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“Yeah. My uncles took me every year to watch it, and the money made from the annual performances paid for college.” She cocked her head. “How long do you have to touch me?”
“A few seconds.”
“I can make them disinterested for a few seconds if you just want to get this over with.”
Rayden smiled. “I am suddenly in less of a hurry. The choreography is fun but intense.”
“I designed something that I could skate to. I practiced all the parts, and my Uncle Leon recorded them. We wrote it up and presented it to the city arts council for deliberation, and the videos were played in different costumes, and they accepted thePatchwork Pixieas a volunteer holiday performance. So, then, me, Leon, and Uncle Derrik went from skate school to skate school to get volunteers. The students watched the videos of the different characters, and folks started to get excited, but we needed more trolls.”
He grinned. “So, you went to the hockey teams.”
“And they wore their sport skates so they could go very fast without stopping.”
“So, the kids volunteered for that, too.”
“Yeah. After two years, they went on to adults so they could expand the number of performances. That is when my college fund started.”
“Why do I smell chocolate and raspberries?”
“I work in the chocolate shop next door.”
He flared his nostrils. “But you smell like berries.”
“It is warm in the shop. I sweat.” She didn’t explain. He was smirking.
He reached out and flicked her hair from her cheek, trailing a finger across her forehead, and she felt a cracker-like snap. She jumped. He smiled and tapped her nose.
She felt interest solidify around them. “Why did you do that? It is going to have an effect on your dating prospects.”
He cocked his head. “I don’t think so. I think things will be just fine.”
She nodded and checked the table. Everything was gone, and she checked her watch. “I hate to be fixed and run, but I left the manager in charge of my station, and I am afraid of his quality control.”
She smiled. “So, uh. What do I owe you for that?”
“Ruby, you owe me nothing. Marshall owes me.”
“Oh. Right.” She flipped out a few bills and put them under her plate. “Well, I have to get going. The shop is very far behind.”
He got up and escorted her out. She was walking toward the shop when she saw a familiar shape.Tanner.
For the first time in her life, she felt icy fury, and she stepped a little more quickly toward him.
Tanner stepped toward her. “Ruby. I can explain.”
“What? How you convinced her to wear my wedding dress, how you wouldn’t stop when she was crying, or how you raped her like you raped me after she wanted to leave. You are disgusting, you are filth, you are a pathetic worm, and you need to go back to remedial alpha school if you think that is how you get voluntary lovers.” She blurted it all and then stopped. She shook her head. “You are never touching me or anything of mine again.”
Tanner dismissed her and looked at Rayden. “Who’s this?”
“My lunch date. I told you. We are done, you pretty sack of shit, and you aren’t my boss any more.”
That did it.
He swung at her with a closed fist. She ducked under it, drove her fist into his midsection, kicked his groin with all her power, and used her right fist to his jaw again. He dropped, and she turned her head to a surprised Rayden. “Can you call Marshall?”
Rayden held out his phone and said, “Already done. Yeah, Marsh, she just beat the hell out of some blond guy. I have to say, if she hadn’t been listing his sins, I would have been turned on. As it is, my fondest wish would be to snap his neck. Well, eventually his neck.”
There was a pause, and a police car pulled up.
