“We’ll drive you,” he answered automatically, then tried to hide the utter disbelief he had in himself.Who are you? What are you doing!
“That’s really sweet, but I’ve got nowhere to go.”
Nikolai broke the connection with her glowing rubies to focus on the jar.Don’t do it.He wasn’t thinking.It isn’t fair. He wasn’t considering it.She’s got nowhere to go.She was a stranger that he didn’t owe anything to… He screwed the lid back onto the jar and glanced back up to her. “You can stay with us.”
No! Not that!
“What?” she blurted out.
“You can’t go back to him. You and the tiny terror stay with us. I’ll go tell Jessie.” He rose to his towering height and nodded to both of them like it wasn’t completely batshit that he offered.You don’t know this woman!
It was her pretty face. The kid got to him. They were in a tough spot, and he was a big softy for people on the run. Whatdid it matter? He opened his big bugbear mouth and he couldn’t go back on his word.
Nikolai burst out into the shop, jogging over to Jessie. Seconds after the customer walked away with their keys and the paperwork, Jessie twisted. His eyebrows furrowed. Nikolai panted for air as he came to a screeching halt.
Jessie greeted him with a smile, “What’s up—”
“She’s coming home with us tonight!” Nikolai yelled at Jessie before promptly snapping his mouth shut hard enough his tusks prodded his cheeks. Jessie’s eyebrows shot up into his horns. Nikolai, not saying a single word, threw his arms out to the side. Jessie was baffled. Nikolai was panicked.
Then Jessie sputtered, “Yeah, man, she’s coming home with us. Who?”
“Katarina—pretty lady with the fucked up car.” Nikolai propped his hands on his hips where his mechanics overalls were bunched up. He’d done all of that with a massive oil stain on the chest of his under-shirt, sweaty fur slicked across his arms, and his boots covered in tar.Perfect.
“Oh,” Jessie wheezed as Nikolai stalked away. “Wait, what?”
Nikolai threw his hands out, not speaking another word before other batshit ideas came out of his mouth.
Chapter Three:
~Katarina~
“Thisisabsolutelybonkers,Katarina,” the exhausted succubus whispered to herself as she tucked Isabella in. Her child snoozed hard on the couch in the waiting room with the blanket given to them by the receptionist. It’d grown late and the only people left were her, the pixie receptionist named Penny, and her sleepy child. She’d spent all day keeping Isabella occupied. Thankfully, Penny was a good sport and let the stir crazy child sit with her and watch game shows for two hours while Katarina made several calls. First, was to work. She put in time off. She had two weeks PTO saved up and, surprisingly, they didn’t question it. Her theory was, since the news dropped that Gill was arrested, the office was in SYA mode.Save. Your. Ass.Granted, she’d already seen through emails and communications channels the office was already scrambling their best and brightest to appeal Gill’s sentence. Katarina would have thought that would be hard to do when video evidence leaked all over social media.
Unfortunately, when the video hit the crystal net…people started calling.
Gill’s mother called, freaking out that she hadn’t been told. Then had thefucking nerveto accuse Katarina of making it out to be worse than it was. The second the heinous, old bat said Katarina used Isabella for sympathy, she hung up. Katarina desperately tried to get ahold of Sera after that. Unfortunately, her best friend was in back-to-back meetings all day. It was amiracle she heard back before sunset. Katarina needed her stuff but the mere thought of going back to that house, even to rummage through it, sent her heartbeat into a tizzy. Sera agreed to sneak in a little later.
She also, somehow, convinced her best friend not to launch a formal, internal complaint against the favoritism Gill was receiving from the company. All Katarina wanted was clean clothes and a warm bed. Katarina couldn’t afford buying a new car outright as she was still legally married. Their everything was twisted together. But divorce was coming for Gill, wither he liked it or not. She didn’t want anything from him, just her life back.
Especially when the only thing she had to her name was the tiny tike splayed out on the leather couch in a small waiting room. Isabella yawned, turned over, and continued to snore into the pillow. Katarina leaned over her lap, staring down at her baby girl for the umpteenth time. Worry sizzled in the pit of her stomach.That’s why we agreed. That’s why we’re going to stay with complete strangers.
She grimaced to herself.On the plus side? Gill won’t know where to find us. Reality was, Gill would get out within a few days with his connections. Even with her pressing charges, once her divorce was finalized and she was out of harm’s way, he’d weasel his way out of the consequences to his actions.Like always.Gill is never in trouble, only me.So, she needed to think of Isabella first. What was important to get out, what couldn’t be replaced, and what she was willing to leave behind, that’s what she kept going over and over and over in her head.
The door to the garage creaked open and Jessie, the shop owner, poked his head in. Such a sweet face too, young for being an owner of a business. Hard to tell age through pretty rust-and-cream-colored fur, but he couldn’t be more than twenty-seven. Around her age, at the very least.
“Alright, little momma, we got a good number for you. You okay to walk with me?” Jessie flashed a genuine smile but kept his voice low. His gaze landed on the snoozing child then rose back up to meet her eye.
“I’ve got the tiny tot, sweetie, go on.” Penny winked at Katarina as she floated over the desk and sat on the couch. The receptionist continued to read through a well-creased paperback, chomping a piece of bubblegum. How the lady didn’t have cavities was beyond Katarina.I’ve seen her pop in like, 10 pieces?She appreciated the attentiveness, though, as a customer, which was something she’d not had in a while.
Gill always went to the chain mechanic up town where his buddies got their cars done. She was just a number there.
Katarina stood up and slithered out into the shop. The temperature drastically changed from cold, stale air conditioning to warm and tacky, but it was refreshing nonetheless. She peeked back to make sure Isabella stayed asleep. The bundle of blonde waves never moved from the pillow. With a deep breath, she returned her focus to Jessie. “What’s the damage?”
“Oh, that’s the wrong question,” he laughed with a nervous grimace while scratching behind his floppy ears.
“Right,” she snorted, shaking her head. “What’s the price tag? I guess? Uh…the pay out!”
“Atta girl!” He motioned with an arm for her to walk with him. Thankfully, the lights in the shop were already dimmed, with all the bay doors at the front closed tight. He couldn’t see the fresh blood pumping to her cheeks or the crimson that scorched across her collar bone. And that’s when her stomachgrowled.Unfortunately, he did hear that. “Oh! Damn, it is late. Have you two eaten since breakfast?”
