The Liberator

cause, but I never liked the brothers to begin with. The sooner I can get rid of them, the better.

“Now we’re discussing it,” he says, “weighing the pros and cons. On one hand, Charlie’s whole goal on earth is to continue her charity and do good in people’s lives. She likes helping questionable characters, and we can’t run them all off. On the other hand, these guys are dicks.”

I nod my head and turn my palms up as if to say, exactly.

Blue loses his professional composure and sighs. “They keep pressuring her to do crap that…crap that…”

“Crap that most people our age do?” I offer, sharing his frustration.

“Yeah,” he says, meeting my eyes.

I groan. “Who even invited them? Not Charlie.”

“No clue,” he says. “Maybe Annabelle. But why wouldn’t Charlie invite them? Aspen stressed that she should bring whoever she wanted. And doesn’t it just seem like Charlie to extend an invite to new friends?”

“I still don’t understand why we don’t run them off. Surround her with other humans, ones that don’t influence her to do idiotic things.”

“Like rappelling into an underground cave?” Blue offers.

“You better be lying.” My blood burns at my temples.

Blue grits his teeth. “I wish I were. It’s like they’re some adrenaline junkies, and Charlie’s just going along for the ride.”

I spin on my heel, headed toward the house. I don’t care about anything right now but keeping Charlie safe. And if I have to pummel these guys to do that, I will. Blue grabs my arm before I’ve made it three steps and jerks me back, but it barely slows me down. I mean, Blue is bigger than he was, but he’s doesn’t have two hundred pounds of muscle spread over six feet, two inches.

“Calm down,” Blue clips. “We’ll watch them. Tonight, we’ll watch them. And if either of them suggests Charlie do something stupid, we’ll pummel their asses.”

I stop dragging Blue and hesitate. From over my shoulder, I say, “I get to throw the first blow.”

Blue laughs. “I can agree to that. Just lay off the protein shakes, Hulk. They put cow piss in that stuff.”

I turn around and study Blue for a long time. “You really here?”

“In the flesh,” he says.

“You gonna go after my girl?”

“Bet on it.”

I laugh, and a puff of air blooms from my mouth and into the cold afternoon. “Let’s get inside before your needle dick gets hypothermia.”

As Blue and I move toward the house, I catch him looking at me from the corner of his eye. His face is tight with worry, making my stomach flip. I grab his shoulder. “Is there something else you’re not telling me?”

Blue bites his bottom lip. Then he shakes his head. “Nope.”

“Blue?” I say, squeezing his shoulder tighter.

“Dude, stop freaking. If there was anything else to say, I’d say it.” He smiles, and I relax slightly. “Let’s get inside. My needle dick hurts something awful.”

Deciding to trust Blue for now, I follow him inside and immediately seek Charlie out. She’s sitting behind Aspen, braiding her hair. Aspen glances at me like she’s not sure how to handle Charlie being so kind, and I wonder if Charlie isn’t being nice to compensate for how she eyed Aspen when she got here, like she was ready to throw down to keep her man if need be.

Regardless of why she’s being nice, a warm sensation grows in my chest watching Charlie care for Aspen. It almost seems like by caring for Aspen, she’s caring for me, though I have no idea why.

Annabelle, who obviously isn’t pleased at sharing her bestie, glares at Aspen.

I turn my attention to Salem and Easton, who are spread out on the couch. And then I shoot toward them. Blue thinks I shouldn’t confront them, but that doesn’t mean I can’t remind them who’s watching after Charlie now.

I slide in between the pair and turn my head back and forth, grinning just to piss them off.

“Can I help you?” Easton says.

I whip my head away from Salem and stare at Easton. That was not what I expected. Easton glares at me for a long moment, and just as I’m about to pop him in his mouth—vow to Blue be damned—Easton throws his head back and laughs.

“I’m sorry,” he says, dark eyes dancing. “I was just messing around.”

I still want to hit him.

He puts his hand out. “My brother said you caught me looking up at Charlie’s window. Man, I’d probably kill someone if they’d done that to my old girlfriend.” His eyes glaze over and the smile slides from his face. “I get confused sometimes.”

Watching his shoulders droop, I almost feel bad for the guy. But I’m not ready to cut him any slack just yet. “How often do you get confused?”

He winces like I did hit him, and then I do feel bad. “Let’s just say I’m not real popular with the ladies.”

“It’s okay,” Charlie says from across the room, pulling a rubber-band thingy around Aspen’s braid. “It wasn’t a big deal. Right, Dante?” She glares at me, and all I can think is how much I want to kiss her.

I glance over at Salem who’s looking around the cabin like a kid in an ice cream shop. “Place is so cool,” he mutters.

And just like that, I consider that these guys might actually be harmless, and that they’re probably not out to get Charlie. More like they’re a couple of daredevil junkies without a lot of brain cells to spare.

Aspen stands up and moves away from Charlie, reminding me of a nervous cat who’s been kicked one too many times and no longer trusts this level of kindness. “I’ve got an idea for tonight,” she says, tilting her head to the side so that we have a better view of her diamond nose ring. “Friend says there’s a rave going on down here.”

“A rave?” I say. “What is this, the nineties? Do people do that stuff anymore?”

Aspen rolls her eyes, and then for some reason she looks at Blue. “You in?”

Blue’s eyes widen to the point of nearly exploding, proving he’s not quite as newly confident as he let on. “Me? Yeah, that sounds good. I mean, that could be fun.”

“Cool,” she says. Then she lights a cigarette and moves to the kitchen.

I get up and stride toward Charlie, no longer able to keep my hands off her. Pulling her to her feet, I wrap her in my arms and press my mouth to her neck. “Can’t believe you’re really here,” I whisper against her skin.

Charlie suddenly tenses in my embrace. “Hey, Aspen,” she says, stepping back from me. “Why don’t we start prepartying now? Why wait?”

My heart burns like a falling star. It’s not from what she said, though her words alone make me cringe. It’s that she pulled away. I was holding her against me, and she actually stepped back.

As Charlie all but skips toward Aspen, and Aspen retrieves a bottle of something scandalous, my mouth drops open. I thought I had one girl to keep out of trouble. One. But now—as I watch Charlie reaching for the bottle, and asking where the music’s at—I realize I’ve got two.

I’m a stunner.

A champion.

But I’ve only got two eyes, and I can’t keep one on each girl. Even I’m not that good.

As Aspen blasts Modest Mouse, and Charlie grabs her hands to dance, all I can think is, Ah, hell, no.

Blue looks every bit as worried as I am. And Annabelle just looks pissed off.

And Salem. Well, Salem sends a shiver racing down my back. Because he’s staring at Charlie and whispering to his brother like everything is going perfectly. The dude catches me staring, and I straighten.

Then I see it, that gleam in his eye I saw the first time I met him. It tells me he’s hiding something. It says that between Charlie becoming someone I don’t recognize and Salem eyeing her like she’s an objective, tonight isn’t going down without someone getting knocked the hell out.