Page 87 of Marked By Night

The old woman at the checkout counter seems way too frail to still be working in a grocery store and her eyes widen when she sees us coming. By the time she’s finished, I’m bouncing on my toes to get out because the process is taking forever.

A good forty-five minutes later, Vin is loading the groceries into the back of my car, while I’m checking out the little shopping mall we’re in. My gaze snags on a pet shop sitting in the corner. There’s a sign in the window with a large bone-shaped dog tag that says, ‘Get your engravings here!’

“Hey Vin, would you mind if Hemsworth and I check out the pet store while we’re here?”

His head pops out from the back of the trunk and he looks over at the pet store and shrugs. “I don’t mind at all, Miss.” Ugh. I need to break him from calling me that. “I’ll finish loading these and meet you in there if you’d like?”

“Awesome, thanks, Vin!” I call out, my feet already carrying me toward the store. “How do you feel about getting a dog tag, Hems? Make it official.”

He smiles, in that weird doggy way of his and looks around, making sure we’re alone before he speaks. “Quite mundane, don’t you think?”

I sigh. “Yeah, I know, but humor me, would you?”

“I’m kidding! I think it’s a great idea.” His voice breaks on the last syllable and I look down to see moisture in his eyes.

“Are you crying?”

He scoffs.

Can dogs scoff?

“No! Of course not. It’s my allergies,” he says, holding his head a little higher.

“You’re so fucking cute, Hems,” I say, playfully ruffling his fur.

His face scrunches. “I am not cute. I’m an ancient vessel built to defend my charge.”

“Sure, pup. You keep telling yourself that.” I cackle evilly, pushing the door open to the pet shop. A little bell tinkles as we walk inside.

The cute little employee behind the counter looks over at us with a bright smile. “Hey there! Welcome to Blue Collar pet shop, where we make all pets’ dreams come true!”

Blue Collar pet shop. That’s quite fitting.

The attendant opens the break in the counter and walks through to greet us. “What can I help you with today?” she asks, tucking her long black hair over her shoulder giving me a glimpse of her name tag. Which is a silver dog tag engraved withEmma,and she’s wearing a pair of black Converse like me.

“Nice shoes,” I comment conversationally. She beams back at me, noticing my footwear. “Actually, I need to get a tag engraved for my fam—”Crap.I clear my throat awkwardly. “—I mean my pup here.”

Really need to watch what I say around the humans.

That’s not a phrase I ever thought I’d use in my life.

How the tables have turned.

She barrels on none the wiser to my almost slip up. “Absolutely! Right this way.” The perky woman leads me over to a huge rack of blank tags and tells me to choose one.

Eventually, I settle on a black bone-shaped one. Since the writing will be silver, it reminds me of my marks from the guys. She bends over and gives Hemsworth a few pats on the head, which he eats up like the greedy little bastard he is.

“And what name will I be engraving on the tag?” she asks.

“Hemsworth,” I respond.

This earns me an approving glance and a small laugh. “Very nice. Am I right to assume it’s after the actor himself?”

I nod, shooting her a smirk.

“Which brother?”

I scoff. “Chris, obviously.”

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