12. Mabel

Chapter 12

I'm damn near limp in Huck's arms after he gets through with me, reeling from the fact I've lost count of the orgasms these men have wrung from my body.

And from what I learned about Huck.

I've always prided myself on how I try to seek justice through legal channels if I can. How I'm not like Creepy in that way. But when I saw the hellscape of scars on that sweet Jekyll's body, the layers of countless marks that could only be burns and bullet wounds and—gods—whips too, every thought of legal justice went out the window.

I'd wanted blood for what Huck and his Hyde had been forced to endure, and my relief at finding out those bastards are dead was so intense, it left me shaking.

I wrap my arms around the sweet Jekyll as he carries me out into the hall. After he finished making me come against practically every wall and counter in the bathroom, Huck insisted on being the one to clean me up, shampooing my hair and washing me down from head to toe.

It'd been so hot, I ended up fucking him again in the shower afterward.

Phineas and Zeb follow as Huck carries me. I'd already respected these men, but seeing how those two supported their friend brought that respect to a whole new level. They both obviously knew what it meant for him to show me his body like that, and how hard it must have been for him to work past the fear I'd reject him over it. And even once he took that leap, they hadn't taken it for granted or treated it like they'd gotten something out of the way. No, they let him have the lead in our sex-capades, never once pushing him aside, and all without a single trace of jealousy, impatience, or irritation.

They're good men, all of them. My heart hurts for how clearly I can see that and for how it makes me wish things between us really could work out.

But it can't. I know it can't. It'd be the most selfish thing on earth to ask them to give up rescuing supernaturals. For pity's sake, Phineas and Zeb doing what they do is probably why Huck is even here right now, instead of trapped in hell or dead in a cage. He's living proof they have to move on soon, for the sake of everyone who needs them out there.

And I can't leave my home. Even if traders were the ones to burn it, there's a chance the ones in the alleyway had been the arsonists, and now they're gone. Traders are notoriously insular, after all. Crews never share secrets, whether it's tactics for catching supernaturals or places where they might be found. This is a business to them. Competition is fierce.

So if those assholes in the alley were the extent of these traders' crew, no one else might know La Fleur's location, which means going home could be safe after all. And people in the underground depend on La Fleur. They depend on me. Phineas wasn't wrong about the magic I do. The help I give people who come through my door. I can't walk away from that.

It's just that somewhere in the past few hours, I screwed up. I lost my nerve. I got too close.

And now the fact they have to go hurts like absolute hell.

Huck snuggles me closer when we reach the living room, murmuring the sweet nickname he gave me and placing a kiss on my temple before setting me on my feet again. I do my best to shove the pain down, focusing on this moment instead of everything that's going to come after. Even if it's going to hurt when they go, for right now, they're here and that's what matters.

At least in the future, I'll be able to look back and know I enjoyed the memory when it was real.

My legs feel like wobbly noodles beneath me, but Huck doesn't let me go, supporting me while Zeb disappears down the hall for a moment and then returns with clothes bundled in his arms.

"So," Zeb says as I pull on sweatpants and a black t-shirt that's so big, it must belong to Phineas. "How about a snack, hmm? Since dinner was interrupted."

I eye him. "Like a food snack or…?"

He grins, but there's an amused cast to his expression. "Food. You need to eat." He shrugs. "We probably do too."

He twitches his chin toward the couch and then heads for the kitchen. Dressed in gray sweatpants and a t-shirt of his own, Phineas takes a seat near me and grunts something that sounds like "scoot." Before I can ask what he means, he takes my legs and pulls them around, placing my feet on his lap.

And then he starts rubbing them.

Oh gods, that's good.

Huck climbs onto the couch beside me and then clambers around so that his knees are on either side of my hips. I look behind me, confused, when suddenly he starts massaging my shoulders.

Wow, these guys are laying it on thick.

But you know what? I'm damn well going to let myself enjoy it.

If only for tonight.

Closing my eyes with all the resolve I can muster, I sigh and lean back into Huck.

He murmurs happily, nuzzling the side of my head in a motion more like a wild animal than anything. "Maybe we could watch a movie? Do you like movies?"

I nod.

"What kind?" he asks.

I hesitate because I'm not sure how they'll take the fact Creepy and I enjoy horror as long as it's not nihilistic. But I guess hiding what I enjoy isn't good for anyone, least of all me.

When I tell them, Huck beams and even Phineas smiles. "Oh, we love a good horror movie!" Huck cries. "Zeb! She likes horror movies!"

Zeb comes back in with a tray of fruits, cheeses, and crackers. "So what're we watching?"

"What about that new one with the family in the haunted house?" Huck suggests.

At the guys' questioning glances, I nod. "Sounds good to me."

Putting the tray down on the coffee table, Zeb settles in on the floor in front of me.

"You sure you're comfortable?" I ask him.

He nods and picks up a cherry, turning a bit to offer it to me. "Definitely."

I don't think I've had this much fun watching a movie in years. It's not just the food or how relaxed the guys have made me feel. Even though I technically just met them a short time ago, there's something so comfortable about being around them, like I've known them for years. Before the movie is over, I end up dozing off with Huck's arms around me and my feet beneath a blanket on Phineas' lap, feeling more comfortable than I think I've ever been, even in my own bed.

A muffled cry pulls me from my sleep.

I look around, confused. I'm still on the couch, though now my head is on a pillow and the blanket is tucked around me. The living room is mostly dark, but enough ambient light from the city slips past a crack between the curtains to thin the shadows. Phineas rests in an armchair nearby, his hands folded over his middle and his legs crossed at the ankles. His chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm. Huck lies on the blankets spread on the floor, his back to me, while Zeb is in another chair nearby.

In the darkness, Zeb is watching me.

I push away from the couch. "Was that you?" I whisper.

His head shakes, but he doesn't appear concerned. More like he's resigned.

Wariness prickles through me. Why does he look like that? That cry sounded so scared. Why wouldn't he want to know where it came?—

Huck suddenly twitches beneath his blanket, whimpering.

Zeb sighs and gets up.

I do the same, my apprehension replaced by concern. "What's going on? Is he?—"

Zeb holds up a hand. "It's okay. Just a nightmare. Go back to sleep." He walks carefully toward Huck, who's started shaking under his blanket.

I stare after him for a heartbeat and then cast a quick glance toward Phineas. The other man's eyes are open now, but he's making no move to follow. Instead, when he sees me look at him, he just nods briefly at the couch as if silently repeating what Zeb said.

Which is ridiculous. I'm supposed to just roll over and ignore this, especially after everything I learned about Huck today?

A grim sense of hell no comes from Creepy.

I start after Zeb.

"Mabel," he whispers when he realizes I'm following. "It's okay. Huck just has bad dreams sometimes."

"From what he went through," I fill in.

Zeb pauses. "Yeah." He glances down as a murmured plea for someone to stop comes from Huck. "It's hard to wake him most of the time. Even…" He grimaces briefly. "Even for me. But if they wake up and the two of them don't realize they've been dreaming, Puck can get violent. It's best to just let them find their own way out."

Creepy doesn't like that either. She shivers through my skin, wanting to cuddle our Jekyll close and somehow fix it all.

I exhale slowly, reminding her he's still not our Jekyll. He can't be, not for real.

She doesn't care. Not when he's in pain and we're not helping him. We can handle violence. So there's no excuse to leave him suffering.

And to be fair, she has a point there.

I step past Zeb, ignoring his stifled noise of protest as I crouch down beside Huck. Beneath his tousled white and blue hair, his pale face is screwed up tight like he's cringing away from something. Every few seconds, he flinches like he's being shocked.

Which, based on his scars, he probably was back then.

Creepy won't stand for it, but I barely need her encouragement to pull the edge of the blanket aside and slip in next to Huck. He's shirtless beneath the blankets, wearing only a pair of sweatpants to cover his lower half, and it makes something inside me ache to know he'd finally been comfortable enough around me to go uncovered like that. But when I gently put my arm over his side, I can feel the cold sweat covering his scarred skin. "Shh," I whisper. "You're safe. We're here."

He twitches harder, mumbling things I can't understand.

"Mabel…" Zeb sounds worried.

I chew my lip. Surely, Phineas and Zeb have already tried various techniques to help Huck and Puck. I can't imagine there's anything I can do that the two men haven't already thought of.

Creepy pushes at me again, refusing to accept that answer.

Okay then…

I close my eyes, focusing on Huck's tense body beneath my arm. The soothing spell my mother used when I was a child spills effortlessly from my lips.

Huck whimpers briefly and then suddenly switches to an angry mumble, a sibilant quality to the sound that makes me suspect Puck is trying to emerge.

I focus harder, murmuring the spell over and over until the words and sounds loop so seamlessly, even I can barely track where they begin and end.

Prickles course through my skin. My nails tingle as they lengthen. I don't need to see them to know they're turning black.

Creepy's not waiting. She wants to help, and I can't begin to predict what she'll do if Puck attacks us.

Or what Puck will do if he sees her as a threat.

I squeeze my eyes shut more tightly, trying to focus on staying here and not letting the shift take me.

The shivers on my skin get worse. Whispering sounds flit around me, there and gone like they've been whisked away by a breeze, and I have no idea where they're coming from. My throat aches as Creepy suddenly tries to interrupt the spell, and I cling to my own words as I resist her.

With every passing second, the whispers get louder.

Is this Puck? Is he doing something to fight me and she's reacting to it?

A tingling sensation passes over my skin like a cold breeze licking at me. My eyes open.

Ghostly pockets of mist twist in the air above us. They stretch toward Huck, and every time a tendril touches him, he flinches.

Holy shit.

Creepy's voice breaks past my own. "Not for you. Stop what you do."

A cold sensation rushes over me, prickling like an icy river. The mists retreat, pulling away from Huck, and then they scatter like they've been swept away by a strong wind.

I tense. Creepy did that. Moreover, I think I know what just happened. Creepy and I share memories from time to time, but the ones from her are often strange and fragmented. They don't always make sense.

But I know what she can see, which means I know what those things really were.

The dead. Lost souls drawn to him because of either his pain or his guilt at being the only one of his family to survive.

Except… Creepy spoke to them and they reacted, and I have enough of her memories to know that, at least, is not normal.

As the mists vanish, Huck stills. His rapid breathing slows, and the tension leaks from his body. I let out a breath in relief that somehow, we've given him a reprieve. Everything else can be figured out later.

But the peace only lasts for a moment.

Before I can even gasp, Huck shifts, and suddenly Puck is there. His long legs wrap mine in a jiu-jitsu-style move, and the blanket falls away as he rolls me quickly until he's lying on top of me. Lightning fast, my arms are pinned above my head and my body is immobilized under him while one of his long-fingered hands wraps around my neck.

Oh, shit.