Page 21 of Stuck with my Frenemy
Chapter Nine
Ebony
The rainbow disaster was up to something.
After I had the most awkward conversation I’d ever had—and I’m stuck with that glittery mess mind you—it was smarter to ignore Cherry while her features strained and twisted like she was about to have a seizure. With one last threatening squint her way, I offered a confused Ash a strained smile and sighed.
“As I was saying before we were rudely interrupted, I personally am a collector. It’s a passion of mine, more like a hobby if you will. Anything that has authentic value will be of interest to me.” One strand of his long hair was lighter than the rest, so I focused on it where it curled over his shoulder instead of meeting his gaze.
“The authenticity of items is something Bernie confirms and understands.” Ash was rolling the bundle of keys between his fingers, which he’d been doing with the same confused expression since Cherry had slapped his chest. “I have no clue about any of it. The reason he drags me along any time he hears about antiques is because he says I have an eye for it.” One side of his lips twitched up, and he cocked his head to the side. “According to my brother, I spot all the diamonds in the rough. Things that are invaluable but not many will be smart enough to look closer at.”
Despite all my misgivings, my gaze lifted to his and the depth of his blue irises pulled me under their spell. I might be many things, but stupid I was not. I could read between the lines of what he was hinting at, and it didn’t sit well with me. When I snooped around his bar, a lot of things distracted me from the magic I felt there, and I had every intention of going back. Standing close to him in the store told me there was no reason to investigate the building or whatever was inside it.
The magic I felt was Ash.
How in all the fucking hell balls could magic come from a human?
I cleared my throat. “Quite a talent if that is true.” Dread filled me when his eyes darkened and his lips parted to speak.
In all the time I’d known Cherry, I’d never been happier than when she decided to be herself before Ash could say anything. I regretted that thought soon after. Lacing her arm through mine, she leaned between us and grinned at Ash, shrouding us in a cloud of some flowery perfume that I learned was her favorite. I wanted to gag.
“Does your gift work on people, too?” She batted her eyelashes, pointedly turning her wide eyes from him to me. “Like noticing someone that has a horrible sense of fashion and doesn’t know what the purpose of a curling iron is?”
“I’m starting to think it works on people, too. One in particular, to be exact.” Ash grinned at her, and I could’ve sworn there was steam coming out of my ears.
“Good to know.” I shoved Cherry away from me. “If we need a walking face detector, we know who to call. About those antiques. Could you show me what your brother has in the store so we don’t waste a trip to the warehouse?”
“Of course.” The line between his brows reappeared, and with a wary glance between Cherry and me, he nodded. “Right this way. If I’m not mistaken, all of it is in one section.”
I followed after him as he moved around the store, the tone of his voice pulling me along like I was a damn puppet. Cherry tried to join us, but one thunderous scowl her way was enough to freeze her in her tracks. The longer she continued with her insanity, the longer it’d take for us to figure out if the brothers had indeed stolen Thor’s hammer. Something nagged at the back of my mind about the whole “touching Ash thing” Cherry had going on earlier, but I pushed it away. Not even Rainbow Disaster would be crazy enough to dish out karma before we were one hundred percent sure they were the thieves.
Many trinkets were sprinkled on the rows of shelving we passed, some of them piled high in a heap, but I had no time to check them out. Maybe after we solved this situation, I could come back and look at some of them that gave off a very faint sense of magic. With that thought spurring me on, I weaved around chests, tables and other pieces of furniture until Ash reached a glass display at the far end of the store.
There was a mirror hanging on the wall above it, and I caught my reflection on it where I was smoothing my ponytail like an idiot. I jerked my hand down just before Ash stopped and turned to see if I had joined him. No matter what Cherry said about my appearance, I wouldn’t let her distract me from my task.
“You can see them through the glass, but if there is anything you’d like to touch, I can get the keys for the display from Bernie.” The human swept his hand in front of the glass. I decided to refer to him as ‘the human’ to establish a semblance of professionalism and stop the insanity of being drawn to him.
It took too long to focus on the items, with too much blinking to clear my vision. My stomach sank to my feet when I realized that everything in the display case could fit in the palm of my hand. A few wooden pieces had carved Norse compasses on them, a handful of cracked bowls had some runes carved, and parts of spears and swords littered the glass rectangle. That was it. And unless someone spelled the huge hammer to look like an arrowhead, it sure as hell wasn’t in the store.
“Umm, I don’t think these are what I had in mind.” Pretending like his piercing gaze was not drilling holes in the side of my face, I ignored him. “I was hoping for some larger objects, something I can hang on a wall maybe? Like a tapestry or a whole weapon, not just a piece of it.”
“Funny you should say that.” Ash snorted softly under his breath. “In the last auction we attended, I picked up a replica that looked pretty cool. I’ll tell Bernie that we are going to the warehouse after all, and you’ll see it there. It was too big to have it in my apartment, so I left it there for now.”
He hurried to find his brother, who still hadn’t returned from the back of the store, while I desperately tried to unglue the tongue from the roof of my mouth. Ash all but confirmed he had the hammer, and deep down I must’ve hoped he would prove my suspicions wrong. That he was not a thief. Or Karma had upped the level of bitch and she’d make me react to every fucker we came across to deliver karma the same way.
I tucked my hands in the pockets of my pants so no one would notice them trembling.
“Here we are,”Bernie muttered as he killed the engine of his car in the middle of the empty space in front of a large, square building.
Like the two hours I had to wait in the store for it to close were not enough, I ended up in the back seat with Cherry on the ride to the warehouse, suffering her pointy elbow in my ribs every time Ash opened his mouth. The gods smiled at her when the car stopped moving because I was about ready to strangle her.
“Oh, dear Cupid, how exciting. Right, Ebs?” The exaggerated wink almost made me change my mind and kill her right there and then. Almost.
“Yeah, so exciting, Cherry. Now get out of the damn car.” My door was open, and I stepped out halfway through my dryly spat-out answer.
Ash joined me a moment later, and two more doors closed with dull thumps in the strange silence. The land where the warehouse stood was open with not a tree in sight, and a chain-link fence stretched from corner to corner around it. With so much room between the neighboring buildings, it stuck out like a sore thumb on the parcel. Dirty square windows poked out at the top, their frosted cubes smudged with dirt and some tar-like substance. Tall walls made out of concrete seemed impenetrable, and two metal double doors urged me forward. I was moving before I could form a conscious thought.
There was magic saturating the air from the second my foot touched the ground.
