Page 12 of She is the Darke

“Of picking at me.”

He nodded. “You make me want to play.” He saw that as play? The banter? “You were always around my sister when we were growing up. You were just a part of the house, you know?”

“When your dad wasn’t around. He always thought I was strange.”

“My dad’s opinion of you doesn’t matter, just like your mom’s opinion of me doesn’t really matter.”

“Why do you say that? I love my mom. She does matter.”

“But to my life? If she didn’t like me, it was no skin off my back. I can tell from the way you just took that shot at my dad, you’re bothered that he didn’t like you.”

“Doesn’t like me,” she corrected. “I wanted to work with him first.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “He doesn’t like shifters.”

“No shit. I could tell from the way he signed a petition, and was the one to present it in front of the town council in an attempt to run my Murder out of town.”

Tyler chewed the corner of his lip. “If you know he doesn’t like your kind, why ask him to join your business?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Desperation.”

“Mmm.” He pushed off the counter and strode for the door, slapping the signed contract on the dining table as he passed. “I tried to get my dad for you. He wouldn’t take the bait. You’re stuck with me, Darke.”

That drew her up short. “Wait, what do you mean you tried to get your dad involved?”

“Doesn’t matter. Didn’t work. He’s a stubborn old bastard, and he ain’t movin’ on his opinions of you and your family. Or your Murder, or whatever your crew is called.”

He opened the door, but she called out, “Tyler.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re okay with working with a crow shifter?”

His eyes sparked as he stood up straighter. “You’re still Demi to me.” He grinned. “You’ll always be the annoying little pipsqueak friend of my sister’s. Remember when you two had matching braces together? And glasses?”

She giggled, hung her head, and closed her eyes at the memory. “You want to know the stupidest part about that?”

“You didn’t need the glasses, because shifters have superior eyesight?” he guessed.

“I didn’t need the glasses,” she agreed. “Rachel was talking about how cool her glasses were, and how she wished she could match with one of her friends. I was afraid she was going to ask Anna Simmons to match with her, so I got my mom to take me in and get me glasses with no magnification. I had to work a whole season at the pumpkin patch with no pay that year to earn those glasses.”

He laughed and leaned against the open doorway. “Y’all were so stupid back then.”

“Hey, we were really cool. In our minds.”

“Listen, how do you want to do the schedule?” he asked. “You mentioned putting something together, but I’m going to start in the morning.”

“Do you still remember how to do holiday lights?”

He arched his dark eyebrows. “Ummm…”

“What?”

“Do you not know what I do for a living?”

“I don’t know. Find sugar mommas, use them up, throw them away for a younger version—rinse and repeat?”

“Damn. You really hate me, don’t you?”

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