12. Harper #2
Jaxson reappeared with a plastic container marked with a red cross, setting it next to me.
Without me even having to ask, he and Ghost left me to deal with the brute.
The kit had everything, so I started with cleaning up using the bottle of disinfectant to help wash away the blood and see the damage.
Dabbing carefully, I was glad to see it wasn’t much more than split skin, but I’m sure it was going to be a bitch to heal being on the knuckle.
Slathering them with antibiotic cream, I wrapped them up using the gauze roll.
Dax had shown up a time or two with similar wounds after her brother died.
Back then, I assumed she was just getting into fights, which happened all the time with her personality.
One wrong move or someone calling her a bitch, and she would fly off the handle.
Now I’ve come to understand it was the beginning of her empire, literally fighting tooth and nail to get her place carved out in the world.
“You’ve done this before,” Magnus commented, looking at the hand I’d just finished.
Nodding, I started working on the other, which was as torn up as the first. “You work it out?”
“What?”
Flicking my eyes up to meet his, I cocked a brow. “Clearly, you needed to work something out, or the punching bag wouldn’t be bleeding out sand. You couldn’t even be bothered to protect your hands, so I’m guessing your state of mind wasn’t all that stable.”
Magnus didn’t comment on my observations, instead choosing to let silence fall between us again.
Finished with the other hand, I packed up the kit and stood, looking around for the others.
The room was empty, so I guessed they might have stepped outside.
Just as I started to walk away, Magnus grabbed my arm.
“Thank you, Harper,” he murmured, releasing me before he stood directly behind me.
“For the record, you were right. I did lose someone I loved because I wasn’t there to protect them, but the first mistake I made was allowing them to be involved too deeply in our world.
My brothers and I are not good men. We kill for a living.
In fact, we are some of the best the world has to offer right now.
The last thing I want is for something like that to happen to you, which is why I’m trying to teach you all I can to protect and defend yourself.
If something happened to you, I don’t think I could survive it.
” When I tried to turn to face him, he stopped me.
Instead, he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug and rested his head on top of mine.
“Please let me hold you for just a moment.”
Hearing the desperation in his voice, I relaxed into his hold as we stood there.
This was how Ghost and Jaxson found us when they stepped back inside the warehouse.
Both of them came to an abrupt halt, unsure of what to do next.
Reaching up, I patted Magnus’s arm, and he let me break out of his hold.
“Come on, guys, let’s head back to the house. I feel like going swimming or something,” I announced as I passed by the younger two. “We’ve put in a lot of work today, and that is not how I feel like spending my vacation time.”
Ghost sighed dreamily. “To see your sexy body in another bikini? Who in their right mind would say no to that? Unless you plan to go skinny dipping, which I’m all for.”
“Guess you will have to wait and find out. I mean, I am freshly shaved, after all,” I teased, winking at Jaxson, who returned it with his own dopey smile.
Ghost vaulted into the back seat of the Jeep and patted the seat next to him, wagging his brows excitedly. “Don’t forget you said you’d ride back with me.”
Clambering up with far less grace than Ghost, I plopped myself beside him. Jaxson appeared in the driver’s seat, and Magnus finally graced us with his presence taking the last spot up front.
The drive back was uneventful, and Jaxson even drove at a speed I might consider to be normal.
When we got back to an area I recognized, there was a man selling odd-looking items. My guess is they were a fruit, but they were the size of watermelons but spiky.
Jaxson pulled over, dashed out, bought one from the man, then handed it off to Magnus.
“What did he just buy?” I asked Ghost.
He grinned but shook his head. “Sorry, angel, this is one of those moments you’re going to have to trust us. All I’ll tell you is that it’s delicious and worth the work of getting to the meat.”
A breeze picked up, and the smell of something rotting hit me.
Looking around, I tried to place where the smell could be coming from, but nothing seemed to make any sense.
We were moving too fast for it to be something we passed, and I didn’t think we drove over anything that might have died on the road.
Ghost started to snicker, a hand covering his face as he refused to look at me.
The scent stuck with us even once we pulled up to the house. Magnus got out holding the odd-looking fruit, and when the breeze picked up at that moment, the stench hit me right in the face. “What the fuck is that smell?”
None of the bastards answered me as they headed into the house. Magnus grabbed a knife, cutting board, and bowl before heading out to the patio. The other two scattered to various corners of the house to put away all the guns, leaving me utterly confused standing in the entryway.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I headed for the bedroom to put on my suit. If they were going to be assholes, then I was going to ignore them. There were only so many arguments I could handle in one day, and I’d reached my limit.
Grabbing a powder blue halter bikini with gold rings accenting the suit, it was one of my favorites.
Not only because of the color but because of its simple beauty.
It made the woman who wore it the show stopper, not the flashiness of the pattern or how it was cut or how little it covered.
No, this was made to make the wearer feel powerful and secure, ready to take on whatever the day might hand her.
Since we were home, I didn’t bother putting on a wrap.
It wasn’t like these men hadn’t already seen everything more than once.
Padding down the hall, I made my way to the patio when I was hit with another waft of that godawful stench.
Trying not to gag, I saw Magnus working on peeling fruit out of the spiky shell.
He popped some of it in his mouth, humming at the taste before spitting out what looked like a pit.
“Once you get past the smell, the fruit really is amazing,” Magnus shared, meeting my gaze. “Ever heard of Durian before? It smells like rotting sewage, but the actual meat inside is sweet and delicious.”
“Who in their right mind would have been desperate enough to ignore the smell of a dead animal to ingest the inside to find out?” I gasped, trying not to breathe in more of the scent.
Magnus waved me over, holding out a piece of the bright yellow fruit.
“This is your task today in your quest to see what the world has to offer. The lesson is don’t pass something up just because it seems like it would be awful.
Sometimes the risk of taking a chance pays off, turning out to be pretty amazing.
Just hold your breath and put it in your mouth. ”
“That’s what she said,” Jaxson yelled from inside the house.
Snorting, I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, gasping as I laughed, filling my nose and mouth with the pungent aroma of the vile fruit. Magnus just waited for me to make up my mind, holding the chunk out to me.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, stomping up to him, snatching the fruit, and shoving it in my mouth.
Magnus blinked at me in surprise, then smirked. “Careful of the pit… don’t want you to break a tooth.”
The flavors clashed all at once on my tongue—sweet, creamy, and a little sour like an aged cheese.
Thank God it didn’t taste anything like how it smelled, or I would have puked all over Magnus, and it would have served him right.
Finding the pit, I spit it out and swallowed the rest, feeling incredibly unsure of how I felt about the whole experience.
“That tastes like if you mixed cum and pudding together,” I said before turning on my heel and rushing to the kitchen.
There, leaning against the counter, was Ghost holding out a glass for me. Without bothering to look and see what it was, I gulped down the whole glass. When the taste finally caught up to me, I gaped at him. “Was that straight liquor?”
“Nah, it was coconut water with Malibu. If it doesn’t wash the taste out of your mouth, then it will help you forget it later,” Ghost answered, taking the cup from my hand and refilling it.
There was far more Malibu than coconut water, but I had to admit it was simple yet delicious.