Page 9 of One Last Wish (The Elder World)

O ver the next few nights , there were no dreams waking me up. With Thanksgiving on Thursday, it gave me an extra day off. Evelyn was spending it with her parents, which meant I got the apartment to myself.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” It was the sixth time she had asked me. “Come for the food. You don’t even have to talk.”

“No, I was by myself last year, and for years before that. I like my own company, Evelyn. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I’ll stop by Bookends later and drop off some pumpkin pie. You have other food for tomorrow, right? I don’t want you to starve.”

“You don’t have to,” I complained, but knew it was pointless. Once Evelyn had made her mind up about something, that was it. “I’ll get a few things when I finish work.”

“We’ll have lunch. What time is your lunch break today?”

“Around one.” A lunch date with Evelyn meant I didn’t have to put up with Theo on my break, or Darce for that matter.

“Okay, see you then. I need to shower and get ready. Danny is meeting me in an hour.”

“Danny, huh? Are you giving him another chance?”

“The guy went down on me in his car the other night. I’ve realised where his skills are. He’s worth another try.”

“You whore,” I laughed, choking a little on my mouthful of cereal.

––––––––

D ARCE WAS ALREADY WAITING when I got to Bookends. It was a really cold, crisp day, and my cheeks were burning from the chill.

“I think it might snow today,” I mused, opening the door with my key.

“Are we really going to talk about the weather?” Shit! Small talk? What the hell was I doing? Ignoring him, I punched the alarm code in while Darce began to turn all the lights on.

Theo rushed in a few moments later and looked disappointed when he noticed Darce was already in with me.

“I’ve found some awesome dragon cut outs for the midnight release party,” Theo announced proudly.

“That’s great. I’m going to finish painting the dragon eggs tomorrow.”

“On Thanksgiving ?”

“No better time.” I forced a smile. Darce was quietly moving around the ground floor, putting all the display lights on.

“Is Darce trying to earn a bonus? He's been in early with you all week.”

“That’s not true. He started at ten once.” Wandering over to the cashier’s desk, I began to set the register up. “Theo, can you check the basement level, please?”

“Can’t Darce?” he complained.

“He’s already upstairs.” I motioned to the lights going on one at a time underneath the skylight. Theo was such a sulky child on occasions.

“Did you want me to check for any online orders?” Darce asked once he was back downstairs.

“Sure,” I replied, finishing booting up all the tills.

“I was thinking. Did you need another pair of hands for this midnight release party?”

“Are you offering your services?” I gasped, putting my hand on my chest dramatically.

“The money comes in useful. If you sell all those tickets, you’ll need more hands anyway.”

“That would be great, thanks.”

“What would be great?” Theo asked, darting his eyes between Darce and me as he appeared out of nowhere.

“I’m working the midnight release, too.” Darce beamed, running his hands through his hair. “I thought you and Alora could do with some help.”

“O...Oh, yeah. Great.” Theo’s face looked wounded.

“I’m not trying to steal your girl, Theo. Relax. I need the extra money. The rent in this city is insane.” Theo’s girl? I gave Darce a deadly stare. It only made him smirk more.

“A...Alora and I are just friends. I don’t know what gave you that impression.” Theo blushed. “I’ll get started on checking the new orders.”

“You jerk !” I seethed once Theo had gone, pushing Darce playfully. Fuck, no touching! I forgot. “Shit! Sorry, I didn’t mean to cross your boundaries.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t make contact with my skin.” Oh!

“So, I can touch you wherever there is material?” Why did my stomach flutter at that thought?

“No, but it’s more dangerous if you touch my skin.”

“Dangerous? Jeez, what infectious, deadly disease do you have?”

“One that can kill any girl called Alora ,” he joked, giving me a side eye. “Theo is pretty smitten with you, isn’t he?”

“You’ve only just noticed? He’s a lovesick fool. I’d feel sorry for him if I hadn’t made it obvious from day one that I’m not interested.”

“Have you ever gone on a date with him?”

“God, no!”

“With how hard he’s trying, I think you owe him a date. Have you ever even been on a date with a guy?” I couldn’t tell him the truth...that I hadn’t. I had only ever fucked guys.

“Of course, I have. I’ve just never been on dates with guys like him.” Darce squinted his eyes, urging me to continue. “T...the guys...they’ve always been more like...you.”

“Oh, really? What do you mean by guys like me ?” He was crossing his arms now, looking more amused than I liked.

“Tall, dark, kind of hot...you know, maybe a bit of a bad boy.”

“Bad boy ?” Was he trying to tell me he wasn’t? Bullshit. I shrugged, watching a customer come to the desk. I could feel his eyes on me as I served her. Had I really offended him? “You’re wrong about me,” he murmured once the customer left.

“I don’t think I am.”

Darce leaned toward me, his breath tickling my neck. “There is nothing boyish about me, Alora.” I might have come undone at his words if we’d been alone. “I’m different, yes, but don’t ever compare me to those bad boys .”

“Touched a nerve, did I?” I challenged, moving my head. Our lips were inches apart. Darce moved a little closer, his breathing became heavier as he gazed down at my lips. “You can try and deny it all you want, but I can tell you want me.”

“You don’t know anything ,” Darce whispered, swallowing as he tried to regain whatever control he had left.

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?”

Someone clearing their throat made us break away. We had a queue of customers now. I’d been so distracted by Darce that I hadn’t even noticed them.

By lunchtime, I couldn’t cope with working the tills with Darce any longer. His mere presence was making me heady and irritated at the same time.

I let Theo take over for me while I walked the floors instead, offering my assistance to any customers that needed it.

For once, I was glad it was Thanksgiving so I could have some time away from Darce.

I was tidying up the display stand when Evelyn wandered in to meet me for lunch. Her gaze fell on me first, before scanning to the two men that were at the cashier’s desk. Her eyes widened as she took Darce in before looking back at me.

“Holy fuck!” Evelyn choked. “The new guy is nightclub guy! Why am I only learning this now ? Is this why you’ve been acting odd?”

“Hush, keep your voice down!” I panicked, pulling her farther away from the cashier’s desk.

“Fuck me! He’s delicious. Have you fucked him yet?”

“No! Wait here while I get my bag.” Evelyn pouted at me. “I mean it, do not move from this spot.” The moment I rushed to get my bag, I knew she’d move and I’d find her talking to Darce when I got back upstairs.

“You’re enjoying working here, then?” I heard Evelyn ask Darce while she leant on the counter. For fuck sakes! I was gone for three minutes!

“Yeah, it’s not a bad job.”

“What about Alora, are...?”

“Evelyn, come on let’s go,” I interrupted, grabbing her arm. “I only have an hour for lunch. If you want to sit somewhere we need to go now .”

“Lovely to meet you, Darce.” Evelyn called as I dragged her away. “I’ll text you, Theo. We’ll sort another night out with Alora soon. You could join us, too, Darce.” God, I couldn’t get this woman out of Bookends fast enough. “What?” she laughed once we were outside. “You’ve kept him a secret for almost two weeks !”

“Things are weird with us! I didn’t want to mention anything because I knew you’d be like this!”

“What do you mean weird? Have you fucked or not? Please tell me you have! I want all the glorious details.”

“He’s kind of not interested in me.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah... oh .” Why was that embarrassing to admit?

“Let’s find a place to eat and you can fill me in on everything. ”

We found a little pizza place around the corner from Bookends, and I proceeded to tell Evelyn everything apart from Darce not wanting to be touched. That was a private thing he had confided in me with.

“So wait, he wants you to live your life, and if you do that, he’ll give you information about himself?”

“Yeah, isn’t it fucking weird ?”

“I’m impressed that he worked you out in less than two weeks. I freaking love him!” Wait! Evelyn was on his side? “You’ve needed a guy like this, Alora. Someone to make you come out of your comfort zone.”

“He’s a complete prick!”

“Yeah, you’ve said that a few times, but your lips twitch into a smile every time you talk about him. You like him, admit it!”

“I want to fuck him, so of course I like him, but once I’ve had my fill, I can carry on with my uninteresting life. He means nothing to me.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Evelyn chuckled into her drink. “Does he know about your dream with the shiny hands?” She gave me her best jazz hands . After the incident, she found it hilarious that I’d believed my dream was real.

“No! And you can’t tell him. He’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Girl, you are fucking crazy. Even with those eyebrows. Why are they dark and not grey like your hair?” She really wasn’t helping. Why was she randomly bringing up my eyebrows? “Look, I’ll be back Saturday. I’ve done some shopping for you so you won’t starve.” She handed me a plastic bag. “The pumpkin pie is in there.”

“Evelyn, you didn’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I care about your crazy ass, okay? I don’t give a shit that you probably hate me. I needed to know you’d get a decent meal.” Damn her!

“I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks for all this.”

“No problem. Enjoy your alone time. The same as every other freaking day.” It was Evelyn’s last attempt to get me to go to her parents with her.

“Have fun with your folks,” I mumbled, getting up and leaving.

––––––––

D AISY AND ALICE WERE behind the cashier’s desk when I arrived back at Bookends. Malcolm was talking to Theo near the new Dark Nexus display. The author was coming in for a signing at the start of next year. Darce must have been on his break. I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Alora.” Malcolm motioned for me to join him and Theo when he spotted me.

“I need to put this in the fridge.” I held up the food Evelyn had gotten me. “I’ll be two minutes.” Malcom nodded, going back to his conversation with Theo. The guy hadn’t even let me take my coat off.

I internally groaned when I saw Darce in the breakroom, reading a book. The first Future of Dawn book? He was doing his homework.

“Evelyn, your roommate, seemed nice,” he muttered, not looking up from his book. “Well, before you dragged the poor girl away. Why were you so worried about her talking to me?”

“Don’t even start,” I glared, opening the fridge and putting the plastic bag inside. “Evelyn is a flirt. I was saving you.”

“Looked like you were trying to save yourself to me.” Ugh! Slamming the fridge door, I started to make my way out of the breakroom. This man was unbearable! “Alora? Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“ WHAT ?” I fumed, turning around with a rage so strong, I might have had steam coming out of my ears.

“You’ve still got your coat on?” The smug look on the bastard's face didn’t help. Taking my coat off in a fluid motion, I threw it at him.

“Make yourself useful and hang that up for me,” I seethed, storming off.

With a deep breath, I counted to ten before I reached the ground floor. I walked over to Malcolm and Theo, who were still deep in conversation.

“Alora and I have prepared most of the decorations already,” Theo was saying as I approached them. “Isn’t that right, Alora?”

“Yeah, I’ve ordered some red and yellow drapes to put at the top of the stairs. It will give it that dramatic effect when people walk up to the top floor to get their books. Having it on the top floor will mean they’ll browse and might buy more books that catch their eye.”

“That is really clever marketing, Alora,” Malcolm praised. “Make sure you display all the other wizard books well. Readers like similar stories.” I’d be displaying dragon books because that was what Future of Dawn was about, but I couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Malcolm often got books mixed up.

“Alora has it all covered. Darce is working with us now, too,” Theo replied, watching me.

“How many tickets have we sold so far?”

“Around fifty.” I was impressed with myself. For a first ever midnight release party, that was pretty good. When Evelyn and I went to Book Junkies first a couple of years ago, there had only been around thirty people.

“Fantastic!” Malcolm beamed. “Keep up the good work. I’ll lock up tonight. Everyone can get away a bit earlier.” Wow! That was a first. Malcolm acting like a manager . “It’s Thanksgiving, after all.”