with him, kicking him right in the crotch.
He falls to his knees with a groan, while Ada screeches an apology.
“Oh my god!” I cry out, but then Dex takes over and is making me burst out laughing, clutching my stomach. I can’t even straighten up. Why is it always your first instinct to laugh when someone gets kicked in the crotch?
Dex is still laughing inside me and I glance over at Lana who is wide-eyed and unsure of the dynamic here.
“I’m so sorry,” Ada squeaks, dropping to her knees and putting her hands on Max’s shoulders. “But it’s really so nice to see you, Big Red.”
He tries to look at her, wincing. “The fuck?” is all he can say, breath catching. Then he looks up at me, then Lana. “Who are you?”
“Lana Leivo,” she says. “It’s nice to meet you. But we need to get inside because the spells are officially broken.”
OH SHIT.
We go inside the room, brushing past Max and Ada, Ada putting her hands underneath his arms and trying to haul him to his feet.
Lana closes the door behind us, locking it, then faces the door, mumbling those words again, her hands moving in her pockets.
Maximus gets to his feet, a bit unsteady, looking around. He blinks at Ada who is smiling at him apologetically. “Really sorry about that,” she says.
He seems to do a double-take and then looks her up and down, his eyes lingering everywhere.
Fuck that, he’s checking her out, Dex growls.
Dex is right. He’s literally checking her out, admiring her legs, her ass, her boobs, like a hot-blooded, undead male, his gaze pausing at her mouth, then her eyes.
“Ada?” Maximus asks as he stares at her.
“In the flesh.”
“Shit,” he says. “Wow. This is the first time I’ve realized how much time has passed. You’ve changed. You’re like…a whole woman now.”
And then she actually blushes.
Oh this is so inappropriate.
“Max,” I warn him.
He looks to me, clearing his throat, not even looking a little bit caught that he’s been ogling my nineteen-year-old sister. “Where’s Dex?”
“I’m right here,” Dex says through me.
Max blinks again at me. “The fuck is going on?” he says. He looks to Ada. “Dammit Ada, how hard did you kick me?”
“I don’t know, are your brains in your dick?” she asks, putting a hand on her hip.
“I’m possessed,” I tell Max before he has a chance to answer that. “On purpose. It’s the only way we could do this, just in case Samantha shows up.”
“And she might just show up now,” Lana says, still facing the door. “I can sense her. She’s coming down the stairs. She’s not alone.”
Oh fuck.
“You let Dex possess you?” he asks incredulously.
“Yeah, you jealous, douchenugget?” Dex says through me.
I roll my eyes. My god this is not the time!
“This is so fucking weird,” Maximus says, running a hand through his hair.
“You think you’d be used to weird by now,” Ada says. “You’re dead.”
“Thanks for the reminder, Blondie. Now you gonna get me out of here or what?”
“Wow,” she says, her other hand going on her other hip, full of sass. “You’re awfully impatient for someone who just went to Hell. Better be nice to me, or I’ll send you back there instead.”
He gives her a crooked grin. “I reckon I’d like to see you try.”
Please stop their bantering, Dex says to me.
But Lana stops it for me. “You guys,” she says, voice growing higher. “She’s on the floor above. Hurry the fuck up.”
“Who are you again?” Max asks.
“Ada,” I bark at her. “Come on, we’re counting on you.” I point at Maximus. “You shut up and do what Ada says.”
His brows go up, intrigued. He nods, staring at her.
Ada steps back from him, and I take a few steps back too, not wanting to be anywhere near this Veil. “You’re so close, you’re pretty much here already,” she says absently, as she examines the space around him. “I wonder why Perry and Dex weren’t able to do this.”
“Maybe this is your destiny,” Maximus says to her.
She gives him a small smile. “I doubt you’re my destiny.” Then she frowns, concentration coming over her face. She waves her palms in front of him, side to side, top to bottom, until a line appears.
It burns in the air like the edges of paper, forming a jagged doorway around him.
She waves at him, motioning for him to go to her.
“Come on through,” she says. “Step over the line.”
Max looks down, about to step over the burning flames when suddenly I spot a