Lexy didn’t need a shower, she’d had one this morning, all she needed to do was wash her muddy feet. It took her quite a while to wash the mud from beneath her toenails; it had proved to be much more difficult than she’d anticipated while balancing on one foot with the other in the sink. The mirrors were all steamed up. She wiped one of them with the palm of her hand and in her reflection she noticed the shirtless Orin standing behind her. She turned around and apologized, “Sorry, I thought I saw everyone leave. The girl’s washroom has an out of order sign on the door.”

Orin grinned as he gave her an explanation for why he was standing there partially clothed, “My shirt was dirty. I thought I’d just carry it back.” He held up the recently washed shirt with one hand as proof.

Unsure of what she should say, Lexy shoved the unused bottles of shampoo in her pockets and reached for the door. Orin grinned as he silently opened the door for her. They started to walk back to the campsite in uncomfortable silence to the back drop of randomly timed croaks of toads.

Orin casually teased, “I’m so glad this isn’t going to be awkward.”

Lexy grinned, stopped walking and explained, “I’ve never done that before and I have no idea how I’m supposed to act.”

He started to walk, smiled back at her and replied, “Just relax, there’s no expectations here. If you ever feel like you want to do that again you just let me know.”

She stood there, watching him walk away.
His butt looked incredible in those jeans. Did he expect her to chase him down and say something more?
Lexy definitely wanted to do that again but she was afraid he’d fall for her. She’d always viewed him as a relationship guy but if she was taking his words at face value he was looking for more of a casual friend with benefits situation and that thought was intriguing to say the least…

Lexy wandered over to the flickering fire. Grey was roasting a couple of marshmallows over the crackling campfire. He’d saved her a place to sit beside him as per usual and shimmied over to give her more room as she sat down.

He asked, “Are you still hungry?”

Lexy smiled at him. She took in two lungs full of the smoky air as it switched directions and came directly at her. She said, “I could roast a marshmallow.”

Grey pulled his stick out of the fire, braced it between his knees and slid one of the perfectly golden marshmallows off of the tip of his stick and brought it towards Lexy’s lips. She opened her mouth and he popped it inside and licked the sticky sweet remnants of the treat he’d fed her off of his finger.

Lexy placed her hand over her lips and mumbled with a mouth full of marshmallow, “That was smoking hot.” Well, that’s what she’d aimed for it had come out sounding more like, “Mat wub moking ot.”

Grey ate the other one. His body shook as he laughed with no sound with his hand over his own mouth. Grey finished chewing and stated, “So was that one.”

Zach and Kayn emerged from the motorhome. It looked like Kayn had fully regained her sanity and Zach was carrying a jar full of fireflies? He released the fireflies into the night. Kayn wasn’t watching the fireflies though; she was staring at the group of them sitting around the fire. Kayn walked over to Frost, bent down and kissed his cheek. He smiled appearing to be little bit shocked. Lexy felt like she’d missed something big during her little side trip to the bathroom.

Grey whispered in her ear, “Frost caught her some fireflies to cheer her up.”

Lexy smiled.
Damn, he was smooth
. She watched as Kayn grabbed a stick, placed a wiener on the end of it, and went to go sit down beside Zach, across the fire from Frost.

The old version of Kayn had never wanted to burn her hotdog. The new version dangled her stick directly into the flames and watched it scorch until it was blackened in various places. Lexy could appreciate that because that was also how she rolled. Zach was sitting right beside Kayn, cooking his wiener over the embers as she took hers out, blew on it, and tried to remove it with her fingers, but it was still far too hot to touch. Lily handed her a napkin and Kayn used it to shield her finger tips from the heat.