Page 32 of A Touch Of Death

"Yeah- oh, wait! Left my hat upstairs. Give me a second." Novia rushes out of the room, and I hear her quiet footsteps hitting each stair as she goes.

As soon as she's out of earshot, I turn to the incubus and ask, "So what's got your head up your ass?"

I hear Nix snort, and Zayn walks away to retrieve the satchel he always leaves the house with, but I focus on the incubus with the sudden attitude problem.

"Nothing. Can we please get this shopping expedition over and done with? I have better things to do with my time."

He makes to move past me, but I put a hand out, resting it on his arm before he moves forward. "Sure seems like a whole lot of attitude for nothing. What's the deal, man?"

Ezra looks down at my hand and back up to my face. I notice his hands light up with the colour of wine, black flecks sparking briefly before his hand goes back to normal. My eyes dart to his, and I catch the deep red hue before they fade back into his usual brown. I drop my hand and move back a step to give him room, but I keep my eyes trained on his. I won't budge from this. He knows me better than that. Knows damn well how stubborn I can be.

Proving my point, the man sighs and looks up at the ceiling before looking back to me with a look I've never seen on him before. He looks forlorn. "I'm going through a few things, okay? Can we leave it at that for now?"

His eyes plead for me to drop it, so I do. I offer him that much. But just as I hear the sound of footsteps hitting the stairs again, I lean in close and whisper, "I'll drop it for now. But whatever shit you're going through, try to keep it away from Novia. She already thinks she's done something wrong. Zayn's heard her question as much."

I catch the stricken look on his face before Novia strolls into the room, putting her red snapback on her head. She looks at me, or rather my hat, and pulls hers off, putting it on backwards like mine. I can't help the laugh that leaves me, and I'm rewarded with a beaming grin.

"Okay. I'm ready."

After Novia's declaration, we all leave and jump into Nix's truck. Nix drives, with Zayn in the passenger side, which leaves Ezra, Novia, and me in the back. It's safe to say the ride isn't a comfortable one, and the silence is damn near deafening. Novia tries to shuffle closer to me, so she isn't butting into Ezra's space, and I shoot a glare at him over Novia's head. He tries to ignore me, but I catch him looking at me from the corner of his eye.

Since we live in the middle of nowhere, it takes half an hour for us to reach the nearest Ikea. We all climb out of the car as soon as Nix parks.

"I'll get the trolley," Zayn says as he walks in front of me.

"What's a trolley?" Novia asks, turning her head to look at me.

Ezra answers her instead. The look of surprise on her face would make me laugh if I didn't understand why she's surprised by Ezra talking to her, given that he's ignored her all day. "It's a shopping cart. Us Brits call them trolleys."

"Huh. Alright then. I learned something new today," she replies, nodding like a bobblehead.

We all pile into the store, Nix taking up the front and power walking like he's on a mission. Has he forgotten we're here for Novia? What's he rushing for?

"Novia, did you have anything in mind that you wanted?" Zayn asks, not far behind Nix. Are the idiots having some sort of competition or something? I don't know why the two of them would be rushing through Ikea of all places.

"Uh, nothing in mind, other than anything grey and white," Novia says, a little uncertain.

Zayn nods, and before I know it, him and Nix have vanished entirely, leaving Novia alone with Ezra and me again.

"I guess you're stuck with us for the time being. Come on, let’s check out the bedding first." I take her hand in mine and trail through the store until we reach the aisle where they sell bed sheets, duvet sets, and everything else to do with a bed. Jesus, how much shit is here? Thankfully, Novia's narrowed her colour preferences down, so we bypass all the bright coloured stuff that gives me a headache just to look at, and stop when we reach the white and grey themed items.

For the next hour, we debate on duvet sets, materials, and everything else I'd never in a million years think I'd find myself debating. Ezra joins in at some point, picking up various cushions and putting the ones Novia pulls weird faces at back on the shelves where they really shouldn’t be displayed for sale. Especially the sequined cushion. How the fuck is that comfortable?

When I ask as much, Ezra says, "It's for decoration, you tit. It's not for sleeping on."

Oh, sure. Like I'm supposed to know that.

Deciding it's better to keep my opinions limited where he's concerned, I turn back to Novia, who's holding up a fluffy grey throw over that matches the one we keep on the couch. "This. This is a must because I'm pretty sure I'll steal the one on the couch otherwise."

She says it with a sly smile, and again, I laugh. Something I'm doing more and more of since she landed in our lives. I wasn't ever a smiler, not really having much of reason to do so before. But now? Any time thefae isaround, it's all I seem to be doing. But I find that I don't mind one bit. In fact, I'm growing rather addicted to it.

And...to Novia.

Chapter 16

Novia

An hourlater, after picking and choosing - and a great deal of debating with Ezra - we realise we should have brought a shopping cart of our own. I have no idea where Nix and Zayn went, but they sped off like the devil was chasing them and haven't returned.

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