“Did you say what you wanted it for?” Rome asked Mira.
“No.”
“Guess we can’t blame him if he didn’t know,” he shrugged, meeting my eyes over the top of her head.
I scowled, not sure I agreed, but took the basket and headed for the door. Mira reminded me to come back with the demon blanket, then I got out of there before I slipped up and she saw through my act.
31. Fire and Fury
Rome
When Kerry returned, he handed a shopping bag to Mira.
“The blanket’s on the bottom,” he told her. “Everyone, grab a spoon. I brought a treat.”
We gathered around the table and each claimed a carton of expensive ice cream: Cherry for Gigi, chocolate marshmallow for Mira, raspberry truffle for Jax, and pineapple coconut for me.
Kerry sat with us, but kept his hands in his pockets.
“Where’s yours?” Jax demanded.
“Not hungry.”
“Youhaveto eat.”
“I can’t keep anything down right now,” he muttered. “Hey, Mira, I got your money back.”
“You didn’tbeatit out of Titus, did you?” Spoon halfway to her mouth, she paused and locked her golden eyes on him.
“No, I did not. I didn’t even see him.”
He pulled out his wallet, counted out two hundred in twenties and fifties, and passed it over to her.
“Thanks.” She crammed it all into her pants pocket and went back to eating her ice cream. “Guess what time it is now?”
“I dunno. Three o’clock, maybe?”
“Close enough. It’s laundry time! And it’s your turn. Yours and Rome’s.”
Suddenly drawn into the conversation, I lifted my head to meet her eyes. She winked at me.
“Aw, come on! Rome can do it by himself. He don’t needmyhelp.”
But Mira insisted he had to take his turn. Everyone knew he didn’t pay attention to anything like that, so it was easy to convince him.
We were all becoming adept at finding ways to keep him distracted.
So after the ice cream feast, he and I hoofed everyone’s bags downstairs to the laundry room. I showed him how to measure out the detergent and fill the washers. Gigi and Mira had done their sorting for us, for which I was grateful.
After the washers were set and chugging away, he leaned against the folding table and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were far away and glittering, and a dark miasma oozed off him.
“Don’t brood,” I told him.
He turned toward me, and his eyes burned with so much power that I couldn’t hold them. I stared at his forehead instead.
“My angel is in enemy hands and scared. I know she’ll put on a brave face because that’s who she is, but she’s still scared. And not just for herself. She’s worrying to death about what I’m doing to find her. And what am I doing?Laundry.”
If the word had any more venom in it, it would have grown scales and slithered away.
