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"Is this a sick joke?" I demanded to know, and I hoped like hell that it was because there was no reason for Rain to have abducted Marcus Cole and lock him up somewhere. That was plain crazy.
"I wish," Quinton muttered and my mouth dropped open. He was dead serious.
"Oh my god," I whispered frantically.
"Really," Rain said conversationally, "it's his own damn fault. If he hadn't stopped practicing his craft, then he wouldn't have been caught so easily and I wouldn't have been able to subdue him and lock him away. He would have been able to fight back. Instead, he went down like a weakling and it was almost too easy. He has no one to blame besides himself, really."
I looked to Quinton in time to see him shake his head at Rain with a small smirk on his face.
"This isn't funny," I hissed at him.
He turned that smirk on me. "I told him you weren't going to like any of this," he said smugly. "And I was not wrong."
"Marcus is fine now, baby girl." Rain tried to assure me.
I wasn't having any of it. My feet moved me without thought and I started pacing around the dining room. Back and forth. Back and forth. I was trying to walk off the angry energy that had balled up in me upon hearing this news. I didn't think it was going to do my any good.
"Where is he now?" I demanded to know. He probably got the heck out of town as fast as he could go and who could blame him. "This is why he hasn't been texting me back or returning my calls. I was worried he didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I was hurt. I cannot believe this."
And it was true, I couldn't believe this was happening right then, that this was my life, that they were both being so casual about the fact that Rain had Marcus locked up in his basement and they acted like this was no big deal for either of them. It was a big deal to me and I refused to be casual about it. This was not normal behavior.
"What's wrong now?" Damien asked as he strolled into the dining room like he didn't have a care in the world and, yeah, he'd asked what was wrong, but he clearly didn't think whatever it was would have any effect on him whatsoever. He walked around to the side of the table I was pacing and pulled out a chair. He sat down and grabbed ahold of my wrist as I went to pace passed him.
I stopped moving immediately and looked down at him in question. "Yes?" I said.
In answer, he tugged on my hand and pulled me down. I landed sideways on his lap with my back to the table and my legs dangling off the side of the chair. He wrapped both his arms around my middle and his hands slid down my sides, stopping when they grazed my hips.
"Damien," I muttered in reproach. We were just getting comfortable with the touching and now he was doing these things in front of other people and not just the guys but Rain to boot. First, I slept with Quinton in my bed with Rain in my bedroom and now Damien was pulling me down into his lap in front of him. I sincerely hoped his actions were not making Rain uncomfortable. That was the last thing I wanted.
Though... he could stand with a little discomfort at the moment because I wasn't very happy with him.
Damien grinned at me. "You were stomping around like an angry woman and it really wasn't attractive at all, so I put a stop to it. You're welcome."
Someone coughed, and I knew it was to cover up their humor.
"I am going to choose to ignore that," I told him in the prissiest voice I could muster. I wasn't really upset but I couldn't let him know that. Give an inch and they would always want to take the whole mile. "Did you know Rain had Marcus tied up in his basement?" I asked him.
Damien's brows shot up and he looked across the table at Rain. "Wow," he said, sounding impressed. "What'd he ever do to you?"
He didn't sound upset in the least bit.
This was getting downright ridiculous. How were they just taking it in stride?
I pushed against his chest to get his attention. When he looked down at me I told him, "You're nuts, you know that? Completely freaking nuts. This isn't normal behavior. You should be horrified by this, like I am."
His hands slid around to my back where his fingers splayed wide and he pulled me closer to him.
"I'm not horrified at all," he told me. "And, honestly, I don't understand why you are at all. He was barely in your life for any amount of time then he just left you with us after he thought your mother bailed on you. You shouldn't care about what happens to him at all. If he'd stayed here with you then I might feel differently but he didn't. He sold his house and bailed on you, leaving you with us who you barely knew at all and, seeing as you're a girl with magic, he should have taken special care with you on top of what he should have been doing because he was acting as your parental figure when your mother disappeared."
"Vivian wasn't her goddamn mother," Rain snarled and I swirled around in Damien's lap to look at him.
His fists were in tight balls at his sides and he looked ready to leap across the table so he could possibly strangle Damien to death. I didn't think this boded well for Damien's future and, evidence was suggesting, Rain didn't like Damien as much as he liked Quinton. Then again, neither were exactly likable people to start out with.
Damien waved his hand towards Rain and Quinton across the table, waving away Rain's words. I found it odd he'd chosen to include Quinton in the action but didn't point it out to anyone since I figured they hadn't missed it. Damien seemed unconcerned by Rain's anger and I found that interesting.
"I know that," Damien said calmly. Then he looked at Uncle Quint and asked, "Where's Marcus now?"
"That's what I want to know, too," I muttered. Too bad no one had answered me the first time I had asked. Damien didn't seem to have the same issues I did. Go figure.
