Page 12 of Tangled Fates

“Willow, Wander and Whitney,” I said excitedly. “How am I supposed to read on this and what are audiobooks?”

Tay kissed my cheek before showing me how to open the device with a four-digit code. The screen changed to a lot of little squares on the screen, a lot more confusing than my little iPod that had five buttons.

“These buttons will take you to the different apps on the phone, like this one has the books I downloaded, and this is the music app,” he said, pushing on the buttons.

This had to be expensive. I knew the human world made all different kinds of technology, but this was something that I had never seen before. My eyes welled with tears.

“Tay, this is too much,” I said, turning around to give it to him, shaking my head.

“Ria, it’s not enough,” he said, pushing it back to me.

“Boss, you need help? The witch is getting antsy.” Loud boots made us split apart.

He grabbed boxes as I hid the phone underneath my worktable, grabbing another box.

“I was making sure we had all the product,” Tay said with a scowl my way.

This is how it had been since we met. Tay was soft, funny and easy with me. His crew knew him to be ruthless, fearless and cunning. He was two sides of a coin that always made my stomach churn when he flipped that switch. It always made me wary of him, but I knew the life he led wasn’t an easy one. To be a leader among thieves you had to be feared more than your subjects' urge to steal. It also kept Mother from getting too suspicious about us.

“It was all there from last time,” I snapped, going along with his charade.

“Take this.” He handed several boxes to the guy.

The man chuckled like he thought Tay was going to do something to me. I glared at Tay like I wasn’t scared, only made easier by not actually being scared of him.

He left the room as Tay flashed by the room grabbing me, slamming me against the wall, but using his hand to make the loud sound while he only pushed me against the wall.

“Listen here,” he snarled, hearing the boots fading away.

“Fuck you!” I yelled.

The man’s chuckle was faint as I wrapped my legs around Tay’s.

“I hate that guy,” he said, grabbing a handful of my ass. “As much as I want to stay and fuck you. Your mother was in a hurry to leave.”

I pouted.

“Don’t give me that look, Ria,” he said, kissing my cheek before letting me down. “Here this also goes with your present.”

He handed me a cord.

“Plug it in to keep it charged like your iPod.” He kissed my cheek again. “Happy birthday,” he said before he walked to the stairs. I grabbed his hand before he could go down.

“Thank you,” I said, keeping the tears at bay. “You make life easier here for me and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

The sound of a growl from up the stairs made me roll my eyes.

A flash of something crossed his face before he gave me a small smile.

“I wish I could give you more,” he said, before walking down the stairs.

I followed him, fixing a scowl on my face before we walked outside.

“We will see you next time,” Tay said to Mother.

She gave him a sultry smile.

“Oh, I’ll be right out,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

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