AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They all stop as I straighten. Phineas’s eyes narrow with curiosity.
I stalk over and grab the clothes from Zeb. “You have a bathroom or something I can get changed in?” I grit out.
The guy nods his head toward a door I’d assumed was a closet. “In there.”
I whirl and hurry toward the bathroom, avoiding all their eyes.
Doesn’t mean I can’t feel them watching me.
The bathroom is like the bedroom—ornate and vaguely sterile with a feeling of belonging in a hotel. The countertop is marble. The faucet is gold. Little bar soaps sit by the sink. They smell like cinnamon spice, and in spite of myself, the brief thought flits through my head of whether I’d smell these on Phineas if I got close to him, given that this is supposedly his room and all.
“Not helpful, Mabel…” I mutter to myself as I strip off my dress. Still scowling, I unfold the clothes they gave me.
And pause.
There’s a pink skirt. A white tank top and cardigan with little pink skulls stitched into it, so tiny they look like flowers until you get close. The clothes aren’t what I expected, but they’re also fantastic, and they’re going to look pretty damn great with the pink streaks in my hair.
“Maybe they won’t fit,” I caution myself, not even sure why I care. It’s kind of strange, though, to think these guys got me clothing.
And it’s just plain uncomfortable in a not-so-uncomfortable way to think they wanted to see me in this.
I don the skirt and then get the tank top and cardigan into place before looking at myself in the mirror. “Dammit.”
They fit perfectly.
This is too bizarre. I need to get home now.
Bundling my dress under my arm, I pull open the bathroom door.
Huck is standing on the other side, an eager grin on his face. “You look amazing!”
There’s something so innocent about him I feel bad staying irritated, especially when I’m not entirely sure why I’m upset in the first place. But the idea of hurting his feelings seems a bit like kicking a puppy.
A sexy, blue-haired puppy.
Okay, now I’m just making it weird.
I give him a tight grin as I step past him. Zeb and Phineas are waiting by the door.
“Ready to go?” Phineas asks neutrally. “We had the driver bring the car around.”
“The driver?” When they don’t answer, I make an exasperated noise. “Okay, look, who said anything about you guys coming with me?”
“You expect us to simply wait here for you to get shot again?” Phineas replies.
Creepy rouses with indignation, and I’m right there with her. “You don’t get to speak to me like that. I’m hardly helpless.”
He takes a step forward and I’m suddenly aware of how much smaller I am than him, even in our Jekyll forms. When he speaks, his voice is a low, possessive rumble that I swear has a hint of his Hyde’s growl in it. “And you don’t get to die on us.”
My body burns at the intensity in his tone, even while Creepy and I both pause at the strange response. It’s not just his words. It’s the look in his eyes. Like my death would be the worst thing in the world, so awful he won’t ever allow it.
Weird doesn’t cover this. “I didn’t almost die.” I hate how thready my voice sounds.
“An inch to the side, and the bullet would have hit your femoral artery. You would have bled out in the alley before we could save you.”
In spite of myself, I swallow dryly. I have no idea how to respond to that.
“Is it such a bad thing to have a few allies at your back?” Zeb offers into the tense silence.
