Chapter Twenty-two
‘Personally, I think you should go slap her,’ Paisley declared with a haughty sniff as they stepped forward in the line.
‘There are four “hers” over there,’ began Emberlyn, glancing out of the bakery window. ‘Which one are you referring to?’
‘Any or all of them. CeCe is their girl, I get it, but she’s no victim here. They look at you like you’re going out of your way to make her miserable.’
They did indeed. It had been like that for the past week.
CeCe hadn’t taken Emberlyn’s advice to stop living in denial. Nope, she’d been sure to share her ‘the devil’s witch has magickly mind-fucked Ripper’ opinion far and wide – something he’d later reamed her ass for. She now officially loathed Emberlyn.
If the weird woman had hoped to rile up her clan and turn them against Emberlyn, she’d failed.
No one outside CeCe’s group of friends seemed to agree with her.
In fact, many of Emberlyn’s customers had snickered or rolled their eyes about it, accurately calling CeCe’s theory ridiculous and jealousy-based.
‘The only person getting in the way of CeCe’s happiness is CeCe herself,’ Paisley added. ‘It’s almost like she’s been driving down a road of self-sabotage recently.’
‘While blindfolded.’
‘And drugged.’
‘I don’t think things would have gotten so bad if she wasn’t quite so stubborn. She just wouldn’t accept or respect Ripper’s decision. Persistence is a good trait, but you have to know when to quit; that there are times when it’s best to let something go. Otherwise, the trait becomes a flaw.’
Paisley dipped her chin. ‘There’s fighting for what you want, and there’s staying in a fight that you just can’t win.’
Right then, the person in front of them moved away. Finally.
Stepping forward, Emberlyn smiled at the woman behind the counter and then peered down at the tall glass case. She pointed at an egg-salad sandwich. ‘I’ll have one of those, a bottle of water and a raspberry tart, please.’
Gathering the order together, the baker asked, ‘You eating in or out?’
‘In.’
‘I’ll have my usual please,’ Paisley piped up.
The baker squinted as she remembered, ‘A meatball sub, a chocolate square and a can of soda. Right?’
Paisley grinned. ‘Right. I wish my memory was that good.’
They both edged over to the stainless-steel counter and paid for their orders. Emberlyn piled everything on a plastic tray, which she then carried over to the window table that Paisley had selected.
‘They’re still there,’ complained Paisley.
Emberlyn glanced out of the window. Yep, CeCe’s buds were still there, and still staring. ‘But not brave enough to come face me, so they’re not worth my notice.’ She unloaded the tray, arranged the items on the table and placed the tray on the corner pile.
Once she and Paisley were seated, Emberlyn released a little magick that would keep their conversation private.
The effect was like thin, transparent walls slamming up.
The sounds around them – dough tumbling in the mixer, plates clattering, the whir of the dishwasher and the conversations of others – promptly faded.
Anyone who tried eavesdropping on Emberlyn and Paisley’s chat would hear only muffled voices, no words distinguishable.
‘Ooh,’ began Paisley, ‘Kerr’s ushering them away, look.’
Emberlyn tracked her friend’s gaze to see Kerr glaring at the group, waving his hand to indicate they get moving. He caught her eye through the window, rolled both his own and then walked off.
‘Notice they left fast. They’re only bold when they think no one above them in the clan’s hierarchy is paying attention.’ Paisley removed the cellophane from her sub. ‘You know, I’m insulted on your behalf that anyone would imply you’d need magick to snag a man’s attention or keep it.’
Emberlyn nabbed her plate – which was slightly warm, presumably from the dishwasher – and slid it closer. ‘It’s CeCe’s attempt to explain away Ripper’s sudden interest in me.’
‘Sudden?’ Paisley scoffed. ‘There’s been zing between you and him for years. She obviously didn’t notice.’
Eyeing her friend, Emberlyn unwrapped her sandwich. ‘I didn’t realize that you’d noticed.’
‘I didn’t bother mentioning it because I didn’t think anything would come of it. I’m happy to be mistaken, because you deserve to have something good in your life.’
‘You talk as if it’ll be permanent.’
‘You don’t think it’s heading in that direction? Because you’d be wrong – it totally is.’
‘Not necessarily.’ Emberlyn bit into her sandwich, frowning when some egg slipped out of the other end.
‘Though CeCe’s doing a good job of getting on Rip’s last nerve, he still cares for her.
Not that I believe he’d choose to build something with her – she screwed that pooch too badly.
I just mean that those feelings might get in the way of him building something with someone else. ’
Chewing some of her sub, Paisley shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Ripper would be a fool to let you slip through his fingers. And he’s no fool.’ Paisley tilted her head. ‘You seeing him tonight?’
‘Yup. He’s picking me up later. We ate at my place the past couple of evenings, so he declared that it’s his turn to cook. He’s rather good in the kitchen.’ And in the bedroom, but that was off-topic.
‘I really do think you should keep him.’
Biting into her sandwich again, Emberlyn frowned. ‘Like he’s a dollar I found on the floor?’
‘Yes. Because you want to.’
Conscious of some egg sticking to her cheek, Emberlyn plucked a napkin from the table dispenser and wiped at it. ‘Actually—’
‘You want to,’ Paisley repeated. ‘Admit it.’
Sighing, Emberlyn conceded it with a brief tilt of her head.
‘I never expected him. I mean, I always knew he was super protective, but I didn’t think that trait would ever be centered on me this way.
’ She crumpled up the napkin and dumped it beside the dispenser.
‘He gets so mad when anyone gives me issues. If he thinks something is playing on my mind, he prods and pokes until I talk about it; he wants to fix it, make me feel better. And he’s always goddamn feeding me. ’
Paisley’s eyes gleamed with suppressed laughter. ‘It bothers you that he wants to get behind your walls, because it’s working very well. It also weirds you out a little as you’re not used to people angling to get close to you.’
‘It would be annoying if it was in any way patronizing. But it’s not.’ Emberlyn grabbed her bottle, unscrewed the cap and knocked back some water. ‘It’s like . . . he knows I can quite easily handle my own shit and take care of myself. He just doesn’t want me to have to do it alone.’
‘How is that bad?’ asked Paisley around a mouthful of food, covering her lips with her hand.
‘I didn’t say it was bad.’ Emberlyn placed her water back down. ‘It just makes it hard to be okay with knowing that this might not be something he intends to make permanent. And honestly, the idea of “more” is a little scary. The last time I had a werewolf in my life, it didn’t end so well.’
‘That was a whole different beast. And the probability of it happening again is super low, as we once already covered.’
‘Ripper feels the call of the moon more than most.’
‘But he’s strong enough, especially with the aid of your elixirs, to fight it. And he’d damn well never use it as an excuse to cheat.’
Emberlyn took another bite of her sandwich. ‘I told him what Michael did.’
Paisley’s eyes went wide. ‘Really?’
‘I wasn’t going to. But he guessed, and he pushed me to admit it. Then he called me “baby”, and apparently I’m a total sucker for that because the next thing I knew I was blurting out the story.’
Her lips twitching, Paisley opened her can of soda. ‘Hearing that, I like Ripper more than I already did. What did he say?’
‘Something about wanting to punch the piss out of Michael.’ Which had been . . . touching. ‘He said I deserved better.’
‘You do.’ Sipping her drink, Paisley watched Emberlyn carefully. ‘You trust Ripper. You’ve been super secretive about Michael’s betrayal – you even kept it from Kage, though we both know it’s because I’m your favorite.’
‘I kept it from your brother because he wouldn’t have agreed to keep it secret,’ Emberlyn countered. ‘Kage would have been too furious at Michael to protect his reputation. He would have talked everyone into letting Michael rot in Bloodhill.’
‘Don’t think I wasn’t tempted to do the same. The only reason I didn’t is that I make a point of never breaking my word, unlike Kage. Anyway, for you to have told Ripper that Michael betrayed you, you must trust him.’
Emberlyn hummed. ‘I guess I do.’ Which said a lot, because she didn’t put her faith in people easily. ‘So much so that I didn’t even ask him to promise not to repeat what I told him.’ She’d automatically known that he never would. ‘But I trusted Michael, too.’
‘Ripper is not him. He’s stronger. Has more integrity. He’s loyal right down to his soul. Hence why I’m telling you that you really ought to keep him.’
‘I could only do that if he was interested in being kept.’
‘He is. He may not consciously know it yet but, believe me, he is.’
Walking down her front path later that day, Emberlyn watched as Ripper rounded his truck.
Their gazes collided and, quite naturally, her pulse lost its rhythm as their chemistry sparked to waking life.
It often felt like said chemistry was electrically powered.
Like her body had been plugged into a damn socket.
That ever-present pull between them just never eased up.
He looked his fill, like always – his eyes flaring with heat. She’d learned that he liked this dress. Champagne-colored and body-hugging, it had a subtle thigh slit and provided a nice flash of cleavage.
As she reached him, he stepped into her, sucking the oxygen out of the air. Or, at least, that was how it felt – the uncivilized vibe, the rough and gritty deliciousness of him . . . it all stole the breath right out of her lungs.