Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Atlas
Sweat ran down my back and wings as I hauled the last log in. Lucien could shape these, as they were broad and circular, into the stump tables he wanted.
They had been selling like hot cakes online. People were too impatient to even have them shipped out. They had been coming to town to pick them up.
Rich people liked the look of natural stuff, I guess.
Lucien's arrival caused me to drop the log. He had been restless since last night, fluttering and prancing on his claws.
“You owe me,” he kept repeating in a singsong voice all morning long.
Last night, when Lucien walked by the new female, Kassie’s house, he saw Hollow walk up their driveway. The glamor only worked during the day, and Lucien normally worked late, so he didn’t have to walk.
He climbed up the back of the house and purposefully got caught so Hollow would know that a Mothman was spying, making it appear I was doing my job.
I grunted as I watched Lucien land on the log with an almost silent approach. His wings dropped behind him, melting into his glamor and disappearing from view.
“Thanks, pal, this is big. I could make a dining room table out of this.”
I fluttered my wings, annoyed, and stomped over to the kitchen. The bright light shone on the bananas, which were fully ripe, and my tongue watered. It slid out of my mouth as I opened it up and began ripping chunks of the banana away.
Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.
“Have you visited her place yet on your own? Do you know what she is doing?”
I grunted again and swallowed. “That just seems so wrong. It's an invasion of privacy. What if she were naked?”
Lucien shrugged his shoulders and hopped off the log.
“It's for the betterment of the community. What if she had some wooden stakes in there, or maybe some silver bullets, a severed head to trick the Headless Horsemen? We don’t know her intention here. If she came here without Hollow’s persuasion, and she doesn’t make friends with anyone else, then we will not know why she is here. ”
I swallowed the last chunk of banana. “Could be her roommate.” I turned to him and scratched the back of my head with one of my antennae. “When I brought in the last batch of wood, she drove in, and they were doing a weird ritual of screaming and holding on to each other.”
“Hug, Atlas. They were hugging, and girls scream when they are excited. I swear to the Night, what is the use of watching all that TV if you will not watch the right channels?”
"Females scream when they are excited, too? Why are they so difficult? They have so many emotions. What am I supposed to do with them all?”
I wiped my hand down my face and braced myself against the kitchenette.
“Well, for one, you could spend more time getting to know them. A little stalking wouldn’t hurt, you know.
Or wait, what about this, people watching?
Except, it's on a specific person.” Lucien smiled and backed toward the doorway that led to the showroom.
A bell rang that made him pause. “Ah, that's my cue. Don’t go anywhere; we aren’t done talking about last night.
I want to tell you all about Miss Kassie just in case Hollow comes asking about it. ”
I waved him off and grabbed another banana, then went toward the curtain just so I could people-watch, as Lucien called it. While he carved and made most of the furniture, he was also the more social one. I enjoyed staying in the back.
Because I knocked shit over.
The last time I was on the showroom floor, I knocked over two tables, a customer, and set the curtains on fire from the aromatic candle station Lucien had set up at the door.
Lucien should ban me from that room, yet he still tried to get me out there.
“Hello, and welcome. What brings you in? Anything special?” Lucien opened his arms.
I rolled my eyes, and my tongue flicked out of my mouth to take a chunk of the fruit.
It was a female who walked in, dressed mostly in black, with a purple, fuzzy creature on the front of her sweatshirt. A capybara? Those are not purple.
How ridiculous.
But cute.
With the room so bright, I squinted my eyes as I watched her come inside to get a better look at her. She turned, and I saw the most glorious ass I had ever seen.
I know that ass!
Damn it!
It was Kassie, the female I must people-watch.
She turned back around, her hair tied up in a messy bun that let a few strands escape and frame her face. Her hair was thick, midnight black with bold streaks of vibrant green. Her black eyelashes darkened her gaze, and her lips were a deep shade of maroon.
She was everything a Mothman could want.
I dropped the banana, and my lower arms pressed against my slit to keep my dick from saying hello. This female was perfect, stunning.
Night, help me.
“I’m looking for some shelves.” She tapped lips with her finger. “Really sturdy, something that won’t tip over. Also, maybe a darker color?”
I wanted to be that finger. Those lips looked soft.
I hung on the curtain, as I watched her and Lucien turn their backs to me and head toward the bookshelves.
No, my darling, please come back. My big, bad, bootylicious, gumdrop, bubble gum…
The curtain rod gave way with a sharp crack. One moment I was peering through fabric, the next I was sprawled across the hardwood, my face pressed against the cool surface, while the metal pole clattered beside me like a death knell announcing my humiliation. I didn't move.
Maybe if I stayed perfectly still, the floor might swallow me whole.
Darkness, I beg for thee to hide me.
“Gods, is he okay?!” The pitter-patter of footsteps came my way, and the tiny scratches of Lucien’s claws followed. I raised my head and tried to scramble to my claws.
How humiliating!
I cleared my throat and dusted myself off. Kassie took the liberty of grabbing my arm and felt for any injuries.
Shewastouchingme.
She. Was. Touching. Me.
I’m going to come!
She took her hand away and raised an eyebrow. “Are you hurt? Or constipated, because you look like you could be either.”
Lucien burst into laughter, and Kassie smiled. It was a far cry from what I thought she would do, considering what she did to Hollow yesterday. The hissing, the claws in the air toward him.
Honestly, it was kind of cute.
“I-I am okay. Thank you for helping,” I croaked.
Wow, what a male I was.
Kassie stared at me while I could not hold eye contact with her.
I did not feel a match bond, like I have heard from the other male monsters.
It was supposed to be like lightning, like a life force that has taken over your body, and you would want to mate with them immediately when you found your matches at the dances.
I wanted to sink my dick into her; that’s what I wanted to do. I found her attractive.
That was all I wanted to do, unfortunately. I found it disappointing because she was everything I had hoped to find in a match.
Yet she didn’t know what I was, and maybe that was for the best.
“Yes, well, this is Atlas. Atlas, this is Kassie. I swear he has manners; he’s a gentle giant, is all,” Lucien alleged.
Kassie hummed and licked her lips. “Yes, I see that. Boy, they don’t make ‘em like you where I come from. You look like a real lumberjack, only three times the size. Tell me how heavy is your axe?” she winked.
I scratched the back of my head, which stretched my red and black-checked collared shirt. She watched me, her hand perched under her chin.
“A traditional lumberjack axe is only five to seven pounds, but mine is quite large. I have a fifteen to twenty-pound one. Not that large, considering…”
“Oh, sweets, I’m not talking about that axe…”
Lucien giggled, his hands covered his mouth with glee.
What?
“Atlas,” Lucien began, “why don’t you go show Kassie the shelves. I’m sure she would like to hear more about it from you than me, anyway. You know more about wood sturdiness and hardiness than I do.”
Kassie giggled, and I looked between Lucien and Kassie again.
“I don’t know…”
"Atlas,” Kassie rubbed my forearm, “You just seem like you work hard with wood all day.” She smiled. “I think I want to know from the expert which is the best wood to use.”
Kassie hooked her arm with mine, and I felt hot under my wings. My lower arms were still holding my slit together as she walked me toward the shelves. I looked back at Lucien, who was shooing me away, nodding for me to continue to speak with the customer.
“Ah, well, what do you plan on putting on the shelves?”
Kassie hummed. “You want to know what I plan on putting on the wood? I have one thing in particular I need to make sure of, and that is, it can get wet. Like really wet!”
“Wet?”
Kassie, who I realized came up just halfway up to my shoulder, but was still relatively tall for a human, smiled up at me. “Yes, Atlas, it's going to get soaked.”