Page 36 of Tears of Ruin

Finally, Giovanni made some kind of noise, though the sound of his throat clearing made me jump slightly. “I enjoyed our talk.”

My brows dipped low when he simply walked away. Had I missed something? Was that some sort of test? Had I passed?

Worse, had I failed?

Deciding not to stick around and find out, I hurried toward my bedroom, ready to put plenty of distance between us.

That had been the weirdest, scariest non-conversation I’d ever not had.

* * * *

It took every ounce of willpower to get dressed for my shift. I didn’t like working there before I’d stumbled into a medieval vampire-murder house. But now that I’d gotten just a small taste of what true friendship felt like, I dreaded dealing with my coworkers.

But what really weighed on my mind was running into my demon-possessed father. My skin still tried to crawl off my body thinking how Martin had caressed my cheek. It was a miracle I hadn’t vomited on the spot.

If I didn’t need my job, I would go hang out with Dane and Kyson, though I was pretty sure neither of them was up this early.

I stifled a yawn, eyeing the bed and wishing I could crawl back into its warm, cozy embrace. It was freaking tempting as heck, especially when my body was trying to pull me in that direction.

Richard entered the room, two mugs of coffee with him. I dang near tackled him for mine. The steam tickled my nose, though I wasn’t in a playful mood.

He grunted.

I grunted.

Then we took a sip of our coffees, both letting out a small sigh. “I don’t want to go,” I blurted out, half of my brain still asleep.

Immediately Richard set his mug on the dresser and headed for my bed.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going.” My words doing more than I ever thought they would. Richard stopped mid-step, groaning like he was about to protest. He spun, glaring at the floor as if he had a personal vendetta against it before retrieving his coffee mug.

As soon as we stepped outside, I wanted to run back inside. It was bad enough I hated mornings, but I really hated cold ones.

“Breakfast?” Richard asked from the driver’s side. All I could manage was to stick up my thumb. My brain hadn’t absorbed enough caffeine to interact with anyone.

I was basically on auto-pilot the entire ride into town, until Richard pulled into the local diner’s parking lot. It was called Eatery, but the Y had burned out on the neon sign, so it simply read Eater.

I’d thought Richard would pick up some breakfast in a drive-thru, but clearly, he had other plans.

I glanced at him as we walked through the door, wondering if he was okay. Richard was an amazing cook, but I guessed even bona fide badass cooks didn’t mind letting someone else flip pancakes for them.

Ooh. Pancakes with blueberry syrup. All I had was ten bucks until I got paid but hoped that was enough for a decent breakfast. I also hoped we had enough time to sit down and eat. The last thing I wanted was to hang out in the breakroom at work.

We ended up at a table toward the back, although the front of the diner was almost empty. Ashwood was such a dead town. As I sat there, I scanned the diner for any sign of my father. The last thing I needed was for him to show up. One encounter with him had been enough. If Richard hadn’t been there…

The waitress, a middle-aged woman with a friendly smile, approached our table and handed us menus. “Good morning, you two. What can I get you to drink?”

“Coffee, please,” I said, stifling another yawn.

“Same for me,” Richard added, his eyes scanning the menu.

As soon as she walked away, I turned my gaze on Richard. He must’ve felt me staring because he glanced at me. A slow smile pulled at the side of his mouth. “You wore me out last night, and now I’m starving.”

He chuckled warmly as I felt heat erupting over my face, causing me to quickly glance down. Last night had been amazing.

“I’ll be right back.” I stood, my face still flushed. “I need to splash some water on my face to wake up.”

Or cool down.

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