Page 16 of Horn in My Side
The scream lit up every danger instinct in his body and he whirled around.“What the—” He grabbed the bat that was aimed at his head and pulled it away from the assailant.“Who are—Jasmine?”
Big brown eyes grew even larger as she stared up at him, hands still raised while the rest of her remained frozen.“M-Mal?”
He lowered his arms.“What are you doing here?”
“I ...I ...”Color returned to her ashen face as her hands dropped to her sides.“I saw the door open and thought someone had broken in.”
His blood pressure went up a few notches.“You thought someone broke in here and you brought abat?”His claws raked through his hair.“What if I had been a robber?Or armed?Next time, call the police.”If she had been hurt ...
Her nostrils flared.“There wasn’t any time, and I panicked.But how did you get in here?TheEMTs said the counterforce spell they used would only last two hours and then the house would lock itself again.”
“The locking spell recognized me as the blood heir since I own the place now.”
“Blood—oh.Right.”She bit at her lower lip.“I’m so sorry.I was just ...I thought ...”
“It’s fine,” he said with a grunt.
“That morning Vrig passed was the last time I was in here.”As her gaze roamed around the kitchen, she ran a finger over the granite countertop.“They took his bo—him away, but I stayed.There were dirty dishes in the sink and I couldn’t just leave them there.I also threw out the trash, and there was stuff in the fridge that would go bad so I tossed that out too.I thought I would do the laundry, but ...”Her pretty face went blank as all emotion drained out.Or not, and it was something else entirely—the processing of grief.
“Why?”he asked, not knowing what to say.
She snapped out of her trance.“Why what?”
“Why did you clean?”
“I don’t know.It seemed ...It was the right thing to do.Except for that”—she pointed at the desk overflowing with papers—“he liked everything neat and orderly.”
From what Mal had seen today, Vrig didn’t seem as if he had any other social interactions except for when it was related to the shop or the pets.He was obviously fond of Jasmine as well, and she of him.He was glad that in the final years of his life Vrig was not so isolated or lonely.
She inhaled a sharp breath.“Anyway ...I suppose you’re selling the house too?”
“Yeah.But I’m moving in here for now, while I get stuff sorted.”
“I see.Oh.”Her shoulders sagged.“I guess you’re my landlord now too.”
“Landlord?”
“Vrig rented me the small apartment over the garage.”She jerked her thumb behind her, pointing toward the window over the kitchen sink.“I have last month’s rent check ready, by the way.There’s money in the bank.I didn’t spend it when Vrig passed.”
“R-rent check?”Somehow, his brain was still processing the idea that Jasmine was living here.Well, not here inside the house, but less than twelve feet away from where he too would be eating and sleeping and spending most of his days.
“Uh-huh.”She covered her mouth with her hand.“I should have brought the check instead of a bat.Let me get it now.”
“No, you don’t have to—”
But she was already gone, scampering away through the back door like a spooked rabbit.He could only stand there, trying to figure out what had scared her off.Did she not realize that, aside from the shop, Vrig would have left him the house too?Or maybe she had a different thought—he would evict her the first chance he got.
That would be the rational and logical thing to do; he didn’t want to be further tied down here and being a landlord was more trouble than it was worth.Besides, he doubted that Vrig had a rental contract with Jasmine either, and that might complicate things even more when he started looking for buyers.So, yes, he would have to evict her eventually.
However, as his gaze strayed back to the pile of papers, to the selfie of Vrig and Jasmine on top, he knew he couldn’t just kick her out of the garage apartment.Jasmine had done right by Vrig all these years, even now after his death.Vrig would want his friend to be taken care of.
I’ll tell her she can stay until the house is sold.Which won’t be until he settled things with the shop anyway, so it would give her plenty of time to find somewhere else to stay.
The sound of footsteps and a softswishcaught his attention.A small, rectangular piece of paper now lay under the back door, likely slipped under the crack.He pulled the door open, but there was only empty air.Up ahead, a light in the small window over the garage switched on.
With a grunt, he picked up the check.
Chapter Five
