Chapter Twelve
Lily
The following morning, after having breakfast at Cafe Fluer-de-lis, Emelise, Lily, and Shelli headed off to Baton Rouge. Lily was right; the moment Shelli and Emelise met, they hit it off. Their personalities meshed so well that it was as if they’d been friends for years. “I vote we get more coffee first, then we hit the stores. My mocha latte is gone.” Shelli looked over at Emelise. “Emelise, you’re lucky, you can shop just about every store in this place; me and Lily, we have to be more selective.”
“Good thing we both adore Torrid.” Lily gave her a cheeky grin.
“Oh my God, yes. They have the best clothes for us curvier women.”
Emelise stuck her tongue out. “I can’t help it I got my mama’s genetics. Blame her.” She was petite but she still had a flare to her hips and nice cleavage.
“I’m just teasing you, honest. You’ve got your own curves going on, and don’t look now, but you’re being checked out.”
Lily and Emelise both looked to where Shelli nodded. “One of us is, at least. Or maybe all of us,” Emelise said after she spotted the trio of men looking at them.
Something about them set warning bells off in Lily’s mind but she ignored it for the time being. The way they were watching the three of them just felt a little…off. Whatever, she was probably just on edge. “Let’s get that coffee,” she said as they headed to the food court. Their first stop was at Starbucks because Lily suddenly needed another shot of caffeine to deal with the day.
Before long Lily had forgotten all about the trio who’d been watching them as their day of shopping progressed. She was looking at some little black dresses in Torrid when Emelise squealed.
“Oh my gods, Lily, you have to get this dress. It would be absolutely gorgeous on you, and you’ll never guess what it’s called.”
Lily glanced over to see her holding up a green dress with a sheer lace hem that ran from just above the knees to the bottom of the dress. “What’s it called?”
“It’s the Poison Ivy dress.”
Lily blinked then laughed. “Well, hell, now I do have to buy it.” Poison Ivy was by far her favorite DC Comics villain, closely followed by Harley Quinn.
“Add a sexy lace bra and panties set, and you would knock a man’s socks off both in and out of that dress.” Shelli wagged her brows at Lily.
Lily laughed. “Okay, okay, I’ll get it. We’ll have to hit up Victoria’s Secret and maybe do some shoe shopping too.” She was happy with the purchase, and she found herself wondering what Declan would think of it. She really shouldn’t be thinking about him, but she couldn’t stop her mind from going there.
After spending a few hours roaming through several more shops, they headed back to the food court for lunch. As they were carrying their food to a table, they passed the trio who’d been watching them earlier.
“Jaguar.” Emelise and Lily both whispered it at the same time. Lily remembered what Remy had said about having trouble with some jaguar shifters, and she wondered if the three that they’d just passed were part of the trouble. Since they were in Baton Rouge and not New Orleans, she didn’t stress over it too much. She knew that Baton Rouge was the border between their territories so it could easily be nothing more than nerves on her part.
Emelise gave Lily an arched look as if to ask ‘Should we be worried?’ “This has been so much fun, I’m glad you talked me into it, Lily. I needed a break from working on the cleanup.” Eme flashed her friend a quick smile.
“Has anyone from the group offered to help with the cleanup yet?” Lily was being cautious because not everyone was comfortable knowing there were shifters in their midst.
“Well, I didn’t get around to mentioning it the other night so…”
Lily gave Emelise a dark look. “You mean you deliberately avoided mentioning it. Damn it, Eme, you can’t do it all on your own. That place is huge, and a wreck, and if you want to get it ready in the near future, you’re going to need help. I’m sending Remy a text, right now. He’ll get some volunteers to meet with you. Don’t argue with me either.” She knew that was exactly what Emelise was going to do when she opened her mouth.
“I wasn’t going to. Much. But fine, text him. I do want to get it up and running as soon as I can.”
“What are you planning on calling it?” Shelli asked her. They’d talked about the club on the drive.
“Scarlet Flux. I’m going for a décor that has red tones. It’s the color of passion and both jazz and blues can be very passionate.”
“Oh, I like that. I’ll bet it will be amazing when it’s all said and done.”
“That’s the plan,” Eme said with a nod.
While they talked about the club, Lily focused on her phone.
Hey, Remy, need a favor. Eme is being stubborn but she needs help and I know the Pard will give it. She bought an old bar and wants to clean it up, fix it up, and turn it into a jazz and blues club, but it needs a shit ton of work, more than she can do on her own. Can you gather up some volunteers to help with it? I can text you the address so they can meet with her tomorrow.
All you needed to do was ask, cher. I’ll get some of the boys to lend her a hand.
