Basil (The Brinnswick Chronicles #3) - Michele Notaro Page 0,45
but different. “How did you and Millie meet?”
A soft smile spread over his face, and a small flare of jealousy hit me. Which was stupid. I shouldn’t be jealous of a dead person, and certainly not one that he’d obviously loved deeply. No, I shouldn’t be jealous at all. He said, “In a bar fight.”
A chuckle came out of me without permission. “That… isn’t what I thought you were going to say.”
His smile grew. “Millie was crazy, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. She had a short temper and tended to fight first, ask questions later, but she loved hard and fully, and was very protective of her inner circle.” He took a sip of his drink and squeezed my hand. “Since my uncle had passed away, I kept sneaking into bars and shit, so I got to see Millie in action. A guy—an incubus—wouldn’t leave her best friend alone, and when the guy tried to cop a feel, Millie attacked him. It was late into the night, and at a pretty seedy place, so when she attacked half the bar joined in. Another incubus was trying to attack Millie from behind while she took care of his friend, so I stepped in and stopped the guy, and got an elbow to the stomach from her as a thank you.” He snorted. “Even years afterward, she claimed I was trying to grab her ass and that’s why she elbowed me…” He shook his head. “She never was one to apologize easily.”
I smiled at that. “I wish I could’ve met her.”
His eyes met mine. “Me too. You two would’ve hit it off, and probably gotten into trouble every other day.”
I snorted. “I do like a good bar fight.”
He chuckled and shook his head, but the waitress came back over with our food—finally. We fell quiet again as we stuffed our faces, but Hiro eventually said, “I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
He waved his fork between us. “This. This viramore thing.”
“Oh, um… I don’t really either. It’s not like there’s a rule book.”
“So do we just… date?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
He pursed his lips for a moment, then nodded. I could see that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with this situation, but at least he was trying and not attempting to punish me or pretend that I didn’t exist. I’d take it. A baby step in the right direction.
The rest of the meal was pretty quiet until the waitress left the check on the table. I snagged it before he had the chance, and he immediately turned a glare on me, so I said, “I’m paying.”
“No, I don’t think so. I invited you, I pay.”
“Nope.”
He clenched his jaw. “I’m no one’s charity case, shadow boy.”
“I never thought you were, Grimsby. Stop being so dramatic.”
His nostrils flared. “Witch, I swear to god, if you don’t—”
“I’m paying, so stop with the empty threats.” I threw some cash on the table, leaving a hefty tip, and stood up. “Come on, hunter. Stop sulking.”
As he stood up and crowded me, I could see how angry he truly was, and I worried for a few seconds that maybe I’d done the wrong thing. But then the memory of his little girl with an oxygen tube came flashing through my mind, and I decided I’d rather him be angry at me and not hurting for money than for him to pay now, suffer later, his pride be damned.
I pushed his chest, although I didn’t push too hard since I liked having him close, and said, “Back off, Grim.”
Something flashed in his eyes, but I didn’t catch the emotion before it flitted away, and a tiny bit of his tension eased. “Don’t call me that.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because outside of my job, I’m Hiro.”
It seemed like there was more to that than he was willing to admit, but I nodded. “Fine. Hiro, stop hulking out over top of me so we can leave.”
“That eager to get away from me?” He flashed me a smirk, proving he was trying to joke around and let go of his anger.
“No, that eager to have the humans in this diner stop staring at us like we’re putting on a show.”
He stepped back and glanced around the restaurant before shaking his head in disgust when he saw how many people were watching us. “Fine. Let’s go.”
I followed the difficult and frustrating man out of the diner to his truck, hopping back into the passenger seat. When he sat in the driver’s