I continued to glance at the picture while getting dressed. After locating my green sweater and a comfy pair of jeans I looked at it again. Finally, I had to close my sketch book in order to finish. Since I planned to go into town shortly, I put on some boots and did my makeup.
Surprisingly, after doing nothing but sleeping for two days I hadn’t looked that bad. When I first got upstairs I’d approached the mirror with dread. But my hair was fairly smooth. I must not have moved much in my sleep. But thoughts of sleep brought thoughts of Eramus pressed up against me and my heart started doing flip-flops again.
Enough thinking for the moment. I was starved.
As soon as I stepped into the hallway the most amazing smells greeted me. It smelled like waffles, bacon and coffee. My guess wasn’t too far off. When I entered the kitchen I found Eramus flipping a blueberry pancake.
“I’m impressed.”
He turned around and I saw that he was wearing my pink apron that said “The other white meat”. I couldn’t help laughing.
Eramus had changed out of his wet clothes before coming over. In addition to my apron he was wearing another pair of formfitting jeans and a green t-shirt. I also noticed he was barefoot. When he saw me glance at his feet he explained, “I stepped in a mud puddle on the way over. My shoes are on the front porch.”
I just stood there staring at him for a minute, wearing what I’m sure was a goofy smile.
“You look great in pink.”
He took a dramatic bow before turning back to the bacon. “Thank you.”
I walked over to the sink and hopped up onto the counter, putting my butt right beside his mixing bowl. Eramus didn’t seem to mind me studying him while he cooked, so I took advantage. His biceps flexed when he lifted even the smallest plate. It was only a slight movement, a ripple across his sun-bronzed skin, but it was intriguing. He’d taken one of my hair clips and pinned up the front of his shaggy hair. I snickered when I noticed the clip was pink.
“Oh, you looking at this?” He pointed to the clip. “I found it in the downstairs bathroom. Didn’t want my hair to get into the pancakes.” His smile could have lit the room. It was like someone had bottled sunshine and decided to release it in my kitchen. I’d never had anyone’s smile make me feel this way. It literally made my day. I realized then that I hadn’t felt sad or even remembered James until he’d asked me about my ex. Mrs. Morrison’s nosy words didn’t matter at all in the cozy little kitchen with his smile. I liked the way his bare feet sounded when they walked across my floor. And I liked the fact that I had to sit on the bar to be eye level with him.
Suddenly I remembered Justina’s words, “Over six feet of therapy,” she’d called him.
“What are you doing here, Eramus?”
“Cooking breakfast. You invited me, remember?”
I shook my head. “No, I mean in Peace.”
He poured another pancake on the griddle before turning back to me. “I was living in Florida. My home was destroyed by a hurricane last year. I rented a place up in Georgia for a while before finally buying the house next door.”
Well, he’d answered my question, but not what I wanted to know.
“What I mean to say is, I’ve never met anybody like you before.”
“Meaning?” He flipped the pancake before turning to me with a smile.
“You’re great. You’re good looking, you cook, you’ve got a great sense of humor. And you’re single. I suppose it’s just hard for me to believe that you’re not with someone.”
He laughed and I wondered if my honesty was a bit too much.
“Did you miss the part about me being a werewolf? ’Cause I could have sworn I told you I’m a werewolf.”
I reached for him and he let me pull him closer. When I took the clip out of his hair he pretended to pout and I laughed again. Running my fingers through his hair felt even better than I’d imagined it would. Strands smooth as silk and the color of milk chocolate fell through my hands. Eramus took another step toward me and I moved so that he was right between my legs.
“That doesn’t matter to me,” I said softly, unable to keep the emotion from my voice.
“It will. Knowing something and seeing it firsthand are two different things.”
Something wild passed behind his eyes. It probably should have frightened me, but it didn’t.
“What is this?” I whispered, continuing to stroke his hair.
“Hair.”
We both smiled.
“No, I mean this.” I moved my hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath my palm. If you’d taken my pulse right then it was probably sky-high. But his heartbeat remained calm, steady, as if it had purpose. That was reassuring somehow. “What’s happening between us? You feel it, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“It’s happening so fast. I don’t know what to do.”
He put his hand over mine, covering it completely. “Just let it happen. Fast isn’t always bad.”
He leaned closer and now his chest was pressed against me as I moved my hands to his shoulders.
“I don’t want to get hurt again.”
“I’ll never hurt you.” His words were a whispered promise against my lips. And then he kissed me. My stomach felt weightless, like it had floated up into my chest and dislodged my heart. Eramus wrapped his arms around me and I couldn’t believe how good it felt. I was drawn to him as I’d never been drawn to anyone else. Touching him was a necessity. We’d only met a few days ago and yet his smile was as dear to me as an old friend.
Eramus ran his hands slowly up and down my spine and I moaned into his mouth. That weightless feeling in my stomach reminded me of something. It felt an awful lot like falling. Like that moment you realize your feet are off the ground. I was wondering if it would hurt when I hit or if someone would catch me, when I heard a noise.
“Something’s burning. It smells like something’s on…fire.”
We both turned to see Justina standing in the doorway.
“Well,” she said, smiling as she exhaled the word. “Guess we know where the fire is coming from.”
Eramus took the smoldering bacon from the stove eye. “Shit.”
I scooted down to flip the pancake he’d left on. “It’s a little crispy, but I think we can save it.”
When I turned around Justina was still standing in the doorway giving me “the look”. It wasn’t something you could master overnight. “The Look” took years to perfect and she had it down pat. That look said in no uncertain terms that she wanted details and she wanted them now.
“Your door was unlocked,” she said. “This looks really cozy, so I could come back later if—”
“No,” Eramus and I said together.
I smiled at him, glad that he didn’t want to run my friend off either.
“Even with the burnt bacon, I’ve cooked way too much food. Please, stay,” he said.
“He’s got looks and charm.” Justina spoke to me as if he weren’t in the room and Eramus gave a snort of laughter before turning back to the stove.
She came to stand beside me, eyeing me critically. “Well, you do look rested.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Did you really drink some tea that made you sleep for two days?”
Eramus acted wounded. “You doubt my honesty? Really, Justina, I thought you could tell I was sincere.”
She laughed and I was startled. It had been a really long time since I’d seen her laugh at someone else’s sarcasm. Well, someone other than me that is. Justina doesn’t warm up to new people too quickly.
“It’s true,” I said. “Eramus has this really strong tea that he drinks to help him sleep. Our cups were the same color.” I shrugged. “Honest to God.”
“And it was that strong?” she asked.
“Look at me,” Eramus said, turning around as he spoke. He made a gesture up and down his torso and my eyes followed hungrily. “Surely you can see where something strong enough for me
would be too much for Lucy.”
“What are you, six-four?” Justina asked.
“Six-five,” he corrected, smiling. “And that’s without my shoes.”
I had of course noticed how he towered over me, but hearing him say exactly how tall he was, was still a bit shocking. Eramus was more than a foot taller than me.
Justina put one hand on her hip and I noticed that her nails matched her pink sweater today. She turned her attention back to me, apparently accepting what Eramus had just said.
“And you were chased by a werewolf? Seriously?”
“I swear. That’s how I ended up in his house having tea.”
Justina walked over to the coffeepot, calling over her shoulder, “That’s the weirdest shit I ever heard. It would have been easier to just lie and say you decided to sleep over for two nights.” She paused while pouring her coffee and then said, “And more believable.”
“Well, the next time she stays over at my house I’ll make sure not to switch the tea.” Eramus winked at her and Justina actually blushed. “More fun that way.”
“You’re horrible,” I said, laughing.
While she drank her coffee, Justina helped me get some plates down and set the table. She also continued to grill Eramus, which was quite entertaining.
“So, if you’re not gay, are you unemployed?” Her questions sounded harsh, but were posed with a comical flare. Eramus didn’t seem to mind. When I went to say something, he put up a hand to stop me.
“It’s all right. Wanting to know something about the man who intends to date your friend is admirable.”
“Is that what you intend to do with me?”
“It means she cares about you,” he answered, ignoring my question.
He turned to Justina. “I’m retired.”
She put her hands on her hips and raised both eyebrows as she looked him up and down.
“No, you’re not. You’re not old enough to retire. You quit something. What was it?”
His smile was devilish. “You cut me to the quick. I was a bounty hunter specializing in monsters. Werewolves to be exact, although I did track down the occasional vampire. And yes, I am retired.”
He was trying to shock her, that much I could tell. It didn’t work very well. Justina looked surprised, but that didn’t last long. She quickly recovered with another question. “Did it pay well?”
Eramus laughed softly as he set the rest of the pancakes on the table.
“How do you think I could afford to retire at such a young age?”
After that the questions slacked off while we ate. Apparently everyone was hungry enough to put curiosity aside for a few minutes. I was starving. After all, I hadn’t eaten in two days.
We were almost finished with breakfast when Justina said, “We don’t get many guys like you around here. You know, hot, single. And straight.”
I laughed so hard I nearly snorted my orange juice.
“That’s enough out of you,” I teased.
After breakfast, Eramus helped to clean up before going back home. He paused at the end of the porch and called back to Justina, “I invested everything, that’s why I don’t have to work now.”
Obviously she had been wondering this ever since he mentioned making so much money. She seemed relieved. “So, what are you, a day trader?”
He smiled. “Sometimes.”
Justina and I stood on the porch, watching him until he was out of sight.
“Shit, I need a smoke.”
Her mood had changed right before my eyes. She fished a cigarette out of her pocket and as she lit it, started to pace.
“What’s the matter with you? You said that everything at the shop was fine.”
She waved off the comment. “Everything at the shop is fine. Mandy’s doing great. I think we’ll actually be able to take a vacation this year if we hire someone else to help.”
“Okay then, what’s wrong?”
“My birthday’s coming up.”
“And?” Obviously, there was something I was missing. “I know you don’t really like to celebrate or anything, but it’s not like you’re old. Hell, I’m older than you.”
Justina shook her head and blew out a long trail of smoke. “It’s nothing to do with my age.” She hesitated for so long that I thought she wasn’t going to say more. “I always get a card.”
Chapter Sixteen
Thinking of you
Justina continued to pace and blow smoke like a train while I thought over what she’d just said.
“A card? You mean like a birthday card?”
She paused to flick her cigarette out onto the wet lawn and light another.
“Not exactly.”
The look in her eyes said how upset she was. Maybe other people would need to see the chain smoking and nervous gestures to figure it out. But all I needed to do was look her in the eye. Justina was falling apart and I wasn’t sure how to help.
“Stina, I know we never really talked about your ex.” She looked up sharply and I added, “And I’m not asking about what happened. But does this have something to do with him?”
“His name was Nick, and I’m not sure.” Her eyes filled with tears. I wanted to reach out to her, but I wasn’t sure if she needed a hug just yet. She looked like there was more she needed to say and I wanted to give her the space to say it.
“Was?” I questioned the way she’d referred to him. Past tense. Did that mean he really was dead? It’s what I’d always suspected. But then who the hell was sending her a card?
Justina continued to pace, running a hand through her long dark hair. “You know I moved from Pennsylvania. What you don’t know is why or that I lived in Tennessee before coming here.” She paused to take a deep breath. “Nick was abusive, you know that too. He was an asshole and I planned to leave him. Only I didn’t have anywhere to go. Most of my relatives live too far away or they’re dead. I didn’t really have anyone. So I planned for us to take a vacation. That way when he saw me packing bags he wouldn’t be suspicious.”
She looked toward me as if asking my opinion.
“That sounds smart,” I said.
“Yeah, I thought so too. So I was putting everything into the car when he came home early. Such a cliché, right?” She laughed nervously. “I told him that our flight had been changed and that I was loading things up before I called him. So there I was, stuck in a car with him and not knowing what the hell I’d do once we got to the airport, ’cause I hadn’t actually booked a flight. I hadn’t thought past getting away.”
She flicked her second cigarette into the yard.
“He figured it out. I guess I was so nervous or something. But we started to argue. I was driving and when he took a swing at me I ran off the road.” She talked faster and faster, almost running her words together. “I hit a tree. I didn’t mean to.”
Justina turned to me then and tears slid down her face. “I thought I’d killed him. Nick wasn’t wearing his seat belt. His head was a mess.” She gestured toward her forehead and I assumed from that he was torn up pretty badly. “I panicked. I pulled two of my bags from the trunk and ran. We were just down the road from the house, less than a mile. It felt like forever before I got back. I threw those bags in the truck and went in to get some more of my stuff. Not much. Just a few things, necessities.”
“What kind of necessities?”
I’m not sure what made me ask the question, but I knew she wasn’t talking about toothpaste and maxi pads. I just knew. Justina seemed to understand this too and didn’t hesitate to tell me the rest.
“I’d bought a gun a few weeks before and stashed it. I was so upset. I must have lost track of time. I couldn’t find my mom’s picture. You know, the one beside my bed?”
Justina’s mom passed away when she was just eighteen. I knew how much the photo meant to her and could certainly understand her taking the time to find it before leaving.
“I wasn’t coming back, you know? I had to find Mom. By the time I went for the door
, he was there.”
“Nick? So he survived the crash?”
She started crying hard enough now that I looked around, making sure there was no traffic coming. I also looked across the yard to make sure Eramus wasn’t watching.
“He was all messed up. He started saying terrible things. Calling me a whore, saying he was going to kill me. He came at me, started choking me. I didn’t have a choice.”
Justina leaned forward when I reached for her and put her head on my shoulder. I led her inside, got her a glass of whiskey and let her cry. After about ten minutes I finally asked, “What happened?”
“I shot him. I left him on the kitchen floor and I ran. I made it to Tennessee and stayed there until my birthday. That’s when I got my first card.” She shuddered. “It said ‘Thinking of you’. It scared the shit out of me. I mean, who would even know where I was to be thinking about me? I didn’t tell anybody.”
She took a great big gulp of whiskey and made a face. “Damn, this shit is strong. Anyway, the card scared me so bad that I picked up and moved here. I didn’t get a card last year. I’m hoping that he lost track of me. But my birthday is next week and—I’m scared.”
I hugged her again and continued to rub her back until her breathing sounded closer to normal. I’d never seen her like this before.
“Maybe it’s not even him. He was in a car crash and then you shot him. That really should have been fatal.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t stop to check his pulse.”
“Does he have anyone else, friends or someone who might have suspected you and tracked you down?”
Justina eyed me sarcastically and I was relieved to see my friend starting to look like herself again. “Does Nick sound like the kind of guy who had friends?” She finished the whiskey and set the glass on the coffee table. Her look of triumph at finishing the strong drink reminded me of Eramus drinking wolfsbane tea. Under different circumstances I might have laughed.
“I think he’s still out there,” she said softly. “And he’s mad as hell at me.”
Anger surged through me so suddenly it was shocking. The thought of anyone hurting her made me see red. I was an only child and Justina was the closest I’d ever come to having a sister. I’d be damned if some asshole was going to threaten her while I was around.
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