Page 41 of Can you take it?

I felt her breath on my neck and swallowed. “Yeah, Bexley,” I mumbled. If she whispered into my neck again, I was going to shove my semihard dick into this cactus just to stop thinking about her like that.

“He is good most of the time. Well, as good as he can be,” she replied.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I scowled at her. “Bexley’s mother is an angel in the human realm, in their heaven, but his father is the Devil.”

“So you’re saying the rumor’s true? An angel and the Devil had an affair?” I asked.

She squinted at me. “You’ve been in Tartarus five minutes. How do you know any rumors?”

I tipped my chin up and focused on Walter and Eletha. “I’m very sociable and well-liked wherever I go,” I said sarcastically.

“Why do I actually believe that?” she said. “Bexley’s pretty good for the most part. He’s been in Tartarus for ages and ages. He’s been through the tiers multiple times, always says he’s going to go somewhere other than Eromreven when he hits the tenth tier, but he never does. He always comes back once he runs out of drink and fairy dust.” She shook her head, making her brown and pink hair tousle. “Wastes his life away.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Just sometimes he can be a bit wicked, like now.” She nodded. “It’s almost always with good intentions. I think he had a rough childhood. From my understanding, his father was awful, and his mother wasn’t much better. Before they made a deal and sent him here, I guess he stayed in hell with his father, except no one protected him like Kaohs protected me.” Her eyes filled with sentiment.

“Bexley, you better make sure this chain is tight, you demon fuck, because the minute my hands are free, I’m going to strangle the memento out of your soul, you son of a bitch,” Eletha said through clenched teeth. “Once I get my powers back, I’m going to obliterate you. I’m going to make you wish you were never born.”

“You’re too late for that, Eletha. I already wish that.” His old brown coat had been thrown down to the ground. With the article free from his body, I was shocked to see a tattered set of wings tucked against his back. For the first time since being in Tartarus, I was happy that my own wings were no longer a part of me. Bexley’s wings, which I assumed were once white, were now mottled shades of tan and yellow with broken and shredded feathers. Most of his wings was nothing more than pink flesh and cartilage covered in scars. I couldn’t look away. Someone had tried to burn his wings off. I had never seen anything so tragic in all my life and I hardly blamed him for wanting to be drunk or high every waking second if that was any symbol of the terrible memories he kept.

Walter scowled. “I’m sorry to do this to you guys, but it has to be done. All you two do is fight, fight, fight.” His words trailed off as he continued to mumble to himself, walking in a circle around his two hostages. He was definitely not all there in the head.

“Do something, Walter!” Eletha screamed.

“And what exactly should I do, master?” Walter said in a low, steady voice.

“Stop! Enough! I can’t take anymore!” Bexley shouted as he shook the large weapons in his hands. He looked ready to snap at any given second. “Stop with the fighting!”

“We need to do something,” I whispered to Anna.

“He’s gonna kill them if they don’t shut up and my sister is not going to shut up.” She nodded.

Her eyes seem to darken slightly. “Looks like we are going to have to find a way to make him stop, teach him a lesson.”

I did not like the way that sounded. “Weren’t you just trying to convince me you weren’t evil five minutes ago?” I snarked. “You stay here. I’m going to go see if I can defuse the situation.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? You don’t even know him,” she said with a look that made me immediately second- guess myself.

“It doesn’t matter if I know him or not, somebody has to do something,” I said.

“I don’t care what you do, Walter, but get us out of here!” Eletha was shouting.

“Stop fighting. Stop fighting. Please, please, please stop fighting!” Bexley began to sing, putting his weathered hands into his hair and pulling it until it stuck out in tufts of brown. “Enough, Eletha,” said Walter. She didn’t like that very much.

“‘Enough, Eletha,’ huh? You sure have a lot to say when your back’s to me,” she snarled.

“You know what happened? We were getting along fine, and everything was going great back there. And the second you sit down and aren’t killing something, you’re pissed off at me again!” Walter snapped.

Bexley continued to pull at his hair, and my pulse quickened. They were playing with fire, and they didn’t realize it.

“Kiss and make up right now,” Bexley said in a panicked voice that sounded like he was on the edge of tears. “I can’t take the fighting. Please stop fighting. That’s all I hear is fighting. You two used to be so in love.”

“How do you know what we were?” Walter snapped. “Because I remember her telling me. That’s all she could talk about when she came back.”

Eletha’s face turned red. “It was a long, long time ago.”

“You don’t fall out of love like that,” Bexley said. “Kiss right now. Or hug or something, but please stop the shouting.”