Chapter 2 #2
“Yeah, so that was a cool book. You into crypto at all?”
“Mm-nmm.” I shake my head and continue to rearrange the plates on the shelf, being extra careful not to bump them into each other. My hands are shaking slightly, and I notice that I’m feeling flushed. Please go away, please go away.
“Too bad, I was thinking we could discuss it over coffee? I could show you a thing or two, get your portfolio in order.” He laughs way too hard at this.
“No, thanks. I am super busy with the store. So.” I stop what I’m doing and stare at him deadpan.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re always too busy for old Travis.” He takes a step closer to me, boxing me into the shelves. I slightly curse myself for where I decided to hide today, as we are blocked completely from view by the other customers in the store.
“I-I just have a lot to do and not a lot of free time. Running a store takes a lot of work.”
He takes a slow sip of his coffee, his dull grey eyes never leaving mine. They flick over my body, and I wish I could unzip myself from my skin and run away.
“You ever work out? We could do an early morning workout together, and I could show you a thing or two on the machines.” A devious grin appears on his face, as though he is proud of this clever comment, his eyes now glued to my breasts.
I cross my arms defensively, blocking his view. The grin slips down into a frown before he catches himself.
Travis has been flirting with a fine line ever since he started coming into the bookstore six months ago, and I’ve noticed that with every rejection, he is getting a desperate gleam in his eye that makes me nervous.
But what can I do? Tell the police that a customer keeps hitting on me?
They would laugh me out of town. The other half would probably ask why I haven’t given Travis the time of day.
The cops around here are the very definition of small-town.
“No, I don’t work out. I come in early to check the accounting. Is there anything I can help you find?” Exasperation is evident in my tone. I’m having a hard time being Ms. Customer Service right now.
He takes another step forward, and as I back up into the shelf, I feel the hard muscles of a man and not the expected wooden slats of the shelf. I gasp and turn around, but see nothing.
Travis stops and looks at the shelf behind me. “What? Is there a spider? I hate spiders.” He starts to back away.
Only the bookshelf is visible behind me, but I remember that I happen to be in our Occult section.
“Just some cold air. This is the Occult section, you know.” My eyes stare into his, dead serious.
“Occult? What, like witches and shit?” He barks out a laugh. “You don’t believe in that crap, do you?”
The words have no sooner left his mouth than his coffee tilts all the way over in his hand as though someone has swiped it in mid-air and comes spilling out all over his beige dress pants.
“Fuck!” He screams. His eyes are now wild with terror, darting around in our little corner as if there is someone there.
My hands cover my mouth in shock. “Oh my gosh, are you okay? Let me get some paper towels.”
Thankful for the excuse to leave, I sprint around the shelves to the check-out counter, grateful for the bright sunlight streaming in through the windows, and the handful of customers who are milling quietly around the store.
Some of them poked their heads out from whatever shelf they were perusing to see what all the yelping is about.
I notice Merna tucked into a recliner by the Romance section.
She lifts her eyebrow at me as if to check on how I’m doing. I shake my head at her.
“Got some towels over here for you!” I shout in my best customer service tone. I will not be going back over to the corner with Travis, but I need him to come away from that section.
“Shit! What the fuck was that, Kate?” His face is beet-red, an ugly vein pulsating on his forehead. Underneath the anger, I see his hands shaking as he snatches the paper towels from my hand.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Merna sidles up to us. “What happened?”
Travis interjects before I can answer. “My coffee came flying out of my hand, that’s what! This fucking store is haunted!” With that, he yanks the door open, the bell crashing angrily as he slams it shut behind him.
“You okay?” Merna is rubbing my shoulder.
“Yeah. I’m good, really. Thank you, Merna. I'd better go mop up the coffee over there.” I nod in the direction of where Travis and I were standing just moments earlier.
Her eyes light up. “Ahh, that’s my section.” She gives me a wink. “Never know what those books might be summoning.” My mouth drops open as she walks away. Zerachiel!
I grab the entire roll of paper towels and speed walk over to the corner where I had backed into what felt like a muscular man and not a hard wooden shelf.
I can’t help but notice how dark this corner of the store is. Undoubtedly contributing to the overall hushed vibes of the Occult section. “Zera?” I whisper.
Air itself seems to bend and fold in front of me, the iridescent shimmer of his violet wings appears first, followed by the rounded muscles of his thick shoulders and neck.
Like ink dripping and connecting, his body parts remerge solid until his full form is towering in front of me, those deep black eyes staring into my soul.
We are close enough that I see the crinkles next to his mouth, which is downturned in displeasure, and the divots in his hands that his claws are making as he clenches his fists by his side.
How can he have such long and lush eyelashes?
My hands find my throat involuntarily, and it finds heat coming off of my face in waves.
I realize too late that his wings are nearly enveloping me, surrounding me with an energy field.
“I do not like him.” His intense stare told me as much.
He is so close. I ache to let my hands touch the ridges of his strong chest. I imagine myself pinching his nipples, grabbing his horns, and forcing his mouth to my neck. The store is so hot and stuffy, and I can’t catch my breath. I can’t be attracted to a demon; this is too weird.
“Zera, you can disappear. You didn’t tell me you can disappear.” It comes out hopelessly breathless.
“He is going to hurt you.” The man is not to be distracted, evidently.
“Travis? He’s - no. He’s just annoying, that’s all. He just wants me to go on a date with him.”
“No, Kate. He will hurt you. He is like a child, throwing a tantrum when it cannot get what it wants. And he wants you.”
“I, well, I…again, you can’t just be invisible and walk around knocking coffee out of people’s hands!
” I burst. I feel upset, but I can’t understand where this is coming from.
I’ve known that Travis has been escalating for some time, but I never knew what to do about it and just tried to placate him when possible.
“My little witch, you are upset. Please come upstairs. I have food for you. You need to eat.” Zera looks at me imploringly, and some part of me knows that he wants to take care of me, and a large part of me is begging for that care.
“First of all, I am not a witch. And second of all, I can’t. I have the store.” I gesture helplessly to the counter. “I’m the only one here.”
This earns me another frown. Zera tucks his wings behind him in a huff, arms crossed and all. “Then explain why the painted-on sign adorning the window clearly states that the store closes for the midday meal daily.”
I am caught out. “I don’t close the store. I get busy, and then people come in. And what am I supposed to say? Sorry, you can’t buy books, I need to eat?” The words have no sooner left my mouth before I realize how ridiculous I sound.
“Everyone has to eat. I made food special for you, my Kate.”
“You don’t eat,” I mumble back, staring at the floor where the coffee stain is, and probably will remain forever.
I hear a low growl coming from Zera, like a pissed-off cat about to screech. “If you do not close the store, I will step out from behind these shelves and scare these humans half to death. Except for the witch Merna, I think she would quite enjoy seeing me,” he adds as an afterthought.
His mentioning of Merna gives me an idea. “Fine! Fine. I’ll be upstairs in five minutes, I swear. If I’m not, you can scare all the humans and start a demon hunt.”
“I am not a demon,” he whispers as he fades back into the shadows. I come around the shelves and pause to think about this before I cross over to Merna quickly. She looks up at me from her book, this one featuring two lovely ladies on the cover in an intimate embrace.
“Merna, I have a favor to ask.”
???
I TRUDGE UP THE stairs to my apartment, stomping every step.
In my head, I am going over the lecture I plan to give Zera on how he can’t just boss me around now that he’s in my life for the next month, and that my work is important.
You do need to eat. The nasty voice in my head is in direct conflict with my angry thoughts.
I shove it down and ignore the more rational side of my brain.
I am so distracted that I don’t notice the delicious smell coming from my apartment.
I see Zera standing by the kitchen, stirring something hot and steaming in my soup pot.
He has the apron on again, and upon seeing me, a wide smile appears.
He dries his hands and starts to walk over to me, and something about the fact that I walked into my home to find someone there to care for me, to worry over me, breaks my resolve.
The tears come fast and thick, and I am hiccuping, all my angry words dissolving on my tongue. I don’t understand what emotions these are, but the second he is standing near enough for me to touch him, my arms are around his neck, and I am clinging to him.
He is solid as oak underneath me, and once more I am engulfed in his wings, all light extinguished for starlit heavens.
Ozone, rosemary, and something minty reach my nose, and I bury myself deeper into his embrace.
His hands are on my back, and I feel their strength, the light way his claws pinprick me through my shirt.
I dare to lean back a bit so I can see his face, now blurry through my tears.
I’m not thinking clearly because even through my emotional haze, I lock in on his lush lips and the animal in me wants just one thing - his lips on mine.
I hesitate for the briefest second, but before I can decide, his lips are pressed to mine.
They are everything I imagined, soft and sweet, with a dazzlingly long tongue sweeping to meet mine with tantalizing quickness.
My blood rushes between my legs, sending my clit into overdrive.
I moan against him, needing him more, gripping his body to mine as though we were one body and not two.
But then an intrusive thought pops into my brain, You need to get back to work!
Pulling away from him, I see his wings lift from around me, and the noises and sunlight from the day come filtering back into our world.
His intense stare finds mine, brows crinkled in worry.
The pad of his thumb swipes my tears away.
“You still have time to eat, my Kate.” He murmurs.
I give a watery smile and just nod. I don’t understand how he knew that somehow my anxiety broke through the best kiss I’ve ever had in my whole life, but I’m grateful he isn’t asking me questions.
It’s then that I see he has set the table, complete with a freshly baked loaf of bread.
I fight the tears I feel welling up again.
Zera carefully sets down a steaming bowl of thick potato, leek, and bacon stew in front of me, butters a slice of bread for me, and then sits down across from me to watch me eat like he did this morning. Out of habit, I begin to inhale my food.
“Kate, you still have more than half an hour before you must go back downstairs.” He points out.
I swallow the hot soup, feeling it burn my throat. “I’m that obvious, huh?”
He says nothing in response; just gestures to my bowl. The soup is amazing, so filling that I know I will be having seconds and more for dinner.
“I didn’t actually close the store.”
He lifts an eyebrow at me, his tail flicking around with interest. “Oh? Did you leave the humans to their own devices?”
“No!” I protest. “You gave me an idea, though, and I ended up asking Merna if she could watch the store.”
“Ah, yes, the witch.” He nods thoughtfully at this. “She is a good human. She feels protective of you.”
My spoon dunks into my soup with a clang. “Okay, you have to explain that. You seem to ‘know’ that Travis is bad and that Merna is good? Are you some kind of mind reader?”
He looks away into the distance for a beat before speaking, choosing his words with care.
“Not minds, exactly.” Another long pause.
“Intentions. Energy. Like when we kissed, something interrupted your energy. You were relaxed and full of passion, and then…” He snaps his fingers.
“Like that, all grey and dull and worry.”
My mouth is hanging open at this. “You could feel that I was full of passion?” I squeak.
His dark eyes snap to mine, his own heated energy impossible for even someone like me to miss. “Oh yes, my sweet Kate. Very full of passion.”
I bend to my bowl to take a few more bites so I can pretend it's the hot soup making my face red and not my utter embarrassment. What other magical powers is he hiding?
Too soon, it is time for me to leave and head back downstairs. Awkwardly, I hug Zera in thanks. I don’t know how to be around him anymore, knowing my very energy is being read like a book. But he simply kisses me sweetly on the cheek.
As I make my way back downstairs, I cannot stop the smile on my face, knowing he will be there this evening and every other evening.