Hour of the Dragon - Heather Killough-Walden Page 0,8

wanting to take me for a roll in the hay? It was liberating. My mom’s pregnancy scared me straight enough that I was too afraid to go that far with anyone, even with Ares. I didn’t want life to become even more complicated for me than it already was, and Ares’ friendship gave me what I desperately needed to get through each day. But the sheer knowledge that he would have accepted me in that way was sometimes the fuel that kept me running. It frankly gave me strength. He gave me strength. And Joshua did too.

My boys and the love I had for them kept me waking up to the alarm in the mornings, kept me studying hard, kept me getting my butt to work on time, and kept me happy enough to be friendly enough to keep me in good tip money. I even started a jar for Joshua’s private school. I wanted him to go to one. I knew he was going to have my dad’s genius brain. I just knew it. And the schools in my neighborhood were frankly shit.

But one night the diner was short-handed, and I was called in to work when Ares wasn’t scheduled. It was overtime pay for me, so I didn’t even hesitate.

An hour into my shift… he walked through the door. Not Ares. It was my Hamlet, so to speak.

The warlock, Jarrod Sterling.

The café was so busy, at first I only saw the newcomer at a glance, and he was tall and dressed in black, so I automatically assumed it was Ares. I turned a bright smile on him and froze when he locked eyes with me. My smile slipped. Looking at him as the door to the diner shut behind him and the wind rustled his dark trench coat, I was struck with a solid certainty. I knew this man was going to change my life forever. And maybe not in a good way.

He replaced my missing smile with one of his own, then turned and sat himself down at one of the booths. He was strikingly handsome. His movements were all grace and confidence. And I myself seemed to lose both of those qualities then and there.

“Wow. He looks like money,” said my friend Lisa with an appreciative grunt. She’d come up beside me with a freshly brewed pot of coffee in her hand. She glanced sidelong at me, shook her head, and pretended to fan herself. But then she stopped and tilted her head to the side. “You want his table, hun’? You and your mom could use the dough.”

The booth Sterling was at was normally Lisa’s. But I took her up on the offer because she was right. And I was curious.

I went to Sterling’s table, pulling out my pad and pencil on the way. He was in the process of taking off his gloves. They looked like soft black leather, the expensive kind no one in that part of town could afford to wear. But rather than excite me, it made me more nervous.

Before he even looked up, I put on my friendly face, introduced myself, and welcomed him to the diner like usual. Then I asked him what he’d like.

As long as I live, I will never forget his reply.

He still hadn’t looked up when he said, “I would very much like you, Annaleia Faith. For one night. And I believe that once I tell you what I can give you in return, you’ll agree to my terms.”

I stood there stunned, trying desperately to process exactly what he’d just said to me when he finally looked up and met my gaze. He was starkly handsome, and even in the same dark way that Antares was. But his eyes were fathomless. They were like mysteries, unknown and dangerous. Where Ares possessed the stars of galaxies in his gaze, this man’s eyes held all that dark matter and energy between the stars.

They terrified me.

All I could do was stand there and stare at him.

“Please have a seat, Miss Faith. You look stricken, and we must talk, you and I.”

I sat down, but only because my legs were giving out under me. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been propositioned before. It was a diner and I was a waitress. That was enough right there. But I also happened to be a female in high school, which was all it took for most boys. All in all I’d become pretty good at turning my customers and classmates down.