Page 18 of In the Monster's Wake
The smile was back on Corey’s face.“Can you imagine if the two of you started dating?”
“I don’t want to imagine it.”
“Whatever you say.”
Jasper wasn’t thinking about dating Archie.He was thinking about kissing him, but it was an entirely different thing, and it would never happen again because that wasn’t what Jasper was supposed to be focused on.
What a pity.
* * * *
ARCHIBALD WAS ALONEin the office when someone knocked on the door.He didn’t look up, wanting to write down the last few notes before he forgot first.“Come in,” he called out instead.
He heard the door open and close, and someone come into the office.He finished what he was doing, put on his best nice smile, and looked up.
Only to find Jasper standing on the other side of his desk.
He broke into a real smile.“Jasper.”
Jasper narrowed his eyes.“You remember me.”
“I’m sure I’m older than you, but not so old that I’d already have forgotten you.It’s only been a few days, and I promise you that the kiss we shared was unforgettable.”
Jasper’s cheeks turned pink.Archibald was delighted.He was pretty sure that Jasper had enjoyed the kiss as much as he had, so maybe he wanted a repeat.Hopefully, that was why he was here.
“Is that so?”Jasper asked as he flopped into one of the two chairs in front of Archibald’s desk.“It was just a kiss.”
“You know that’s not true.You wouldn’t be here if it’d just been a kiss.”
“I’m not here because of the kiss.”
Archibald wished that weren’t true, but he hadn’t thought that was the case anyway.Of course Jasper wasn’t here just because they’d kissed.“Why are you here, then?”
Jasper licked his lips.Archibald had to resist the urge to reach over the desk, grab Jasper’s t-shirt, and pull him forward to kiss him again.He’d show him unforgettable.
“I wanted to talk about what happened the other night.”
Archibald sighed and leaned back in his chair.“I’m listening.”
“You told me that someone was following me.Can you tell me more about who it was?”
“Not really.I can tell you more about who Ithoughtit was, though.”
Jasper arched a brow.“I’m listening.”
Archibald loved the teasing.He wanted more of it, but Jasper was here for a reason, and Archibald was curious.
Anyone else would’ve freaked out and not looked deeper into it, but Jasper was here for more information.
It took Archibald a moment to decide what to tell Jasper.Jasper didn’t work with him, but it wasn’t like Archibald had signed anything that said he couldn’t tell other people what had happened to Varken’s daughter.“We recently got a new client,” he started.
“Well, you own a PI agency.I sure hope you have clients.”
“He wanted us to look into the monster who killed his daughter.”
Jasper’s expression turned more serious.“What happened to her?”
“Horrible things.Varken’s convinced that she’d been killed by the same monster who’s been killing people in our community, and I think he’s right.He hired me and my associate, Braith, to look into it.We have informants all over the city, and of course, monsters talk to us more than they ever do the police.We found out about a new monster in town who’d been terrorizing the people who know him.One of my informants gave me a description of Kester, and I thought I saw him at the club following you.”
