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“Hmm. Your Mount of Venus, on the other hand... that’s quite flat. How curious.”
I waited, but she didn’t elaborate, and I hated myself for asking.
“What’s curious?”
“Well,” Denise sighed dramatically. “It’s just that a person with an underdeveloped Mount of Venus typically lacks family connections.”
I swallowed hard, staring at the area she was touching near the base of my thumb, trying not to let her words get to me, but my discomfort was like a vice around my ribs, choking off my ability to breathe.
Family.
What a joke that was.
“Alright,” I croaked, trying to extract my hand before I showed her exactly how developed my Mount of Apollo was. “I think I’m done here.”
“Wait, Ricki.” Denise reached for my other hand, clasping both of mine together between hers when a sudden shock snapped across my skin, causing both of us to freeze. “Holy shit.”
I could see the hairs on my arm standing on end, the static charge feeling like lightning, as it zapped up my arms.
“What the hell was that?” I asked incredulously.
“Um, I have no idea.”
Licking my lips, I looked around the room, but the people who were still hanging around inside the shop weren’t paying us any attention. Tucked away in the corner, no one would have noticed a thing, but I sure as hell felt it.
“Static,” I said, as much for myself as for Denise. “It was just static.”
“Oh, yeah. Totally.”
We looked at each other, her eyes wide and a bit stunned, mine narrowed in suspicion, but neither of us spoke.
Finally, without a word, I just up and left.
I really needed that beer.
Chapter twenty-nine
Asher
“Hereyougo.Twosmoked pork belly sliders and two smoked rosemary bourbon sours.”
I set the last of the items down on the table in front of the couple of women currently dressed as the creepy twins from The Shining with an exaggerated tip of my hat.
“Oh my god! These look amazing,” said one of the murder twins, smiling at me with what appeared to be every tooth in her mouth while the other nodded enthusiastically. “I can’t wait totasteit.” She emphasized the word, leaving me no doubt as to what she meant, but just in case, she gave me a dramatic wink as well.
“Our chef smoked all the meat in house,” I answered, politely ignoring her blatant display. “Enjoy.”
I walked away as fast as I could, ducking back into the restaurant and heading back behind the bar with an exhausted roll of my shoulders; I couldn’t believe how busy we were.
“Did I really think this was a good idea?” Easton asked, his head down as he prepared another round of the sliders. Behind him, Jared, the fry chef, was shaking off another batch of fries, dumping them into a stainless-steel bowl and dousing them in seasoning. I couldn’t stop the involuntary growl of my stomach at the sight—I was fucking starving, not having stopped since we opened the doors at four in the afternoon, but the crowd outside showed no signs of slowing down. Looking at me through the pass-through window between the bar and the kitchen, Easton frowned. “I’m sweating my bag off back here. Who thought it was smart to have a restaurant that revolved around a smoker?”
“You did, and... you did.” I laughed, setting down my empty tray and starting the process of mixing more cocktails. We’d done a limited menu for the evening, with two food options and two drink options, plus the fries and fountain soda. The place was hopping; with every table insideandthe wooden picnic tables we’d placed on the sidewalk out front completely full, it had been a steady stream of people stopping by to give our place a look.
I honestly couldn’t have been happier with how it was going, but we’d been so busy I hadn’t seen Ricki all day, and that was starting to tick me off.
After our epic night at my house, she’d returned to her own apartment—against my continued protests—and dove head-first into preparing for her grand opening. Violet seemed to have had everything in order, but Ricki still insisted on going over everything with a fine-toothed comb.
I honestly respected the hell out of her for it.
