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“That’s okay,” she reassured him, taking his cone as he mentally stepped down.
His eyes were blinking when they focused on me, his back straighter, and the noise still going on in the distance already grating on his every nerve.
I could almost feel the negative energy rise inside him and seep out around us all.
“Keep calm,” I warned, knowing Hell struggled to control his emotions and the side-effects of his other disorders more than Woodrow and even Woody.
He’d never been to a park before. Never really left our grounds, and this place was loud and irritating, even to my ears—and I heard so much less than everyone else.
His eyes flicked to Jolie, his arms, too, wrapping around her waist and yanking her close, forcing her between his legs—an act of possession or protection.
In fairness to him, he’d been relatively good since she came back into his life, which was around a year ago.
All that considered, his silver stare still felt colder in this direction as it moved to Cat.
She held her nerve well, torturing me with how her tongue lapped her ice cream. He eyed my clothes on her body and then the reaction on my face that told him exactly who she was.
He laughed silently, understanding all my frustrations that he would have already given in to.
That was a hypocritical way for me to think. We were both rapists, after all. Both changed men, to some extent.
“This is Cat.” I wrapped my arm around her, giving a silent warning that she was off-limits in any potential outbursts.
He shrugged like he really didn’t care because he didn’t care about anything other than Jolie and his ownership of her.
Jolie handed the ice cream cone back to the man—and he was a man now—she loved, and he looked at her as if she was the only person in existence.
He took the cone but tilted it to hers, silently asking if she’d accept the top scoop because Hell—and Woodrow, for that matter—hated the minty flavor.
She nodded. “We got you this, just in case.” She stretched an arm out and picked up a tub with a single scoop of plain chocolate, and he happily accepted it as he leaned back into the tree, taking Jolie with him.
She didn’t fight it.
The truth was, they both hated being out in the world. They liked two places—home and Beyond Heaven, and that was only because it was the resting ground of their baby.
I relaxed a little, watching as his breathing seemed easy and not like he was waiting to kill the next thing that moved.
Another lick entered my mouth, and I dared another look at Cat, who had never before seen this part of my brother.
She returned my stare with a glowing smile.
“Woodrow seems different,” she mouthed, and it was almost like he heard it, his head moving slightly in our direction.
“That’s not Woodrow.”
And that meant our date really did have to end soon.
Chapter 23
Catharina
Jolie and Wood—Hell—disappeared the moment they got inside the house, and it happened before I’d even had a chance to tell her I think I borrowed her shoes this morning, and I may have accidentally scuffed the toes.
No one was in the living room, aside from the hairless cat bathing its nether regions and casting glares that accused us of interrupting. That giant egg was on again, casting its pretty glow throughout the expanse of the room. Remi led me to his room and immediately pulled the drapes into a closed position, closing out any light from the back porch and leaving us in darkness because his screensaver—some sort of winged woman that resembled me didn’t have the power to light up the room.
“You want to shut the world out? You don’t usually close them for bed.” I placed myself down on his bed, still unmade from this morning.
“No. But we don’t need to see the shit that’s about to go down on that swing.”
