Tabby was shaking like a leaf. This was the closest Gary had ever come to laying hands on her. He and his goons had been content before with taunting her or egging the storefront where she worked. She’d been careful to never be alone.
How could she have been so thoughtless? Still, she hadn’t thought they’d resort to… She shuddered again. She didn’t even want to think about what she’d just escaped from.
Tabby needed help. She just hoped Gabe and the other Pumas would listen to her, because if they turned her away, she had every intention of running until her paws gave out.
“Wow. Your life’s a mess, sweetheart.” Julian Ducharme popped another kernel of popcorn into his mouth and grinned. “Good thing you have someone like me around to help.”
Tabby snorted. She wasn’t the only outsider who’d drifted into Halle recently.
Julian had come into Living Art Tattoos a month ago and managed to endear himself to each and every one of the girls who worked there. Even tough Cyn, the owner, had taken a liking to the friendly Bear with the heart of gold. “And how do you think you can help me, hmm?”
He put the bowl down and wiped his greasy hands on a paper towel. The movie they’d been bickering over continued in the background, neither of them paying any attention to it. Although she did risk a peek when Aragorn was on screen.
Viggo Mortensen was hot in The Two Towers. “First, I’m going to do something about that sore foot of yours.”
She winced. She couldn’t hide the slightest amount of pain from Julian. It freaked her out sometimes. The first time he’d said something, she’d gotten a splinter not seconds before. He’d frowned, turned her hand around and pulled the splinter out before she could even say “ow”. “I think I stepped on a chunk of glass or something.”
“Or something,” he muttered darkly, pulling her bare foot onto his lap. “This will only take a sec.” One finger smoothed down the ball of her foot and Tabby, who was outrageously ticklish, felt…nothing. “Wiggle your toes.”
There was no pain. “Dude. You rock.”
Julian grinned and stood, heading for her apartment’s kitchen. “I know.”
She shook her head.
“When are your partners in crime due home?” He turned on the faucet, the sound of the water muffling his voice, but she still heard an odd note in Julian’s voice.
She tried to bite back a snicker. She knew exactly how he felt about at least one of her roommates.
“Cyn said she was going to stay late, work on some paperwork.” Cyn owned Living Art and was Tabby’s boss, as well as one of her roommates. “Glory had a date, so I have no clue when she’ll be back.” Glory also worked at LA, doing piercings, and was her other roommate. The faucet stopped and Julian came back. He shook his hands at her, spraying her with water. “Hey!”
He flopped back down on the sofa and grabbed the popcorn bowl. He studied the screen, tilting his head. She waited to see what outrageous thing would pop out of his mouth this time. “Why is it that Orlando Bloom can look good as a girl and a boy?”
Tabby picked up a kernel and threw it at him. “Legolas isn’t a girl.”
He turned, raising one black brow, his full lips quirking in a smile. “Isn’t she?” He tilted his chin toward the screen, his expression turning devilish. “You think Aragorn doesn’t want a piece of that, Arwen or no?”
Tabby put her feet up on the coffee table and stretched out. “Yeah, and when Aragorn lifts Legolas’s kilt, he’s going to find the special surprise inside.” Julian choked on the popcorn and started laughing. Score one for me. She stole the bowl out of his lap and settled in to watch the movie.
“This is it? This is what Chloe left Oregon for?” Bunny walked down the street, pausing to peer into the window of a store. It was very…pink inside. A group of women sat on an old sofa, drinking tea and laughing, while a short, dark-haired female rang up purchases on an old-fashioned cash register. He shuddered and looked up at the sign. Wallflowers. Should be called Hen House. He moved away before any more testosterone could be sucked out through his pores.
Ryan chuckled. “She loves it here and swears we will, too.”
Bunny shrugged. “Whether or not I stay is still up in the air.” He paused, looking in another store. Comic books. Much more his style. I wonder if they have a good manga section? He was always on the lookout for a good store, and if he was going to stay here—
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Ryan grabbed hold of his collar and pulled him away from the glass. “I swear, it’s like those French pigs and truffles. If there are comic books around, you’ll sniff them out.”
Bunny rolled his eyes, but allowed his cousin to pull him away. He made a mental note to come back later without the two-hundred-and-twenty-pound wet blanket. “I swear, Ryan. You’re getting old.”