Chapter Twelve
“Rotten bastards,” Nyx said and slammed the shot glass back on the table in Jenna’s living room. “All of them. Worthless, stupid men.”
She looked up at Jenna as she poured the next shot. She’d lost count of how many she had but knew she needed more.
“Especially your stupid man,” she said and pointed at the other woman. “Thinks he knows so much. He doesn’t know. I could have gone out.”
Jenna sighed. “You’re hurt. He’s just looking after his people. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard lately. He sees that. We all see it.”
“I’ll look after myself,” Nyx muttered, slurring her words. “I’m a big girl.”
“How much has she had to drink?” Lara asked, looking more amused than concerned.
Nyx frowned. “Not nearly enough. I’m still pissed off, and I can remember all the idiot men who annoyed me.”
Lara snorted loudly, and Jenna frowned at the pretty blond who had recently bonded with Magnus. The snappy reporter was just the sort of person they needed to protect their group and had already proven an invaluable addition.
She had initially stumbled across the hybrids while investigating the Azilians. Even though Lara had been wrong about the hybrids being up to no good, her instincts that the cult were hiding something had been spectacularly confirmed.
She also knew how to work the media to hide their presence. For the moment, for all their concerns over the Group and the Azilians, they didn’t have to deal with the more mundane crazies that had plagued Luna Lodge. Using the Atlantean-loving Azilians had proven to be a much better cover than any of them would have ever expected.
Well, maybe not Rem. He seemed to always think of everything. Always a step ahead of all of them. He’d even managed to put one over on Romulus and the Horatius Group.
Nyx grimaced. Just the thought of their overbearing pompous leader left her a sour taste in her mouth. Always smirking, acting like he knew what was going through her head. She slammed back the next shot of whiskey, the alcohol burning down her throat.
“You know you’re drinking his good stash,” Jenna said with a sigh.
“Yep.”
“It’ll irritate him.”
Nyx looked across to the small woman and grinned. “Good. He deserves it.”
It wasn’t often they were all able to get together, despite living within walking distance from one another. They were both setting up a new home and a new society, really. It wasn’t as if the hybrids could risk making themselves public anytime soon.
Plus, there always seemed to be something to do or some new crisis to deal with. They’d come to the area looking for a new start away from the Horatius Group and the constant attacks on Luna Lodge, but fate had decided to mock them.
“Are you sure this is about Rem?” Lara asked, her reporter streak showing itself.
Nyx narrowed her eyes at the other women. “Who else would it be about?”
“Seriously?” Lara gave a loud laugh. “I don’t know. How about that nice hunk of man meat that everyone has been talking about? It’s not exactly like we’ve got thousands of people here. News travels fast.”
Nyx huffed loudly. She’d hoped she might avoid talking about Nero with anyone else for a while. It wasn’t as if she had figured out what their deal was. It may have been one night of sex and nothing more. Given how he took off in the middle of the night, that seemed more likely.
Or did it? If he really didn’t care, why would he pound Marcus? It could have been he was protecting her honor, or maybe he was just pissed about the other hybrid disrespecting him. She couldn’t be sure. Stupid men.
She poured another shot and downed it. The amber liquid was starting to hit her now, and she feel slightly less irritated, though also a bit dizzy.
“Better,” she mumbled. Nyx leaned back against the pretty gray couch Jenna had bought and sighed. “We had sex last night,” she said.
The words were out of her mouth before she could even think to stop them. There was no reason stop now. The other two would hear it soon enough from their men given the stupid big-dick brawl between Nero and Marcus. At least if she brought it up, she could control the conversation.
Both Jenna and Lara leaned forward.
“And?” Lara said with a grin.
Nyx sighed and covered her eyes with her arm to stop the room from spinning. The booze had made her less irritated, but she was definitely going to regret it tomorrow. Stupid Rem. Stupid Nero.
“And it was great,” she snapped. “It was fantastic, okay?”
The room grew quiet for a moment, and she took her arm off to look at the other women, her cheeks heating.
Jenna shook her head, confusion on her face. “I don’t understand. If you liked it, what’s the problem?”
Nyx sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “He was gone this morning,” she said. “I woke up, and he was gone.”
Jenna gave a small smile.
“This is all new to him,” she said. “I’ve seen this a few times now. These men, you know, they don’t know how to deal with this sort of thing. The Group didn’t prepare hybrids for romance.”
Nyx snorted. “I’m a hybrid. You think this isn’t new for me?”
Jenna shook her head, then pushed up her glasses. “Not like this,” she said. “These are your people. He’s alone. And even more, everything has changed for him. He’s still dealing with the fact that he doesn’t even look like he has his entire life. I think he convinced himself he looked like a monster, so he was a monster and always would be.” She shrugged. “At least that it what it seems like. It’s not like he talks to me a lot about his feelings.”
Lara nodded her head vigorously in agreement.
Nyx let out a long breath. She knew that there was more to Nero than the man they knew from before. He was as divided and torn as any of them. Maybe more since he’d been locked away in a lonely world, trapped by his unique situation and appearance. Maybe she did need to cut him a little break.
“You’re right,” she said and picked up the bottle. “But Rem is still an ass, and I’m not leaving until I finish off his bottle.”
Jenna shook her head as Lara laughed. “Don’t encourage her.”