Page 9 of Feral
He finally glanced over and frowned. “What?”
“I’m just trying to figure out if it’s really possible for someone to have so little self-awareness.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“Think whatever you want,” she said, shrugging it off. “Marissa might be a stone cold bitch, but she’s got nothing on you when it comes to cruelty.”
She expected him to argue, not the extended silence that followed. When she turned to look at him, the pensive look on his face was even more unexpected.
Could he seriously be that clueless? Did he really not know that he, more than Emily or Marissa or anyone else, was the one who’d made her life before the Academy so miserable?
She was about to say something when he pulled into a downtown parking garage and announced that they’d arrived. Ella reluctantly followed him into the mall, deciding that maybe the Uber back was a good idea, after all. She didn’t trust herself not to lose her temper with Axel, but getting real with him was far more of a concern.
“You can go do whatever,” she finally said, catching sight of the department store she usually went to on the rare occasion she went clothes shopping, since they always had sales. Emily had given her a card filled with her “allowance” for books and other supplies she’d need at the Academy. Ella was sure she was only doing it to save face, but it was nice to have some financial independence, however small it was.
“You’re not seriously thinking of going in there, are you?” Axel asked, his nose wrinkling in distaste as he looked up at the department store sign like it was oozing with filth.
“Why not?”
Axel gave her a judgmental once-over. “You really do need help,” he snorted, taking off in the other direction. “Come on,” he said without looking back.
Ella stood in indecision, torn between the instinct to follow him and the pride that made her want to march off in the opposite direction. Then again, he seemed to take defiance as foreplay, and for all his vices, a lack of fashionability wasn’t one of them. Maybe if her after-school wardrobe was a bit more posh, the other students would give her a break.
She reluctantly followed him, deciding it was the fastest way to get in and out. It was no surprise he led her to the most expensive clothing shop in the entire mall. It was one Ella would never have considered setting foot inside. The kind staffed with salespeople who made her feel like a shoplifter just by existing even though she’d never so much as stolen a button in her life. Axel just breezed in like he owned the place.
Just like everyone else, the sales staff immediately gravitated to him like satellites. “Welcome to Westaff’s,” said a young brunette woman, coming up to greet them. “How can I help you today?”
“You can start a dressing room,” Axel answered, directing her as authoritatively as he commanded the staff at home. He sifted through one of the racks before picking up a dress that didn’t earn a scowl of disgust and handed it to the saleswoman without so much as a glance.
“Right away,” she said, scurrying off.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ella hissed. “You can’t talk to people like that.”
Axel looked up as if he had no idea what she was talking about. There were already a few items of clothing draped over his arm, none of which Ella would’ve ever picked out for herself. She was beginning to think letting him help was a bad idea, even though she hadn’t exactly asked. Given his taste in women, she highly doubted he had any idea how to dress a body that wasn’t tall and model thin.
“Like what?”
“Like they exist to wait on you,” she answered, in disbelief that she even had to explain this to him. She’d always just assumed that his behavior was born of an intentional desire to be as much of an ass as possible in any given situation, but she was starting to entertain the possibility that it was cluelessness.
Considering the people he’d been raised by, maybe it was more than just a possibility.
“She’s a salesperson,” he said flatly. “She’s literally here to wait on us.”
Ella didn’t have a sufficient retort for that, but she wasn’t willing to back down. “Still. It wouldn’t kill you to say ‘please’ once in a while.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind in the future.”
Somehow, she doubted that, but she was more concerned with the amassing collection of clothes draped over his arm. “Do you even know what size I am?”
He looked her over unabashedly. “Twelve in dresses and skirts, medium in tops and bottoms, right?”
Ella’s cheeks grew red hot, and she found herself at a loss for how to respond to his uncomfortably accurate assessment. He walked over to the saleswoman before she had the chance.
“Put these in the dressing room,” he said, handing the stack of clothes over to the woman. He glanced Ella’s way and put on a forced smile as he added, “Please.”
Ella groaned inwardly. At least it was a start.
Before Axel could pick out anything else, she walked into the dressing room. She doubted anything was going to be passable, but the sooner they left, the better.
