Bitch did not just call me a pet.
I stepped up, and she met my advance. In her heels she towered over me. Even if I wore my own, she would still have half a foot of height on me. Didn’t matter. I would hit tall people and short people. They all fell the same.
“Get out of his face before I remove you.” I told her.
The dark buzz of magic vibrated in the air before I hit the wall behind us and slid down in an ungraceful heap. My arms and shoulders screamed in fresh agony and I lay there to collect myself. No shame in staying down until I could stand back up.
At least, that is what the chief used to tell me when he would watch my hand to hand sparring matches. He’d always been the hardest on me. He told me every chance he got people would underestimate me because I was small and I was a woman. Even other women.
I turned my head to stare at Fin and Olivia. He batted her hand away from his face and spoke low enough I couldn’t catch the words.
No, it’s cool. I’ll lay here after your girlfriend tossed me around like a rag doll. No problem.
I sat up and Olivia gestured my way. “See, she’s fine. I barely touched her.”
Fin came over and lifted me carefully under the elbows. “Are you all right?”
“Define all right. I’m about two seconds from shanking your girlfriend, but overall, not bad.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Really? Are you able to continue?”
Mentally and physically, I’d tapped out a whole fight ago. But what choice did I have?
“I don’t know if even you have enough magic to trick my brain into thinking my arm won’t fall off.” I told him.
“Always so dramatic,” he whispered.
Olivia cleared her throat. “As touching as this little show is, there is someone waiting to meet you, Fin. I’m supposed to take you directly to him.”
I met Fin’s eyes, trying to relay how fucked we both were. He only gave me a sad smile and ran his thumb over my cheek.
“I’d be delighted to meet your friend, Olivia. Please, take us to him.”
He guided me next to him, his hand on the small of my back. Olivia’s eyes flashed as she surveyed us.
Despite her choices, this woman still wanted Fin. She hadn’t realized yet Fin would never touch her again. That knowledge was enough to get me through the walk behind her down the hallway. She led us around a corner at the end of the hall, opposite the stairs and through several doors.
“Watch your little pet, Fin. I’d hate for her to get lost in here.”
I reached out to snatch her by the hair, but Fin intercepted my hand and lowered it back to my side without a word.
“You know she’s a bundle of crazy on the clearance rack, right?” I whispered.
He met my eyes and smiled. All right, as long as he knew we were about to walk into hell following a psychopath.
We arrived at an elevator and Olivia turned to face us. I wanted to jump back, put some space between us. Even a foot of space wasn’t enough.
“We’ll go up in a moment,” she said, and cocked her head at us.
Fin’s hand still rested on my lower back and despite our current differences, I needed his steadying presence.
When her eyes narrowed at Fin, I knew the next words out of her wicked red lips wouldn’t be kind. “Have you visited your sister lately?”
His entire body went rigid beside me. Even his hand clutched closed around the back of my stolen black t-shirt.
“I hope you’re being a good big brother,” she said, with a flirtatious pout.
She stumbled one step back and then stood as if someone had held her waist and squeezed in a giant hand. It looked like something out of a horror movie.