Page 80 of Dev Girl

People were starting to stare, and Travis looked furious.

“You don’t have to be like that.” Despite the anger on his face, Travis’s voice was calm. “I don’t know why you’re attacking me like this.”

“You don’t know why—” I was so furious I couldn’t speak.

Onyx moved between us again. He stepped up to Travis. “You know exactly what she’s talking about.” Onyx’s voice was low and threatening. “If you keep the bullshit up, I will make sure your life is miserable for weeks.”

“Did you just threaten me?” Travis scoffed.

“Without question. What you have to wonder is how I meant it. Walk away and keep your mouth shut.” Onyx turned away from Travis without waiting for a reply. “You were incredible,” Onyx whispered in my ear as we walked into Gage’s.

I was fine with that. Travis’s words had me shaking with fury, but that fucker didn’t get to see me break. Especially not if it was going to get back to Don.

24

Onyx

When Maddox emerged from the dark room with the photos, his mood was closer to center. That still wasn’t Maddox-like, but it was better.

Dinner and the fact that the photos looked incredible seemed to help as well, but things were still quiet the rest of the evening. I suspected we all had a lot on our minds. It was nice to have Alys back, though.

Saturday morning, several of the shops on Main Street were hosting sidewalk sales. I didn’t tend to do more than open my doors and let the music flow out, because my stock wasn’t as easy to display on the street as the other businesses.

Gage was drawing people in with free fries, while Joystick had one buck gachapon—little eggs with cheap surprise toys inside. Granny—we all called her that because at eighty she was everyone’s Granny—had her actual grandson watching her yarn store. She was knitting in front of Sebastian’s tea shop, and offering tarot readings.

All up and down Main Street was a fantastic, colorful sight.

Maddox decided it was the perfect time to shoot our Paul’s Boutique photo, and looking at the front of Aubrey’s and Deacon’s businesses, he wasn’t wrong. Aubrey had several racks of newer vintage clothing on display outside, and Deacon had put out a few more portable pieces of furniture.

The antique spanking bench was probably the best thing he had on display. He’d added it to everything else like it was a strangely shaped end table.

That definitely needed to be in the picture.

Brooke joined me. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s perfectly incredible.”

“There’s one more thing.” Brooke glanced over at the entrance to the antique store, where a few what I assumed were mirrors sat, draped in sheets. “I know the albums you’re working on are top secret, but Deacon told me about this one, and it was one of my favorites when it came out.”

Brooke was a Beastie Boys fan? I wouldn’t have guessed. Then again, most people wouldn’t guess that I was infatuated with Christina Aguilera back in the day. For her music.

That didn’t mean I could guess where Brooke was going with the thought. “Okay?”

“I made these. I should’ve checked with you first, to see if you needed them, but I wanted to do it regardless.” She pulled away one sheet, to reveal a metal Paul’s Boutique sign. It was clear the letters were hand-welded, because of minor imperfections, but they’d also been smoothed and sanded, then the whole thing painted, to look like a 3D version of the sign on the album cover.

“Fuck me, that’s incredible.” Maddox’s exclamation surprised me.

Apparently he and Alys were here, and he was acting more like himself.

Aubrey stepped out of her store. “What are we looking… Ooh, gorgeous.”

“Thank you.” Pink spread across Brooke’s face.

“What are you doing with them after?” Aubrey asked.

Brooke shrugged. “Not a clue. They’re too big to hang in the workshop. Do you want one?”

I definitely did, and so did Aubrey. She claimed the huge Lee’s Sportswear sign—that Brooke had made these to scale was even more impressive.

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