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Ashe
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THEY WALKED BACK TOWARD the pet store and Medusa’s Locks. Across from Meddie’s store was Foot and Hooves, a shoe store owned by a Saytr according to Victoria. They turned left onto the sidewalk and came to a roundabout area with a gazebo and grassy area in the center. It was what Ashe would call the town square. It was the perfect setting for a family get together.
At the Yeti’s ice cream store, they went inside so Victoria could introduce Ashe to the owner, Saroj, only to discover he was covered in rainbow colored ice cream. The furball looked up and dropped his hands to his sides, wearing a woebegone expression.
“Hi, beautiful. I’m glad it’s you and not someone else.” Vibrant colors dripped off his fury cheeks. “I tried making a new fun-flavor, but it blew up on me.”
How the hell did ice cream blow up?
Victoria burst out laughing, the happy lilt startling Ashe while drawing a huge grin from him.
“Was it made from rainbow glitter?” Ashe walked toward him and stared at the mountain of a man... er, white Yeti furball.
“That’s the fun part. It had eatable glitter in it and it was supposed to fizz and bubble in your mouth, but taste like cotton candy.”
“Uh huh.” Sounded like an impossible combination, but this town was built on the unbelievable. And something about the creature’s gentle nature appealed to her.
“Let’s clean you up.” Victoria locked the door and flipped the open sign to closed. “It’s our secret Saroj. Tobias’s girl won’t say anything.”
“You’re Tobias’s girlfriend?” Surprise widened his eyes. “His favorite of my flavors is chocolate chip whiskey.”
“Whiskey?” Ashe elevated an eyebrow. “You sell a lot of ice cream with whiskey in it?”
“Nah...” Saroj shook his head, throwing colored droplets everywhere. “I only make it for him. It’s our secret. Yours now too.”
Ashe smirked at that bit of information, while delighted Saroj hadn’t asked for her name either.
“Is Tobias’s girl coming to the party Friday night?” she heard the furball ask Victoria as Ashe moved around behind the counter to grab a bunch of rags and wet them, so they could clean up the mess known as Saroj.
“Of course.” Victoria leaned in to say, “And she met with Seraphine yesterday.”
Together they squealed. What were they, BFFs at a slumber party talking about their crushes?
Ashe would’ve rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of their behavior, but it was weirdly charming. “Heads up.”
Victoria caught the damp rag Ashe tossed at her.
“Seraphine found me the perfect rainbow colored suit,” Saroj’s blue eyes reminded her of blue icebergs. “It has little ice cream cones all over it.”
“That sounds... awesome.” Ashe wiped down the Yeti’s back. She wouldn’t admit the attire sounded like a fashion nightmare. But she couldn’t deny even having just met him, she thought the suit choice fit his perfect personality.
“I can’t wait for you both to see it.”
While Ashe scrubbed his back, she pictured him wearing a big grin. The pep in his tone sounded like he smiled. “Your fur is stained, Saroj.”
“I look like a silly furry rainbow?” Saroj glanced at her over his shoulder and his gentle soul called to her, tugging a genuine smile from Ashe.
“Pretend you did it on purpose as a marketing campaign.” His dark blue eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Give discounts for only the new rainbow ice cream.”
“You’ll match your suit Friday too,” Victoria covered her mouth with her fingertips and giggled.
Before Ashe knew it, the giant Yeti joined the woman and let loose a booming laugh.
Since no one else was there to witness this predicament Ashe found herself in, she joined their laughter.
Before Ashe gave any thought to her suggestion, she’d offered herself and Victoria to help with crafting the ice cream. She knew a thing or two about explosives, so how hard could it be to make the cold treat fizz? Two hours and twenty-two minutes later, they had a successful new treat and they left Saroj’s ice cream store. Ashe’s cheeks hurt from smiling too much.
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THEY CROSSED THE STREET to grab a coffee at Hell’s Brew Coffee House. The presence of demons startled her because they were typically bad news.
Once seated at a table and chair for two in the outdoor patio area, Ashe sipped the coffee the demon-chick brought her. Ashe studied the town. From this vantage point in Black Hollow, she pinpointed just shy of a dozen excellent locations from which to erect a sniper rifle.
Unobstructed views. Easy shots.
Victoria would be easy to pick off without causing any alarm, but the Drakki men and Black Hollow’s residents wouldn’t fare any better if evil came to town.
Evil like me.
A black Range Rover drew up to the curb, braking hard. Tobias and Hitchcock jumped out of the vehicle. In the sunlight Tobias’s hair was a black-blue color, and his pale blue eyes made for a startling contrast against his tanned skin and dark hair.
“Victoria... Ashe...” Tobias glanced about before striding toward them. “What a surprise to see you both in town.”
Ashe smiled at him. “I bet.”
Victoria bolted to her feet to hug Tobias. “Oh, Tobias, I just love your girl. She’s perfect for you.”
Ashe met Tobias’s eyes, shifting into her cool and indifferent mindset. The change bothered her though. She hadn’t realized how much she’d enjoyed her carefree time with Victoria and Saroj until now.
Tobias peered at Ashe over Victoria’s shoulder, his eyebrows elevated, and a question lingered in his ice-blue gaze.
“Will you return home with Hitchcock, Vic?” He held her at arm’s length. “Terry needs your help on a last minute decision for the party.”
Victoria glanced at Ashe as if torn about leaving her behind.
Ashe blew into her coffee cup watching the scene play out.
“I’ll see Ashe home.” Tobias nudged Victoria toward Hitchcock.
“Ashe?” Victoria giggled. “I hadn’t even thought to ask you your name. It’s such a lovely name.”
The woman was as useless as a kitten. No, she took that back. Kittens had claws and could fight back. Not Victoria. She was too flighty and kindhearted... but godsdamnit, Ashe begrudgingly liked her. She wasn’t sure when or how it happened, but even the worst monster loved helpless creatures, right?
“I’ll see you at dinner, Ashe.” Victoria waved goodbye.
“Thanks for the tour, Victoria.” Ashe watched as the helpless dragon settled into the front seat next to Hitchcock and they drove off.
“You told her we were in a relationship?” Tobias ran his fingers through his hair.
“No.” She fiddled with the handle of her mug. “She assumed because you never bring women to the Drakki Estate.”
“Gods help me. Vic will be the death of me.”
“Probably.” Ashe nodded. She bet someone would use Victoria against the Drakki family first though. It’s what Ashe would do now that she knew about the woman.
“Did you consider escaping?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?” He frowned at her as he took the seat Victoria had vacated.
Ashe shrugged because she didn’t have an answer for that. What she knew with certainty was that she wanted to remain near him. “I took out two thugs that were after Victoria. You should thank me by deleting the last of my pictures.”
“What?” He came out of his chair. “Only paranormals can find the town.”
“Sit down,” at her command he dropped into his seat. “They’re alive. A wolf shifter is in the grassy area behind the fire station and the other one, a vampire, is in a dumpster near Saroj’s place.”
“You know Saroj?” He put his cell to his ear.
“We met.”
She waited while he told his men what happened and where to find the assholes who went after Victoria.
“Fuck.” He pinched the bridge of his nose when he hung up.
“Yeah exactly.” Sitting forward she put her elbows on the table. “She needs a keeper. There are multiple spots in Black Hollow perfect to set up shop to take someone out. This city’s layout is a security nightmare. And Victoria flits about like a butterfly without any direction.”
“There are security cameras everywhere. I paid to install them.”
“You should ask for your money back.” She pointed at several locations. “All blind spots. Those there are great hiding spots. Those surveillance cameras might do their job in videoing most of Victoria’s death, rape or kidnapping, but they won’t strike back. She needs a fucking bodyguard. She’s her worst enemy.”
“I’ll pay you to be her bodyguard.”
That offer surprised her so much she halted with her hand mid-air holding her mug. “Decline.”
“Why not? You’ve already protected her.” He sprawled his long legs out in front of him and smiled at the waitress when she approached. “Espresso please, Molly.”
“Defenseless kittens need protecting sometimes too but it’s not my full-time job.”
His dry smile disarmed her, and she looked away. “Do you know how bad I want to fuck you?”
She gave him a one-shoulder shrug. “You had your chance.”
“My mistake for not taking it.”
That grabbed her attention. Fixated on him, she sipped her coffee. “I’m not getting attached to you, Victoria, or anyone, anything in this backwoods hick town of yours.”
Sitting up, he reached across the table and before she could think she leaned toward him. Tobias retrieved something from her hair and put it to his nose to sniff. “You didn’t just meet Saroj, you’ve been playing with him? What’s the new flavor?”
How did he know?
She looked at his hand when he lowered it, finding the rainbow icing that’d been mixed in with the ice cream. “He had a mess on his hands. Victoria wanted to stay and help.”
It’d been Ashe who offered to help, but why tell him that? He probably wouldn’t believe her anyway if she told him the truth. Hell, she barely believed it.
“The new flavor is his secret. Not mine to tell.”
He grinned, and she blinked at the way it made her heart flutter. “So, you played with the cuddly Saroj.”
“He has a ridiculous heart of gold.” Damn, she liked the Yeti a fucking lot and she hated that.
“And you protected Vic.”
“Yeah. Wait...” she shook her head. “No. It wasn’t like that.”
“Uh huh.” He clearly didn’t believe her.
“I did that to get in your good graces.”
“Sure.” The smug expression the asshole wore irritated her.
Molly approached, wearing a cheerful grin that matched the merriment in Tobias’s eyes. Ashe clenched her teeth and glared at him while they waited for Molly to set his espresso on the table and departed.
“Did you like Saroj?” he asked.
A casual question, but it felt as if her answer would define her future. She shrugged, refusing to admit even a monster like her could become fond of that big, sweet furball so quickly.
“You know it’s okay to get attached to people,” he said watching her like he was just now figuring her out.
“Attachments are weaknesses.” Ashe gulped her coffee, relishing the burn for no other reason than to use it as a reminder that affections got a person burned. “I’ve been alive a little over fifteen-hundred years and in a thousand of them I’ve learned time and again that attachments get a person hurt.”
“You’ve had the wrong attachments then.” She frowned at that, but Tobias seemed genuinely sincere with that statement. “You’ve aged well.”
As a paranormal age was just a number, but that wasn’t the issue. “My point is, I’ve gotten attached to a lot of people during my life. None of them ended well.”
Her first lover tried to kill her, and she’d barely escaped. She’d spent a hundred years without someone before settling on a man she thought would be different, only to have him think he owned her and could sell her to another. When she’d declined to be sold, he’d tried to kill her.
“When did you decide it was easier not getting attached to people?”
Oh, blessed hypocrisy... he was like a stubborn dog shifter, determined to get to the meat of the bone. “When they kept trying to kill me.”
She observed a boy with his parents. They kicked a ball between them in the grassy area near the gazebo situated in the center of the square. She’d never daydreamed about that kind of life, but Tobias left her craving the very thing she’d never sought.
She’d left her homeland because she’d wanted more out of her life than a husband and a child.
A husband and children aren’t nothing.