Page 4 of Forsaken Dream
“You really are an ass.” Covering my face with both hands, I took a deep breath before pushing off the ground.
“Look at you sounding so … so … human.” Proto spat the word at me like it was a curse.
I kicked him.
He squealed right before he smacked into a large container, flipping head over ass a few times bouncing off the plastic with a dull thud ,and ending up on his back with all four in the air. “You should watch your back while you sleep,” my familiar snarled after rolling back on his feet.
I ignored him, my skin prickling and a spot between my shoulder blades burning like someone was watching me. Breathing deeply, I did my best not to act on my fear and start packing everything so I could get out of there. Moving fluidly so I didn’t attract attention, I faced the moving crowd without seeing anything. Alarms blared in my head, telling me to leave everything and just go hide in a hole and stay there for as long as it took. Along with my self-preservation instincts, another feeling pushed through, surprising me with its intensity.
Stubbornness.
I poured sweat, lost blood, and cried tears to get to this point.
This was my life.
I’d spent years carving my place in this human world, and I loved being part of it. Pam spent her life teaching me to be one of them, and I’d be damned if I allowed anyone or anything to take it away from me. If danger was coming, I was going to face it head on. I’d hid my magic as much as I could, but it was still coursing through my veins. It was part of me, who I was. Simply choosing kindness and respecting life didn’t change the fact that I was my father’s daughter. Whoever thought they could take this away from me had another thing coming.
They would see a side of Echo Darkwing that no one had seen before.
The passionate, fiery reaction that surged through me was overwhelming.
Lost in my thoughts, I startled when a shadow fell over me, hiding the glow of the afternoon sun pushing its way through the pergola protecting the stall. Warmth spread through my body from the inside, and my heart sped up until it was fluttering against my ribs. The unusual reaction took me a moment to shake off before I could lift my head and look at the person approaching the table. My gaze paused when powerful jean-clad thighs came into my field of vision. A feather tickled the back of my throat as I continued up to a narrow waist and washboard abs that were covered by thin fabric that was stretched an inch from its life. A wide chest had bulking-with-muscles arms crossed over it, and a vein was throbbing in the male’s neck while he waited for me to finish checking him out. Jerking out of my drool-induced coma my eyes snapped to his face and the breath froze in my lungs. The male loomed over me by a good few inches, which should’ve intimidated me, but I was too busy acting like a dumbass and checking him out.
“Is all this for sale?” The dulcet tone of his voice did all sorts of stupid things to me while I blinked dumbly at the handsome face that had no right to exist in this human realm.
Long, black hair brushed over the top of his shoulders, the silky strands glistening like oil in the fading sun. Well-maintained eyebrows slashed above his amber eyes, which had so much depth they looked ancient. A straight nose set above full bow-shaped lips tilted up at the corners in an arrogant smirk. Tan skin, like honey, looked almost airbrushed in the afternoon sun, his right arm covered in black ink with tribal swirls and symbols making my fingers twitch with the need to reach out and touch him to make sure he was real, that we were still in the human realm and I wasn’t dreaming. Giving me a once-over, he made sure I understood he wasn’t asking about the jams or the apples. Frustration reared its head inside me, and I bristled at his audacity.
“There is nothing here for you to buy, mister.” Snapping through clenched teeth, I scowled at him. “Go find whatever it is you’re looking for somewhere else.”
Those full lips parted, but before he could say anything, a loud, obnoxious fart drowned all the buzzing noise around us. It lasted a good minute, which seemed like an eternity in my mortified state. My eyes almost popped out of their sockets when the guy in front of me cocked an eyebrow, staring at me with so much shock written on his face I wondered if farting had somehow offended his existence or something. Not that it was me who farted. My face bloomed like a rose, and hot flames licked my neck and cheeks. I wished for the ground to open and swallow me whole. I was going to kill Proto the second I got my hands on him.
“ I wanted to apply for the ad.” After clearing his throat and darting his gaze around as if searching for something, he collected himself enough to act as if he didn’t hear anyone shitting their pants a second ago.
“What?” Still freaked the hell out from the embarrassment, I gaped at him.
“The ad.” Unfolding his arms, he stabbed a finger at the side of the stall. “I want to apply for the position.”
Following the direction he was pointing, I zeroed-in on the handwritten note I stuck to one of the wooden beams holding the pergola when I arrived that morning. The orchard and farm were what paid my bills and put food on my table, but the large piece of land had become too much for me to handle alone. My natural inclinations to feed life made sure everything was growing to its full capacity in my soil year-round. Expecting a teenage kid to come forward for some pocket cash, I scribbled the note that help was wanted for labor. Not in a million years did I expect someone like the male in front of me to ask for the position. He looked like someone who should be in a commercial, not knee deep in dirt and soil digging trenches. Panic gripped me so hard it squeezed my throat.
“The position is filled,” I croaked, watching with dread when his nostrils flared.
“Filled?” I’d always been a horrible liar, but he didn’t have to look at me as if he could smell it wafting off me, the jerk. “So someone already took the job?” Those amber eyes narrowed as if daring me to keep lying.
“Yup.” It sounded like a squeak, which frustrated the hell out of me. I didn’t owe this jerk any explanations. “The person is coming tomorrow morning to start.”
Stay strong Echo, this guy can’t intimidate you. You survived your father, you got this.The pep talk was not helping much, but jutting my chin up stubbornly did. At least a little.
“Tomorrow morning?” His face told me he knew I was lying out of my butt but he was humoring me anyway.
“Are you going to repeat everything I say?” Grinding my teeth, I started snatching the jars from the table and packing them away just so I didn’t have to look at him. I needed to get away from here. From him. “Yes, tomorrow. Now go and bother someone else. I’m closing the stall.”
“Very well.” His words did not match his behavior. “I apologize for bothering you.”
He didn’t look apologetic, either. Not. At. All.
He looked smug as hell.
Ignoring him—because I was a pro at that—I continued packing my things, dragging the heavy boxes to the back where my beat-up pickup truck was waiting to take me home. Thankfully Proto was nowhere to be found, although I expected him to jump at me from out of thin air at any moment. He lived for freaking me out or pissing me off. Well aware of the gaze following my every move, I kept all my attention on what I was doing. The jerk didn’t move an inch, standing there watching me like some creep. My heart continued to flutter, which only added to the anxiety already digging a hole in my stomach.
Why was he still standing there?
Why did I care if he was or wasn’t?
Something inside of me was screaming to get my attention, but I stuffed it down with everything in me. This guy smelled like trouble, and I definitely didn’t want any part of that. Too bad I couldn’t wish him away. Arms screaming in protest, I hefted the last box in the back of the pickup, adding yet another dent. And when a corner of the box scraped across the truck before I shoved it in, even more paint peeled. I thought I heard the jerk mutter something about cursed fates and stubborn females, but when I whirled around to give him a piece of my mind, he was gone.
“Thank the fates I’ll never see that arrogant ass again,” I mumbled under my breath, stretching my sore back. For some dumb reason, those words sounded like a big, fat, juicy lie, even to my own ears.
Blowing stray strands that had escaped my ponytail to fly in my face, I swiped a forearm over my forehead to remove the trickling droplets of sweat. Nothing I did could shake off the feeling burning inside me.
The male was trouble waiting to happen.
