Page 63 of Veil of Death and Shadow

“Perhaps only in mine,” he said, though it was spoken in the gentle rumble of a whisper.

“Get out of my apartment,” I snapped, “and leave me alone.”

Great sex or not, there was no way my libido was going to win the war with my brain on this one.

“I’ll give you some space for a bit, sure,”’ he said, as if it was his idea, and a magnanimous one at that. Without another word, he turned and left.

I waited to hear the door in the living room open and close, but after a long stretch of nothing, I charged in, water bottle lifted and at the ready. “I mean it, Kiera?—”

The living room was empty, the door closed, no intruder in sight.

I took a few steadying breaths, then opened Sora’s water bottle, draining it in one gulp, half convinced the last few minutes were nothing more than the combination of a bad night’s sleep and a figment of my imagination.

And if not, he was gone, so maybe it was best not to linger on the intrusion.

After greeting Menace, properly this time, and refilling his water bowl, I made my way downstairs, ready to start prepping for the next rush.

The door was locked, just as it had been when I’d run inside.

Did he go through a window when he left?

Or was this just more proof that I’d imagined the entire thing?

It wouldn’t be the first time my brain conjured up a hallucination—though this had certainly been more involved than I was used to. My visions didn’t usually speak to me or interact with my environment.

I unlocked the door and shifted the sign to open, forcing my thoughts away from all things Kieran.

Normalcy. Routine. That was what I needed.

“You look bothered, dear.”

“Oh.” My head shot up and I found Claudine and her friend, Greta, sitting in their booth. I was so lost in the cadence of my thoughts, the gentle rhythm of my knife cuts, that I didn’t even hear them come in. “Sorry, I’m fine. Weird morning. How are you both? Do you want your usual?”

“Please,” Claudine said, shimmying her shoulders in excitement when I started the kettle.

Greta glanced at her friend, amusement etched into the lines of her face, before turning to me. “Nothing for me, thank you.”

“So, tell me dear,” Claudine said as I set the tea in front of her, “what’ve you been up to this week? How’s the journal work coming? Any new gossip in the pipeline?”

“It’s coming.” I walked behind the counter and then leaned on it, watching them as my own cup of tea steeped. It was a slow day, as Tuesdays always were, and I was clearly desperate for conversation, so the rest of the prep could wait a few minutes. “Most of my week has been uneventful, but I have a not-date set up for tomorrow night.”

“Ooh,” Claudine hunched closer, while her stoic friend sniffed hesitantly at the steam coming off the tea. “Tell me, tell me.” She clapped her hands together. “Is it that nice boy you mentioned before? The one at the med center?”

I bit back my smile, nodding. “We’re getting dinner.”

She wiggled her brows suggestively.

“As friends,” I clarified.

“Youth is truly wasted on the young.” Claudine took a deep breath. “If I was you, and had those legs of yours, I’d spend every night with them wrapped around a different man.”

I choked on my own tea.

Greta barked out a laugh. “Don’t scandalize the poor girl, Claudine.”

“I did meet someone last week though,” I added, suddenly feeling the need to defend myself and my well-used youth, though I wasn’t sure why. “One-time fling.”

Claudine’s eyes widened, a large smile cracking her face in two. “I knew there was something different about you today. You’ve got that glow about you. The kind only a good naked tango can unleash.” She leaned forward; the steam of her tea abandoned to the periphery of her attention. “Well go on, give us the details, dearie.”

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