Page 15 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
Well, this wasn’t going quite as well as I’d hoped. I waved the man and the dogs into the shop, and the owner let us through, still looking dumbfounded. He did close and lock the door behind us though.
“Alright. Tell me everything,” the coffee shop owner said.
Humans—they always wanted explanations and shit. I sighed. At this rate I’d never get back to the house to see what Toby was up to.
Chapter 7
Toby
Iwas probably a little drunk. Maybe. Buzzed at the least.
“I can’t believe the serial killer kissed you,” Sebbie muttered.
“Yup,” I replied, popping the p dramatically. “Right at the kitchen island. Smooch. Lots of really good kissing.”
“I thought we decided he was a military operative?” Josh cut in.
Sebbie just waved his hand dismissively. He might’ve been a little buzzed too.
Josh snorted. We were sprawled across my living room, all drinking. They had both taken a rideshare over to my house, but I don’t think Josh had drunk more than a half a glass of wine.
“Refills!” I called out, standing up.
“Nah, I’m good,” Josh answered.
Sebbie pouted. “Party pooper. Barely drinking, and you’ve been on your phone for half the night. Is someone dying or something?”
I almost spurted the wine I’d been drinking out my nose, and I choked a bit, coughing out, “Sebbie!”
Sebbie just shrugged. “What? Like I haven’t noticed that I’m super bad luck,” he murmured glumly.
“You are not!” I insisted. “You’re our bestest friend in the whole world, and we’ve had all sorts of good things happen. Like Serial Killer Neighbor kissing me!”
I walked over and smacked Josh in the arm. He flinched and grabbed his arm, but I really hadn’t smacked him that hard. “Sorry,” I murmured.
He just smiled at me then turned to Sebbie. “You’re not bad luck, Sebbie. You tried to save that guy’s life. It’s not your fault that he diedorthat the guy you were on a date with was an asshole. We’ve all had asshole dates. Don’t let it get to you.”
“I guess so,” Sebbie muttered. “Still, you gotta admit, lots of people end up getting injured around me. Or dying.”
“Well, maybe you’re really a super powerful warlock who has the ability to save lives so the magical entity that controls the world keeps throwing injuries into your path,” I said. “Ohh, or maybe you’re being watched by a super secret society, and they’re ascertaining your power level before they recruit you for their world-saving missions. Or—”
“And we’ve lost him to plotting,” Josh cut in.
I ignored him and started looking around for my notebook. Or my phone. I should totally write some of these ideas down.
“Yup, we have,” Sebbie laughed. “And yeah, I know there’s plenty of guys out there. I’m just on a string of bad luck in the dating department. But seriously, Josh, what’s up with you?”
I stopped searching around for my phone and looked at Josh. Sebbie was right—Josh had been off tonight.
It was Josh’s turn to sort of shrug. “Rick and I are just having a little disagreement.”
Sebbie and I looked at each other. Neither of us liked Rick. At all. The guy was just an asshole. He was loud and rude, and it seemed like he was constantly putting Josh down in the guise of joking around. We tried not to butt into each other’s love liveswithout being asked, though. I’m sure Josh knew we weren’t fond of Rick, but we tried for his sake.
“Everything ok?” I asked. “You wanna talk about it?”
“Not really,” Josh admitted. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. It just has me out of sorts tonight. I’m sorry if I’m a party pooper.”
“Pfft,” Sebbie spit out, waving his arm haphazardly. “You can always be a party pooper with us, Josh. We’re your besties. If you can’t poop at parties with besties, then who can you party poop with?”
