Whirlwind by Bailey Bradford (reading the story of the .txt) 📕

“A genie?” Conner stopped chortling long enough to ask Jordan.

Jordan didn’t have a good explanation. Didn’t stop him from trying. “You just pop up out of nowhere because you heard your name spoken? What else could do that?”

“Me,” Conner said. “Except I really didn’t. I came back to see if you were still stunned stupid by seeing your own burial. It was just my good fortune that I got to sneak up on you, too.”

“He does that a lot,” another man said as he materialized out of thin air.

Jordan just barely kept from squeaking. Gideon cussed again. The newcomer was lithe and beautiful, with shiny black hair and finely chiseled cheekbones.

“He’s mine,” Conner said companionably. “But I can’t blame you for looking at Ro. He’s perfect, isn’t he?”

Ro’s honey-brown skin darkened over his cheekbones, but he turned a pleased smile on Conner. “Flatterer.”

“Honest,” Conner countered with as he looped an arm around Ro’s shoulders. “Ro, this is Jordan, and the cussing wonder is Gideon.”

“Hey.” Ro waved. “Sorry to meet y’all like this. Did either of you happen to see a guy here earlier, cute and slender, dark curly hair? Stefan? His name is Stefan.”

“Stefan.” Just saying the man’s name made Jordan horny. “We didn’t meet him, exactly, at least not the traditional way. Not at first.”

It shouldn’t have been possible for a spirit to look so intimidating, considering they were all already dead. What else could happen to them? Yet the expression on Conner’s face surely could strike fear into the heart of any being.

“I kind of tackled him,” Gideon admitted.

“Kind of?” Conner repeated in a soft tone that somehow projected his turn from friendly to fierce immediately.

Jordan suddenly had a very bad feeling that they were in deep shit. “He—”

Before he could get another word out, the air around him seemed to tighten. It wasn’t possible for air to grow dense and heavy like cement walls pushing him on all sides—but it was happening. Gideon’s open-mouthed, stunned look told Jordan that he was experiencing it too.

“You do not fuck with Stefan,” Jordan heard Conner say right before everything went dark.

Almost as suddenly as that happened, it was light again. Jordan blinked in confusion. They were in a room he didn’t recognize, and Conner was there, along with the pretty man, Ro.

More importantly, there was another man in the room. Stefan frowned at Jordan and Gideon before turning a fierce look on Conner. “Why in the world did you bring these two bullies here?”

Jordan still felt restricted—almost completely. He tried to speak but Conner held a hand up and spared him a cold glance.

“One, I wanted to make sure you’re okay—”

“What’re they gonna do to me?” Stefan interrupted, huffing slightly. “I’m already dead.”

“You can still be hurt,” Conner explained, and the invisible bands around Jordan tightened. “What happened?”

Stefan examined Jordan and Gideon each for a moment before turning back to Conner. “What’re you doing to them?”

Conner shrugged. “What happened?”

Stefan planted two large, bony hands on his hips. “First I want to know how you’re doing that, and what you’re doing.”

Conner sighed like he was the most put-upon man ever in existence. “Stef, now’s really not the time to explain either of those things. I mean, Jordan and Gideon are both right here and listening to everything we say.”

Stefan spared them another glance. “Yeah, well, can’t you plug their ears or something?”

Jordan sputtered almost as loudly as Gideon did, not wanting Conner to be fucking around with his hearing.

Conner ignored them. “Nope. I’m not a god, despite how sexy I am.” He buffed the nails of one hand on his chest then examined them. “I can see where anyone might think so—ouch!” he yelped when Ro popped him on the back of the head.

“Quit tormenting everyone.”

Conner snapped a smart salute to Ro and winked at him. “Yessir.” Then he pointed at Jordan and Gideon. “Try anything funny and I’ll have you both bottled up and tossed into the ocean.”

“You can do that?” Stefan asked excitedly.

Conner’s lips thinned. Jordan took that as a no, but he wasn’t going to test it.

“Seriously, can you?” Stefan asked again. “Because if you can, you have to share the how of it just like you have to tell me what you were doing to them.” He jabbed a thumb toward Jordan. “You can’t keep all that knowledge to yourself, it’s just not fair.”

Conner arched an eyebrow at Stefan. “Gonna stomp your foot, too?”

Stefan cocked a hip. “Maybe.”

“Children,” Ro said sharply. “Behave.”

Conner and Stefan both broke into chuckles. “Fine,” Conner said. “Later, Stef. I won’t talk about it in front of anyone other than you and Ro.”

“Deal.” Stefan pivoted around and marched right up to Gideon. “I had enough of being bullied when I was alive.”

Gideon’s cheeks turned ruddy. Jordan was sure his did, too.

“I thought you were going to hurt Jo’s mom,” Gideon muttered.

Stefan looked at them both like they were crazy. “Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” Gideon answered as he turned his hands palms up in front of him. “I’ve been fighting in Afghanistan for the past two years. I just got killed by a suicide bomber. Forgive me for being jumpy and suspicious.”

Stefan seemed to shrink a little as he stepped back. “Well, I feel like an ass.”

“I don’t.” Conner glared at Gideon.

“It’s okay, Conner.” Stefan gestured at Conner, a sort of wave as if he was shooing off Conner’s ire. “Seriously, I guess I can understand, and I did lead them out to Zeke and Brendon’s for a dunk in the shitty stall.”

Conner’s laughter rang out as he held up a hand.

Stefan high-fived him. “It’d have been better if they’d gone solid when they hit, though.”

Jordan cleared his throat. He was guessing he could speak now without incurring Conner’s wrath. “How would we do that, the go solid thing?” He looked around the room. “And how do we just appear somewhere else?”

Conner narrowed his eyes at Jordan. “If either of you ever fuck around with Stefan again, you’ll regret