Page 48 of Liar & Champion
I looked at Tom who had gone slightly pale before I put up a hand to stop this whole thing. The huge man took my hand and shook it, still looking delighted and acting so hospitable, but also like an escaped mental patient because I didn’t know him.
“I’m not with Tom. I mean, I am, but he’s my bodyguard while Nix is working.”
The man’s face shifted, for a moment losing all expression as he coldly calculated me in an entirely different way. He didn’t let go of my hand. “You’re part of the team? Candy?”
Yeah, I was definitely getting personality disorder issues along with not having any idea what he was talking about. “No, I’m not Candy. I’m Sunshine. I’m not on the team, I’m just… Um…”
The man’s grip tightened slightly as he felt up my ring finger. I’d be bruised, but he didn’t mean to hurt me, he just wasn’t as talented as Nix. I hadn’t had to hide pain for a while. Weird. Hadn’t missed it. “You married Nix Hammer?”
“Death-Hammer. You sound quite incredulous. You must know him. He was pretty unsettled about the whole thing, but he got through it with his nerves of steel. Can I have my hand back, if you don’t mind?”
He released me, but he didn’t stop staring. “You’re Nix Death-Hammer’s wife? You aren’t wearing any makeup. And you’ve never had plastic surgery. What do you think about Las Vegas?”
I blinked a few times, because having some stranger who looked like a sex status symbol of Greek gods note that you’ve never had plastic surgery, and also that you’re not wearing makeup is kind of horribly humbling. “You’re the only person so far to comment on my imperfect breasts and lack of sophistication, so not entirely awful, thank you for asking.”
He took two steps back then shook his head, trying to clear it. “I apologize. You’re completely unexpected, but that’s no excuse for my rudeness. Please forgive me. I’m Nathan, no, Horse…” He rubbed his manly cleft chin. “I’m not sure what name would be more appropriate. I’m Nix’s competition.”
“In home health care or the self-defense training thing?”
He turned to look at Tom. Tom shrugged. “Not home health care,” Nathan-Horse finally said. “I do some mixed martial competitions. Have you ever been to one?”
I shuddered and wrinkled my nose. “I’m not into violence. I think that the glorification of other people’s pain is a serious symptom of the underlying problems that affect society on a systemic level. It probably helps that I’m not fueled by testosterone. I like that Nix is more about self-defense training to put everyone on a more equal playing field than mindlessly beating people to prove his own egotistical superiority.”
Nathan-Horse nodded his head slowly, still fingering his chin as he studied me. “Yeah. That is an admirable thing about him. Love the way he never loses his head in a fight. Not that he fights. He’s above that but still gives people an outlet for their testosterone.”
It was right then that the large main elevators dinged, and out came a whole herd of young women, eighteen to twenty or so. When they saw Nathan-Horse they started screaming. I felt much better about my momentary staring when their reaction was so much worse, at least I felt better until one of the females, a blonde with too much makeup knocked me out of the way to get to Nathan-Horse and then I tripped and fell down behind a planter. Were they all completely high? I was trampled by more than a few pairs of sharp heels in spite of Tom trying to get to me, because those females were insane, and brick walls were apparently less capable of saving people from getting trampled than from bullets.
I put my forearms in front of my face to block everyone out and curled up in the fetal position.
The shrieks and screams moved away, leaving me some breathing room. I opened my eyes to see a pair of serious leather boots with heavy tread right in front of my face. The boots belonged to legs and a face surrounded by wild dark curls abovewith a hand stretched down to me. The woman was intimidating, okay? I didn’t want her to grab me and bruise me, but she took my wrist and hauled me to my feet, holding me there for a second while she threw a dark scowl past me at Horse where he was fending off the group of women, mostly by being larger than all of them and impassive as a statue. His face was different when she looked at him, though. Instead of a neutral sex god, he had a smarmy smirk that went with the women clinging to him, like he’d somehow summoned his slaves instead of being attacked by random strangers.
The woman, my rescuer, vibrated with anger at him, but instead of screaming a Valkyrie war cry that would blast him back into a marble pillar, she pointedly ignored him and gave me a concerned look. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry, Miss,” Tom said, finally climbing over the planter to rescue me.
“Tom, this is a friend of yours?” the woman asked, and her terrifying gorgeousness softened slightly. It reminded me of Nathan-Horse who was so very happy to meet Tom’s significant other. Apparently Tom was well-liked by the oddest people. The most terrifying people.
“That’s right, Trix. I’m her bodyguard today, but looks like I need backup around Horse.”
“Trix? Like Trixie Belden the detective?” I grabbed her wrist and it was my turn to be aggressively in her face. Trixie wasn’t a very common name, and it would be too weird for Nix to know two people with that name.
“I… Yeah. My mom was a fan. Why’s Tom your bodyguard?”
I waved a hand like it wasn’t worth mentioning before grabbing her strong wrist with two hands so she couldn’t shake me off. I was acting a little crazy, like the women with Nathan-Horse, but this was art. “You’re the jewelry maker Nix told me about? Can you tell me about your process? I’ve never seenanything like that, a mixture of materials put together in the most ingenious way. It makes me want to do it so bad. How long have you been designing jewelry? Can I buy you lunch as a bribe to get you to tell me about it?”
Trixie didn’t try to shake me off, no, instead she got a look of concern on her face. She was suddenly a goddess of judgment, and possibly mercy. “Nix told you about me?” She looked at Tom, and he sighed heavily.
Her eyes widened suddenly and then she was raising her arm so that she could get a good look at my hands, and there on the significant finger was the beautiful diamond ring with wood and platinum in the most interesting design. It wasn’t entirely beautiful or classic, but it was so interesting, cool, industrial.
“You married Nix?” She didn’t sound certain, more like she was suggesting an impossibility that she expected me to deny.
I let go of her wrist and felt kind of awkward. Really awkward. I shouldn’t have been clinging like that to a stranger when I wanted to make a good impression to Nix’s friends. “Oh. Sort-of. I mean, yes. Yesterday we got married after we came back from our camping and fishing trip.”
“She’s got a psycho stalker after her,” Tom offered, because I wanted the brick wall to start displaying my dirty laundry for the world to see. I didn’t talk about my problems, because how was I supposed to live my life like that? That’s all I’d do, and I’d never even get to all of them, so it was better to just focus on the positive. Obviously. Only Beastie was supposed to know about my psycho stalker, and only because I used him to keep said stalker away. Beastie never talked to anyone about anything. That reminded me. I needed to text him. And call Aunt Willie.
“A week of camping and fishing with Nix? How peaceful,” Trixie said in a flat voice. “And he told you about me, that I’m a jewelry designer?”
“And mechanic. Do you also do the home health care stuff?”
