Winning His War

9

Jem's POV

My feet dragged as I walked back to my wing of the house.

My eyes fought to stay open even though most people would consider the night to be young but the second my hand rested on the door nob, I forced myself to fake energy.

The door opened easily, allowing soft noises to drift through the air.

I searched the room quickly to see Andrew and Patrick sitting on the couch while the TV flashed in front of them. Andrew seemed fully engrossed in whatever they were watching but Patrick was aware enough to look up at me before turning back to the screen while I made a b-line for the coffee pot.

"You're back later than I thought you would be," he noted, making Andrew glance back at me with a small smile.

"It was a bit more of a headache than I would have liked but it could have been worse."

"Informative as always," Andrew teased. I don't bother answering as I poured the black liquid in a random cup.

"Where are the other two dumbasses," I asked but the question fell flat when Dev and Barrett came into view, probably wanting to know how the meeting went but I cut them off before they get a chance to ask.

"Where are they?"

"We let them in last night but I think some of the guys stole them," Barrett sighed.

"You know they help some of them sleep," Dev dismissed but my frown deepened. They helped me sleep too.

"Steal them back then."

My words came out harsher than I would have hoped as I sat down on the couch.

The tone and command were enough to make Devon's face fall, clearly realizing why I needed them.

He didn't say a word as he walked out the door with Barrett hot on his heels.

"Do I even want to know what 'they' are," Patrick sighed.

"Just the three decadence of hell," I teased before taking a long sip of the hot coffee.

Andrew rolled his eyes at the answer while Patrick raised an eyebrow.

The next few minutes were spent in silence until the door opened again and the sound of hard nails hitting the wood floor filled the room.

An uncontrollable smile crossed my face when I heard all three sets coming in my direction.

I didn't even have a chance to blink before dogs were in my lap.

I allowed the three of them to jump and bounce around until I was ready for things to calm back down before coffee was spilt on rather expensive things.

"Okay, that's enough. Find a place and settle down."

As if they had practiced it a million times, the three of them sit all at once though their tales never stop wagging.

"The decadence of hell huh," Patrick said as he looked over the three balls of joy.

"Hades," I said as I pointed to Rottweiler on my left side, "Nyx," the Doberman on my right, "And Charlie," the pit bull in my lap.

Charlie was still young, only about 6 months if we had to guess, so for now I allowed him to be a lap dog but when he got older I knew I would have to break him from the habit.

"Charlie?" Patrick asked, not looking very amused at the grey love bug in front of him but his hand reached over to let the puppy sniff him anyway. "That doesn't exactly fit the others does it?"

"You can thank Dev for that name," I said with a glare. "I had wanted to name him Thanatos but shortly after I got him I had to leave on a business trip." Leaving Devon to clean up puppy piss by himself since I took Barrett with me for security. "I came back a week later to a dog who only responded to Charlie."