“I don’t,” I tell him. “We’ve gone the threesome route before, and it gets pretty messy.”
“Tell me about it,” Sage remarks.
Dawn whips around, nearly spilling her tea, and punches him on the arm. “Hey. No one needs to know about what you did with your groupies.”
“Also,” I say loudly, clearly my throat, “I was talking about being a threesome when it comes to filming. Since it’s usually just us two.”
“Oh he knows what you meant,” Dawn says to me, rolling her eyes. “He just likes to brag about it when he can.”
Sage just shrugs. Can’t say I blame the man.
“So, what do you say?” Jay nods at me. “I can be the back-up, make things go smoothly. Safely.”
I don’t like it at all but that’s purely because of my ego. I used to be a fucking pro at this, this was my job. Then again, the last few episodes of EIT did have either Rebecca or Maximus with us, so maybe I really do need someone else around to keep me in line. Lord knows Perry can’t rein me in all the time.
“Okay. Just this once.”
“Just this once?” he asks, tilting his head at me. “Is this going to be an ongoing thing.”
I guess I just let that slip, didn’t I?
“No,” I tell him. “But maybe it’ll be easier to convince Perry now that you’re on board.”
“You haven’t convinced her yet?” Dawn practically screeches. “Declan!”
The woman sure has a way of making you feel sheepish. “What? She’s stubborn. I’m just trying to, you know, streamline things a little.”
Dawn does not look impressed. Sage seems more on my side, thank god.
And Jay, well I tell Jay I’ll seek him out later once I’ve figure out what Perry is going to say. If he can keep this from Jacob, it’s worth a shot. I just don’t want two supernatural freaks fucking with the job that Harry wants to hire me to do, especially when I trust Jacob the least.
I bid farewell to the trio and head back upstairs through the house and out the front door, just in time to see Perry marching down the driveway toward me, looking irate.
“What were you doing in there?” she asks, and from the determined look on her face, plus this dull pressure building in my sinuses, I know what she’s going to try and do.
“No fair!” I yell at her, putting my hands over my ears, as if that will help. Where the fuck is a Magneto helmet when you need one?
I dodge to left and go over the fence again, leaving her in the Knightly’s yard, then run up the front steps and burst into the Palomino residence.
“Dex?” Ada says, stepping in front of me in the hall. “What’s going on?”
“Tell your sister to get out of my head, please,” I tell her, patting her on the shoulder as I grab my overnight bag off the floor and head up the stairs two at a time.
Okay, so I realize I’m a husband running away from his wife, but I need to compose my own thoughts first before she tries to get a read on them.
Of course Perry is stubborn as hell, so even though I’m in her old bedroom, which is now the guest room, and I’ve shut the door, she comes right on barreling in.
“You’re running away from me now?” she asks, slamming the door shut.
I sit down on the bed, totally trapped. I hold up a hand in defense. “You’re trying to read my mind. I had no choice.”
“Because I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you. You suddenly ran after Jay and disappeared into That 70’s Show.”
“I had questions.”
“About the damn séance.”
“Hey.” I press my hands at my temples. “You said you wouldn’t do that.”
“I’m not trying to,” she says, putting her hands on her hips. Damn it, I wish she didn’t look so fucking sexy when she was yelling at me. “And even if I was, you’re actually doing something to keep me out.”
“Right.” That’s something she’d say to make me lower my guard. “So then how do you know we were talking about Harry Cox?”
“It was a lucky guess,” she says, a brow quirking up. “You think I don’t know you by now?” She leans in, wrapping her hands around the back of my neck, her palms warm and instantly calming me. She’s got a way.
I give her a wry grin, reaching for her waist, and pulling her closer to me. “I think you know me better than I do, baby.” My hands slip under her sweater, sliding against the unbearably soft skin above her jeans. I lean in slightly to kiss her, my eyes falling closed.
She pulls her head back and gives me look.
No dice.
“Why were you talking about that with them?” she asks pointedly.
Oh right. The part where I fucked up.
“I needed a second opinion.”
“And a third and a fourth?”
I shrug. “They were there.”
Her hands drop away and she walks away toward the closet, staring at it for a moment, perhaps remembering all the crazy shit that went down in there a year ago. No wonder Ada wanted to change rooms again.
“You know you’re a dick for not including me, right?” she says, turning around and folding her arms across her chest.
“Yes?”
“You can’t just go around getting second opinions for something I haven’t agreed to.”
“Look, you can’t blame me for being proactive.”
She studies me, and I can tell she wants to snoop inside my head, but what difference does that make if she already knows me so well?
“So, what did they say?”
“Well, Dawn seemed to think it was a good idea and probably innocent. I believe she used the word romantic. Sage just wanted to talk about a threesome he had once, and Jay said he’s going to be our chaperone.”
“Excuse me? Our what?”
“Yeah he’s volunteered to make sure we don’t fuck things up. Apparently I have a history of doing that.”
She wiggles her lips, which in turn makes her nose wiggle slightly, and fuck if she doesn’t always look completely adorable when she does that.
Then she comes over to me and sits beside me on the bed.
“Maybe that’s not a bad idea…”
I glance at her in surprise. “What, Jay coming with us?”
She nods and then puts her hand on mine. “Yeah. I’d feel better.”
“You think I can’t protect you?” I have to admit, that fucking hurts.
She gives my hand a squeeze. “I worry that I can’t protect you. I almost lost you once, Dex. I’m not going through that again. But if something like that were to happen, maybe it’s good that we have one of them with us.”
That hurts, too. I know I don’t want Jay to be the sacrificial lamb, just like Maximus was with me. I hate how this is setting up to be that way again.
“This time will be different,” she adds
“How do you know that?”
“I talked to him.”
“Who?”
“Who do you think?” she says. “I called Harry while you were over there.”
I break into a grin, leaning in to kiss her shoulder. “You are full of surprises, my love.”