Page 28 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
“I could totally be one of his characters,” the guy mumbled, starting to ring up the coffee.
Cassius handed me a cookie, because I always got one, and our hands brushed. He grabbed onto mine, his eyes staring off into the distance for a moment. He looked at me sharply then and sniffed the air.
Q looked just as confused as I was.
“Uh,” I mumbled, because this was weird. Not even like in my head making up stories weird. Just plain old weird.
Cassius let go of my hand and leaned back. “You and Dex, huh,” he said, not even making it a question.
Well, wasn’t that cryptic as hell. Had I told him about my neighbor? Had Josh or Sebbie? He wasn’t a close friend, but we were all friendly with him. Or did I smell like Dex or something? What the hell?
“Uh, yeah?” I said, although I didn’t sound too sure.
“Well, stick with him and you’ll be fine,” Cassius said. Q and I both stared at him. He looked at Q and said, “You know Dex.”
“I do?” the man asked.
“Yes. He came in the other night.”
Q looked confused, and Cassius added, “You know, the same night you came in?” The words seemed to have some kind of weight to them, because the guy flinched.
Then he looked at me, sort of squinted, and he said, “You must be the guy he likes.”
“Wait, he said he likes me?” I asked, suddenly feeling giddy.
Q really did smirk then. “He is one creepy fucking dude,” he said, but it was more respectful than mean.
I smiled at him. “Yeah. It’s so hot, isn’t it?” I asked.
Q chuckled then, and Cassius looked at both of us and just sighed. “Off with you, Toby. Coffee and cookie are on the house. Just stick with Dex, and life will be just fine,” he said, then he started whistling and headed over to wipe down the counter.
Q and I gave each other a look—Cassius was weird, but I was kind of used to it. Apparently Q was too. With that, I took my cookie and headed off to the supermarket.
Hopefully that trip would be less eventful than getting coffee was. I needed chips, and probably some real food too, but I was ready to head back home. Maybe I’d ask Dex to come over for dinner once I actually had groceries in the house. Surely I could manage to cooksomethingwithout burning it.
Chapter 12
Dexter
As soon as I walked in the door, I grabbed my computer and headed out onto my front porch. I sat on the porch swing and started doing some online research, eventually ordering some top of the line security, rush shipping so that it would be here tomorrow for me to install. If I obsessively sniffed the air, well… I was just being cautious.
I could smell a rotting soul miles away, and I’d felt confident at the time telling Toby he could go into town. It wasn’t that far, and I hadn’t sensed anything. But now doubts were starting to creep in. What if the stalker wasn’t fully rotting yet? I hadn’t sensed any decaying souls either, which was actually really rare for a town and one of the reasons Paradise Falls was so welcoming. Usually there were souls who were decaying and could go either way in most towns, but Paradise Falls seemed to genuinely be a good place. I didn’t know if all the demons and angels and the oracle somehow scared off bad souls, but the town smelled nice.
Nevertheless, if the guy had never actually done anything, and if his intentions toward Toby hadn’t turned malicious, then maybe he wouldn’t smell like decay. People had weird and terrible thoughts all the time, and some online bullying andtrolling wasn’t enough to make a soul decay. If that had been the case, I thought the human race would’ve been doomed. But everyone made mistakes, and most humans were redeemable. We only went after the ones who were beyond that point.
At any rate, I still didn’t smell decay, and with how creepy and malicious the stalker seemed, I thought his ill intentions would have affected his soul.
Maybe I should put a tracker on Toby. Just a little one. Surely that was ok, wasn’t it?
I started searching the internet, but it wasn’t long before I realized my next step was going to be dealing with Liam. Not only did he know tech equipment better, but I also needed to get him in on the emails.
I sighed and picked up my phone, but before I could even dial, it rang. I looked at it stupidly for a moment before hitting the green button and grunting into the phone.
“Well hello to you too,” I heard.
“Oracle,” I said hesitantly. “There are no returns allowed.”
He snorted into the phone. “First of all, I have a name, as I told you the other night. Second of all, I’m not returning Q.”
