He gave an indelicate shudder on the last.
“We should be fine here for a couple of days,” Maddox said, and despite the definitiveness of the statement, his tone didn’t suggest the same.
“Maybe,” Fin said. “Maybe not. I sent for Rogue.”
“Why the fuck did you do that?” Oh, that pissed him off. His anger flooded the room with so much delicious heat, I sighed and stretched. I swore his eyes glowed even brighter, enough to give more definition to the room, but not to Fin.
“He sounds really pissy, but he’s just frustrated,” Fin told me, head tilted toward me as if confiding state secrets. “Rogue’s not a people person anymore, but he’s also more than capable of creating the distraction we need to get out of here.” The last he directed at Maddox. “So just simmer down and cool the fire breathing.”
Fire breathing?
A growl resonated through the room. “Fin, Rogue won’t just cause a distraction. We haven’t summoned him in over a century.”
“So?”
“So, do you recall the last time we had to call him?”
“Yeah but that was totally different,” Fin countered. “One, we had no way of knowing what those trolls were hiding, and two, if the scouts hadn’t shot first and tried to ask questions later, he wouldn’t have slaughtered them.”
I had to admit, I was getting more curious by the minute.
“And to be totally fair,” Fin continued. “We were this close to getting our heads chopped off.”
“That’s because someone doesn’t know how to follow a plan.” That someone was clearly Fin. I’d just met him, and the fact he had impulse issues couldn’t be clearer if he’d taken out a neon advertising sign.
“Oh, I know how to follow a plan,” Fin argued in a smooth tone, then leaned toward me. “I definitely know how to follow a plan, it’s just that when it’s a stupid plan, I like to get creative.”
His shoulder brushed mine, and the sense of nothingness hit me. My palms itched to reach out and put a hand on him.
“Fin,” Maddox growled. “When did you send for Rogue?”
“About an hour before we left.” The cheerfulness in his voice pulled a reluctant smile from me. The fact Maddox actually exhaled the most put upon sigh so heavily made me laugh.
The chuckle worked its way up from my belly, and I shook from it. I almost felt sorry for Maddox.
Almost.
But really, fucking with his day? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
“She thinks I’m funny,” Fin said with a grin in his voice. “You like me best, don’t you?”
Still chuckling, I almost answered in the affirmative, in spite of the fact that I would rather be back on my rather monotonous routine if I had to be stuck in this place. Probably better to not encourage them. Then again, Maddox’s derisive snort made me rethink that. Dropping my hand onto Fin’s thigh, I said, “I absolutely do like you better.”
Not best.
But better.
There, suck on that dick face.
I didn’t really get to savor Maddox’s response though, because that sense of nothingness regarding Fin only intensified. No heat. No pulse. No sense of him being there, and yet, I could touch him.
“You’re astral projecting.” Shock rippled through me.
“Very good, beautiful,” Fin complimented me. “I was supposed to meet you hours ago, but apparently, Maddox doesn’t know his ups from his downs and totally screwed the pooch on the introductions. I didn’t want to wait a couple more days, so—voila. Here I am, and not too soon, if you don’t mind me bragging.”
Another aggrieved sigh from Maddox made me smile wider. Fin could really push his buttons.
Still…
“To be fair, he could have been out of here, but he insisted on following me.” I shrugged. “I’m the one who came down the stairs instead of up. Oops.”
“It’s all right, anyone could get turned around in here. Sometimes down is the way to go. Who knows, by the time Rogue gets here, you might have to go down to get up, and then we’ll go right to get left. It’ll be a whole thing. But we’ll both be here to help Maddox out so he doesn’t get lost.”
“You really aren’t helping,” Maddox said, his tone bland and bored before he moved back to the cot. When he dropped to sit right on top of Fin, I expected more of a protest than an exasperated sigh.
Then the shadow disconnected itself from him and stood. “You know I hate it when you do that.”
“Amazing the things we do that we know will irritate the other.”
“True,” Fin admitted. “I’m guilty of that.” Then he turned to me again, and the shadowy hand came to rest against my thigh this time as he knelt. “I’m honored to meet you, Fiona MacRieve, I don’t know if I said that earlier.”
“No,” I told him. “Not really. But I’ll bite, why are you honored?”
“You’re the—”
“Fin.” Maddox’s snarl cut him off. “Later. For now, find us a route out of here preferably before Rogue arrives. This is an extraction, not a war.”
“Eh,” Fin, said. “It’s kind of both. Even you have to admit that. With the lovely Fiona here the prize at the center of the maze. We just have to get through all the mini-bosses to the big boss, and boom, we get the girl.”
“Okay,” I said, removing his shadowy hand off my thigh with two fingers. “Bored now.”
“Ha.” You could practically taste the smirk in Maddox’ tone.
“First, no one asked for rescue. Second, I’m not some helpless damsel. Third, I’m nobody’s fucking prize.”
“I can’t wait to lay my real eyes on you when we rescue you,” Fin said. “You’re delightful.”
Then he vanished, and it took everything I had not to scream.
“Do either of you actually listen?” I demanded.
Maddox shrugged before he looped an arm around my shoulders and dragged me against the furnace of his body. If I really were a kitten, I’d sink in my claws and shred him before I sprawled out to doze in the heat. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by this much warmth. The only heat I’d had came when Dorran…
“Oh.” Fin popped back in and gave Maddox a start. His jerk betrayed his surprise, which I’d bet on my best pair of shoes—well, second best at any rate, since my best ones got trashed in the same incident that landed me here. “Don’t believe a word Maddox says about me. He really does love me, he just doesn’t know how to show emotions. He’s very sixteenth century in his affections.”
Then Fin vanished again, and I chuckled.
“You really do like him,” Maddox stated, and I couldn’t tell if he was disgusted or pleased by that revelation.
“Don’t be jealous,” I advised. “I haven’t really met him met him yet.”
“True.” That seemed to please him way too much though.
“Then again, I like him more than you—so that’s something.”
A rumbling growl was his only answer, and I tipped my head to rest against his shoulder and went back to designing my house. Better to not get attached to anything. ‘Cause the first opportunity I had, hasta la vista, grumpstiltskin, and his nutty buddy, Fin.