He barked out a laugh. “Yes, and you know what my choices were? A rose and a tree. I just couldn’t decide which, soooo why not combine it into a fruit tree with so many branches my eyes get dizzy…”
“Er…” I winced at the unreal black ink. “It’s intricate.”
“It’s a pain in my ass.” He shook his head. “Anything peculiar today or are you ready to go home?”
“Home?” I repeated and then checked my watch. “No way! I didn’t realize I worked overtime, I’m so sorry. I can—”
He shook his head. I stopped talking.
With a gulp, I pointed behind me. “I’ll just be leaving, see you tomorrow.”
He stood. “I’ll drive, just let me grab my keys.”
And that was how for the second night in a row, my very sexy and peculiar boss took me to my apartment, only this time in a jet black Tesla with red seats.
Oddly, it fit him.
I wasn’t sure how I knew that, just that it made sense.
We were at my apartment within minutes. I was just about to say thank you when he parked, got out of the car, opened my door, and then escorted me to the front door.
We were silent. My apartment was on the second floor, so we took the stairs, and all the time I wondered what his end game was, my safety or curiosity, or worse, something else?
I finally made it to my door, ready to shove my key in the lock, and nearly passed out when I noticed the door was ajar.
“Son of a bitch.” He kept cursing as he shoved the door open, revealing several red eyes staring right back at both of us, all of them belonging to men with gorgeous model like faces, which honestly seemed more out of place then the red eyes.
Maybe they had the wrong apartment?
Maybe they weren’t here to…
“Massster.” The blond one fell to his knees. “We are at your service.”
What. The. Hell.
“We did not know!” Another eyed me nervously, then focused on Timber. “We apologize, we could no longer smell the mark of—”
Timber held up his hand; it was shaking, he clenched it into a fist and then lost his ever-loving shit as he charged the one bowing, kneeing him in the face, kicking him backward and slamming his fist into his jaw. I heard a crack, and then I closed my eyes and plugged my ears—not that it helped, I heard every scream of pain, every broken bone, and then I was surrounded by Timber’s scent as he picked me up into his arms and carried me back down the stairs and deposited me into the waiting Tesla.
I was shaking uncontrollably as he pulled out his cell. “Tarek, go to her apartment, let the council know about the bodies.” He shot me an apologetic glance. “Have Alex incinerate them—I don’t care that they have no souls, they made their choice when they walked in!” He growled out something in another language. “Just do it! I’m taking her to my place, grab her a bag, whatever has her scent on it the most, you take that—” He covered the phone with his hand. “Any valuables you need? Things from your childhood you have stored that you don’t want destroyed?”
I opened my mouth, closed it, and then gripped my silver sunshine necklace. “I’m w-wearing it.”
“Smart girl,” he muttered then barked more orders at Tarek.
He hung up and turned on the heat, then reached across the console and placed his hand on my left thigh, it was bare. I almost jumped anticipating the icy cold of his fingertips, instead they felt warm, they felt soft.
I relaxed a bit, still panicking on the inside.
Still wondering what he meant about incinerate.
After ten minutes, I finally found my voice. “Who were those men?”
Timber wiped a hand down his face and kept driving and then slammed his hands against the steering wheel. “Not human.”
Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside me. “Yeah, okay, and you’re the abominable snowman!”
The light turned red. He pulled to a stop and gave me such a menacing look that I leaned back against my door, and then his eyes matched the stoplight, flashing so red that it was impossible to hold the scream in. “No, sweetheart, I’m way worse than that. I am the damned.”