29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Imani Boudareaux
Stupid Boy. Stupid Butterflies. Gross.
Ipush the door to the bookstore open with my hip, mostly because my hands are full of iced coffee and the emotional exhaustion of realizing after all that searching I may have just lost my wallet here of all places.
The bell above the door gives its sad little tinkle, and the place is completely empty.
Not a single customer. Not even Beau behind the counter.
Only Kai, who just rushed in from what appears to be a supply closet off to the right.
Now he’s standing behind the register like he’s posing for a mugshot.
Very spooked and stiff. Slightly sweaty even though this place runs cold as ice.
I’ve only been inside once and I could tell that it’s never warm enough to be enjoyable.
“Oh. Hey. Imani. Hi. Hello. Uh. Welcome back. Like. To the store. Which you have been in before. Obviously.”
I stare at him blankly, “You good?” His mouth opens. Closes. Opens again. He genuinely looks like a goldfish trying to do his taxes. Alright then.
I walk up to the counter and set my coffee down.
“So, a weird question. And I know this is late and chaotic and probably pointless, but I had this conversation with El earlier about losing stuff and it reminded me that the last place I had my wallet was for sure here. And I know it’s been weeks and I already ordered all the new cards and got my life together again, but I wanted to check if maybe it got turned in here? ”
Kai blinks again. “A wallet. Like. A wallet-wallet.”
“No, Kai. A metaphorical wallet.” I lean on the counter. “Yes. A wallet-wallet.”
He rubs the back of his neck and looks anywhere except at me. “So, why did you think it might be here?”
“Because I’m stupid and this was the last place on my mind when I started searching in the first place,” I say cheerfully. “Plus, I just said I was actually here the last day I remember having it.“
Kai swallows so hard I can see the muscles move. “Beau isn’t here.”
“Cool. I asked about a wallet, not your emotional support cryptid.”
He turns even more red. “He’s not my emotional support cryptid.”
“Alright then, loser.” I let out a sigh.
Kai taps his fingers on the counter. Then stops and starts again. He’s acting suspicious. Like he knows something. Or like he’s trying not to think about something he knows. Maybe, he accidentally set the back room on fire. Could be all three.
“Where is Beau anyway?” I ask casually.
Kai almost chokes on nothing, “Gone!”
“Thanks. That’s very descriptive. Gone where?”
“Out. He’s out, right now.”
“Wow, you are an encyclopedia today. Is he with another girl? Trying to cover up his trail so I don’t run the info back to Elowen?”
He stares at me. I stare back. I take a sip of my iced coffee. He looks like he wants to crawl under the counter. “NO. No, he’s really just out. I swear. He’s not watching anyone. I mean—with anyone.”
I narrow my eyes. “Kai. Why the fuck are you being so weird?”
He shifts to fidget with the knob of a drawer behind the counter.
His nervous tendencies are kind of cute for a guy who never seems nervous.
He definitely didn’t act like this when I met him the first time.
He also wasn’t alone when I met him either though.
Interesting. “I am literally standing here like a normal person,” he says.
“You are suspiciously normal. Yep.” I tilt my head and examine him.
“What does that even mean?” He asks. He waves his hands like he’s shooing a bee. “Never mind. Forget I said anything. A wallet. A black one. You’re looking for that. And I am helping. I can do that. I’m a helper. Big fan of helping out.”
I rest my elbows on the counter and fold my hands together, “Kai. Please stop buffering and just tell me if you saw one.”
There’s a beat. Two beats. Three. Then his eyes widen. “Oh. Wait. Oh no. Wait. Yes. Oh my god. We did get a black wallet a few weeks ago.”
“Why did you say oh no?”
He freezes. “I am not legally required to answer that question.”
“Kai.”
He panics and crouches down behind the counter like he’s afraid I’ll arrest him. I hear him rummaging around. Something clatters causing something else to fall. A pen rolls onto the floor near my foot. He pops back up, triumphant. “I found it.”
Our fingers brush. My stomach does a weird flip that I absolutely reject on principle.
It’s just the shock of finding my wallet.
Or the caffeine. Or the fact that Kai looks genuinely terrified of touching another human being.
He yanks his hand back like I shocked him.
“Sorry,” he blurts. “Your hand just. I mean—I didn’t mean. It was a graze. Sorry about that.”
I raise a brow. “A graze. Wow. How scandalous. Do I need to report you to HR for assaulting a customer?”
“Oh my god, we don’t have HR.” Kai’s mouth drops.
“I’d have Beau create one specifically to reprimand you.” He stares at me just long enough before realizing that I’m just joking with him.
He laughs but it’s too breathy, “You are very funny!”
“And you’re literally sweating in a refrigerated building.”
Kai wipes his forehead and looks at the dampness on his hand like it personally betrayed him,“That’s just the humidity. See. Look at my curls. The humidity.”
“It’s cold in here and couldn’t be less humid. Let’s face it. Plus, my curls are just fine.” I counter as I pin the end of one of my curls in between my fingers.
“Yep. Inside humidity. It’s a real problem. Might even be worse than climate change.” Climate change is a serious problem, but I’m going to let him get away with this one.
I snort, “Where is Beau, really? You keep glancing at the back room like he’s going to emerge from a coffin back there?”
Kai chokes again, “Why would he have a coffin?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, he sleeps in one? I’ve seen weirder things from the men El dates.”
Kai mumbles something that sounds dangerously close to a confession and then clears his throat. “He’s just not here. He went out. To do things. Normal things.”
“Fine. Keep your secrets. I’m just glad the wallet still exists. I thought I lost my whole life. Literally. My punch cards from the cafe were in here. Oh, and for that retro style pizza diner down on 5th that El likes.”
He brightens at my admission, “You have pizza punch cards?”
“Yes and now they’re back in my possession. Seeing as happy as that made you, I wouldn't put it past you to have stolen them if you’d gone snooping.”
He pauses and his voice drops. “Are you okay? You seemed stressed when you walked in.” I blink. He noticed that? Weird.
“I’m fine. Just annoyed at myself for losing things. Now, I’m annoyed that Elowen was right. And annoyed about everything else.” Kai smiles at that. A real one this time. Small. Warm. A little crooked.
“This place is like a magical lost and found,” he says.
“Don’t flatter yourself, sir. Your store is an eldritch being that devours innocence and returns only a lifetime of debt plus an endless Tbr.” He laughs and I feel that same little flip in my stomach again, but I ignore it once more.
He leans on the counter with his arms crossed, mirroring me without realizing. “So, now that you have your wallet back, you’re all set?”
He is noticeably more relaxed now that I’m no longer prying Beau’s location out of him. I can see it in the way his chest rises and falls under the gold chain around his neck. “Unless you also found my missing lip gloss or that necklace I lost back in middle school?”
“Well. What’s it look like? Describe it to me.” Kai flashes me a smile.
“Gold chain. Little sun pendant.” I was joking, but he seems serious, so I tell him anyway.
He considers, “Nope. I believe I’ve only seen it in my dreams on a girl. No idea who she is.” He throws a wink at me and my heart skips a beat. What the fuck? He meets my eyes. I look away quickly like eye contact might kill me.
There’s a beat of silence, a comfortable one, which is strange.
I’m not usually comfortable around such forward yet awkward people.
But Kai is a special category of awkward.
The kind that makes you want to tease him just to see how many shades of red he can turn.
Now, the tables have turned and he’s doing it back to me.
He’s playing my game back with the same exact energy.
I pick up my wallet and tuck it into my bag. “Thanks for keeping this safe.”
“Of course. Anytime.” He clears his throat. “Stop by more often.” My heart does a weird hiccup and I almost drop my coffee again. I play it off with a smirk.
“Smooth, Kai,” I laugh, but his shoulders hunker as I finish my sentence.
“Relax. Your shameless flirting didn’t fall short. I’m just messing with you,” I admit.
He grins sheepishly. “Is that your thing?”
“Someone needs to keep you on your toes! Might as well…”
He raises a brow, cutting me off. “Are you volunteering for that job?”
I go still. “I might be.” Oh. OH. My mouth goes dry. I feel heat creep up my neck. I hide it behind a sip of my coffee. That went sideways fast. Why did I say that?
“Well,” he says lightly, “we’ll see.”
I swallow. “Yeah. We will.” And the bookstore suddenly feels very empty. And very loud. And very warm. And I suddenly understand every stupid romance novel trope about emotions changing in an instant. I take a step back toward the door. “I should go.”
“Okay. Right. Yeah.” He waves like his arm is disconnected from his body. “Bye.”
I grin. “Bye, Kai.”
I push the door open and the bell jingles again, and the moment the cool air hits me outside, I exhale. A group of guys barrel past me into the bookstore. An unassuming lot visually. I look down at my wallet in my hand.
Stupid bookstore.
Stupid boy.
Stupid butterflies.
I shake my head and start walking, already able to hear El teasing me when I tell her. I definitely won’t speak a word of this unless she finds out of her own accord.