Page 34 of How to Trust a Hellhound (Hellhounds of Paradise Falls #4)

Josh

I finished chatting with Barb and headed out to meet Thea and Wilder at the coffee shop for lunch. I was glad I’d gone into the office, but I also missed Wilder.

Was that weird? Maybe. I didn’t know. This was all so fast, but things had never felt so right for me before. Wilder seemed to know what I needed before I did half the time. He was kind, patient, caring, and he was sexy as hell. He showed me respect and gave me affection.

Part of me was waiting for something bad to happen. Could things really be this good? Was I going into this with blinders on and ignoring red flags, like I had with Rick? Not that Wilder had red flags like Rick; I never had to make excuses for his behavior towards me.

There had to be something wrong with him.

Or maybe it was that something was wrong with me.

I was kind of screwed up, after all. I had an appointment with the therapist in the afternoon, and I guessed maybe this was something I could talk to her about.

Was I moving too fast? Was I on the rebound?

Was I missing red flags? No one could be this perfect, right?

I snorted a little at myself. Well, Wilder was actually a supernatural being that killed people, so maybe he wasn’t totally perfect.

I mean, some people would say those were some pretty big red flags.

Was I kind of ignoring that part of things?

Yeah, maybe I was. But he was still Wilder, the guy who held me while I cried and took care of his family.

Sure, he killed people, but only really bad people.

Was that making excuses for him?

I sighed. I didn’t know. All I knew was that he treated me like I was special and important, and I wanted to see him. Although I was fine all morning, I was feeling a little out of sorts now, and I knew Wilder’s presence would make me feel better. Was that codependent?

I was lost in my thoughts, and when the hand grabbed me and pulled me into the alley between stores, I didn’t quite process what happened right away.

I fell backwards, landing hard on my ass with an oomph.

My brain felt like it rattled in my head, and maybe that’s why I didn’t panic—I just felt confused.

“I’ve been waiting for you!” Rick hissed.

I looked up at him, shaking my head a bit. “Rick?” I asked stupidly.

Obviously it was Rick, and he was blocking my exit out to the street. He also looked… rough. He was disheveled and dirty, I could smell him from where I was sitting on the ground, and his eyes were darting around. He reminded me of a junkie, and my heart sank. What the hell had happened to him?

“It’s okay, baby, I’m here to help. I’ll get you away from them,” he said, turning away from me to look out at the street.

“Get me away from who, Rick?” I asked carefully, sliding backwards a tiny bit to get further away from him.

“The demons.” He turned to look at me, his eyes wild. “I know all about them, Josh, and we can help you. I know people. They’ll get rid of the demons for us, and everything will go back to normal.”

“Who’s ‘we,’ Rick?” I asked.

He focused on me then, smiling maniacally. “The angels, Josh. I found the angels, and they want to help us. They want to cleanse the world of the demonic scourge.”

He kneeled down in front of me, grabbing onto my knee, and I tried to slide backward, but his grip was strong. He was still smiling, and it wasn’t right.

“They’re so powerful, Josh. So majestic, and they’ll help us. And if we do what they say, we can be like them one day. Don’t you want that, baby? Money and power and immortality.”

I tried to slide out of his grasp, but Rick grabbed my other knee with his other hand, frowning at me.

“You shouldn’t do that, baby,” he said, and his grip tightened to the point of pain.

His face twisted, and there was the Rick I knew, the temper I knew.

I couldn’t help the cringe backward. He lifted one hand up off my knee, and without even thinking, I kicked my foot out, catching him in the head.

He fell backward with a cry, and I jumped up, racing around him to get out of the alley.

His hand caught my foot, and I would’ve fallen, but strong hands gripped me before I could.

I looked up into Wilder’s eyes, and Rick yelled out, but his hand let go of my foot. Wilder pulled me out of the alley and onto the street, wrapping me up in his arms. I could hear running footsteps in the alley.

“Wilder,” I gasped out, suddenly breathless, holding tightly onto him.

“Did he hurt you, Mei Ume?” Wilder asked, pushing me back a bit so he could look me over, his hands gripping me tightly.

I shook my head, still feeling shell-shocked. He looked me over again, fire in his eyes. I stared at them, like I was under a spell, and I was only jerked back to reality when Thea jogged up.

“Trouble?” she asked, not even out of breath.

Wilder nodded toward the alley, and Thea ran down it.

“Did he hurt you?” Wilder asked again .

I just shook my head no. “I’m okay. He surprised me, but I’m okay.”

Wilder pulled me back into his arms, and his deep breaths helped to calm my racing heart. I don’t know how long we stood there, but Thea eventually came back.

“I got a license plate, but I didn’t pursue the car. I didn’t want to be conspicuous. He wasn’t hellbound, either. Certainly not a good person, but not ruined,” she said.

I felt Wilder nod his head against me. “Let’s get Josh some food and sugar. He’s a little shocked.”

I didn’t argue, and Wilder held onto me and guided me as we started walking.

“Do you need to be carried, Mei Ume?” he asked me.

I snorted at that, imagining Wilder carrying me down Main Street in front of everyone. I knew he would too, and it made walking a little easier.

I wasn’t paying attention to much, and before long we were inside the coffee shop and Wilder was sitting down and guiding me onto his lap. I didn’t complain.

“What the fuck!” I heard Q say, and he was suddenly in front of me.

I took a deep breath and looked around, taking in my surroundings. The shop was thankfully not that full, and most people weren’t paying us any attention.

“Do I look that awful?” I asked, sitting up and trying to straighten myself out.

“You’re beautiful,” Wilder whispered in my ear.

Q just snorted. “You’re all wrinkled and you’ve got dirt on your clothes. Very un-Josh-like.”

“Can you get him some coffee and something sweet?” Wilder asked.

Q nodded and headed back to the counter. Thea was sitting across from us, looking pissed off.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“I should’ve been quicker,” she muttered, shaking her head.

“Wilder was just up and out the door without a word”—she gave Wilder the side eye—“and I took too long to follow. I thought he saw you or smelled you or whatever and was just going to greet you, but when he didn’t come back in, I went out and followed his scent. ”

Wilder grunted, and it might have been an apology.

I leaned my head back against him, thinking about what had happened.

I wasn’t sure what they would have done if they’d caught Rick, and maybe a part of me was glad they hadn’t.

I was done with him, and maybe I would be happy if karma made him miserable for quite awhile, but I didn’t want him killed because of me.

“There was something wrong with him,” I murmured, thinking back to the crazed look in his eyes.

Wilder hugged me more tightly. “It’s okay, Mei Ume. You’re safe now. I won’t let you out of my sight again.”

“I mean, there was really something wrong with him. He looked strung out or something. He was ranting about getting me away from demons and how the angels were going to help and how powerful they were. It was… it wasn’t anything like Rick.

He doesn’t believe in supernatural stuff.

He has a temper, but he isn’t delusional. ”

Thea raised her eyebrows, looking at Wilder. “You said angels and demons don’t always get along. Could he be working with actual angels?”

I sat up and turned to look at Wilder. Q came over with coffee and some muffins, setting them on the table and staring at us.

“I’m okay, Q. I ran into Rick, but he didn’t hurt me, and I’m fine. I was just shocked,” I told him.

“That amoeba-brained, shit-sucking pile of puke. Where is he? I’ll fucking kill him myself,” Q seethed.

I raised my eyebrows. That was pretty creative, even for Q. Usually it was just cursing .

He saw my look and grimaced. “Toby has a character who swears in creative ways. He keeps asking my opinion on them. They’re kind of fun to use.” He shrugged.

I laughed, and Q cracked a little smile, heading back to the counter when one of the other employees called him. A line was building up, but Q still took his time.

We drank our coffee and ate the muffins, and Wilder must have sensed I needed some normality, because he talked about the layout of the town, the nearby cities, and the rural areas with Thea. They chatted easily, and the coffee and muffin made me feel less shaky.

By the time there were only crumbs left, Thea and Wilder were both quiet. Thea got up first.

“I’m going to continue exploring, maybe see if I can scent anything. He wasn’t hellbound, and he was just human, but there was some scent clinging to him… I don’t know.” She shook her head, and then headed out the door without a goodbye.

Ok then. I guess she was as fond of social niceties as the rest of the guys.

“Ready to head out, Mei Ume?” Wilder asked, and I nodded.

He helped me up, and we made our way to his car. He opened my door and even buckled me in, and I didn’t complain, although I did blush. He drove with one hand on my knee, and he kept looking over at me. It made me feel warm inside.

With everything that had happened, I’d totally forgotten about my appointment with Helene, but Wilder obviously hadn’t, because we pulled up in front of a brick building.

“Shit. I forgot,” I muttered.

“If you want to put it off, I’m sure she’ll understand,” Wilder reassured me.