Stray Fears - Gregory Ashe Page 0,76

And we’ve got David’s computer. We’re going to find out who the hashok is, and we’re going to find a way to stop it.” I squeezed his hands. “I keep saying we. I mean I’m going to do it.”

He twisted one of his hands free, and then he ran it along the side of my face, riffling my hair, a gesture that was oddly rough and comforting at the same time. “Don’t be such a dummy. I’m going to help you.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. You couldn’t do it by yourself anyway. There are too many big words in that book.”

I tried to punch him in the gut, but he wrestled me to the bed, covering me with kisses.

DAG (4)

“Do you want something to drink?” I asked. We were standing in the middle of my bedroom; I had just come back with popcorn.

“Nope,” Elien said.

“Do you want headphones? I have an extra pair.”

“I’m all good.”

“Do you want some sweats? You know, something more comfortable.”

“I’m comfortable, thanks.”

I ate a piece of popcorn. Then, because there were only a few things in the world better than popcorn, I kissed Elien.

He smirked.

I ate another piece of popcorn and kissed him again.

“I don’t know when the last time was that I had popcorn,” he said with a sigh.

I held out the bowl.

“No, thanks.” He rubbed his tummy. “I’m gross enough already, and staying in Carb City hasn’t helped.”

“I don’t think you’re gross,” I said, setting down the bowl of popcorn and tugging on his shirt.

“Ok,” he said, rolling his eyes.

I kissed him again. “Let me show you.”

“Buttery,” he said, licking his lips.

I herded him toward the bed.

With a smirk, he slipped around me and pushed me onto the bed.

When I squirmed toward the edge of the mattress, he said, “Stay.”

“I’m just going to kiss you a few more times.”

“Dagobert LeBlanc, stay!”

“Just five kisses. Because I think you’re very handsome and sexy.”

Shoving the bowl toward him, I said, “Here’s your popcorn, there’s the book. Get to work.”

“Three kisses.”

Elien shook his head, still smirking.

“One?” I asked.

“Do some reading,” Elien said. “Then we’ll talk.”

“Ok,” I said. “You come do some work too.”

“Oh no. I don’t know what kind of sorcery you used on me, but I’m not getting anywhere near that bed while we’re trying to work.”

“That’s a little silly,” I said, flipping open New Orleans and La Louisiane: Chorography, Ethnology, and the Native Episteme. “We’re both adults.”

“Uh huh.”

“We can control ourselves.”

“Uh huh,” he said again. “Like this morning?”

My face heated.

“Oh God, do you have any idea how cute that is? All that gray stubble on your head, and you blush like a little kid.”

“It’s cuter up close,” I said. “Come over here and I’ll show you.”

“Nice try.”

Shrugging, I flipped pages again.

“I will be working over here,” Elien said, setting up David’s laptop at the desk.

I stretched out on the bed, searching New Orleans and La Louisiane: Chorography, Ethnology, and the Native Episteme for the chapter on the hashok. “Ok,” I said, motioning for him to pass me my popcorn. “But that chair isn’t very comfortable.”

“I’ll live.”

“You can have the bed and I’ll sit on the floor.”

“Read,” Elien said.

So I read. And Elien began clicking and typing, searching David’s computer for documents or other files we might have missed. The morning dragged by. The book didn’t say anything about how to kill the hashok, and after my third time of reading the chapter, I’d given up on finding any new clues. I googled hashok and got an abbreviated version of the same information I’d found in the book, printed in an ethnology bulletin from the turn of the century. I thought about that for a while with my eyes closed.

“Wake up,” Elien called.

“I am awake. I just had my eyes closed. I was thinking”

“Do you always snore when you think?”

So I opened my eyes, just to make him happy, and went back to searching the internet. I tried combinations. Hashok, monster, possession, vampire, will o’ the wisp, PTSD. I got a lot of hits and nothing that was relevant.

Elien was doing a lot of shifting around on the seat.

“It’s that chair,” I said.

“I’m all right.”

“You’re going to hurt your back.”

“The chair’s fine.”

“Just bad hemorrhoids, huh?”

He threw a pencil.

“I feel like you don’t want to talk right now,” I said.

“If I didn’t think your parents would enjoy it too much, I’d flip you over and spank your ass right now.”

“My parents wouldn’t be the only ones who enjoyed it. Come over here and—”

The next pencil got me in the chest.

“Shot through

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