Page 18 of Hellfire & Tinsel
He’d tried Beau’s cookies, and the plan was to make more when they got home, but Kassel had also eaten raw bacon, so it was very confusing.
Kassel seemed surprised to be asked. He picked up a nearby package of noodles with his claws and brought it up to his face to read. “It says there are all-new flavors. Is there anything that has the taste of flesh?”
Beau’s mouth dropped open. Well, it was to be expected wasn’t it? He racked his brain desperately for a solution. “If you put in uncooked meat, maybe? Like the bacon.”
Two of Kassel’s eyes moved over to him while the rest continued to read. “Where is more of this meat?”
Beau pointed ahead to a sign.
“I need to get a small turkey anyway. We can grab some more bacon and look for something else you’d like as well?” Kassel nodded and Beau lit up. “Great!”
“Excuse me?”
Beau startled, spinning around to find an employee behind him. At the end of the aisle there was a lady who was clearly staring with pursed lips and a disapproving gaze.
“Yes?” Beau asked in confusion.
“We’ve had reports that you’re causing a disturbance,” the employee said, frowning.
Beau shifted on his feet and glanced around uncomfortably. “A disturbance?”
“Some customers reported that there was a person ‘raving’ to themselves.”
He glanced back over his shoulder briefly and it was clear who had ‘reported’ it. Beau flushed bright red, embarrassment drowning him in a sticky pool all at once, clinging with no hope of escape. He must have looked insane. Pitiful. Strange. Just like he’d thought.
Their gazes told him that.
Shame made him burn. Made it hard to reach for a logical excuse or lie to defend himself with to play it off. That he was on a call, that he’d just dropped his earbud, there was any number of possibilities, but they failed to reach his tongue.
“I… I’m sorry. I won’t do it anymore.”
The employee seemed taken aback by his quick agreement and apology, maybe expecting an argument or a fight. “Uh… if you do it again you’ll have to be escorted out.”
Beau nodded silently and the employee hesitated a moment before walking back toward the lady, who had drawn herself up to argue.
Beau blew out a breath.
“Shall I kill them for you?”
Beau spun around to look at Kassel. He seemed completely sincere, and Beau waited for the offer to warm him through like the others had. Not because he’d ever want it, but because it showed Kassel cared. But the sadness had seeped in now, frost and ice clinging to his bones that refused to be thawed.
He pushed the cart hastily out of the aisle, as far as he could get as he reprimanded himself.
Here he was with someone who was protecting him. Who cared about his wants and needs, even if it was just because of a summoning. He wasn’t alone anymore… but from the outside perspective, he still was.
Alone. Unwanted. Undesirable.
Crazy.
He didn’t want to care what others thought about him. He wanted to be content with just this. But his greedy soul was a vacuum that felt like it could never be satisfied. It had been starved for too long.
Kassel kept pace with him easily, not even breaking a sweat. “You are upset.”
“I’m not,” Beau denied, voice watery and low. “I can’t talk to you in here anymore. People think I’m weird.”
Kassel hummed, a deep rumble of a sound, before Beau was being picked up with a single arm around his waist and hoisted through a Staff Only door. It was dark back here, a type of back room with stacks of groceries on metal shelves. Beau was sure they would be found at any moment, but right now it was silent.
“Explain,” Kassel said, not letting his feet hit the floor.
