Page 13 of Shelf-Made Man
“I think you have the wrong address.”
Tobias started to close the door, but they pushed past him and lunged straight at Alfie, who cried out in distress.
“Tobias, run!” he shouted as he tried to scramble away. But his leg was unsteady and the two men wereon him at once, one of them slugging him in the belly while the other tried to wrestle him into a rough bear hug. Despite his injuries and the gut punch, Alfie put up a fight, squirming, kicking, and biting like an angry bobcat. He might have made some headway had he faced only one large assailant, but couldn’t manage two.
Just inside the front door was a small wooden table, on top of which sat a heavy marble statue of two naked Greeks wrestling. Without pausing to consider whether it was a good idea, Tobias picked up the statue, rushed a few steps closer to the melee, and threw it with all his strength at the nearer stranger’s head.
The man dropped to the floor with a solid thud.
Before Tobias could celebrate his success, the second man roared, let go of Alfie, and tackled Tobias.
The last time Tobias had been in a fight was in second grade, when a classmate named Logan Dankworth had teased him about not having a father. Both boys had ended up crying, Tobias had been sent to the principal’s office, and his mother had given him a long talk about avoiding violence unless absolutely necessary. None of that had prepared him to go hand-to-hand with an enraged giant.
But Tobias was equally as big, and his adrenaline was flowing. After a lifetime of holding himself back and trying to remain unthreatening and unobtrusive, it feltamazingto just… let go. If Alfie had been anangry bobcat, Tobias was a furious grizzly. He roared and squeezed and hit, and although the other guy was whaling on him too, Tobias didn’t feel any pain. In fact, as the two of them rolled around on the floor, Tobias almost wanted to laugh with the joy of battle.
And then something wentthunkand his opponent slumped in his grip.
Tobias scrambled out from under him to discover Alfie standing a few inches away, face grim, the marble wrestlers clutched in both hands.
“Run,” Alfie pleaded. “Before more of them show up.”
Slightly out of breath, Tobias shook his head in an attempt to clear it. “More of who?”
“Trolls, of course.”
Oh. Of course. Tobias stared at the two unmoving lumps. “Are they dead?”
“I don’t know and I don’t particularly care. They would have taken me to Snjokarl if you hadn’t saved me—and gods,thankyou, Tobias—but there are dozens more in his employment.”
Still trying to process the fact that he’d just fought a fucking troll, Tobias rubbed his head. “I should call the police.” He wouldn’t have to explain the troll part; he could just quite honestly say that they’d intruded into his home and attacked his guest.
“Will the police protect you when the next round of trolls appears?”
Tobias rather doubted that. He couldn’t exactlyrequest a personal guard, and he didn’t have complete confidence that the cops would be sympathetic at all. “So what should we do?”
Alfie stood silently for a moment before shuffling back to the couch and collapsing heavily onto the cushion. “Leave. Come back in a couple of days. By then I’ll be in Snjokarl’s hands and I doubt he’ll bother sending anyone after you. You’ll be safe.”
“I’m not going to abandon you!” Tobias was indignant.
“Then I’ll go.”
Alfie started to stand, but Tobias hurried over and gently urged him back down. “Go where? I’m not going to just kick you out so you can….” Not quite willing to finish the thought, he waved a hand in the direction of the trolls.
“You’ve already done so much for me.” Alfie’s voice was gentle. “I’m not your responsibility.”
This had been the most confusing two days of Tobias’s life, but he was dead sure of one thing. He bent so he could look Alfie straight in the eyes. “But you are. Aunt Virginia gave you tome, and she did it for a reason. I’m not letting either of you down.”
Alfie reached up and stroked Tobias’s cheek, making him shiver with pleasure. “You are magnificent,” Alfie said.
Although Tobias would have very much liked to pursue that thought—and to feel that warm hand on other parts of his body—now was clearly not the time.There were two unconscious or possibly dead trolls in his living room, with more lively ones on the way.
He straightened, put his hands on his hips, and confidently announced, “I know what we need to do.”
Chapter
Six
Apparently Alfie had never been in a car before, and it seemed that his pain was subdued by the novelty of zooming down I-5.
