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Quinton shrugged as my Salt and Pepper twins took seats side by side in between us and Tyson. Both Trenton and Simon moved behind me and a quick glance over my shoulder told me they were stationed behind me like sentries, their backs to me, facing off against anything that would come at me from behind. For once, I wasn't annoyed by their presence and thoroughly appreciated having them standing behind me. With this crowd, there was no telling the kind of trouble that could befall me and I definitely needed someone at my back. Dash took the seat between myself and Addison.
Quinton responded to his nephew, but I ignored them. I ignored them all as I looked throughout the space behind the motel.
It was an odd building with the balcony out front facing the parking spaces. But, maybe that was just a thing with old, cheap buildings that were used as motels. The back of the building was lined up with windows on both floors that had air conditioners hanging out of them. Huh, seemed there was no central air here. The heating probably sucked too.
The entire back of the structure looked like it had recently undergone a makeover. The paint looked the purest of white and fresh. There were immaculate brown shutters on each side of every window that did not jive with the front aesthetics of the place. They were brand spanking new and so was the paint job. It made me wonder, though, why change the entire back of the building but leave the front as it was? I was willing to bet they did it so as not to draw further attention to themselves if someone were to stumble upon this place. If you just happened upon it and saw the front state of things, you'd more than likely keep right on driving because you didn't want to end up murdered in your sleep.
They'd taken very good care to make the backyard space a place you'd actually want to spend time in, and it was pretty.
There was a cute, circular table with chairs on a cement patio tucked up close to the motel. A large, black umbrella hung over it. Fairy lights lit up the underside of the umbrella. It was cute because the table had been covered in a black cloth with silver stars etched into it all over the place. On top of the table was another bouquet of yellow roses. There were glass vials of all sizes scattered around the table and they were filled with liquids that came in a plethora of colors. All of them were vibrant, all of them pretty. Beside the vials were dainty teacups that matched the roses in color.
If I hadn't read about Alice going down the rabbit hole when I was a young girl, I might have actually sat down at that table and tried out the different vials, taste testing with the pretty yellow teacups. Now, I was old enough to know better and wouldn't be ingesting anything the guys didn't ingest first.
Farther back and away from the building was a two seater swing under a canopy. It glided back and forth and at first I didn't recognize the person sitting slumped in the corner on it. It was the auburn hair and her incredibly slight frame that let me know it was her.
The dreaded Annabell.
I was stupid for not even thinking I would see her here when she lived with the damn Council.
Annabell didn't even look in our direction. She tipped her head back against the back of the wooden seat, her hair flying out behind her, and stuck her arms up in the air like she was on a roller coaster ride. The swing wasn't even moving faster than a snail’s pace so I didn't understand what in the hell she was doing.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked quietly, interrupting the guys’ conversations around me and I nodded my head in Annabell's direction. "She looks insane."
Maybe that wasn't a nice thing to say about her, but it was true for the time being.
"She's probably on drugs," Damien replied in a casual tone. "Or, at least that's what it looks like to me." He shrugged like it meant absolutely nothing to him either way.
Tyson watched my face carefully as he gestured over toward the umbrella covered table. "She could have been drinking that shit this whole time as well. With her, you never know. Drunk, high, it's all the same to her. Either way, she's having a good time over there. The only thing that's missing is the male or males who she's currently got wrapped around her greedy fingers."
Tyson's voice was bland, giving nothing away, and I had to wonder what was going on behind that carefully crafted mask. I knew he loved me something fierce, I knew he hated Annabell even. But I often times wondered what he saw when he looked at her. Did he want to go over there and rescue her from her own stupidity? Was he going to watch over her all night long to make sure she didn't get into trouble or, worse, try to interact with one of our other coven members?
I didn't know the answers to my questions and wasn't entirely sure I wanted them.
"Word of advice, baby," Quinton rumbled from beside me. "Don't go drinking shit from that table or anything from a vial that looks like that. In fact, I think you might actually be better off if you stick to Julian's liquor and call it good at that."
It was almost like hewantedme to get drunk or something.
I'd been drunk before but it wasn't something I did often. Vivian had a lot of male suitors who'd come over drunk and mean. Vivian herself had been a mean drunk. I wasn't afraid I would follow in her footsteps. That wasn't why I rarely imbibed. No, that had everything to do with the fact I didn't like feeling out of control and getting drunk always made me feel that way. Not that getting drunk had made me feel out of control, just slow, not always myself and, often times, it made me a whole lot louder than was necessary. That was too close to out of control for my tastes.
A man I didn't recognize walked passed me. He had honey colored eyes and hair to match it. He was so thin he bordered on being frail and I had an urge to find something for him to eat. He stumbled a step when he went to walk by me and caught my eye.
His eyes hurriedly raked over me, only taking pause when they hit my cheek, but that didn't stop them from carrying on with their journey and filling with heat.
The look in his eyes had me immediately breaking eye contact and looking away.
Two seconds later, a nasally male voice from in front of my chair asked, "You're Ariel Kimber, aren't you? The new witch. It seems there are a lot of those popping up lately, but not..."
His words trailed off and I finally turned back to look at him.
He trailed his fingers through the air by my face and I swear I think I heard a groan of appreciation come out of him.
"None of them feel anything quite like you do," he purred. "In fact, I don't think I've ever met a female who felt anything quite like you do, witch or not."
It was official, this rail thin man with the honey colored eyes and matching hair creeped me right the fuck out.
"You're very pretty as well," he murmured, while smiling down at me. "Scar and everything. Though, I imagine that a little plastic surgery could fix that right up for you and make you beautiful instead of just simply pretty."
My boys remained deathly quiet, but the tension was starting to build and I knew if I didn't do something soon to shut this shit down there was going to be a fight on my hands.
