Damaged Gods

And that’s exactly what I do.

CHAPTER NINE - PELL

“I cannot believe she just left like that.” I’m pacing back and forth in front of the sanctuary, enjoying the sun on my bare back, but other than that, pretty pissed off that Pie left here. Without me. With that sheriff.

“Relax, will you? She’ll be back.” Tomas is sitting on the front steps of Saint Mark’s sunning himself with a piece of foil-covered cardboard under his chin like he hasn’t got a care in the world. “Just enjoy the sun. And the view. It’s nice out here. I’ve missed it.”

“Grant has only been gone one day, idiot. You didn’t even have time to miss it.”

He drops his foiled cardboard and looks at me. “I go nuts without the sun. It’s the only thing keeping me going.” We stare at each other for a moment. Long enough that I have time to wonder if there’s some hidden meaning in that statement. But then he props his cardboard back up and closes his eyes.

I resume my pacing. “She’s been gone for hours.”

“Calm down. How long does it take to get into town?”

“I don’t know,” I grumble. “Twenty minutes.”

“Exactly. That’s forty minutes there and back. Plus, she had to get groceries—”

“She didn’t even take my list!”

“She’s a grown-up, Pell. She knows how to grocery-shop.”

“I’m angry. I’m going to make her go back. She won’t get my favorites.”

“You’re starting to sound like a child. You’ll live without your Boo Berry cereal for one week.”

I stop pacing with the sound of an approaching vehicle. Tomas gets up and tosses his cardboard. “See. She’s back.”

“Four hours later. What the hell was she doing for four hours?”

The Jeep pulls in and Pie honks at us, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oooooh, shit,” Tomas says.

And at the same time, I say, “Fucking hell. Did we forget to tell her—”

“We did,” Tomas says.

I actually laugh. “Well, that smile won’t last long.”

Tomas chuckles as well. “We didn’t do it on purpose. She left abruptly.”

I point at him. “Right? This is all her fault.”

Tomas shakes his head. “She’s gonna be so pissed.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell her?”

Tomas shoots me a look. I can’t tell if it says That’s a dick move or You’re brilliant, Pell.

I’m going with dick move. Because it is.

“Hey, you good-for-nothing monsters!” Pie is yelling for us. “Get over here and unload the car.”

“You can’t park there,” Tomas calls. “The sheriff will come back. You have to park in the back.”

“Oh.” Pie stops. Her hands are filled with bags that are not groceries. Yep. She’s gonna be so angry at us when she figures out the caveat with the money.

There’s always a ‘but’ when free money is involved. Everyone knows that.

Except our girl Pie here.

“Well, how do I get around to the back?” Pie calls.

I let out a long breath. Some of it is relief that she came back. Not that she ultimately has a choice, but the slave caretaker has more freedom than I do, that’s for sure. All rules have loopholes. “I’ll show you.”

I’m not gonna lie—walking through that little gate feels good. It’s been a long while since I went anywhere with Grant. He and I had been on the outs for close to two decades. The fun of trolling town with him wore off last century.

“Give me your keys,” I say, palm out.

Pie snorts. “You’re not driving my Jeep.”

“Oh, I am. Give me the keys.”

“You can’t just bully your way into driving my Jeep.” She looks down at my hooves. “It’s a manual transmission. You don’t have feet.”

“Obviously I have feet because I’m walking.”

“You’re not driving my Jeep with hooves and that’s the end of it. Get in the passenger side or don’t come. How hard can it be to find my way around the block?”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Maybe I should let you try.”

She’s about to take me up on that, but she must sense there’s more to finding the back gate than simply driving around the block, because she says, “Fine. But if you crash—”

“Woman, I’ve been driving for over a hundred years. I’m not gonna crash your piece-of-shit Jeep.” I snatch the keys from her hand and point to the passenger side. “Get in.”

She gets in, sneering at me as she fastens her seatbelt. “Why do you have to be such an asshole?”

I shake my head at her as I back up and pull out from the sanctuary. Tomas waves to us from the other side of the gate. Sometimes I feel bad for him. He has literally never left this place since he got here. “Why? I’ll tell you why. Because Saint Mark’s is my domain. I am the master there. You work for me. And yet you continuously question my authority.”

“You’re completely overreacting. I’ve been here one day.”

“And yet you were still able to do it continuously.”