Chapter 24

We sped home and luckily made it home with twenty minutes to spare, and rushed inside to see Derek pacing back and forth, he didn't look too happy about us being home that late. I was about to explain when he slugged me across the jaw.

"I deserve that, but try again and I'll slit your throat."

"I've been stressed out over this, so quit your bitching about a small punch and go get Johnny, lead him to the garage and we'll see how this goes," He said and walked towards the garage with a heavy pace, normally I would go off at him but I didn't care enough to, so I walked over to Johnny's room and grabbed him by the arm.

"Hey! Where are we going?"

"Your presence has been requested at the garage," I said and continued tugging him along, "If you don't come, that's your choice, but I'll just throw you over my shoulder and carry you there anyway, so don't bitch right now."

"Jeez, did Derek slug you again?" He asked as I opened up the garage for him and followed him in.

"Yes, and there he is," I said and let go of his arm, he looked over to see Derek sitting on his motorcycle waiting for us, "alright, Derek, here's your princess, anything else?"

"Nope, you're good to go, have a nice night and sorry for the sock," He said and got on his bike and Johnny joined him, and hugged Derek around the hips. One second they were there, the next they were speeding down the desert road towards wherever it was that Derek had planned to take Johnny. I started towards my room, catching up with Jack, and we discussed how Derek seemed a lot less stressed whenever Johnny was around, and what he planned to do with his sum of cash. I wasn't too worried about my portion, I easily had a nine-digit sum in my name and that didn't even include vehicles or property.

"So, what are you gonna do with your portion? Go to Six Flags with Alex?"

"Nope, I'll probably go buy a military base and turn it into a Safehouse."

"A Safehouse Safehouse or a place for you to hide when you don't want to be around people?"

"Yes," I said as we passed Nicki's room, heard noises that would make a pornstar turn to abstinence before we got to our room.

"I'll never get that shit outta my head."

"I call two beers and you won't even know who Nicki is," I said and threw him a beer and cracked open myself a Lucifer's Brew, it wouldn't take long for us to pass out and I was hoping that I would be in hell and not the mating link, I didn't need any more anxiety right now. I turned on youtube on our giant TV, and looked at Jack, "Any suggestions?"

"MILO!!"

"Okay, mister 'I have a high alcohol tolerance'," I said and pulled up Milo Yiannopolus' 'Halloqueen' speech and laid down in my bed. We had two things we liked about Milo, he was utterly hysterical, and we agreed with him politically.

"Ya know, I once met him face to face?"

"WHAT?!"

"Mhmm, I was at one of his speeches and he did a Q&A, so I asked him something about political correctness and after the speech, I got to talk with him for a solid thirty minutes," I said, remembering the event, it was fun to talk to the guy, I had admired him both politically and socially for a while, and I was glad to talk to him.

"I'm so jealous! I wish I could've been there," He said as I started to drift off to sleep, and instead of hell, I woke up in the mating link again.

"Shit..." I said, as I walked down the path towards a bench overlooking a lake, I didn't see Alex anywhere so I took off my shirt and jeans and jumped into the lake to start swimming. It was nice to go swimming every once in a while, it helped me relax but I didn't get to do it as often as I would like.

"Havin' fun?" I heard behind me and nearly jumped out of my skin, I didn't hear her approach nor see her.

"HOLY HELL!"

"I didn't know that was a thing, being holy and hellish," she said, leaning against a tree and looking at me under the water.

"Don't look at me, perv!" I said and she turned around long enough for me to get out of the water and change clothes, still trying to catch my breath from the jump scare she gave me.

"Firstly, I'm not a pervert, secondly, don't tell me not to look at what's mine, Jakey," she said, making me blush and try to avoid eye contact.

"D-don't say that in front of anyone else, please."

"Why? Does it make you shy?"

"That and I would never hear the end of it if Nicki or Jack found out," I said and finally caught my breath, but still had a tomato red face.

"Aww, that's really cute."

"Shut up!" I said and walked away from the lake towards the bench, trying to regain my composure.

"Nah, I think it's cute when you blush."

"Can you stop? And in all seriousness, what did you spend your coin on, if you spent any at all?"

"Nah, and I spent a bit of it buying some crossbow bolts and some snacks that I like," She said and took a seat on the other side of the bench.

"I think I'm gonna buy a military base, I've lived long enough to know that enough coin can get you pretty far in life."

"You're not even twenty-one yet, though."

"In human years, luckily a lot of the bars and liquor stores I go to care about hell-years."

"Money can't buy you a mate, Jake," She said, looking at me with a look of judgment.

"I know that, but it can buy you a lot of soda, and an all-access pass at Six Flags, which is almost as good."

"If you think that a Six Flags is better than a mate then you got a real problem on your hands."

"Or, and this might shock you so prepare yourself, maybe I've just been single for so long, also known as my entire life, that I enjoy doing things just for me."

"You've never been on a date??"

"No...I wanted to wait until I found my mate," I said and avoided her gaze of, most likely, judgment or confusion.