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“Oh, right, duh.” Claire elbows the waitress. “How’s June?” She blows on her coffee and takes a cautious sip.
“I’ll be happier when I don’t have a bodyguard with me twenty-four seven.” June flits her gaze to the other end of the place where a guy who weirdly resembles Ian Somerhalder stands with his arms crossed.
“It’s for your protection,” Magnus tells her.
She rolls her eyes and grabs the plate that the cook shoves through the open window area. June nods in my direction. “Customer over there was asking about The Claire Special. Why don’t you go sell it to her yourself?”
I force my gaze down at my steaming cup of coffee and pretend I wasn’t spying on their entire conversation.
“Afternoon,” a gentle voice says.
“Hi,” I manage to respond.
“I hear you were curious about the special so I wanted to come introduce myself.” She extends her hand. “I’m Claire.”
I place my hand in hers. “Banks.”
“Oh, what a cool name. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.”
I nervously chuckle. “Yeah, I don’t know what my mom was thinking, honestly. She was probably too high on drugs to think of anything else.”
Claire smiles. “Moms.” There’s a strange undertone to the way she says it like there’s so much more to the word than what she leads on.
But learning about her own childhood trauma isn’t why I’m here, I came to learn the truth about Jared.
“Could I, um, ask you a question?”
Claire bobs her head up and down. “Of course.”
I point to the seat across from me. “Would you mind sitting?” I reluctantly glance over at the menacing tattooed guy still sitting on a stool at the bar who’s currently chatting with the owner.
Claire hesitates but decides to go along with my request. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I…” I fiddle with the handle on my mug. “I don’t know how to…”
Completely unexpectedly, Claire reaches forward and latches onto my hand. “I promise I don’t bite. Don’t let my name on a chalkboard fool you, I’m no one special.”
Her kindness trickles into me and gives me the courage to open my mouth. “Did you know the guys who were killed near here a while back?”
Claire freezes and then pulls her hand away.
“Did you know Jared?” Tears well in my eyes and it’s everything I can do to hold them at bay.
She starts to speak, then stops, then starts again, only to stop again.
Magnus walks over, his frame towering over us, casting a shadow on the table. Jesus, he’s even more gorgeous and intimidating up close. “Everything okay over here?”
Claire forces a smile. “Yeah, Maggie, we’re good.”
His stare burns a hole through the side of my head but he accepts her statement and goes over to his corner booth.
She lowers her voice. “Are you a cop?”
I furiously shake my head. “No, oh God no.” I can only imagine how stupid it would be for a cop to walk in here asking questions after the warning Savini gave me and seeing the muscle already in this place. If I weren’t an unsuspecting female, Magnus and the Ian lookalike would have been enough to scare me out of here already.
But if I’ve learned anything from my time on this planet, being a woman can get you access to places you typically wouldn’t be allowed.
“I knew him.” Claire’s nostrils flare and she repositions herself.
