Invision - Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,27

to sacrifice a goat or anything for you?”

Nick feigned a round of really fake laughter at something neither of them found particularly amusing since Madaug was the one Nick had turned into a goat with his powers when Nick had rescued him from the Zombie Hunter demons. “Uh, no. No goats. No more game programming ever, partner.”

“Yeah, lesson learned.” He bro-hugged him, then headed back to class.

Nick shook his head. That boy was going to end up as a leading doctor somewhere.

Or as an evil villain mastermind, leading a horde of henchmen.

Thank goodness he was on their side for the moment.

Suddenly, a huge, dark shadow fell over Nick. He started to scramble away out of reflex until he looked up and realized it was the mountainous muscled mass also known as Big Bubba Burdette.

“Sheez, Bubba! You scared the crap out of me.”

“Boy, you need to lay off the caffeine. You got the reflexes there of a scared Chihuahua.”

Yeah, well, given the fact that all manner of deadly things tended to pop out of the shadows intending to eat him or enslave him, it was little wonder. But he couldn’t tell that to Bubba.

“How you feeling?” Bubba put his hand on Nick’s forehead.

“Pretty awful.”

“You look pale.” Bubba grabbed his backpack. “C’mon, I already signed you out.”

“Thank you, by the way. I really appreciate it.” Nick scowled as he caught a whiff of aftershave and realized that Bubba’s scraggly beard wasn’t so scraggly. He’d trimmed it down to one of those shadowy things that Kody and Brynna giggled about on actors. “Did you shave?”

“Shut up.”

And now that Nick was paying attention, he realized that Bubba wasn’t wearing his usual uniform of bad horror movie T-shirt and ratted-up flannel shirt over it. Instead, he had on a nice button-down and new jeans. The only thing that remained of “old” Bubba was the heavy, steel-toed work boots. “Gah! Bubba! That’s my mama, you know?”

He arched one jet eyebrow at Nick as he gave him a scathing glare that backed him down a notch. While Nick might be the Malachai, Bubba had been a semipro linebacker and was the size of a brick house with the muscle mass of a world-champion weightlifter who could put him through a wall with a single sneeze. Not to mention, he was a raw, bad-ass survivalist who went zombie hunting for fun in gator and demon-infested swamps. “Don’t you even, boy. I asked you before I started going out with her and you said it was all right.”

“I know what I said, but…” Nick shivered. “Can’t I be grossed out?”

Bubba snorted. “Grow up, snot-nose.”

Nick was trying, but it was hard. While he wanted his mom to be happy, he didn’t want to think of her actually dating someone, especially not his best friend and mentor. And the fact that Bubba let his mom call him Michael really screwed with Nick’s head.

Only Bubba’s mama got away with that.

And Cherise Gautier.

As they left the school building and Nick headed home, Bubba stopped him. “I told Cherise I’d take you back to the shop with me so that I could keep an eye on you ’til she gets off work.”

“Oh my God, Bubba! I’m about to turn seventeen. Really?”

Bubba’s blue eyes darkened with tragedy.

Nick mentally kicked himself as he remembered that Bubba’s wife and son had been murdered because she’d gone home from work due to illness and had been there alone when an intruder had broken in on her.

“You don’t need to be by yourself while you’re illing. You need someone to watch over you so you can sleep.” Bubba’s voice was emotionless, but his eyes weren’t. They carried the full weight of grief and self-recrimination that Bubba crucified himself with. He held himself fully responsible for not going home early to be with his wife. It was why he took his zombie slaying to such extremes.

Why he was overprotective of everyone. And that was why Nick had allowed him to date his mom. So long as Bubba was with her, he knew no one would ever harm a single hair on his mother’s head. Bubba would break them in half first.

“Okay. Sorry. You’re right.” He didn’t bother to tell Bubba that he wouldn’t have been alone at his condo. Xev was there. Or should be.

But then only he and his crew of friends knew that Xev was Mr. Fuzzy Boots.

As they reached Bubba’s computer and gun store that was just over a block from the school, Bubba opened the door