A Thousand Thrones

Nine

Nine

I wasn't asleep, but I wasn't quite awake when Damon carried me toward the waiting car.  I could hear Lee and Molly asking if I was okay and only I could hear Damon grumbling about Lee and his overprotectiveness. 

"He's always been that way," I said softly.  "Ever since I met the guy, he's acted like my protector."

"Yes, well, I still don't like it," Damon said to me.

"Is she alright?" Molly cried. 

I felt like I was being pulled away from Damon, but I just held onto him tighter.  I nuzzled my face into the side of his neck, breathing him in. 

"Let me have her," Lee said.  So he was the one trying to get me.

"It's fine," Damon growled.  "I've got her.  Now get in the car before anything else comes.  We need to get her someplace safe."

"But..."

I lifted my head to look at him.  "Lee, just get in the damn car and quit being an ass who thinks he can do everything."

He looked at me with wide eyes.  I hardly ever cussed and that was two in one sentence.  But he obeyed me, like he usually always did.

The car wasn't big enough for six people.  Hector and Ari were in the front with Molly wedged in between them.  I could see her face in the rearview mirror and she looked like she was enjoying being up close and personal with Hector.  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.  After everything that just happened and she was still trying to catch the eye of a guy.  Typical Molly.

It was the three of us, me, Damon, and Lee, in the back.  Our situation was a little more awkward...because I couldn't find it in myself to let go of Damon.  I was seated in his lap, both of his arms around my waist and my head against his chest.  I was facing Lee, though, so I could see every time he looked over at us.  They were only quick glimpses, though, but it was enough to see that he was pissed.  His jaw was clenched and his hands in fists against his legs.   

I could understand why he was so mad.  I mean, here I was, snuggled up against some guy that, I'll admit, I barely knew and this was the first time Lee had ever met him.  Well, that he could remember, that is.  It wasn't a very good situation, since Lee felt the way he did about me.  I could practically feel the jealousy rolling off him in waves.

There was something else in the air around him, too, something that I obviously couldn't see, but could feel.  It was like electricity was crackling through the air around him.  That couldn't be real, though, so I must have just been imagining it. 

I didn't fall asleep, even though I'd been exhausted just a little while before.  Leaning against Damon, it was like he was charging me up with his warmth, making me even more awake than I already was. 

Apparently Hector drove just as fast as Damon did, because in no time we were back at the house.  It hadn't changed at all, not that I was expecting it to in five weeks.  But there was a certain air around it, like they hadn't been there since I left.  I wouldn't have been surprised if that were the case. 

"Nice place," Molly said, looking up at the house through the windshield as we drove toward the garage.

No one said a word as Hector parked in the spot right next to where Damon's Bentley had been.  It appeared to still be there, but with a white sheet covering it.  It was the same with the other six cars in the garage.  So maybe they hadn't been there, like I was suspecting. 

Damon wouldn't let me get out of the car myself.  He had to help me out as Lee held open the door, still looking furious.  I wasn't paying any attention to him, though.