Glancing at my options, I grab a mason jar of equivocally poison, and a couple bottles of cheap wine. “Can’t sleep.”
He nods, dark hair falling into his face and obscuring one of his eyes. “Seems to be a running trend.”
Confused, I set everything down as he starts ringing stuff up. “What are you talking about?”
He leans closer, keeping his voice low. “You know anything about the new chick in town?”
Frowning, I hazard on a guess, “Brunette, blue eyes?” At his nod, I continue. “Yeah, Esmerelda. She just started at the bakery.”
Dave gives me a look I can’t quite discern and I narrow my eyes at him. “What?” After as skittish as she seemed about people giving her issues, I’d feel like a real jackass trying to convince her everything was okay, just for something to happen when she dropped her guard.
He licks his lips, eyes flicking away and back quickly before dropping his voice even more. I swear, he forgets that not all of us have superhuman hearing and I have to really strain to pick up his words.
“Came in a while ago,” he whispers conspiratorially and I have to practically pry the information from him with a crowbar.
“Aaaaaaaaand?”
With a pitying look, he finally puts me out of my misery. “Came in a few hours back to use the bathroom and just…hasn’t left. Didn’t have the heart to throw her out with as cold as it is tonight. But between the backpack and as thin as she is? I don’t recognize the scent coating her, so best guess, she’s running from someone.”
Tongue in cheek, I realize how I overlooked the signs like a complete dumbass, more caught up in why my magic was spazzing out around her. Thank gods she at least holed up in here instead of taking her chances in the park or something, but there’s no way I’m about to let her sleep on a gas station floor now that I know about it.
“Shit. Here.” I pass him my card, leaving everything on the counter for now as I head back towards the bathroom.
Rapping my knuckles against the door, I wait until she calls out, “Occupied,” before knocking again. With a feminine huff of annoyance on the other side, she wrenches the door open, the hostility on her face draining away the moment she recognizes me.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry. Um, just a sec.” She grabs her backpack, stuffing a couple of shirts on the ground back into it and for the first time in my life, I actually understand what Ares, Osiris, and Cole feel when they threaten to haul Rin’s ass home when she’s pushing herself too much.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” There’s no point playing games or pussyfooting around the issue when it’s obvious that I just woke her up.
Eyes flashing with hostility, she glares at me. “Why would I?”
Fisting my hand in my pocket, I count down from ten. My abilities are flaring up in response to her challenge, coating my skin like static electricity. With as overtired as I am, I don’t want to risk losing control, of doing anything that would fuck up the delicate peace we’ve managed.
Honestly, I need a pillow to scream into and suffocate myself with until I pass out.
“Do you have anywhere to stay?” I just flat out ask her, hating the way her eyes widen with panic, scrambling for some sort of believable lie. It’s not like she needs to be embarrassed; there are a couple of bed and breakfasts, but we don’t exactly have any major hotels out here. I just assumed she was staying with someone, because why else would anyone come to this rinky-dink town for long unless they had a reason?
I mean, I was kidnapped when I was dragged here, but that’s still a reason.
“I’m fine,” she states definitively and I roll my eyes.
“I didn’t ask if you were fine. I asked if you had anywhere to stay.”
She falls into silence, and I adore the fact that she isn’t trying to lie. Defensive, sure, but that’s reasonable. In the history of everything ever, lies only serve to make things harder than they have to be; tiny, white lies being the exception.
Nodding, I head back towards the register, glancing at her over my shoulder when she doesn’t immediately follow. “You coming?”
Still, she hesitates. “Coming where?”
Grabbing my card and bags, I jerk my head towards the door. “You can crash with me while you figure things out. Better than a bathroom floor, at least.”
She chews on the inside of her cheek, strumming her fingers over the strap on her backpack. “I don’t even know you.”
Grabbing a pen off of the counter, I grab her wrist and push up the sleeve of her coat. In giant numerals, I scrawl nine-one-one, on her arm, tossing the pen back towards a smirking Dave.
“Phone a friend is always an option, you know.”
Her lip twitches as she fights a smile. “You sure I have a cell phone?”
