Page 42 of Roses Are Dead
“Yeah.” Hopefully, she hated that.
“Are you… I mean, I can do the shopping and cook your meals if I know what you like, special dietary needs, and other preferences if you want?” She sucked in her lower lip and chewed on it nervously.
I frowned. She was being too accommodating. Was that out of fear? “Did Carl make you do that?”
Her eyes widened. Then her expression flattened. “It wasn’t that difficult.” Her glance away told me that there was a lot more to the story.
I put the towel in my hand down and curled onto one of my stools. It took an act of will to relax my fists. “Let’s talk. Okay?” Like adults. We were adults, cohabitating and learning how to get along. I didn’t have to capitulate to her. I just had to be polite and listen.
She mirrored my position, but was a lot less comfortable, so I started.
“We’ll share household duties. I don’t expect you to do everything around here and I’m more than capable of cleaning up after myself.”
She glanced at my damp hands. “Okay.”
“And now that you’ve met Kate and Zoe, I guess I gotta tell you a bit to explain why they’re protected as much as they are.”
“I gather Kate was in trouble with an ex,” Roishin said.
“Yep. He was a fucking asshole. Now, Jackson ain’t much better as a human, but for his family? He’s… he loves Kate and Zoe with everything he’s got and will do anything to keep them safe. I think if something happened to one of them, he’d lose all touch with any good he’s got left inside.
“So, I hope you understand why I’m asking that you stay away from them as much as possible unless I’m here.”
She studied me. “Are you afraid I’ll screw up?”
Hell no. But maybe? “Don’t tell them anything about Carl. Not even if you’re all doing that girl sharing shit you do. He’s the one thing I’m going to demand you don’t mention.”
“Why?”
I took a deep breath. “This is in confidence, okay? Kate would try to fight your battles. And that?” My head shook from side to side as I tried to find the words that would impress on Roishin how dangerous this was. But she cut me off.
“Carl would use that against them and quite likely kill them, or use that information to get you or the club in trouble. I understand completely.”
She was a piece of work. Frail in stature, mighty in will. Funny, but I hadn’t noticed how thin her wrists were or how delicately the little lines of her blood vessels peeked through her skin. It all disappeared once she breathed or spoke, or simply stood. Then she became a mighty goddess warrior. A Valkyrie of sheer power. I was slowly becoming enthralled by her and wondered if she would be my doom or my salvation.
I quickly changed the subject back. “Groceries. I usually spend about two hundred a week, but always seem to run out. Then I eat like shit. If you can figure out a way to make that work better, you’d be doing me a favor.”
We stuck to the safer topic of food for a while.
When that topic was exhausted, she stood up and stretched. “May I get your help to move the table to the patio doors?”
“Why? It’ll block the exit.”
She hesitated. “I want to let the items you bought bathe in the moonlight. Just for tonight.”
That’s all? She made her request seem like a Herculean task. I picked up the table, rocks and all, and put it in front of the sliding doors. Tonight’s moon was waxing toward full. In another week the light would be much brighter. But from what I knew, waxing was good for charging magic.
“Roishin? Don’t be afraid of me. Just ask when you need my help. I’ll do it.”
She swallowed.
Time to set her straight. “We’re stuck with each other for a full month. You need to bend around my ways, sure, but I can do some bending, too. And I don’t have a problem with your practice.” Unlike fucking Carl.
“You truly don’t?”
“Do you perform blood sacrifices?”
“No.”
