Page 15 of One Last Wish

Grabbing a coffee and sandwich a few blocks down, I breathed in deeply. I still had five hours with this guy today, and the rest of the week to get through. As crazy as it sounded, I missed Theo. At least he’d be in once I got back. I had been busy planning the first midnight release party at Bookends and needed to run through some of the details with him. As expected, he was the only person that volunteered to work the night shift with me.

Alice was flirting with Darce when I walked back into the shop. She was sitting on the counter, giving him her best come to bed eyes.

“Malcolm must have gone home for you to be sitting there. Great first impression for our customers, Alice. Well done!” I complained, shooting daggers at her.

“Alora is a bitch. You’ll get used to her.” I gave Alice the finger as I moved behind the till. “Is Theo in yet?”

“Yeah, he’s just taking his coat off. Can I go on break now?”

“Yes. Fuck off.” Alice jumped down from the desk, winking at Darce as she left.

“You’re a ray of sunshine, aren’t you?” Darce snorted, taking his hands out of his pockets.

“Are you ready to use the till?” I was done with small chat. He’d had the chance to be nice this morning.

“I think I’m more than capable, yes.” Oh, he was so sure of himself. This would be fun. I wasn’t planning on offering him any assistance if something went wrong.

Annoyingly, Darce was a natural and served the first three customers extremely well. When the till locked, as it did most days, I had to intervene. I was taken back by how much he recoiled as our hands almost touched. “Jeez, I wasn’t going to slam your hand in the cash register.”

“No, it’s not that. I just don’t like being touched.” Tilting my head towards him, I gave him an understanding smile. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

“I don’t like to talk, period. We’re good.” That got a smirk from his beautiful face. I was about to say something when Theo finally came to the desk.

“Hey, man, I’m Theo. You must be Darce?”

“That would be me.” Darce sighed, looking like he might be sizing Theo up.

“Alice said you needed me, Alora.” Why did Theo have to say itthatway?

“It’s about the midnight release party. I’m thinking of hosting it the first Saturday in December for the nextFuture of Dawnbook.”

“You know whatever you decide, I’m in. Tell me when and I’ll be there.”

“The first Saturday in December. Alorajusttold you,” Darce replied, crossing his arms in obvious annoyance. “Am I getting any more training today, or do I have to listen to you two banging on about a midnight release party instead?” Theo stood there with his eyes wide before scurrying off somewhere.

“I’ll show you how to do refunds on the till,” I replied, trying to change the subject. Feeling my hair begin to loosen in its tie, I let it down for a few short seconds, running my fingers through it to help put it back up. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I heard a sharp intake of breath from Darce. Side-eying him, I noticed he was taking a step back from me.

“I didn’t get to thank you at the club on Saturday,” I commented, turning to look at him as I put my hair back up.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember it was me,” Darce admitted, his hands slipping back into his pockets. What was the deal with the whole touching thing?

“I was wondering the same thing.”

“You’re pretty hard to forget, Alora.” The moment his words came out, it seemed as if he regretted them. Pain...there was pure pain in his jet black eyes.

“Wow! Are you giving me acompliment? That would be completely different from the Darce this morning.”

“I’m known to be grumpy in the morning.”

“Noted,” I snorted, going back to showing him how to do a refund.

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BY THE TIME I GOT HOME, I was more exhausted than I’d been in months. The changes in Darce today had given me whiplash. Thankfully, Evelyn was out with her parents tonight. I quickly heated up some leftover vegetable soup for dinner. I only had around a hundred pages ofSecret Assassinleft and I planned on finishing it before I went to sleep.

Once I showered and dressed in my night clothes, I settled down on my bed to read my book.

Of course the book finished on another cliffhanger. Frustrated, I threw it across the floor. Why did authors do that? Don’t they think of the readers at all? Mel and Jack, the two main assassins in the series, had such a cat and mouse story until now. Just as I thought they were finally going to be together, boom, Jack gets captured. The author better write the next one quickly. I was already a bag of nerves worrying about them! If Jack died, I was going to riot!

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