บท 274: The Quiz Show, Part 4

I was fuming, seething… blood bubbling to a boil. I couldn't remember the last time I was this miffed, this aggravated.

It was one thing to be petty, bitter… it was a whole 'nother thing to act like literal scum. Nick, before, had both feet tip-toeing the line between the two, flip-flopping, but never completely crossing.

He's crossed it now though. He's gone over beyond just being a prickling thorn to my side. I felt him break skin, felt him burrowing within, and I wasn't about to stand for it any longer.

"You wait a goddamn minute," I began to rise from my seat, impelled, compelled, by the dispirited look behind Adalia's misty gaze. "Nick, do you think you can just - "

"Jester," The Witch extended her staff, stopping me dead, that thin piece of wood resting atop my shoulder. "Please sit down."

I honestly thought she must have been joking. "Yeah, like hell I'm - "