Page 31 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)

Chapter Seventeen

AUGUSTUS

Hot damn.

“Harper, did you hear me?” A sweet voice I’d been waiting to hear all day asked. “Clem really has to go. Can she use your bathroom?”

“Yeah, of course,” I said, continuing to stare. “Down the hall, middle door on the left.”

“I’ll show her,” Alta said as she set her hand on the other little demon’s shoulder and began to walk her to the back of the shop.

My eyes followed behind her as she went, my attention snagging on the way her ass looked in the tiniest shorts I’d ever laid eyes on. My dick stirred at how good it looked. How good she looked.

Damn.

I could have said they all caught my eye the moment my shop door opened and in came this swarm of beautiful women. All scantily clad in spandex tight Halloween getups dressed as a pair of angels and an opposing pair of demons.

I’d be lying though. Because as soon as she stepped into the room, there was nowhere else I could look.

Fake red leather clung to her every curve, the shiny costume tight and tiny and damn sexy.

Her shorts were small enough that they might as well have been underwear, her tank top a matching set.

Crowned on her head were red horns and painted on her eyes was a hue of red that looked like a sunset around her usual brown storms.

“Damn, I love Halloween,” Ryan mumbled as he all but broke his neck looking after the two of them.

Grunting, I cleared my throat and elbowed him to get his attention.

Behind us were two more of the girls, these two angels didn’t look half as sweet as the demons who’d disappeared down the hall.

But I recognized them. They were Alta’s sisters, and the little one was looking at me like she was suspicious.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

She tilted her head. “How well do you know my sister?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, but the way she was looking at me told a different story.

I narrowed my eyes. “Why does this sound like a trick question?”

“Just answer it, Gus .”

I folded my arms. I didn’t know what kind of secret girl language was afoot here, but I was smart enough to maneuver this delicately. “How well does the boss say I know her?”

She looked like a cat when she smiled. Like an evil one at that. “Oh, it’s so you!”

Okay, maybe I didn’t know how to maneuver this. “Me what? ”

“Don’t you like her costume?” she asked instead of answering the question.

“Um, sure, yeah.” I cleared my throat trying not to say ‘fuck yes’ like some horny teenager. But it was hard. She looked that good. “What’s she supposed to be?”

“A bad girl,” she said. I choked on nothing but air, bad images invading my mind. And what did this chick do? She laughed. This evil cackle of a laugh as she held her stomach. Then she grabbed her quiet sister’s hand and said, “We’re headed back.”

I held my hand out to stop her. “Woah, what about Alta? She can’t walk back alone in that .”

This didn’t faze her in the slightest. She smiled even bigger, her eyes lighting over me from top to bottom before she shrugged. “She’s got Ferguson with her.”

So Clay’s sister, huh?

“Ferguson looks like she’s about three sheets to the wind,” I pointed out. “And they both look like easy targets. Just wait for them, I’m sure they’ll be done in a minute.”

“No can do, Gus. Thank me later,” she said and as she exited she passed a looming dark figure pacing by the entryway. “Hey, Ox.”

Like magic, the figure seemed to grow more discerning features, and I recognized the stern man I’d run into a lot recently. Usually calm and collected, anxiety seemed to bubble off him now, his steps repetitive and nervous even as they were brash and harsh.

“I’ll be right back, Ry,” I said, tapping the front counter a couple times before pushing off. I peered down the hall real quick to see if any movement had come from the back but from the looks of it the girls were still in the bathroom.

When I opened the shop door, the man outside took a step toward me, his shoulders getting straighter and his mouth opening as though to speak. When he noticed it was me, he visibly deflated.

Stepping out beside him I shoved my hands in my pockets and took him in.

He didn’t look much different from the other times I saw him.

He was even still wearing the suit. But something about him, with his top button open and his hair mussed made him look softer.

A little more approachable. That and the fact that this time he didn’t immediately scowl when he recognized me.

“You can come in, you know?” I said by way of greeting. “You don’t have to lurk out here. We won’t bite.

He squinted. “They don’t know I followed them. I’ll wait… besides, the air feels nice.”

In a handful of seconds he went from crossing his arms to uncrossing them then sliding his hands in his pockets. Fidgeting, I realized. I was right to assume he was on edge.

“You know,” I started, leaning a shoulder toward him. “You’re coming off a little stalkerish, man.”

Those eyes swung back to me, and I could see how he made people squirm with a stare like that. Pensive and unforgiving. Always assessing. I wondered how Clay got along with him so well.

Glowering he said, “I’m not stalking, I’m just?—”

“Following under the cover of darkness?”

“Trailing from a distance,” he corrected.

“The fact doesn't change just because you use pretty words,” I said. “You might want to keep that argument to yourself if someone else questions you about this little… habit.”

Again he looked at me, but this time I was surprised to see his eyes were lighter. And were his lips wobbling in a bit of a smile? I grinned immediately. I could never help it, I liked making people smile and I wouldn’t have thought this guy even had a sense of humor.

He laughed dryly and shook his head. “I should’ve known you were a smartass when I found out you knew Clay. Augustus Harper, huh?”

“Pleased to meet you,” I said easily but looked at him through my own squinted eyes. “But I don’t remember introducing myself. ”

His face didn’t give anything away. “Do I look stupid to you?”

“Do you want me to answer that?”

Another crack of humor lit his expression. “You’ve done a good job at hiding, I guess. I wouldn’t have pegged you for an artist, though I guess it’s a quantifiable segue from engineer. But with a name like yours, once you know, you know.”

I bristled. Because it sure sounded like he knew. It made sense considering who he was. It probably only took him hearing my full government name a few times to figure it out.

Observant as ever, he instantly caught onto my discomfort. “Does she know?”

“Not exactly my favorite topic of conversation,” I admitted.

He nodded. “Not my business, I guess.”

“That’s quite the difference from our last meeting,” I said. “Don’t tell me I won you over already?”

“You haven’t done shit,” he scoffed, his proper attitude slipping for the first time.

“And the next time I hear you bossing my sister around like that day on the sidewalk, it’ll be the last time you fucking see her, I promise you that.

But… she stood up for you. She doesn’t do that often, so. What can I do?”

Was it pathetic that the only thing my brain latched onto was the fact that she’d stood up for me? Me . She was usually standing against me, but with someone else, she stood up for me.

Shit, my chest hurt.

“It’s not like that, you know? That day, I uh. I didn’t know you were her brother. I thought… I guess I thought something else. She’s the bossy one.” I tried to explain.

“I have no desire for any details. Please, spare me,” he said.

Noted.

He tapped his foot, his eyes bouncing into the window of my shop. I scratched my neck. “You know, I think she’s okay in there. Alta was with her. You don’t have to worry so much.”

“I’m not worried,” he clipped .

“You’re fidgeting like a kid who can’t sit still,” I pointed out.

He pressed his lips together. Then, looking around the area again, his eyes lit on the bowl I had set out for the kids earlier in the day. “Is there anything left in that?”

“Yeah. But it’s for the actual children.”

He walked over to it anyway, peeking over the edge. “Kids are asleep. I’m taking one.”

I laughed. “You might not be so bad, Fernandez.”

He glowered, but it wasn’t the same with sour candy tucked into his cheek. “That’s not the compliment you think it is.”

“It’s all the compliment you’re gonna get from me.” My vision caught on two forms walking their way through the shop. Leaning over I got the door. “Looks like you can calm your tits. Your girl’s back.”

He didn’t even spare me a glance, his eyes were glued.

I didn’t blame him, though. I had my own attention snatcher refusing to let me look anywhere but at her legs in that getup.

I would stare at them for hours if her face wasn’t pulled into a worrisome frown that caught more of my attention instead.

“What’s wrong?” I was surprised to hear I wasn’t the only one asking this. My new buddy had also noticed the odd vibe as the girls walked through the door.

Alta gave us both a curious look before leading the other girl directly into her brother’s arms. “Take her home. She’s not feeling well.”

“Sick?” Ox asked, and something about him seemed to stiffen into an uncharacteristic sort of panic.

Alta noticed it too and rushed to shake her head. “No. Sad. She was crying. Take her home, Ox.”

He looked down at his wife, frown deep, eyebrows deeper. “ Que pasa?”

She shook her head, hiding it in his chest. He speared Alta with a look so sharp I almost wanted to guard her from it. But I realized he was just worried. “What about?”

“She wouldn’t say.” Alta chewed her lip nervously. Those big eyes were even bigger, wet as if she was going to cry too. “But she kept mentioning a yellow room?”