Witch {Book One} [UNEDITED]

XXXV: Synergy

I burned the cards when I got back to Safe House. I gave Helena her gun back and went to my room. I had used up all my cigarettes, including the one I found under my sink. That only made me more pissed. I needed a distraction. I needed to get high or drunk or both. I needed--

"Glitch!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. It took him two minutes to come running out into the back yard, where I was. I was sitting by the pile of ashes that was Ada's deck of tarot cards. 

"Jesus Mary fuck, Bandit!" He exclaimed. I looked up and met his eyes. "What's wrong?!"

"I had an idea." 

"Bra-fucking-vo. You could've come and gotten me! I thought the Hell Hounds got you!"

"Speaking of which . . ." I stood up  and brushed the dirt and grass and worm shit and bird shit and whatever the hell was in the ground off of my black jeans. "My next trial. Guess what it is. Just guess." 

"Bandit, I don't want to guess r'now." He ran a hand through his hair. "Thomason an' I have a wedding to plan an' I have to make sure that those damned Hounds are staying away from him an' you an'  now there's that ghost an' have you seen Sammy? She's acting like she has a damn wooden stake up her ass. And Lucy--" I cringed at her name. Visibly. I wanted Glitch to know that I still hated the bitch "--well, there's Lucy. Look, Bandit, I know ya hate Lucy, but we aren't in a good position to be on the devil's bad side. Just tell me what your trial is and let me go back inside." 

I crossed my arms, bit my lip, dropped my arms, and hugged him. He tensed up--I felt it--but hugged back. I buried my face in his chest (rather, his stomach. I wasn't very tall compared to him) and sucked in a shaky breath. He mumbled something but I didn't hear or pay attention or both. At the same time, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone. I slipped it into Glitch's hand and stepped back. He looked at my phone's screen. 

"Synergy . . ." he muttered, handing me my phone back. "Fuck." 

"I know." I shoved my phone back into my pocket and hugged him again. "This trial is going to kill me." 

He rubbed circles into my back. "You've already been killed by the trials. This one won't be different." 

"Annie can't save me any more. Well, she can, but she said that I've cheated Death too much an' like you said, Sammy's actin' weird an' . . . an' . . . an' . . ." I choked on a sob. "Fuck, Glitch, I can't do this anymore. These trails are destroying me. I used to be this badass who was on top of the world and now I'm crying into the chest of some guy because I'm scared to die." He sighed at my comment. I couldn't tell if it was because what I said was shit or what I said was meaningful. He stepped back and absently twisted his ring with his thumb. His right hand was still bandaged. That's your fault. He doesn't have a hand because of you, I thought. If you just kept to yourself and stuck with Alice--no, fuck that. If you just kept to yourself and didn't mess with anyone else, Glitch and Thomason wouldn't have to get married in a couple weeks and Glitch would have his hand and Lucy wouldn't have turned and my Horsemen would be preparing for the Apocalypse and Jemma would be working at the Bitchy Witchy and her School of Evil and Gabriel would be in Hell where he belongs. This is a disaster.

"I'll come to Synergy with you," he said, wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb. "Thomason, too. An' Flynn an' Simon. You'll have your boys to protect ya. Sammy can take charge 'ere an' the girls'll make sure that everything is gonna be safe for you when ya come back. Gabriel can just fuck off." 

"Thank you, Glitch," I whispered. "Synergy opens at midnight. Let's go n'get ready for that." 

Glitch drove me and my boys to downtown Eldorado and parked a block away from Synergy. I pulled my leather jacket tightly around myself as I led my boys down the street to the building. Flynn must've noticed that I was cold because he shrugged his jacket off and put it on my shoulders. I silently thanked him.