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“Give me my goddamn keys," I snarled.
Face completely devoid of emotion, Trenton stared down at me, the keys to my Rover held aloft and out of my reach. He'd easily snatched them out of my hand when I'd walked past him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Simon asked from behind his brother.
My fists clenched at my sides and I had an insane urge to throw my head back and scream at the top of my lungs.
"I don't need a babysitter," I growled, sounding impressively angry, even to my own ears. My angry outburst had taken me by surprise. I didn't make a habit of yelling at people who'd done me no wrong.
"I'm not your babysitter," Trenton replied casually.
A little too casually if you asked me. My hand twitched with the urge to reach out and smack him across his stupid face.
"I don't need a bodyguard either," I snapped, but the heat in my voice was almost gone, the fight going right out of me.
I'd like to think I didn't need a bodyguard, but with masked men with swords running rampant and mother-effers trying to burn down Dash's house, not to mention they'd been happily dragging his unconscious ass off somewhere into the woods... Well, I was seeing why the people who gave a crap about me would think a bodyguard might just be the exact thing Ididneed in my life.
My life was such a mess right now, the whole thing a giant shit show I seemed to have no control over anymore. Not that I really had any control over anything to begin with, that was a lie I'd been telling myself all too often lately.
The cell phone in my hoodie pocket rang and I pulled it out to check the screen. I never used to screen my calls before because I’d never had anyone call me. Now, with Adrian having my phone number and whoever the hell else, I needed to check the caller ID every single time before answering the stupid thing.
I let out a relieved sigh when Marcus Cole's name flashed across the screen. I'd forgotten to give him a return phone call. Too much had happened in such a short span of time that I was still struggling to play catch up, and I'd forgotten something as important as why Marcus had messaged me in the first place. The upcoming dinner I had no desire to attend. The Council I had no desire to entertain, and, make no mistake, that's why they'd invited my coven in the first place.
Ignoring the existence of both Trenton and Simon, I turned my back on them, touched my finger to the screen of my illuminated phone, and put it up to my ear.
"Hello," I answered in a fake, happy voice.
"Sweetheart." Marcus's warm, kind voice came out at me through the speaker on the phone, a welcome distraction from the hulking figures standing behind me. "I see your Range Rover is parked in the Alexander driveway. Can I take that to mean you’re next door or has one of the boys borrowed your vehicle?"
My lips tipped up secretively as a plan formed in the back of my mind.
"Are you staying in the old house?" I asked curiously. He'd been all packed up and ready to go. Then, there'd been aSoldsticker slapped across the for sale sign in the front yard. I'd been told he'd moved out but nobody had ever bothered to tell me who'd bought the place.
"My boxes were never unpacked and, before I knew it, they were right back where they belonged—home," he said.
"But, I thought you sold the place," I replied.
"Yes, well," he hedged, "I did. Then I realized the error of my ways and the Alexander boys dealt with that little mess for me. I'd been too out of practice to deal with it myself. At the time. Of course, things are entirely different now."
I didn't know why, but a shiver rent up my spine at hearing his words. I'd yet to experience first hand a Marcus Cole who'd unleashed his magic and used it like a true witch instead of gagging it and pretending it never existed in the first place. He'd had good reason for the things he'd done, that being the family he'd created with the human woman who knew nothing of the world her husband had once lived in. It had been unfortunate for Marcus that his children had been adopted and born entirely human with no magic to speak of. It meant that in order to keep them safe from the Council and their greedy, unethical ways, he kept them away from anything and all things magical. In order to do that, he did the one thing no witch ever dreamed of doing. Marcus Cole had given up his magic, the thing that made him so special, gagging it for years and years inside himself. All for the sake of his family and loved ones, to keep them safe. Now that they were off and living their own lives, his beloved wife long since having passed from this world, he no longer had anyone in his day to day life he needed to hide what he was from.
Marcus was a witch, and it was something I still hadn't yet come to terms with, but I'd get there. Eventually.
"Hmm," I murmured. "You want me to come over?"
Please say yes, I thought to myself. This would be the chance I needed to escape my bodyguards I'd stupidly accepted into my life like a fool. It was hard for me to regret the decision too much when they'd been there to assist the night Dash's cottage had been attacked. They'd played an important role that night. Still, I couldn't help but resent their presence in my life at the moment.
I just needed a minute to myself. Or, more like thirty-eight years. You know, whichever helped.
"Would you?" Marcus asked in a sweet voice. "I would really love the company."
I smiled. "I'll be right over."
I pulled the phone away from my ear and touched my finger to the red circle that would end the call. This was exactly the distraction I needed to lose the shadows who'd been following me around since I had left Quinton in the kitchen with Rain, after eating spaghetti for breakfast with them.
They'd been silent until Trenton had plucked my car keys out of my hand like I'd been a toddler he'd easily stolen candy from.
I shoved my cell back into my hoodie pocket before turning around to face them, making sure I wiped the smile from my face and schooled my features.
