Page 129 of Omega's Secret Guardian
“To prove to yourself that he’s really dead.”
“I...” Linus was about to sayI don’t kick people,but Dertwasalready dead.
Dert had shoved him into walls, punched him, and drawn blood from his skin.
When would Linus get another chance like this?
Ever so carefully, he kicked Dert in the arm.
Dert didn’t come back to life. He didn’t rear up and strike Linus for daring to disobey. So Linus lifted his foot again, and kicked Dert in the ribs.
“Harder,” Storm said.
“I can’t believe you’re telling me to go harder,” Linus mumbled. Then he kicked Dert hard enough to leave a bruise. He felt kind of sick, though. He wasn’t that kind of person. Linus shook his head. “That’s enough. I don’t like it.”
“Okay. Leave the bloody knuckles to me, huh?” Storm gave Dert a kick of his own, then turned Linus away from the body.
Someone knocked on the front door. Both of them tensed.
“Who’s there?” Storm asked warily.
The door opened. Hades poked his head in. “Linus asked for backup. Oh. I see you’ve already dealt with it.”
“Yeah, just did.” Storm made a face at the growing puddle of blood. “I don’t suppose you have cleaning supplies?”
“Sorry, bud. I only brought my fists.” Hades crouched next to Dert, rifling through his pockets.
Linus stared in shock as Hades opened Dert’s wallet and pocketed the cash.
“What?” Hades shrugged. “He’s not spending that money in hell.”
“I’ve done the same,” Storm said to Linus. “Spent it at a small business, helped spread the wealth.”
“So, this is it? Guess I’m heading out.” Hades stood up. He looked around the living room, sharp eyes cataloging the damage left by the fight. Then his attention paused on Storm’s arm around Linus. “Congrats, by the way. It’s been a long time coming.”
Linus blushed. “You don’t mean four months, do you?”
Hades snorted. “Four months? Try fouryears.He’s been head-over-heels for you ever since his first year in prison. He wouldn’t stop talking about you. Sometimes he would corner us and tell us how many times you smiled in your latest video.”
When Linus turned, he found Storm with his face bright red.
“Shut up,” Storm muttered.
Hades pointed at him. “This is revenge for all the times you woke us up at 4AM to whisper about his cute teeth. I wasn’t going to mention it if you never got the guy, but you did. So, there it is.”
“I did not do that!”
Hades rolled his eyes.
Four years was a really long time. And Storm had spent all of it wanting Linus.
Linus’ heart stuttered.
To Linus, Hades said, “Ask him about that bare spot on his chest sometime. The one waiting for some ink.”
“Oh! That’s for your parents, right?” Linus said to Storm. “You’ve made up with them, so now you can put their names on there.”
Hades stared at them. Then he began to laugh, wiping tears from his eyes.
