First to Fail (Unraveled #3) - Marie Johnston Page 0,1
this couple I couldn’t stand. And Valaria the Assassin had slain it.
“You do you,” the girl said and towed her guy away from the booth.
I heaved a sigh of relief and met Valaria’s gaze. Her eyes were such a dark brown that they had to be contacts. She embodied her deadly character from head to toe, except for her grin. Whoa…was that a dimple peeking out from under her mask? Valaria went from deadly sexy to adorable with a few facial muscles.
“I hate that phrase,” she said, but she was still smiling.
I’d forgotten everything before looking at her. “What phrase?”
“‘You do you.’ It’s been twisted into a coward’s way out of an argument by hurling the ball into the other person’s court without giving them a chance to take a shot.”
I wasn’t prepared for the depth of conversation my absent question prompted. We’d gone from discussing a superhero to society’s tendency to shun conflict. My daughter said “you do you” at least once a day.
“Yeah. Totally agree.” I had no clue what I was agreeing to, only that I didn’t want Valaria to leave. A glance down the booth revealed we were in a lull. A new round of workshops had started and taken a load of attendees off the show floor. Mara was chatting with one of our regulars, and her husband was getting drooled over by a gaggle of scantily clad girls.
Valaria followed his gaze. “Does he need saving, too?” She cocked her head, the ends of her long black hair brushing her breasts. “Maybe not. The girls look ready to melt down.”
“Nah. That’s my business partner next to him. She likes to watch her husband suffer.”
Valaria’s lips quirked. “Do they always dress like a superhero pair?”
“Yes. I told them they should start doing hero and nemesis.”
The tinkle of Valaria’s laugh was almost lost in the din of the room. People had filtered out, but it didn’t take much for noise to echo off the walls and ceiling.
Valaria leaned over the table to scowl at his jeans and gray Henley. “Do you dress up?”
“I had to make do with a poster.” I gestured to the one the couple had been teasing me about. “It was a rough morning.”
I’d told Jaycee to wash my costume, and she’d tossed it into the dryer on high heat. I’d have to regress to prepubescence if I ever wanted to fit into it again.
“A rough morning is a sign of unpreparedness.” The light note in her tone took the bite out of her words.
“Or of having a teenage daughter.”
She laughed again. “I don’t have kids, but I work at— Are you married, too?”
Her abrupt change in course took me off guard and spurred unwelcome memories of Jaycee’s mother. If I’d had my wish, I would’ve tied the knot long ago. “I haven’t had the pleasure. You?”
“No, I usually scare my dates off long before the marriage stage.”
I laughed. That should be a warning, but I liked her honesty. “You or Valaria?”
Her chuckle was just as easy, like we hadn’t cut to the chase on our attraction: You married? No, you? Nope. Wanna date?
Well, we hadn’t gotten that far, but I wanted to. Valaria was too interesting to let disappear into the myriad of anime characters and superheroes wandering around.
“If I don’t, whipping out the Valaria outfit usually does. It’s hard to find a guy who gets the whole cosplay thing.”
“Ditto on the dating side. Or I find someone a little too zealous. I own a comic book shop and I usually dress the part for comic cons, but I don’t wash dishes or clean the bathroom with my cape on.”
“You’re doing it wrong, then.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. I’ll try it next time.”
She grinned and even through her dark contacts, her eyes twinkled. “Does your daughter join in on the fun?”
Wasn’t that a whole different topic. “She used to. And she’s out of the worst of her ‘God, Dad, you’re so embarrassing stage,’ but she’s moved on to the fiercely independent stage.” And the guy she liked wasn’t a fanboy, so she was shunning all things masks and secret identities these days.
I hoped she got over that stage quickly. I wanted my fun-loving, quick-witted daughter back, not the stiff girl who felt the eyes of the world judging her.
“In my experience, if it doesn’t have an ROI, it’s not worth doing for some teens. And the incentive isn’t always monetary.”
I considered her words. Valaria was right. I’d asked, but I hadn’t thought of the