Page 50 of Nightmare For Hire
Her eyes go wide and she shakes their head. “No. No. That—”
“Have you left them?”
“We live together.”
My stomach shadows flop. Not good. “What would you like the end result to be? Mind you, I can’t guarantee anything except for scaring him with nightmares.”
“That’s what I want.”
“Hey, what can I get for you?” Trish says as she walks up with a pen and pad to take our orders.
“Water please,” Candy says.
“You can order whatever you want,” I say.
She bobs her head. “Waffles.”
“Me, too!” Once Trish leaves us, I lean in. “Tell me what you can. It’ll help me get a better understanding of what I’m working with.”
And she does, painting a picture of abuse three years long. Her ex is another human, but has been cheating on her through the Monster Match app. Which should make things easy on me.
I pay for our food and before we leave, I stop her to say, “No charge. I want to toy with this asshat. But in the meantime, you need to either let me help you find new housing or figure it out. Because you can’t stay with him.”
“I know. I’m trying. My sister said I can come stay with her until I can get on my feet, but…” She shakes her head.
“Candy, you gotta take care of yourself.” I let a bit of shadows snake around her ankle. I want to make sure she does what I’ve asked, and to keep nightmares at bay. “You deserve not to live in fear because of this guy.”
She bobs her head again and scurries away. Before she can make it through the door, she turns. “Thank you.”
I give her a tiny wave. Before I can blink out of the diner to find this evil person that’s been giving Candy problems, Mick shows up.
“You!” He points to me, making everyone stare at me. “You stole Cyrus from me!”
“I did nothing of the sort. You broke up with him to play games. I scooped him up.”
“I paid you—”
“With tinsel.” I dig the box from my purse and dump the silver strands on the floor. I’ll have to remember to clean it up before I leave.
“That is unicorn hair!”
“What’s all the commotion?” Leon comes out from the kitchen. “Everything okay, Nox?”
“No!” Mick screams. “He’s stolen my fated mate!”
Leon looks to me. “Is that true?”
I shrug. “Mick broke up with him. Cyrus ismyfated mate.”
“Impossible,” Mick sneers. “He’s mine and you’ll give him back like you weresupposed to.”
“I never agreed to that. He’s his own person. If he wants you, he’ll go back to you. But you toyed with his emotions, treated him like trash, and raped him repeatedly.”
Several gasps ring out from our audience.
“I did not! Don’t shame me for using my mer magic.”
“I’m not shaming you. I’m stating facts.” I stomp closer until we’re toe to toe. I can’t stop the shadows from licking at the corners of the diner and drawing close to everyone. No doubt my eyes are pitch black by the way Mick steps back.
