Chapter 31 #2
“There,” I pointed but didn’t tap the glass. Tapping the glass was too loud for them and could cause stress. “See his tail?”
Scop’s tail swished a little and came out from the underside of the rock.
“I thought you said he was albino?”
“He is. Albino plecos are usually a yellow shade. Some can be white or even pink. But primarily, they are a yellow color.”
“Looks orange,” Kieran argued.
I elbowed him.
Scop moved from under the rock to the top of it, his fins undulating in the water as he draped across the stone. His entire body was about two inches, his eyes were small and looked a little red, and he appeared to have small white spots over his primarily yellow body.
“It’s ugly,” Kieran declared.
Gasping, I spun and grabbed his face. He gazed at me through unblinking blue eyes, and I tightened my grip on his cheeks. “He heard that,” I said. “Apologize to him before he gets low self-esteem.”
“Fish don’t have self-esteem.”
“I do. And you said my favorite fish is ugly.”
Kieran sighed. He glanced back at Scop, who had moved to the back of the tank and was hanging off the side. “How does he do that?” he asked.
“With his sucker mouth.”
Kieran made a face, and my eyes narrowed. “You have lovely red eyes, Scop. Nice to meet you.”
I glared at him harder.
“You’re a very handsome fish,” he murmured.
I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
He said nothing and straightened, but his cheeks looked a little pink.
One of the other plecos in the tank, also a bristlenose like Scop but this one was gray with white spots, came out from his hiding place.
“That one back there,” I said, pointing to behind the plant, “is a mango pleco. He’s all gray with a yellow band on his fins.
“The other one we had must have been sold yesterday because I don’t see it,” I murmured, still looking even though I knew it wasn’t in there. “I hope it went to a good home with a nice tank.”
Kieran’s arm slipped around my waist, and his chin met my shoulder. I leaned into the touch, feeling engulfed by him and loving it.
“You really like them.”
“Mm,” I said, watching the tank.
“Better put a sold sign on the tank, then.”
I jolted. “What?”
“So no one sells Scop while you’re setting up your new tank.”
I spun, eyes wide. “Really?”
“I’m not cleaning the tank. Or feeding it. Or doing anything with it,” he warned.
I nodded a hundred miles a minute. “I’ll do everything!” I exclaimed. “You won’t even have to look at them!”
His eyebrow lifted. “Them?”
“Well, if I get a hundred-gallon tank, I could get both bristlenose,” I said, gazing at him hopefully.
“Yes, because I’ll never notice a hundred-gallon tank in the living room,” he muttered.
“Is that a yes?” I asked, shifting from foot to foot.
“Get whatever you want,” he mumbled.
“What?” I wanted to make sure I heard right.
He sighed. “Yes, baby doll. Get as many of those ugly things as you want.”
I threw myself at him, locking my arms around his neck and squealing. Kieran made a sound and lifted me off my feet. I peppered his face with kisses, and he acted like it was terrible but didn’t put me down.
Abruptly, I stopped and pulled back.
He glanced at me. “What?”
“It’s going to be really expensive.” The excitement I felt at the idea of having such an epic tank and being able to put Scop in it had momentarily made me forget the price.
“How much?”
I squinted. “Well, I could probably get a discount, but maybe not because Mr. Wasashi is pretty cheap and sometimes mean. I could get smaller plants that will grow.”
Kieran growled. “How much without a discount and getting the nice stuff so I don’t have to listen to you worry about Scop not having a nice home?”
“Two thousand,” I rushed out, then held my breath.
“You said expensive.”
My breath whooshed out. “That is expensive. That’s so much.”
Kieran put me down and reached into his coat.
“You remind me of Inspector Gadget.”
Kieran gave me a look.
“It’s this really old cartoon. This guy wore a trench coat and had like a million things in it.”
“I know who Inspector Gadget is,” he said. “I am nothing like him.”
“I can see it!” Ghost hollered from the row over.
“Come see Scop, Ghost!” I called.
“Well, I was trying to give y’all some private time, but if you insist.”
“It’s not private if you’re eavesdropping,” Kieran intoned.
“I do my best,” Ghost retorted. At the pleco tank, he said, “Oooh, look at these cuties.”
I gave Kieran a he says nice things look. He seemed completely unbothered and reached into his coat again to pull out his wallet.
“Oh, I…” I started, suddenly feeling really bad that he was giving me money for my tank. I mean, I really wanted the tank, but having him pay for it seemed wrong. “I think I’ll just keep saving. But thank you for offering.”
Kieran thrust a black card under my nose. “Take it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want your money.”
“I do,” Ghost said, reaching for the card.
Kieran slapped his hand away.
“It’s our money now,” he told me. “Take the card, Hazard.”
I bit into my lower lip, hesitating.
“Fine.” Kieran decided, pulling the card back. I sighed in relief. “I’d like to purchase a hundred-gallon tank, two plecos, and everything that I need to go with it. The nicest money can buy.”
“You can’t!”
He looked around. “Isn’t this a fish store? Don’t you sell these items?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Well, I’m here to buy.”
I frowned. “You’re my boyfriend.”
“Today, I’m a customer.”
“Cha-ching,” Ghost sang in my ear.
“I don’t think we have everything in stock. I’ll need to check. Some things I might have to order.”
“Ring up the two bristlenose and put a sold sign on them with my name,” Kieran instructed.
“You remembered what kind they are,” I said.
“They’re important to you.”
“This is so wholesome,” Ghost mused.
“Are you sure?” I asked, eyes still on Kieran.
He held out the card.
This time, I took it, rang up the two plecos, and taped a sign to the tank marking the two bristlenose as sold.
When I was done, I handed the card back to Kieran, but he refused. “Keep it. You’ll need it for everything else.”
“But I—”
His lips pecked against mine, and I stared at him, open-eyed, as he kissed me and pulled back.
“Just let me spoil you.”
My ears and face got hot, but I nodded.
Kieran smiled as though I’d made him happy, and his happiness had me jamming the card in the pocket of my jeans. He glanced at the fancy watch on his wrist.
“You have to go already?” I asked, feeling a little pouty.
“I can stay a little longer. Show me what else you need for your new tank.”
I grabbed his hand, ready to take him on a full tour of the shop and fill his arms with stuff, but the bell on the door rang, and I glanced around a row of tanks to see a customer.
“Go in the back,” I said, shooing both Kieran and Ghost toward the break room.
“No.” Kieran denied.
“Excuse me,” a woman carrying a toddler called out from down the row. “My husband asked me to stop by to get some fish food, but I’m not sure which kind to get.”
“I can help you with that,” I answered, then glanced at both men, whispering, “At least try and look more like customers and less scary.”
Ghost seemed amused, but Kieran did not. Big surprise there.
I hurried off to help the woman who had a picture of the food she needed, and I was able to direct her to it quickly. But then her son started yelling about the fish and she looked frazzled, so I offered to show him a few to give her a break.
We looked at the tetras, a tank filled with a school of cherry barbs, and an electric blue acara that the boy really liked because of its bright color.
After the mother and son left, another customer came in who needed to purchase bloodworms and sea monkeys. After that, the phone rang, and the mailman brought in a few boxes of stock items that I carried to the back.
Ghost followed me into the tiny break room. “You got any snacks back here?”
“Mr. Wasashi might have some, but I wouldn’t recommend eating those. He isn’t much of a sharer.”
“Stingy,” Ghost muttered.
“Rett should be here soon with pizza, though,” I told him, grabbing a box cutter to slice through the tape on the boxes, but it was snatched out of my hand almost instantly. “Hey!”
“Don’t even think about it, little hazard. You already have enough stitches,” Kieran intoned. Grabbing the box, he sliced through the top and did the same to the other.
I opened my mouth to tell him I used that thing all the time but then thought better of it. He’d probably insist I quit this place too.
“Something to say?” he asked, eyebrow back in action.
“You can help me put all this away,” I instructed, pulling things out and telling him where they went.
Ghost laughed, so I put him to work too.
Out in the store, the bell chimed again.
“I’m gonna throw that damned thing in the river,” Kieran grumped. I started out, but he caught me by the back of the neck. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“My job,” I put in as if it weren’t completely obvious.
“I’ll go first.”
I glanced at Ghost for help. “I’ll go out second.”
Oh, good. They were both unreasonable.
“This is a fish store,” I said, exasperated.
Kieran did not look appeased, blue eyes hardening with malice. “Yes, and men just tried to shoot you at the police station.”
I gestured to the door. Kieran went first, hand hovering over the small of his back where I knew he had a gun, and then Ghost followed, hands at his sides. It made me wonder where he kept his gun.
“Oh, ah, are you new?” I heard a man say. “I’m used to the little guy.”
That was me. The little guy.
Not waiting for my two guard dogs to move, I pushed between them. “Hi, Mr. Cane. I’m here. How can I help you today?”
“Ah, Haz. There you are.”
“Who are you?” Kieran more stated than asked. He was rude.
If Mr. Wasashi met him, I’d for sure get fired.
Taken aback, the man paused and looked at me, then Kieran. Then Ghost. “Ah, a customer.”
“Then why do you know his name?” Kieran wanted to know.
“Yeah, and the only one that can call him little is me,” Ghost added.
“I can come back another day,” Mr. Cane said, already backing toward the door.
“No, wait!” I said, rushing forward. “Ignore them. They have the manners of a banana.”
Mr. Cane’s brows furrowed. “Do bananas have manners?”
“No. That’s why they’re like them,” I replied.
Mr. Cane smiled.
Kieran growled under his breath.
Over my shoulder, I hissed, “Stop it. What can I help you with?” I asked Mr. Cane.
“Well, I was thinking of getting some new plants. My angelfish has been terrorizing the old ones, and they’re looking a little rough,” he said.
I guided him toward a display of plants to show him the tougher cichlid-resistant plants.
Mr. Cane kept sliding glances at Kieran who made no secret of watching us. Okay, he was staring. If looks could kill, Mr. Cane would be fish food.
On the way to the register, I stopped beside him. “Go in the back before this entire place burns to the ground from the flames shooting out of your eyes.”
“He’s hitting on you.”
“He’s twice my age and is buying plants,” I deadpanned.
“He knows your name.”
“A lot of people know my name,” I said. “Go in the back before I get mad.”
He scoffed, and I stared. He relented and walked in the back.
Pretty good for a little guy, huh?
I breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Cane left, and then I used the computer to check and see if we had the kind of filter I wanted for Scop’s tank in stock.
The bell on the door jingled, and I glanced up as Rett came inside, a large brown pizza box in his hand.
Smiling, I started around the counter. “Hey, Rett,” I called. The savory scent of pizza made my stomach growl as I moved closer. “I’m so glad you could come by since I wasn’t able to stop at my place this morning.”
My smile fell a little when I noticed Rett wasn’t returning it. In fact, he looked a little odd.
“Rett? Is everything okay?” I asked, worrying that I’d somehow screwed up this friendship thing before it really even got started. “If you were too busy to come, you could have said that. I—”
“It’s not that,” he said, casting a glance over his shoulder toward the door. “Maybe I’m just overreacting.”
His spooked demeanor was contagious, and I found myself looking at the door too. “What is it?”
His gray eyes turned back to me. “There’s a car at the end of the street, and yeah, I get a car on the street isn’t exactly noteworthy, but…”
Prickles of awareness raised the hair on the back of my neck, and my lips parted to yell for Kieran.
But then Rett continued. “It’s all blacked out.
Tinted windows too. It drove up the block, then turned around and did it again.
I watched it through the pizza store window, and then when I came out, it drove slowly behind me like it was following me.
But then it pulled over and stopped. It’s just sitting there.
” Rett’s eyes met mine, and his voice lowered. “It’s giving me a bad feeling.”
Movement from behind had me whirling around, breath lurching. I knocked into the pizza box just as large hands steadied me.
“What’s wrong?” Kieran demanded.
I slumped, heart thumping. “You scared me.”
Kieran’s fingers dug into my arm. “Why do you two look like that?”
“Like what?” Rett sputtered.
“Like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Did someone call me?” Ghost asked, coming out of the back.
Rett stiffened.
“Whoa,” I said, catching the pizza as it slid out of his hands. He didn’t even notice, too busy staring in the direction of Ghost’s voice but unable to see around Kieran.
“Oh,” I said, seeing how freaked out he was. “Kieran’s friend Ghost is here.”
Rett said nothing. He didn’t even look at me. I wasn’t even sure he breathed.
“Ghost, come meet Rett,” I called, tugging Kieran aside.
The second he moved, Ghost stepped forward, the wide smile freezing on his face. Just like Rett, Ghost stiffened as the pair stood there staring at each other in shock.
I glanced at Kieran who was frowning.
“Uhh,” I said, attention ping-ponging between the two. “Do you guys know each other?”
Rett jolted back to life. “I have to go,” he announced and rushed for the door, a slight limp in his step.
“Wait!” I called as he flung open the door to run.
He stopped abruptly, making me sigh with relief until I realized Rett didn’t stop because I asked him to. He stopped because there were guns pointed at him on the other side.