Page 37 of Incubus
As soon as the door closed, Nathan fell back against the wall. He could breathe again, but his breaths came shallow. He was shaking, and his heart was beating so fast, he had been certain Sasha would hear it. Bringing up both hands, he ran them hard through his hair.
He had let a fae back him into a corner. He had let an incubus kiss him.
And he had liked it.
“Shit,” Nathan said, swallowing low against the pounding of his heart. “I am so…fucked.”
Chapter 14
Winterhadmanagedtoemerge while Nathan, Jim, and Sasha were tracking down and killing the succubus in Minneapolis. Even small town Crofton, Nebraska, was chilly with the promise of snow. Nathan felt the cold deeper in his bones than he could remember over recent years, as if there was something particularly sharp in the air around him.
The local general store was almost colder than the weather outside. Nathan kept the collar of his jacket turned up despite being a good distance from the freezer section. The pretty brunette behind the flower counter seemed oblivious to the chill in the store, completely at ease as she smiled shyly at Nathan and batted her eyes.
“So, I hear some pretty crazy stuff went down the other day. You working when it happened?” Nathan asked with a warm smile.
Crofton had recently had a string of outbursts from otherwise law-abiding citizens. What had started as rambunctiousteenagers and a small crime wave had turned into several attempted rapes and two murders all in a matter of days.
The town’s most recent death had happened right where Nathan was standing.
“Well…actually…” the girl spoke in a hushed voice, her dark brown eyes darting from side to side. “We’re not supposed to talk about it.”
The nametag 'Becca' stared back at Nathan as the girl leaned forward. She was average in build but cute for a recent high school graduate. When she leaned her upper body further onto the glass counter, the curves of her bust line were hard to ignore.
Nathan knew better than to stare, but the reflection in the glass worked well in his favor. “Must have been scary.” he said. “You, just trying to do your job, which you work so hard at, and then some guy comes in waving a gun around.”
There was the slightest blush creeping into the girl’s cheeks. “He's the last guy you would have expected it from, either. In fact…no, I…I really shouldn’t say anything.” She stood back up and crossed her arms over her chest.
Nathan was losing her. He tried to think of something else but, before he could say anything, a familiar voice interrupted them.
“Hitting on the help again,honey?”
Nathan tensed at the endearment, and tensed further when Sasha slipped up behind him and hooked an arm snugly around his waist.
“Were you two talking about the whole murder thing? Crazy, right?” Sasha said. His attention was focused on the girl behind the counter, who dropped her arms and stared at them.
Sasha’s proximity and the overly bright and energetic tone to his voice had Nathan momentarily stunned.
“We were on our way here when we first heard about it,” Sasha said, squeezing Nathan closer against him. “Almost turned right around. But I hate to be bullied out of something I've beenlooking forward to. We'd been trying to find time for a little getaway for ages. Right, Nate?”
“Uh…”
“So…you two…?” Becca pointed back and forth between them. The blush had crept down her neck and a mischievous smile was tugging at her lips.
“Uh, we’re not…” Nathan tried to say, whiletryingto push Sasha away from him.
Sasha ignored Nathan’s vain attempts to outdo his strength. "It just gives me the creeps,” he said. “Some armed robber coming in and getting gunned down. We deal with that enough in the city, thank you."
Becca leaned forward over the counter again, inhibitions somehow banished with Sasha’s arrival. “Well, to tell you the truth, he wasn't gunned down," she said. "It was way creepier than you’d think. Mrs. Barnes was in here before the guy showed up, and she was buying like everything in the store. She was here at my counter having me wrap up all the roses when he came in. That's Mr. Jonas from the bank. Nicest guy in the world. Wife, kids. He comes in trying to steal all this stuff Mrs. Barnes is buying, right? Came right up to the flower counter too, and she just...I don't know, flipped out. Even with Mr. Jonas swinging that gun around, it was like she didn't even care. She tackled him to the ground and knocked the gun right out of his hand."
"So this Mrs. Barnes picked up the gun and shot him?" Nathan asked.
Becca shook her head. "That's the really gross part. He was on the ground and she just...dug her stiletto heel right into his forehead.Awful.” She shuddered. “Looked like a gunshot when it was done, but...I saw it happen. She didn't even clean all the gore off of her ugly green heel when they were wheeling him away on a stretcher. It was like she was proud of it or something. I tell you, I almost quit right then, but I need the money forcollege. I can't wait to get out of this town. I bet you guys have it way better in the city." She looked at them as a pair just as adoringly as she had looked at Nathan solo.
Nathan would have expected more wariness out of a teenage girl from a small town, especially with the way Sasha was hanging all over him. He didn't understand this new breed of teenage girl at all.
“Personally, I'd take Manolos over a pair of green pumps," Sasha said, "but even I wouldn’t kill for something like flowers and a few groceries. And I’ve been known to get pretty vicious during a sale. Embarrasses the hell out of my Nate here.”
My Nate? And what the hell are Manolos?
