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It could be worse, I told myself, and added the neon blue, vibrating tentacle toy to my online shopping cart.It could be drugs. I could drop a fortune on meth instead of monster dildos, right? It’s not that bad.
I lifted my head and glanced across the little tables set up just inside the grocery store. The chain coffee shop was one of my usual haunts for getting online since I didn’t dare connect to the internet at home.
Paranoid? You bet. You would be, too, if you were me.
There were monsters in the world, real freaky monsters that’d eat your face and sleep soundly afterward. Some of them were okay, like the giant lizardman my ex had married, and the jackalope-looking one myotherex had shacked up with.
It was probably weird that two of my ex-boyfriends had gone for monsters. Then again, maybe not, considering I was part monster myself. And part fae, I guess, but who was counting? Neither of them had known what I was, other than amazing inbed, but what were the chances? Guess once you go monster, you never go back.
My eyes tracked a woman in a heavy white coat. She sneezed into her hand, wiped her nose with her fingers, and immediately ran those same fingers over a bunch of carrots. I cringed. No thanks. I’d rather spend a hundred bucks on something I knew I’d enjoy than two bucks on snot carrots.
I turned back to my phone to complete the checkout, paying extra for the fast shipping. Life was short. I planned to get off as often as possible before I kicked the bucket. Money well spent, as far as I was concerned.
Standing, I popped the back off my phone, removing the battery. It went into my left pocket while the rest of the phone stayed in the right. I pushed in the chair and scooped up my pumpkin spice soy latte with its four extra pumps of sugar and stood. Most guys wouldn’t be caught dead with such a girlie drink, but I didn’t care. So what if I was a little basic? Maybe basic white chicks were onto something. Pumpkin spice tasted like fall, and fall was my favorite season. Crunchy leaves, crisp evenings, spooky stories, and trick-or-treat.
Ever since I was a kid, Halloween had been my favorite holiday, and not just because of all the candy. I liked everything about it from getting to play dress up to animatronic zombies, but ghosts and haunted house stories were my favorite. I’d been a Ghostbuster three years in a row when I was a kid, and I still had that replica ghost trap sitting around…somewhere.
Speaking of ghosts…I slid into the freezer aisle to pick up another jumbo bag of frozen pizza rolls, frowning at the price.
Didn’t I mention? My house was hella haunted, and my ghostie’s favorite snack just happened to be pepperoni pizza rolls. He broke into my house to eat them by the bag full without even heating them up. At first, it was just once a week, but now it was getting more frequent. And expensive.
I might have to pick up a few extra shifts at the gym just to cover my invisible roomie’s snacking habit, I thought, grabbing two bags and tossing them into the plastic basket on my arm. I added some protein powder, peanut butter and chocolate breakfast cereal, marshmallow fluff, and some chocolate fudge toaster pastries.
I was trying to decide between birthday cake and Superman ice cream when I heard someone dead say my name.
“Axel?”
I froze, a chill running up my spine. No way. No fucking way! He couldn’t be here. It’d been almost thirteen years since he’d left me, and in that time he hadn’t called, written, texted… Itcouldn’tbe him.
My body moved automatically, head turning. Tingling numbness spread over my skull and down the back of my neck as I stared into familiar dark brown eyes. The man standing just a short distance away had his long black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. An eyepatch covered one eye. Familiar tattoos lined the exposed coppery skin of his arms. There were more wrinkles and scars on him than the last time I’d seen him, but there was no mistaking it.
My pop was standing at the end of the aisle, calling my name.
We stared at each other across the distance while elevator music and tension filled the aisle. For a minute, I was seventeen again. I’d woken up one morning and overheard my pop talking to some men in suits at the door briefly before he closed it. When I asked him what was going on, he just put on his boots, clapped my shoulder and said he’d be back in a few days.
Those few days had turned into years. I thought he was dead.He should’ve stayed that way,I thought, stomping through the juice aisle.
“Axel, wait.” He came up behind me. “Just give me a minute.”
“A minute?” I turned on him with orange juice in my hand. “You had thirteen years to talk if you wanted to, Honor.”
“I couldn’t, Axel. It’s complicated.” He lowered his eyes and tucked his hands into his pockets, staring at the floor.
Something tugged at my heart. I wanted to believe him, especially since he was the only family I had left. My mom and dad had died when I was eight. Honor and I didn’t share blood, but he’d loved my mom and dad. They were partners, all three of them, in love, life, and their pursuit of a dream. When Mom and Dad died, it was Honor who took care of me, raised me.
And then he abandoned me.
That tiny twinge of sympathy hardened into an impenetrable shell. “I don’t give a fuck what your excuse is. I thought you weredead.” I picked up some orange juice and shoved it into my basket. “Go back to wherever you came from. I’m not interested in anything you’ve got to say.”
I shoved past him, heading for the liquor section. I suddenly felt like getting supremely fucked up, and that meant screwdrivers.
“Axel, you’re in danger,” Honor called after me.
I stopped mid-stride, my anger reaching a tipping point.
He didn’t get it, though. He strolled right up to me and continued like I wanted to hear anything he had to say. “I made a deal, okay? That’s why I left. Someone in the government came, and they wanted you, but I talked them into taking me instead, but now the deal's off, and I think they’re coming for you.”
“Jesus,” I muttered, shaking my head. “You really expect me to believe anything you say to me? You’re the one who told me never to believe news from strangers.” I poked him in the chest. “And now you’re a stranger. So fuck you, and fuck off.” I took a step away before pointing back at him. “Don’t follow me. I see you near me again, I’ll…I don’t know. But I’ll do something you won’t like!”
