Basil (The Brinnswick Chronicles #3) - Michele Notaro Page 0,26
Basil Ellwood’s voice. He was standing close to the door, wearing his normal all black attire, and looking like a goddamn demi god with the light spilling over his gorgeous features. My dick did a jump in my pants despite myself. The traitor. When Basil licked his lips, I had to hold in a groan.
“Grim?”
I blinked when I realized I was staring and forgot to respond to him. Get it together, man, he’s a frickin’ witch. “Hey.” Did my voice normally sound that husky?
Basil’s brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”
Giving myself a mental shake, I asked, “Can we go somewhere to talk? I have a job I need some help on.”
He gave me a concerned expression, obviously not believing me.
I held my hands up. “If I wanted to kill ya, do you really think I’d come into a store your family owns and show my face?”
He sighed. “No, I guess not.”
“Look, I haven’t had lunch yet. You wanna walk next door and get some food so I can tell you what’s goin’ on?”
He smiled a little. “Sure.”
“Don’t forget to exchange numbers!” the fae yelled from the counter.
Basil waved him off. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
The other witch asked Basil, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Basil rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, Del.”
The other witch narrowed his eyes first at Basil, then at me and said, “If you hurt him, I’ll come after you.”
Since the were-cyclops and the fae were standing behind the small witch with their arms crossed, making it obvious that if that Del witch came after me, I’d have to deal with them, too, I said, “I won’t hurt ‘im. Not unless he tries hurtin’ me or… someone else.”
The witch nodded, then said to his brother, “Be careful.”
Basil sighed, but nodded at him before jerking his head to the side and saying, “Come on or they’ll never leave us alone.”
I nodded and let him hold the door for me as I passed through.
Before he shut the door, I heard giggling from inside the shop, and Basil ground out, “Shut up, Delaro!” Then slammed the door shut, or tried to slam it, but it only closed slowly. Which had me stifling my own laugh.
Then I realized I was entertained by witches, and I cussed myself out.
Basil walked beside me on the sidewalk to the next building over, neither of us saying a thing. A hostess sat us at a small table near the kitchen, and a waitress came over to get our drink order, and Basil said, “I know what I want, but have you been here before?”
I waved that away. “I’ll take a burger and fries.” Basil wrinkled his nose and ordered some weird veggie dish, so once the waitress walked away, I asked, “What’s wrong with a burger?”
“Nothing, if you like eating innocent animals.”
My eyebrows lifted. “You’re a vegetarian?”
“Yes. Most witches are.”
My brow furrowed because I knew that wasn’t true. The witches I’d known back home all ate meat. “They do at home.”
“Yeah? Where’s that?”
I mentally cursed myself for giving up this information, but I still answered honestly. “Gauhala.” On the other side of the world.
Basil nodded. “What made you move here?”
“We needed a change of scenery.” Not exactly the truth, but hell if I was gonna get into that right now.
“Never been there.” A small laugh came out of him. “I’ve actually never traveled out of the country. Out of this realm? Yes. But not out of Brinnswick.”
“Outta this realm?”
“I lived in Faela for a few years, and I go back every few weeks.”
My eyebrows lifted again, surprised he was offering up so much personal information. And Faela? I didn’t think they allowed anyone but fae to even visit them. “Faela?”
He nodded. “It’s peaceful there.”
I had no clue what to do with that, but luckily, the waitress brought us drinks, interrupting us.
Once she was gone, Basil asked, “What do you need?”
I sighed, happy to get straight to it. “My current mark is a jinn. He’s wanted for murder, rape, and assault. I found him, tried to take ‘im on myself, and was nearly killed. Not even my dagger worked on his magic.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Jinns are no joke.” He took a sip of the water the waitress had given him.
When he said nothin’ else, I added, “I lost an innocent human in the process.”
Basil frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
He obviously wasn’t getting it. “I need your help to take it down, shadow boy.”
The witch froze. “You’re seriously asking for my help?”
I huffed out a frustrated breath. “Not ‘cause I want