Bad Impression : A Sadie Salt Novel (Sadie Salt Series Book 2)

by Ware Wilkins

  Now, I have to give credit where credit is due. After her root canal, Ms. Black didn’t need much help. And, to my surprise, her lipstick is--to my complete bewilderment-- just as perfect as when she’d walked in. I should ask for the brand, because it does the job.

  If all our patients are as easy as Ms. Black, and my date with Abe goes well, this might shape up to be the best day I’ve had in awhile.

  * * * * *

  “You look hot.” Ingrid is staring at me with appreciation.

  “Not ridiculous?”

  “Definitely not ridiculous.”

  My palms smooth the skirt I’ve got on. It’s short, but I have opaque tights on underneath. Modesty and warmth, the modern girl can have it all! I paired the black mini with a scandalously low white t-shirt and a cardigan. It feels a little like a sexy librarian costume, but I’m such a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl that this is about as sexy as I get.

  I do have on my fancy panties, though, since the last time I wore them Abe promised to kiss me. I mean, the last time I wore them we both almost died, too. In fact, he did. But that’s neither here nor there. Sexy panties are a big confidence boost.

  “I’m going to change one thing, though,” Ingrid says before grunting and heaving her way to a stand. She’s not huge yet, but because she’s so slim, her bump is basically a high basketball up front. She’s complained that Commissioner Biscuit is throwing off her balance, and I believe her. “One second.”

  I wait, curious what tweak she has in store for my outfit. When she comes back holding the black leather jacket on a hanger, I bite my lip and squirm. Ingrid bought the jacket when she first started stripping. She had a big night and celebrated her success and independence by getting this cropped, black leather moto jacket. It’s badass and sexy as hell and I’ve always been jealous of it. But Ingrid’s an Amazon stripper, you know? She can pull leather jackets off. Dental assistants don’t wear leather.

  “Are you sure? That jacket means so much to you.”

  She smiles. “Yeah, I’m sure. I don’t exactly fit in it these days. Plus, this is a first date with Abe. You’ve been pining for this for basically forever. You need something extra, you know? Leather is always extra.”

  “In your line of work, that is literal, right?”

  “You’re hilarious. A real riot, Sadie. Now put on the damned jacket.”

  Shrugging out of my sweater, I can barely contain myself as she helps me slip on the coat. Because she’s worn it hard, the leather is smooth and soft like butter. There must be magic in leather coats. I mean, not really, but it sure as hell feels like it because as soon as I’m in the jacket I feel like a superhero. Like I could fight and fuck and look good doing it.

  Which, with Abe’s surly attitude, is just the thing I need for tonight.

  “That’s the perfect touch. Abe’s going to lose it over you. Do you want condoms? We can’t both be knocked up with supernatural babies, you know.”

  “Ha. Right.” But then the pause drags out long enough that Ingrid’s laughter belts through the apartment. She’s so loud, in fact, holding her round belly, that Ms. Nickles pounds on her ceiling with a broom stick. We feel its warning thuds under our feet. Bet you won’t call the cops on us now, Ms. Nickles. Not now that I know about you.

  Except that I’m overdue to go see her and she might also be a bone witch, but I don’t know that she’d consider me a friend. Hell, she knew I was a witch when she called the cops on me before.

  “Get it together, Ingrid, or I’m going to be arrested and miss my date.”

  Still chuckling and wiping tears from her eyes, she goes into her room again and reappears with a handful of condoms. “Here you go,” she says as she thrusts them into my purse. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “Says the pregnant lady.”

  She winks and kicks me out the door.

  I’m picking Abe up in my car. Not as traditional, I suppose, as him showing up with a dashing smile, but Alec feels the transition is still so shaky he doesn’t want Abe driving. “Anything that might provoke him is a no, Sadie. Keep it simple and away from people.”

  That doesn’t mean I’m not bursting with excitement as I coax my car through the dark. The sky is overcast and it’s probably going to rain tonight and that can’t bring me down. I knew that I’d missed Abe, and been worried about him, while he was locked up with the pack. I didn’t know how much I’ve been depending on him, and how deeply his absence has rocked me in the light of all that’s going on.

  This time I don’t have any trouble pulling up to the pack’s place. No wolves slink from the woods. Instead, Abe’s waiting for me on the porch, leaning one shoulder casually against a column.

  Good. Lord.

  He’s got to be concerned about the scarring. I know my shocked expression didn’t help when I first saw him. But now he’s got the front door light creating a silhouette that’s strong and powerful. I gulp at the size of his shoulders, which seem larger and straining against the coat he’s wearing. It’s a black pea coat, very classy and British looking and not Abe’s style.

  But it fucking should be.

  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone who looks so much like walking sex and danger. The scarring on his face only adds to it, though I have a brief memory of David, the hunter who kidnapped us and shot Abe, as he saunters toward the car. David also had a scarred face, also looked dangerous. And he had been. Dangerous and deadly. No, I remind myself. Just dead now.

  My car rocks as Abe sinks his weight into the passenger seat. He fiddles with the seat, his knees uncomfortably close to his chest, until he manages to slide it as far back as it goes. There’s still not a lot of legroom, but it doesn’t feel like we’re sharing a clown car anymore.

  “Hey, Salty.”

  I can’t hate the nickname when it’s purred in his graveled voice. The roughness of it starts a hum in me, a low heat that promises to shape into a raging fire before the end of the night. I think of the condoms in my purse. Ingrid knows me too well.

  My cheeks turn pink at the trail my thoughts have taken.

  “How’s it going, Abe?” As the words tumble out of my mouth, I cringe at how dorky I sound. The smirk I receive only solidifies my mortification.

  “It’s not been great, Sadie. But it is really good to see you.” The edge of hardness in his voice catches my interest.

  As we pull out, the gravel driveway rumbling under my tires, I give him a side glance. “Is it the wolf thing? Nash said it could really hurt to shift.” Poor Nash, the young werewolf David killed in my apartment as a way to provoke me into using magic. He was sweet and had shared a bit about the transition from human to werewolf.

  No hint of softness can be seen in Abe’s features. He’s all hard lines and narrowed eyes. It makes the forced chuckle he gives all the more bitter. “The pain is nothing, Sadie. It hurts, but so what? I look like shit, I can’t work, and that overbearing bastard Alec has nothing but commands that get under my skin. I swear, if I’m even in the same room as him I get edgy.”

  Processing this, I start taking us to a small park on the outskirts of town. It’s technically closed, since it’s after dark, but it isn’t like Abe’s going to arrest both of us for trespassing. The large appeal is that it’s quiet even when it’s open, so I’m betting it’ll be empty now.

  “Thanks, Sadie,” Abe mentions as I park the car. “I’m just not ready for people to see me.”

  “I brought food, if you want to eat out there? Or in the car?” I’m hoping he picks the latter. Even with Ingrid’s jacket on, the air is crisp enough that a picnic wouldn’t be particularly comfortable. “Or, I guess, if this feels weird or too exposed I could take you back to my place.”

  His eyebrow raises and his eyes smolder and my gaze travels along one ruined, sexy cheek. It’s dark in the car, but I know he can sense the heat of embarrassment rising from me. “I didn’t mean it like that, Abe! I meant if you aren’t ready to let people see you, we can just have a night
in. I can’t guarantee no one will be here.”

  When he replies, his already rough voice has a tight, husky tinge to it. “No, Sadie. I need to get over it, and I think I can if you’re here. Just being in the car with you, away from Alec--” he spits the name and I feel the venom of it, “--has helped me feel more like myself than I’ve felt since I was turned.”

  Nodding and unable to think of something worthwhile to say, I lean across the middle to reach in the back seat and grab the Chinese takeout I brought. It brings me close to him, close enough to feel saturated in his pine-and-wild scent and feel the heat rolling off his taut body. He leans into me, pressing more of us together. When I set the food between us, he grabs my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing my knuckles.

  At his touch, there’s…

  Oh, god, don’t hate me. There’s something almost like disappointment. It takes all I have to rally back after flinching for a second, to wall off my initial let down. The fact that it happened, though, sours my mood. His skin is rough and warm, his thick and strong fingers laced tentatively through my own. My hand is tiny compared to his, dwarfed in his gentle hold. Most of my fantasies involving Abe--the ones that stemmed from teenage hormones and long spells of no sex--involve no clothes and some fairly athletic copulation.

  But, ever since realizing he was the one for me, all those years ago when he barely acknowledged my existence, this was another fantasy. Holding hands. Him next to me, his strong frame close to my small one. I’ve always longed for this, because hand holding seems like the ultimate sweet act. The thing that says I’ve got you, you’re mine.

  So why is my stomach not flipping over inside of me? Why is my heart not racing, or my blood singing?

  It’s the goddamn magic, of course. From the first time I used it, mere months ago, it has changed what pleasure is. It’s rewritten my very nerves. When I absorb the soul, the power, from teeth and bone, it creates a wild, potent magic inside of me that feels sexual. Primal. That kind of power ignites me, and this? Holding hands and sitting in silence in a parking lot outside of a park?

  Well, I feel only a shadow of the things I should be feeling.

  And I hate myself for it.

  I tug my hand away to start going through the bag I’ve placed between us. He quickly divvies up chopsticks, snapping the cheap wooden set for me like the gentleman he is, and then offering me first choice between the chicken and beef entrees I chose.

  We dig in, and the street lamp just outside of my car flutters to life. “It’s still on the summer timer,” Abe says before taking another bite of lo mein. “Should’ve switched on when the sun went down.”

  “Huh,” is all I manage, because is there an interesting or encouraging response to the topic of delayed street lamp timers? What the lamp does do is light up his face, the shadows it casts on his scars making them appear deeper and more obvious. My eyes keep drifting to his ravaged neck and face. Setting my container down, I reach out and touch a scar. Immediately, he flinches away.

  “Did I do something wrong? You let me touch your face before, in Alec’s study.”

  “I’m still adjusting to being hideous, Salty. It’s not something I can just get over. I thought coming out with you would help me forget it, but you look so sexy and you brought me dinner and all I can think of is you’re having to park with someone so ugly.”

  “Hey,” I say, trying to sound smooth and placing my hands over his fists, now balled in his lap. “It’s not about how you look.”

  As if my touch scalds him, Abe jerks his hands from under mine. “You don’t have to do this, Sadie,” he spits. But he won’t look at me. “I know we said all those things when we were locked up, but I don’t expect you to follow through on it just because… because…”

  “What?” I can’t help it. I burst into laughter. “You think I’m here because I feel obligated?”

  His gaze does meet mine this time. His blue eyes are large and so much more telling than they’ve ever been. I can see his pain and hurt and worry in the blue. “Of course. I mean, look at me. Look at how you reacted when you saw me. I’m never going to be the same, you know.”

  “Oh, Abe,” I murmur. “You big, stupid dude. You know I was staring at you because I think you’re crazy hot, right? You know that this makes you rugged and sexy in a dangerous way?”

  “You don’t have to lie,” he rasps, but I can see the tiny lift of hope. “Your heart’s been speeding since you picked me up, and you flinched when I took your hand. It kills me to know that you’re afraid of me, but I can’t blame you. I’m a monster now.”

  My heart aches so suddenly, so violently for him that it feels like it could squeeze itself out of existence in my chest. “Abe, you do know that women’s hearts speed up when they’re attracted to you, too?” Taking a deep breath, I know I need to explain more. “I’m sorry about pulling away. It isn’t fear. Or, if it is, it isn’t fear of you. But since we’re talking about the time in the cages, remember that I told you how long I’ve wanted you. For years. And then you said you liked me too. But all the shit went down and Alec wouldn’t tell me anything about how you were. I’ve spent the past few months wondering if you’d ever forgive me for having Henry turn you.”

  His stunned look makes me pause. This is a kind of deep honesty I don’t think I’d known I could have with anyone who wasn’t Ingrid. “Abe, I’m so happy you’re here. You do look and sound different. Henry told me wolves could tell if I lie. So believe me when I say that I have been thinking inappropriate thoughts about you since Alec agreed to let us come on a date.”

  My heart is pounding and my blood hot and this is the reaction I should have had when he grabbed my hand. The need that’s building between my legs is shameful, but he’s sitting there with his blond hair long and messy and those scars that are practically begging to be licked and--

  A smile spreads on Abe’s face. It manages to convey relief and ridiculous male pride all in one go. He reaches out and clasps my hands again. This time I don’t flinch.

  “Well hell, Salty. Maybe I should’ve just let you bring me to your place.”

  The prickle of my blush is only softened by my stomach growling. We laugh and pick our food containers back up, swapping this time. As we dig in, I tell Abe about Ingrid’s pregnancy. His look darkens at the mention of David, but he remains a good listener. There are hints of the old Abe, the pre-wolf Abe, that shimmer through. A joke here, a snarky jab there. Inside, the worry that I hadn’t realized was coiled tight begins to unwind. Alec, Henry, Benji… all of them made me think Abe was going to be too different to know.

  But he’s the same. Just with a raspier voice and a more rugged look.

  “Let’s go to Tiffany’s,” I suggest.

  “It’s late, Sadie. She’s probably closed.”

  “She’s up, I promise. And she’ll open for us.”

  “Okay,” he says. “But let me pay for it. You’ve brought the food, I’ll get dessert.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I reply. “I’m the one who asked you out, and I know you can’t work right now.”

  Abe’s laugh is gravelly and sexy. “Sadie, I’m a responsible adult. I had money saved up for emergencies before. I just never suspected my emergency would be one of a canine variety.”

  Right. Of course he has savings and isn’t living paycheck to measly paycheck. It is impressive and just a tad obnoxious, but I give him a thumbs up. A thumbs. Up. What is wrong with me? Why am I such a complete dork?

  He gives me a curious look but lets me drive him down to her tiny bakery. I know Alec would be tearing his hair out and planning my demise if he knew I was taking Abe somewhere “public,” but in my defense it’s late. And it’s a bakery run by Fae. So I doubt we’ll see people and I think if he can be in a space that’s not so protected, maybe he can start acclimating to his new image. It feels like he can handle it, and it’ll help him understand Grimloch a bit better, too.

  The closed sign is up and the lights are low. The parking
lot is empty when we arrive, a good sign. We get out, though it takes Abe a minute and some deep breaths to exit the car. He keeps his head down as we walk to the front door. I knock.

  “There’s no one in there,” Abe says. “And if a cop car sees us, they’ll think we’re casing the building.”

  I want to ask him about when he’s going to go back to work. I know Alec would want me to. But he’s relaxing for the first time, and I can see glimpses of joy in his face. Any mention of work or Alec is going to shadow that and I don’t have the heart to do it.

  Fortunately, I don’t have to. Tiffany appears at the door. I mean that literally. One second there was no one and the next second, Tiffany, with her soft, baker’s body and generous smile, is there, peeking out at us. Abe jumps back with a shout and I giggle.

  The door rattles as she unlocks it. “Sadie?”

  “I was wondering if you wanted a trade,” I say. Fae don’t do favors. A favor with a fairy is a debt you’ll never pay off. But a trade is safe, and they love a good barter.

  The door opens wider. She sees Abe and her smile blossoms to its fullest. “My word, Abraham Murray. Those wolves have kept you locked away for too long. Come give me a hug!”

  His eyes are wide and begging for an explanation, but he walks over and gives our local brownie baker a hug. Most brownies are known for cleaning. They keep the neatest, spic-and-span spaces you’ve ever seen. Tiffany has a knack for baking and her kitchen has never received a single complaint from the health inspectors. “Um, I’m sorry, Ms. Tiffany,” he says, more of a drawl coming out than normal. “I didn’t know you were, uh… well, what are you?”

  “Brownie. Fae.”

  “Right, of course.” Like he did when we were caught by David, he takes this new information in stride.

  “Now,” Tiffany says, putting her hands on her hips. “Tell me what kind of trade you’re looking for.”