Page 41 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

Austin ran a hand through his hair, and I had to admit that he was incredibly handsome. All of them were. Though he was still too young for my taste. Grimm Cove seemed to be running over with hot guys. “I gotta go. Can I get your number?”

I raised my hands. “Sorry. No phone.”

His expression said he didn’t believe me.

“Honestly. I don’t have one,” I said. “But thanks for the offer of the milkshake. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

Brian groaned. “Get in, Don Juan.”

I moved over to the side of the parking lot as they backed up and drove away.

Torid had drawn the attention of some school-age children near the windows for ordering ice cream. While he was very capable of being violent, he was good at heart and loved children. He lapped up the attention, nudging each of them to get them to pet him more.

With a shake of my head, I hurried over to him. “Hey, buddy. Let’s get you a treat.”

I ordered him a small vanilla ice cream cone and held it out for him. He grabbed for it, just missing getting my fingers in his overenthusiastic state, and then swallowed it whole, making the children laugh.

Torid licked around the edges of his mouth and went back to playing with the kids.

The police vehicle from the service station drove by. Right behind it was a large silver extended-cab truck.

I spun around quickly, facing Gobbs, hoping to avoid notice.

In the next breath, sirens sounded behind me, and I jumped in place.

Torid hurried to my side in a protective manner, and I froze. When nothing happened, I chanced a glance behind me to see both the police SUV and the silver truck speeding off down the road with sirens going and lights flashing.

Torid licked my hand, slobbering all over it in the process.Yu-mmy.

The roar of an engine left me glancing over my shoulder. A tall, built man was on a huge black and silver Harley, the kind the rider sat back on with high handlebars. He had on a black leather coat which looked way warmer than the weather warranted. He wore jeans and biker boots. His emerald green T-shirt had something I couldn’t make out on the front. His long jet-black hair was pulled back in a man-bun sort of way, or as I liked to call it, a bro bun, and he had on dark black sunglasses.

For a second, I was almost positive he was staring at me on his way past, but since his sunglasses were so dark, I couldn’t actually tell.

Torid faced him and began to spin in an excited circle, his nub of a tail wagging rapidly.

The man kept driving down the road and I continued to watch him go, though I wasn’t sure why.

ChapterFifteen

Astria

I staredat the wax pencil markings scribbled on the side of the paper travel cup, trying to make heads or tails of them. I’d made them myself but couldn’t read my own writing. Not with as quickly as I’d done them. There was a line to the door of customers who were (for the most part) being incredibly patient with me on my first day working at Demon Grounds Coffee Café.

While I was winning at life as far as finding employment, I was losing big time in regards to the old house. Last night, I’d driven past it around eight times before my car had started to smoke and I’d found myself back at Gobbs in their parking lot, after hours, debating on walking to the house or just sleeping in my car—again.

Torid and I had opted for the car. I knew that tonight I’d need to muster up the courage to quite literally face my demons. I was betting it would be easier than figuring out how to use the latte machine.

I’d met Yolanda out in front of the café at first light, and she’d then proceeded to give me a crash course on how to use the various machines that had all blended into one. I’d nodded along, like I was retaining it all, when in reality I was totally lost. For some reason, I’d thought the learning curve wouldn’t be steep.

I was wrong.

There was a lot more to making coffee than just brewing a pot—something I could do.

After my training, which had lasted about fifteen minutes, Yolanda had then informed me she had an errand to run and left me to open the café. I’d done so, only to have a rush of people come in. She’d left her cell phone number in case I ran into any problems. So far, I’d had nothing but issues, but had yet to call.

My brain couldn’t sort out the difference between an iced blended drink and a steaming cup of coffee. Not with the amount of sleep I was running on, among other things. My stomach picked then to rumble, reminding me I’d not eaten since lunch the day prior and that had been skimpy, at best.

The sheer volume of choices of syrups, coffee toppings, and sweeteners was enough to send me into something close to a panic attack. I’d tended bars with fewer drink options before. This was madness.

---