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I nodded, and he gave me an aggravated look.
“Evie...”
“I wasn’t going to take someone’s livelihood,” I said. “Well, at least not until we found out he was a slimeball.”
“Next time, don’t put yourself in danger, please?” He pleaded, sighing. I nodded but pouted. I didn’t mean to put myself in danger. It’s not like I was like, ‘Oh this man is seedy, I’m going to go see if I can get myself raped.’
Cory and I both worked the remainder of the flight home in comfortable silence with a little added small chat.
“Want to grab something to eat? We’ll have missed dinner by the time we make it home,” I asked when we landed.
“Sure. Any place in particular?” he asked.
“I’m in the mood for a good steak. Tozi still needs her energy,” I said.
“Oh, my specialty. I know just the place.” He grinned and loaded our bags into his truck.
He took us to a little hole-in-the-wall Brazilian place. The food was amazing, but I couldn’t help but feel jealous when a beautiful ebony goddess came walking out of the back and stopped by our table.
“Cory! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would have made your favorite dessert.” Cory stood and hugged her, and I could feel Tozi’s jealousy trying to seep out in a growl.
“Aline! It was a last-minute decision. I wasn’t about to interrupt your evening. This place is gaining so much traction. Soon enough, I’ll have to make reservations just to get a seat,” he said, looking out to the busy restaurant when he pulled back from the hug.
“Nonsense. You’ll always have a table. Just shoot me a text.” Finally, the woman turned to me and smiled.
“Hi! I’m Aline.” She stretched her hand out.
“Everly,” I answered.
“Very nice to meet you. I hope you’ve enjoyed the food.”
“Everything’s been wonderful. You have a lovely restaurant,” I said honestly.
“Aline and I met in university and became friends,” Cory explained, sitting back down.
“He’s being modest. This man is the reason I was able to graduate. He spent so much time explaining statistics to me. I would have failed without his help,” she explained, chuckling.
“It was a good review for me, so it wasn’t a big deal.” Cory blushed at her words.
“Tell that to Shandra. She tried and quit after a week.” Aline laughed. “Anyway, I’ll let you guys enjoy your night. Next time you’re in the area, give me a shout, and I’ll treat you to dinner.”
“It was great to see you.” Cory got up and hugged Aline again as she left. Tozi was spitting mad in my head, asking me to claim him and gouge her eyes out. I had to remind myself that this was all part of the spell, and we’d soon be back to normal. I wasn’t a jealous person, and they just seemed to be friends. Still, after we left the restaurant, I couldn’t help but sulk and brood on the ride home.
“Are you okay?” Cory asked.
“I’m fine,” I said, only to hear Cory snort and pull over.
“I have three sisters, Evie. I know what ‘I’m fine’ means. What’s wrong?” he asked again.
“Nothing is wrong, Cory, I just want to get home and start working on the phones,” I said, not meeting his eyes. After a few moments of silence, I heard his sigh before he took off again.
“Do you mind if we stop and see Areli for a bit?” he asked quietly when we were about twenty minutes from Blue Moon.
“Of course not. She’s your sister, Cory,” I answered.
When we got to the pack house, Areli and David were already waiting outside for us. Cory jumped out of the truck, and I watched Areli jump into his arms. I walked over to David, introducing myself and chatting with him so we could give them a few minutes to talk in private. After Zi and I settled in, I learned from Jo that Cory was the one who found her and ran her to the hospital.
Areli was Cory’s baby sister; seeing her that way must have crushed him. Once Cory and Areli joined my conversation with David, we sat on the pack house steps talking for about twenty minutes before we decided to leave. I could see the relief in Cory’s entire frame when he hugged her goodbye. I hugged her tightly, too, while Cory walked around the truck.
