Page 2 of Demon and the Raven

Lorne grunted and tipped his head. “What she said.”

I looked from him with his arms crossed, biceps bulging, gaze flat, jaw clenched, to her with her bugged-out eyes, furrowed brows, and tightened fists, and I understood that what I’d seen as a maneuver worthy of a seasoned bike messenger in New York or San Francisco, the two of them had viewed as taunting death. As my grandfather had told me a million times, the truth was in the eye of the beholder, not the one zigzagging through traffic.

“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely to the man I loved desperately, who glowered at me. “I promise to be more careful from now on.”

He leaned in, giving me a quick kiss, and everyone driving by must have thought that I, Xander Corey, was the luckiest man alive. Because not only was Lorne MacBain, who was kissing me, utterly breathtaking, but he was clearly smitten. His smile when he leaned back, how warm his eyes were, had me floating on a cloud of happiness.

Of course, Amanda took that moment to pinch my side. Hard.

“The hell,” I yelled again.

“Where’s my sorry?”

I growled at her, then snapped, “I’m sorry.”

She glared at me.

“I am.” I whined that time.

“Fine,” she said quickly, grinning. “Now, what’s with the weird red metal basket on your bike?”

Lorne groaned and shook his head. “It’s not a weird basket; it’s a new basket.”

She stared at him.

“I put a new fitting on the front here, so now this new one snaps on and off, and it has a built-in handle so he can cart it easily.”

“That’s actually clever,” she admitted belligerently, which was Amanda for why didn’t I think of that.

Another car stopped behind Amanda’s then, and it was Victoria Day, one of Lorne’s two deputies. Immediately, from her slumped shoulders as she exited the car, and the way she bit her lip before she took a breath and started toward us, I knew something was wrong.

“Chief,” she greeted him, and grimaced.

He squinted at her. “What did I say you had to admit to when it all went to hell?”

Clearly, he already knew what the issue was.

Her sigh was long, and she muttered something under her breath.

“Sorry?” he goaded her, which was terrible. I would have said something, but first, I had no idea what they were talking about, and second, he was in work mode, which meant I needed to keep quiet in front of his deputy. If I made a peep, he’d murder me, and I didn’t want that. I had to work today.

“You were right, and I was wrong,” she said louder. “Things have escalated.”

“Imagine that.” He sounded really sarcastic.

“I didn’t think it would.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Apparently, ahead of this last rain,” she began, “Mrs. Burley threw clover seeds into Mr. Taylor’s newly tilled and leveled, ready for new sod, backyard, and you can picture what it looks like now.”

I certainly could.

“Go on.”

“In return, Mr. Taylor put his goats into Mrs. Burley’s backyard, and now her award-winning Peace Roses⁠—”

“The irony,” Amanda chimed in with a snort.