Page 20 of Killer Kiss

“Jez…”

She distractedly pressed her bleeding finger to her apron. “Sorry. No. Haven’t seen Eddie in years, and I’d like to keep it that way.” She shuddered with revulsion. “That guy is the worst.”

My stomach churned. Jez having a visible reaction to Eddie’s name was disturbing. Jez was the biggest badass I knew. She was similar to Vincent at times, with a quiet intensity that was terrifying, but she was also loyal and sweet and fearless.

The bell over the door tinkled again, and Jez stiffened beside me. I glanced over at her curiously, taking in the whites of her eyes and the knife she reached for that I knew was taped beneath the desk.

One look at Riddick standing in the doorway reminded me Jez was almost fearless. There was only one person she was truly scared of.

The one she shared DNA with.

Riddick spotted me at the counter with his sister, and a wide grin spread across his handsome face. “Little Ophelia. Is that you?”

I wondered if he knew how bad his acting was. It was clear he’d known I’d be here, though I didn’t know how. I hadn’t seen anyone following me, but Riddick was as good as they came. I wouldn’t have seen him unless he wanted me to.

I glanced at Jez. “You didn’t tell me he was back in town.”

“I was trying to forget,” she whispered back.

Riddick came over and leaned his elbows on the countertop, propping his head up in his hands. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you it’s rude to whisper?”

Neither of us dared to say a word, so Riddick took that as his cue to keep on talking.

“Need to talk to Ophelia, sis. Beat it.”

She stared at him, pulling her shoulders back to square off with him. “This is my shop. I’m not leaving it. I have customers.”

He leaned in closer to her, his irritation at her defiance clear in his expression.

But when he spoke, his voice was as polite as an altar boy at church on a Sunday. “Oh, ma’am?” he called to the customer Jez had left pondering bouquets. “Do you like those red and white flowers?”

The woman glanced over at him and did a double take. I couldn’t blame her. Riddick wasn’t exactly easy on the eye. He was huge at over six and a half feet. Eyes too close together. Lips small. Thickly muscled with a face only a mother could love. Though I knew their parents were no more loving than mine.

“Oh, yes,” the woman stuttered. “They’re very nice.”

Riddick ran his finger along the edge of the countertop. “They’d be lovely on your coffin.”

The woman jerked back. “Excuse me?”

“Coffee.” He pointed at the two to-go cups sitting by the cash register. “My sister here always says she loves fresh flowers on the table while she drinks her morning coffee. Such a soothing way to start the day, don’t you think?”

The woman clearly didn’t want to believe what she’d heard the first time around. The frown lines on her forehead melted away as she silently talked herself out of her panicked state. I sighed. People always did this. It was so rare for someone to actually be attacked completely out of the blue. More often than not, people gave you warning signs, showing their true colors.

Yet most people ignored that gut instinct that something wasn’t right.

The woman laughed, picking up the red-and-white bunch and bringing them to the counter for Jez to ring up. “Oh, of course. Yes. Sorry, I thought you said something entirely different. My hearing…”

Was perfectly fine.

But that was Riddick’s favorite game to play and always had been. He lived for making others uncomfortable in whatever way he could. Right now he was practically sucking in deep breaths of the concern wafting off this woman. Even I could tell she was on the verge of running out of the store with a scream bubbling up her throat.

She should. If she had any idea what the three of us did in our spare time, she’d run away and never look back.

Jez took the flowers and tried giving the woman a warm smile, but that had never really been Jezebel’s forte either. The woman rolled her head back and forth, while Riddick practically salivated, watching like it was an invitation to snap it.

The bell rang again, and a young woman walked in with two friends.

Riddick’s eyes lit up like light bulbs.

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