Is this his room? Shaking my head, I manage to slide ahead of him and slow him down.
“I don’t want to wait. You better tell me what is happening or I’ll…”
I trail off. I have no idea what I’ll do. I stand my ground though, crossing my arms and planting myself in front of him.
“Or you’ll what? You’ll over power me, Wonder Woman?”
That look of amusement is back and it pisses me off to no end. I don’t know who exactly his thinks he is, but I’m not just going to accept his word as law.
“I’ll do whatever the hell I have to,” I reply, not breaking eye contact. “You don’t scare me.”
“Oh really?”
His eyes grow dark, his smile fading, and my breath catches as he leans in close. His smell is too intoxicating. My head is swimming in it. After a brief moment of uncertainty, he straightens back up and laughs.
Great. He just called my bluff. And I did nothing except gaze up at him like some starstruck idiot.
“Look, Wonder Woman, I already told you before, I’m not the Q&A guy, okay? All the stuff you want to know—and yeah, I guess you deserve to know—will be discussed with you by someone else. That’s not what I do.”
“Oh. So, what do you do?”
“Kill.”
“Very funny,” I toss back, but he’s not laughing and neither am I.
He doesn’t reply, he just raises an eyebrow as if to signal that he is serious. I swallow hard and panic floods through me.
“Loki! Come on, boy, let’s get out of here,” I shout.
Loki, probably sensing my panic, comes rushing down the stairs. I grab his collar and we bolt for the nearest door. It doesn’t open, so I rush to another, passing a fireplace. An iron poker catches my attention and I grab it. Who knows, I might need it to defend myself. This time, as I turn the knob, the door doesn’t resist and we run out into the soft rain.
The sexy stranger follows us. He’s no longer smiling, which sends a ripple of fear down my spine, I have absolutely no idea where I am or which way I should go.
I spin around, swinging the poker wildly. I just want him to go away so I can think for a moment. I don’t expect the poker to hit him, but it makes contact with his head. Blood ripples from his temple and flows down his cheek.
Now I’ve done it.
In one quick motion, he rips the poker out of my hand and tosses it to the ground. Bringing his shirt to his face, he wipes away the wet blood where I had hit him and there’s nothing there. Not a spot where an open wound should be. He’s healed, completely, in seconds.
“What the hell…what are you?” I ask in utter disbelief.
Loki sits on my feet, whimpering.
“I told you, I’m a god. Now can we go back inside? I’m freezing my balls off out here.”
“Gods have balls?”
“I have a lot of things,” he says suggestively.
“Okay, that’s gross,” I reply, pretending I didn’t feel a rush at the thought.
We stare at each other. I fold my arms across my chest. I know he can carry me back to the house like I weigh nothing. But he doesn’t. He sighs deeply and puts his hands at his sides.
“Okay, Wonder Woman, you get to ask one question. If I answer it, we go back in the house. Deal?”
“Yeah. If I like your answer,” I reply.
I shift uncomfortably. The rain is cold and I am just standing outside in it wearing this awful jersey. Suddenly self-conscious, I realize the thing is almost see-through now that it’s soaked by the rain. Going back inside sounds pretty damn good right now, but I can’t just give in. I can’t let him think that I will just obey him.
He rolls his gorgeous eyes and whispers, “Humans.”
I have a slew of questions I want to ask. But when I look over his shoulder, only one question comes to mind.
“Did the cabin just disappear?”
There’s just a clearing where the two-story crazy house stood moments ago. If I make it out of this alive, I might check myself into a mental institution.
“Yes. If you agree to come with me, I will make it appear again,” he says, waving his hands mystically through the air.
Great, add Houdini to the growing list of this guy’s occupations.
“You’re not a serial killer, right?” I ask.
“It’s complicated.” He shrugs.
How can it be complicated? Either he’s a serial killer or he isn’t. His answer does nothing to calm the nerves inside of me.
“Wait, what?” I shout.
“Yeah, I know—more questions. Can we do this inside?”
“Fine, but if you are a serial killer, my dad’s gonna hunt you down and make key chains with your Houdini-god balls.”
He laughs. That catches me by surprise. It also catches him off guard.
“I mean it—especially now that I know you have a pair,” I add, accidentally looking down before I can stop myself.
“Deal,” he says.
He gestures toward where the cabin was and it reappears.
He turns and walks toward it, giving a low whistle. Loki jumps off my feet and chases after the guy.
I see where your loyalties lie, Loki. I’ll remember that next time I buy your chewie.
I’m reluctant to follow, but a deal is a deal. If he can make a house disappear and reappear, what could he do to me? So, I go back into the cabin, hair dripping, jersey soaked, and my teeth chattering.
He gets me a towel and brings me my jeans, fresh and warm from the dryer and smelling like lavender and cotton.
“I threw away your shirt. I
