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She slipped behind the counter, bumping me away from the cash register with her hip. “Well? Go enjoy your day off.”
A startled laugh escaped me. “Are you kicking me out?”
“You wanted me to take your shift. Now go do something fun. I’ll see you tonight.” She gave me a sweet smile. Kylie wasn’t the judgy type—in fact, I didn’t think she had a single judgmental bone in her body—but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t drag me out of the apartment or encourage me to be more social.
“All right, I’m going.” I held my hands up in surrender as I backed away from the register.
Kylie gave me a little wave as I headed out of the café and to my car. My official reason for driving to work today was so I could visit Dad without walking home first. The real reason had more to do with what I thought happened last night. I couldn’t forget the sound of the woman’s screams… or the sadness in her eyes right before she disappeared. Call me paranoid, but I wanted the security of being surrounded by metal today.
I tossed my Fountain of Youth visor onto the passenger seat of my car and then tugged my polo shirt off and replaced it with a light hoodie over the tank top I wore underneath.
Ten minutes later, I was getting out of the car and heading through a set of familiar gates. I didn’t have to think about where I was going as I walked to Dad’s headstone. I’d been coming here every month for years. I knew this cemetery better than I’d known my high school.
I didn’t believe I had to come here to talk to my father, that being close to where his ashes were buried helped my chances of him listening. I came to the cemetery because it was peaceful and because making the special trip ensured I’d never forget to talk to him.
In reality, I’d never liked the idea of having a grave myself. I didn’t want my ashes to be locked in a box and buried under the ground. It seemed so… permanent.
Right, because death wasn’t permanent or anything.
I sank to my knees in the grass in front of his headstone. “Hey, Dad.”
It had been five years since the first time I stood here and watched as they lowered his urn into the ground. Five years of missing one of my favorite people in the world. Five years of living with the kind of grief that eventually fades to the background but never goes away. Five years of never knowing when my heart was going to decide to remind me that he was gone, that he would never walk me down the aisle at my wedding or hold my children.
I dropped my voice to a whisper as I told my father what I couldn’t tell anyone else. “Something happened yesterday. Maybe I’m insane, but I know what I saw. I know what I did.”
I talked to my father for an hour, telling him about everything I was afraid the world would judge me for. When I stood up and turned away from the grave, I saw a guy leaning against one of the taller headstones, watching me.
He looked to be in his midtwenties and was possibly the most beautiful being I’d ever seen. With messy blond hair, brilliant green eyes, and the face of a freaking angel, he was what sinful fantasies were made of. It didn’t help that his black shirt was unbuttoned halfway down, offering a glimpse of golden skin and tight muscles. And to make matters worse, his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. Why did rolled-up sleeves automatically make guys so much hotter? It sounded so ridiculous when people talked about that in various book club Facebook groups, but clearly I wasn’t immune to the effect.
My gaze traveled lower without my permission, taking in the black leather pants that hugged his thighs perfectly (Who the hell wears leather pants anymore?) and ass-kicking boots. He screamed dangerous. Not the way a guy covered in tattoos or coming out of a biker bar did. This guy didn’tlookscary, but he gave off an aura of power. Kind of like a vampire out of a dark romance.
I dragged my eyes back up to his face, which took a while since he had to be a couple of inches over six feet tall.
He raised a single brow, and his lips curved into a smirk. He so knew I’d been checking him out.
“Sierra Meyers.” It wasn’t a question.
I blinked, taking a step back.
How did he know my name? I was sure I’d never seen him before. I would’ve remembered his face.
“Who are you?”
“Nathaniel.” His gaze slid over my body from head to toe. He didn’t look at me like he was checking me out so much as like I was a puzzle he was trying to solve. He shook his head, clearly giving up.
“How do you know me?” I was way past my quota of weird interactions for the week. I just wanted to go home and lose myself in a romance novel until Kylie came home and convinced me to do something with her. I didn’t have the energy to deal with strangers who somehow knew my name.
“You messed with the wrong people, and now you’re all involved in a war that has nothing to do with you.” Nathaniel’s voice sounded disinterested, almost bored. “I’m here to make sure no one hurts a pretty hair on your head. Congratulations, baby girl, you’ve been accepted into the celestial witness protection program. Though I guess you weren’t really just a witness, were you?”
My jaw dropped, and I gaped at him for a solid thirty seconds before finding my voice again. “What are you smoking?” I held up my hand. “You know what? I don’t actually want to know. I’m leaving now.” I walked past him, trying to ignore the heat I could feel radiating off his body when I got close.
I got about three feet away from him before he spoke again. “What did you do with the stake?”
“What?” I turned around slowly.
He smirked at me. “The stake you used to kill the demon—what did you do with it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried to sound confident, but I didn’t think I was fooling anyone. Had he been listening to the story I told my father? Was that how he knew about the stake and the man I’d stabbed with it? But I hadn’t called Glowy Eyes a demon, and I hadn’t been sure I killed him.
