“Oh, no. I don’t have any kids. My sister’s,” I replied, keeping my voice pleasant. “I’m working right down the street this week, and my sister doesn’t live far from here, so we run into each other fairly often.” As he lacked in base ethics and seemed to believe what his eyes told him, I moved my left hand, which held my hot chocolate, so he could see my bare ring finger. “It just happened her father texted me to ask if I’d seen her, and I’m about done with my drink, so I figured I’d spare the brat from upsetting her father further and take her spot in line.”
“Clever,” the wolf growled. “I like clever.”
He only thought he was clever, but as I needed to play along with his game, I kept recording him with my phone and played along. “Thank you.” I played at scrolling on my phone. “I do have to get to work soon, but if you’re offering coffee, I could use one before the day job grinds me down.”
I wouldn’t be drinking the coffee, and if I caught the bastard doctoring the drink with his blood, I’d take him out but leave him alive.
It took more than hot coffee to kill the lycanthropy virus outside of the body, and if I got proof he was contaminating something like a drink, I could flatten him in the coffee shop, call the cops, and be done with it—and get paid.
The wolf looked me over, and his gaze settled on my chest.
My virus’s ire stirred, and she wanted me to put the idiot wolf in his place.
I needed to catch him being even more of a jackass, so when I took him down, nobody would question why he’d gotten his ass handed to him. Between my status as newly mated and on the job, if I got a little blood on my hands, as long as the blood didn’t get near anybody else, nobody would care.
“I’d like to offer you a lot more than a coffee.”
Hell no. Rather than scowl and give up my ruse, I made a show of considering him. “Let’s start with the coffee and your name, then.”
“Donald. You?”
“Christine,” I replied, grateful I’d used the name so much while working customer service I didn’t even have to think about it. Everyone in the coffee shop would laugh if they heard my real name, anyway. I adjusted my grip on my phone and played at putting in a contact. “What’s your phone number?
He gave it to me, and I pretended to plug it in while recording his behavior.
“How is a gorgeous little thing like you still single?”
Normally, I’d inform him my bad attitude and scarred face tended to do the trick, but I wasn’t single anymore, and I needed some more time to get used to that. If he wanted to call my makeup skills gorgeous, I’d preen that my artistry with foundation, the right tools, and some time did a good job of tricking idiot wolves. “The unfair nature of the universe, I suppose.”
“I could change that for you.”
Had I been a regular human woman, infecting me with lycanthropy would definitely change my situation. “Let’s start with coffee,” I repeated, and since he expected me to be interested in him, I smiled. In reality, I wanted to throw up, clean my mouth out, and demand Sebastian adjust my attitude—and scold me for even talking to the asshole wolf—in a mutually beneficial fashion.
“Black. You like it large?”
Gag me. Killing and putting me out of my misery would suffice, too. “Please.”
Fortunately for me and my flagging sanity, the barista called the asshole wolf up, and I stepped out of the line, trusting he’d order me a coffee. And, as I wanted evidence if he decided to tamper with the drink, I’d be able to. I expected he’d cut his finger and drop some blood into my cup, which might be enough to infect me should I drink the coffee. In reality, if I caught him in the act, I’d pop him in the nose, beat him until he stopped fighting me, tie him up with his own shirt, call the cops, and have them drag his useless ass to the CDC.
Video evidence might even land me a bonus.
While he waited, he paid attention to the barista rather than to me, and I caught a clear image of him toying with his thumb with his nail until a drop of blood welled up.