Chapter Ten
Nomi
Iopened my mouth, but Clara had already rushed over. “Um, Nomi, who is this…very nice man you’ve brought with you today?”
My mouth opened and closed like I was a fish desperate for water.
But Ghost didn’t waste time. He offered her a hand. “Limos. I’m Nomi’s boyfriend.”
Excuse me, what?!
My jaw hung open before Felix’s outcry sent my eyes jerking toward the kitchen door. “A boyfriend! You never told me, you sly little fox.”
“I, uh—”
But Ghost was already walking over after shaking Clara’s hand to shake Felix’s. “A pleasure to meet you, sir. I apologize for the sudden greeting so early into the day.”
Not only did I not recognize this guy in front of me, but he’d spoken more than three words to both of them. My brain couldn’t cope.
“It’s very nice to meet you…”
“Limos,” he supplied.
“Felix,” my Old Man greeted, his face lifted with such happiness I couldn’t intervene. “I thought…well, it’s very good to see my girl has found herself such a charming man.”
The girl in question was just standing dumbly at the door, still unable to form a sentence. Thankfully, there weren’t any customers yet because the place didn’t open for another hour. But my surprise wouldn’t have been any less if there were customers to embarrass myself in front of.
Felix gestured to a table near the back, insisting we both sit, and I did, though I couldn’t remember how, and I all but fell apart when Ghost’s arm went around my waist to tug me closer.
Felix had a happy glint in his eyes as he looked between us and then rushed off to grab some treats.
Clara was practically drooling as she stared at Ghost, but his eyes were on me.
I covered my mouth, hoping it looked cute and not like I was about to demand why he’d committed a crime. “What are you doing?” I whispered angrily.
His lips twitched and his eyes dropped to my mouth. “You’ll find out, little wisp.”
My cheeks burned with the return of his pet name for me, liking it more than I should. My body practically melted where I sat. It wasn’t fair how husky his voice got, like it gave him so much pleasure to say it. This was the farthest thing from distance, and he was leaving today.
I barely contained my growl as I tried to break his hold on me.
His hand tightened and yanked as if to send the message all my efforts were made in vain.
My body had betrayed me, shivering and igniting under his touch, but my brain hadn’t abandoned me just yet.
Well, not totally. It was still helping me form plans to get myself out of it.
A joke! I’d tell them it was a joke.
I opened my mouth, but I didn’t have time to tell them Ghost was just being a jerk and playing a silly prank on them, because Felix was back out with a few plates covered in all my favorite treats. Clara was over at our table, too, holding a couple cups of coffee.
“I hope medium drip is okay for you,” she murmured, her hands shaking. She set out a few packets of sugar and cream, her green eyes on Ghost the entire time.
He looked at the cups, then back up to her. “It’s lovely, thank you.”
Oh-my-god, who is this dude?!
“Enjoy,” was her nearly inaudible reply, her cheeks so red it’d become her new complexion. She hustled back behind the counter, mouthing “So hot” to me before fanning herself.
A humorless laugh spilled from my lips, still not sure how to deal with the imposter next to me. “Limos was just joking—”
“So how long have you two been together?” Felix interrupted, and I nearly growled again.
Amusement sparked in Ghost’s eyes, and I hated that it was at my expense he’d been his most expressive yet. “Long enough to know I can’t go anywhere without her.”
My brain short-circuited. Clara pretended to faint and catch herself on the glass display. But Felix was all smiles and happy nods. It was obnoxious how genuinely joyful the old man was when it’d been nothing but lies told to him.
“That’s wonderful.” Felix’s eyes sparkled. “Now I’ll have something to tease her about. Revenge is sweet.”
My face was in my hands as I heard everyone laugh.
“I’d hoped to ask your permission for something, sir,” Ghost said in all seriousness, and my head popped up. If this asshole asked for my hand in marriage, I was going to flip this fucking table.
Felix seemed to be on the same line of thought because his whole face lit up.
Being from an entirely different generation where getting hitched after a few weeks meant he’d think this was a perfectly natural development.
He’d married Mary before going off to war, and they’d been together for a very long time.
I wasn’t sure how I’d walk back a marriage proposal.
Clara was making a lot of filthy gestures, and Felix had leaned in, almost as if he couldn’t believe it was finally happening. Damn him for looking so adorable and eager. I’d been killing myself every day to get that look out of him since Mary died.
“I’d like to take her on a nice getaway for a few weeks. I’d hoped there would be some way you could permit me that honor. I’ll happily accommodate any financial or labor deficit her absence creates,” he said to everyone’s surprise—mostly mine.
“What?” I asked, confused. I was, however, relieved that it hadn’t been a marriage proposal done in poor taste. It felt like I’d dodged a serious bullet because the guy next to me was whacky and hard to pin down.
Ghost’s eyes whipped over to me, the entirely too sensual smile back on his face. “I wanted to surprise you. I know how important Felix is to you, and how you would hate to leave him to manage Dolci Caldi on his own.”
Take me on a vacation? What?
My eyes widened when I realized what he was doing. He wasn’t going to leave me. He wanted me to go with him to find Ares. As if to confirm my train of thought, his hand squeezed around my hip and pressed me into his side.
Felix laughed loudly. “If you can convince this stubborn girl to leave for a few weeks, then you’d be doing me a favor, Limos.”
I leveled a glare on Felix. “Excuse me. This is coming from the guy who doesn’t take a day off and won’t hire help.”
“I’ll bring someone on if you agree to go,” he said to my shock and awe. “Hell, I’ll hire two. Just promise it’ll be weeks and not days.”
Clara’s eyes went wide in surprise. We both knew how incredibly stubborn he was about help in the kitchen that wasn’t me. He’d rather burn his hands on the stove than let anyone else in his kitchen.
Felix’s blue eyes softened. “Baby girl, you need it. Please say you’ll go with him. I can tell he’ll take care of you. I feel it in these old bones of mine. You haven’t been taking care of yourself, and you need to.”
“You just met him,” I argued without thinking.
He laughed and leaned back in his chair, flicking his eyes over to the guy next to me. “We fathers just know these things, and this is one of the good ones.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes or ears. The fact that Ghost had won him over on the first meeting was insane. Felix hated the men around me. He rarely liked any of the boyfriends I was actually dating, but he’d been convinced with a few words from Ghost? What was happening?
I noticed everyone’s eyes were on me, waiting for my response, including Ghost. He didn’t speak again. He knew I’d answer Felix. I always did.
I wet my lips. “You really want me to go with you?” I asked the Horseman next to me, the question insinuating more than the other two would ever know.
“I do, Nomi.”
My eyes and nose burned with emotion, because I really thought today was my last. I thought I’d have to say goodbye to Felix. And sure, I did, but maybe not forever. Maybe those letters would stay as a memory of what I could’ve lost.
“Okay,” I finally said, smiling. “I’ll come with you.”
Clara shouted her excitement and ran over to hug me. “I hope you have the time of your life, chick. You deserve it.”
I laughed and hugged her back. “Thanks, Clara. Make sure the old man doesn’t work himself to the bone and gets lots of sexy time with Maude.”
After a garbled noise of protest from Felix and giggle from Clara, Felix stood and shook Ghost’s hand again, his eyes a bit misty. “Take good care of my girl,” he said in a hoarse voice.
My lips trembled as I went to him and wrapped the white-haired man in my arms, dropping kisses on his face. “I love you, Old Man. You better hire help or I’ll cut my vacation short and ruin your life.”
His happy laughter was next to my ear as he kissed my cheek and wiped away a tear that broke away from my eye. “Sassy ingrate.” Then he nodded toward the door. “Now, get. I expect you to come back tan and fat.”
“That’s my line,” I grumbled.
We shared a smile before I pulled away and returned to Ghost’s side. He didn’t hesitate to wrap an arm around me, like it was a perfectly normal thing for us. I didn’t shy away from it like I should. I allowed myself the indulgence of how good it felt to be in his arms for as long as it lasted.
As we left, I glanced at him. “Will he be safe if we leave?”
He nodded. “I’ve called in a favor. He’ll be watched over just in case.”
My lips were trembling again and more tears broke away. “I don’t know what to say.”
He turned toward me, his hands cradling my face in a way he never had before. “Then don’t say anything, little wisp. Just come with me.”
I nodded, and my heart pounded as we continued our short walk back to my apartment. I didn’t know what changed his mind, but for the first time since he told me I was going to die, I finally dared to hope.
“You found somewhere to start?” I asked as I packed my duffle bag.
“I did,” he said, peeking over my shoulder, his front nearly painted into my back as I loaded clothes into my bag and other must-haves for a trip with no true end date or destination in mind.
It was lucky I’d left Ferguson with Felix already. I wouldn’t have to figure that out before we left, but it felt weird to pack when I had no idea where we’d go. Ghost insisted I didn’t need to, that he could get whatever I required, but that wasn’t my style. I didn’t want him paying for me.
I’d noticed he refused to go far from me since we left the bakery café hours ago.
He was always close and touching me, much like the little red and blue wisps that bounced around me.
It was a dramatic change from the distance I’d kept with him over the last week and a half, but I liked it.
A lot. More than I probably should when I had bigger things to worry about.
Ghost might be staying as my protector and taking me with him, and he might’ve pretended to be my boyfriend so Felix let me go, but that didn’t change things between us. We were still basically strangers.
The colorful cuties bounded all over my bag, leaving patches of ice and dampness everywhere. I laughed and wagged my finger at them. “You’re getting my stuff wet, you guys.”
They continued to flicker and dance, outright ignoring me, and I couldn’t be mad. I called them cuties for a reason.
I went to lift my bag, but Ghost already had it over his shoulder. His other arm went around me and I watched it with a raised eyebrow.
“Why do you keep doing that?”
His eyes dropped to where he held me. “To keep you close.”
“I’ll stay close if you ask me to,” I told him, a little huffy. “And I can carry my own bag.”
His face didn’t show signs of emotion, but I could already tell he wasn’t going to let me do anything I wanted. “It’s easier to protect you if I have a hand on you,” was all he said as we headed for the front door.
I stared at his face, sensing a tinge of mistruth. “Really? You’ve never done it until now.”
He squeezed my hip lightly, as if reacting, but his stride never faltered. “It’s better this way, little wisp.”
“Hmm.” I decided it wasn’t worth the fight, so I let him lead me down to the street, still not sure how we’d get to the place we were going. “Are we taking a car or something?”
I didn’t see one. The street was dark and quiet. It was one of the reasons I preferred this area.
Ghost turned and I was suddenly pressed into his front. My head fell back to look up at him. His eyes were glowing again as his arm wrapped firmly around my waist.
Then the world shifted and tilted. The air in my lungs rushed out. My stomach dropped. In seconds, we weren’t on my street anymore. It was dark wherever we were, unlike the bright sunlight that had rained down on us before the weird world shift.