Page 21 of Love Bank
The line trudged forward and I nodded out a few good mornings to people I knew, not trusting myself to engage in conversation. Every wood-backed chair was filled with another citizen angling to fuel their day while they got a good peek at everybody else. Couldn’t pass on gossip unless you headed into town and purposely overheard conversations you weren’t supposed to.
“Onion bagel, toasted with cream cheese, and a large black coffee.”
That voice.
I’d know that snarly voice anywhere.
I looked up sharply, nearly dropping my phone when I saw that dark head of hair a couple people in front of me in line. The taupe uniform did things to his butt that shouldn’t be legal. My goodness. The muscles were damn near threatening to split the seams of his pants. Was that much muscle really needed? I mean, I appreciated it, for sure, but was it necessary to put on display like that?
Clenching my jaw, I wrenched my gaze away from his backside. I should not be looking there. I needed to remember how annoying he was instead. Besides, sexually ogling the person you’re blackmailing seemed a bit skeevy, even for the new me who did crazy things spurred on by magical animals.
The line moved forward, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bain scooting down the wood counter made out of a huge fallen tree years ago by Charlie, the local cabinet maker. By the time I got to Lukas at the register to give my order, Bain had turned away and started walking to the door with his ordered food. I whispered my order to Lukas in a long run-on sentence and threw a ten-dollar bill at him. I raced out the door after Bain, not a single thought in my head except for one.
That jerkhole needed to take me seriously.
Which in hindsight would have been communicated better if I hadn’t been attempting to run in heels, with a huge tote bag thumping against my thighs, and my wallet still out, pennies dropping and pinging off the concrete sidewalk with each hurried step.
“Warden!” I shouted at top volume, but it came out a little breathy and a lot quieter than I intended. I wasn’t a runner, sue me.
Bain spun on his heel a lot quicker than I anticipated, which was how I ended up face-planting into a broad chest that smelled of fir trees and Christmas. I pinged off faster than I’d ever moved in my life. He held his coffee out to the side, the precious beverage spilling over the side and onto the walkway.
“Shit!” He stepped to the side and put the cup down on one of the outdoor tables and flung his hand out.
I winced. That coffee had to have been scalding hot. It appeared I burned Bain Sutter in more ways than one. I stifled the giggle as I remained positive now was not the time for hilarity.
“What do you need, Miss Eureka?” he ground out.
I swooped a few strands of hair back behind my ear that had fallen out of my low ponytail on impact. My skin felt like I had an electrical current running under it. I glanced around but didn’t see a goat or a cat. Hmm. This was getting weird. Maybe I was coming down with something.
“Lucille,” Bain barked.
I jumped, forgetting for a hot second thatIwas the one to stophim. I pasted on a smile.
“Good morning.”
He lifted a thick dark eyebrow and the current picked up intensity.
“So, um, I wanted to see if you got my email.” I resisted the urge to wring my hands. I had to keep up a strong front.
He sputtered, his face turning redder by the second. “Yeah, I got your email.”
“Oh goodie! So, you’ll help me keep the inmates out of my clinic?” Aha! Blackmailing had worked. Take that, every school teacher and parental figure who’d condemned the nefarious practice.
“No.”
Hold up, what? Wait a second. I blinked repeatedly, thinking I’d misheard him.
“Well—”
“Good morning, Warden.” The mayor walked up behind me and extended his hand to Bain, completely ignoring me. He sure hadn’t ignored me when he was convincing me to put my new clinic on that stretch of road he was so high on developing.
The two men shook hands and backed off to stand with their feet wide apart, arms crossed. The temperature of the air chilled a few degrees. If I wasn’t mistaken, I was witnessing a standoff developing.
“Working on a Saturday, I see.” The mayor eyed Bain.
Bain dipped his head, then looked back at the mayor defiantly, an expression I was all too familiar with. Something was going on here, something below the surface of this conversation that I didn’t have the first clue about.
“Sure am. Gotta make sure things are up to snuff for the new week. We’re supposed to be fully functioning come Monday and I’ll make damn sure we are.”
