Page 15 of Outside The Wire

“Maybe.”

“Asher—”

“I think I’ll finish up here and head out.”

He sighed heavily. “You’re not going to make her pay for your truck, are you?”

“It was a freak accident,” I shrugged. “The ice carried away her shopping cart.”

He pointed at me accusingly. “That’s no excuse. People need to hold onto their shopping carts in parking lots. It’s that kind of lackadaisical attitude that leads to thousands of shopping cart disasters every year.”

“She fell on her ass trying to chase down the cart.”

“Still not good enough.”

“She called after it to stop. It was cute.”

“And that’s supposed to make up for the fact that she fucked up your truck?”

“The shopping cart did,” I countered.

He scoffed at me, shaking his head. “You’re already pussy-whipped and you haven’t even gotten any yet.” He paused and quirked an eyebrow at me. “You haven’t, right?”

“I don’t work that fast.”

He nodded once. “Good, because I don’t think I could forgive you for sleeping with the woman right after she nailed your truck with the shopping cart. That’s going just a step too far.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve done worse than that.” Jade came to mind again, but again, I pushed her away.

“Well, don’t stick around too long. I’m just finishing up some paperwork.”

I nodded and got back to work. I wouldn’t be too much longer. I hated to leave any job unfinished, especially for Wyatt. It was good to start the day fresh with the slate wiped clean. It made everything run easier for all of us.

A half-hour later, I clocked out and cleaned up, then waved to him and headed out to my truck. A light snow was falling, dusting the streets and causing chaos everywhere. You’d think people would be used to it, but as usual, it was like they’d never driven on snow before.

I knew there was nothing in my fridge to eat for dinner, and even if there was, I had no desire to cook a damn thing tonight. I pulled into Whataburger and was going to just sit in the drive-thru lane, but it was about ten cars deep and it already took too damn long to get food.

It was fine. I could park and eat inside like a normal person. I didn’t have to eat at home like a hermit. I was living amongst humans now. I no longer lived in a cabin in the woods, determined to ignore the rest of society for the remainder of my days. Sometimes, I still had to remind myself of that.

I strode up to the counter behind someone bent over, and when the person popped up, a very familiar pom pom nearly smacked me in the face. Grinning, I gave it a little tug.

Holly spun around, her hand flying to the pom pom as she faced me with righteous indignation until she saw the smirk on my face. With her mouth hanging open, she stared at me for a moment, then snapped her jaw shut.

“Asher,” I reminded her. “And you’re Holly.”

“I am,” she said warily. “You pulled my pom pom.”

“I did. It’s cute.”

Her cheeks pinked slightly, matching the pink in her hat. It was cute.

“Next!” the guy behind the counter called out.

“They’re calling for you,” I motioned forward. “I’ve got this,” I winked at her, taking charge. “The lady will have—” I looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to order. She was so flustered that it took her a moment to order. When she was done, I placed my order, which was twice the size of hers. “And can we also get two milkshakes. One strawberry and one…” Again, I looked at her.

“Vanilla,” she answered.

I cocked a grin at the kid, but he wasn’t paying attention to anything but his register. I paid and took the number and our cups.

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