Simon Says, Freeze #2
Why, you ask yourself, was I so concerned about my looks after nearly dying at the hand of a sadistic mercenary? Blame it on youth. Blame it on hormones. Blame it on the fact that around hot guys like Sloan and Phillip, I couldn’t be anything but self-conscious.
Coming closer, Sloan touched my face. “You saved me, and I’m eternally grateful to you. I can’t fathom what happened, only that I’m glad it did.” His eyes dropped to my mouth as I brushed back frizzy, sweat-matted hair. “Thank you, V.”
It was the most inappropriate time to want another kiss, but I did. Because there I was, looking like I’d taken a spin through a tornado of glass, slow-blinking, unbelievably ready to be smooched by the gorgeous bastard who was a glowing angel in streetlight.
I’m definitely a hussy.
I should’ve been more ashamed of my wayward thoughts and ulterior motives. I mean, I had Phillip to worry about. Not to forget the renegade Dark Fae on the loose, hellbent on kidnapping me. But all I could think about was locking lips with the drop-dead gorgeous, smooth-talking Hunter.
I wasn’t a hussy. I was outright delusional.
Refusing to surrender to my out-of-control hormones, I shook my head and looked over my shoulder. “I wanted to save both of you,” I finally said, hoping the Austrian was okay wherever he was.
I’d left our weapons and belongings back where Eros was. The last letter Grams wrote me was among the things left behind, and it was a loss that hit the same way her departure had. Some of my weapons were also given to me by her, and I doubt I could find a reason to go back for them.
Hunters didn’t form attachments. Most importantly, not to items. Things could be replaced, and memories were something of a gift and curse.
If Grams were here, she’d tell me to buck up and get over it.
She’d tell me that getting sentimental over a bunch of shit would be the thing that got me killed, so I was right to leave it all behind to escape.
To leave him.
The life of a Hunter was to discard one’s humanity and attachment to the world, and Grams would’ve been the first to scorn me for even acknowledging the loss.
My jaw clenched in her memory, but then I remembered her words: “Never stop being who I raised you to be. Never settle for anything less than what you want. Smile, laugh, live, love, and never forget I cherished every moment I got to be your grandmother.” In her own parting words, Grams told me to do what I wanted, and I’d do her proud.
I’d live the way I wanted. I’d stop making excuses to avoid the things I wanted because I was a Hunter.
I wasn’t a Hunter. I was V.
I was the person I wanted to be, not the creation of the Organization. And in the last few weeks, I’d forgotten my vendetta. I’d forgotten the agreement shared between Phil and I to overthrow the people who were behind my parent’s deaths. Very possibly Grams’s, too.
Sloan chuckled low in this throat before getting to his feet. “Something tells me Phillip is fine.”
He stared out the direction we’d come from, a poignant smile distorting his mouth.
It may have taken me a moment, but I remembered the two of them were friends. Maybe I wasn’t the only one suffering the loss of Phillip. Maybe I wasn’t the only one drowning in guilt for leaving him.
The way Sloan stared, his jaw clenched, his torso rigid against heavy gusts of wind, told a story of intense sadness and regret.
It wasn’t the look of someone confident in their choices.
It was the look I saw in Phillip’s gaze whenever he talked about his past, and it was one I likely mirrored on my own face in that moment.
Sometimes I wondered who was more human, Sloan or Phillip.
After spending time with both, it felt like two sides of the same coin.
While they were different, they were inherently the same.
Both were annoyingly prideful and arrogant, though Sloan carried his better.
Both of them put the job first, everyone else last. Both of them carried loss in their eyes whenever I pried too deep.
And maybe that was what ultimately drew me to both.
Or you’re a hussy.
I really hated my self-awareness sometimes.
“Eros will be significantly slowed by what you did to him and unable to trace us from that location, but it’s better to get on the next flight out of this place as soon as possible.”
I got to my feet and eyed the other Hunter’s clothes before taking an anxious peek at my own. “Unless you want to start a mass panic over a murderer on the loose, we should change. I didn’t bring anything with us, sorry.”
Sloan nodded, thinking. “I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”
Curious, I offered him an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“We’ll be committing a human crime, but we don’t have any good options. We won’t be able to shop like this.”
“Fair point,” I sassed with another look at his destroyed outfit. “What do you suggest?”
The Brit’s look was the most mischievous yet. “Just a little sleeping powder devised by the jerk himself and a quick clothing swap.”
Sloan was more of a devil than I thought.