Lord of Chaos (The Dragon Demigods #7) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,25
up in the first place. You keep your head down and your ‘stay away I’m an asshole’ walls a mile high.”
I grunt. I can’t argue.
We hear heels clicking on tiles and turn towards the person approaching. Her hair is a mess. Her lipstick is smeared all around her lips. Her mascara has run a mile. Her top is not only on back-to-front but inside-out as well. “Hi!” She waves and nearly falls on her ass. Tri grabs her under her elbow. “I’m Taryn.” Her voice is hoarse, just as expected. Her grin is even bigger than Tri’s. She reminds me of a female version of the Joker.
“Hi,” Nia says. “I’m Mochyn. It’s Welsh for beautiful.”
I start to laugh but mask it with a cough or two. I have no idea what the word means, but Nia called me that in the heat of an argument. It can’t be anything good.
Tri looks at me funny, cocking his head. The coughing fit must have sounded more like a laugh than I’d intended.
Taryn clasps a hand over her mouth for a moment; she still has a goofy smile plastered on her face. “You have an amazing accent. Can you speak…” Her eyes lift in thought. “What’s the Welsh language again? Can you speak it?”
“Celtic, and I can.” Nia smiles. She rattles something off.
I frown because I think I heard my name in among all that. I can’t be sure, though.
“Wow!” Taryn gasps. “That sounded so…so amazing. You must have said something lovely.”
Tri’s phone beeps.
“Must be your Uber,” I say to Taryn. I know how Tri operates. It’s the middle of the afternoon. I wonder where Tri picked this woman up. She has a suit jacket over her arm and is wearing a skirt and stockings. I’d bet heavily that she left work to come here. I hope she still has a job when she gets back. I hope she looks in a mirror before she walks back into the office.
Tri lets Taryn go, and she nearly falls on her face. He grips her waist. “Let me help you.” Then he hoists her into his arms.
Taryn squeals with delight. We listen as they walk outside. Taryn is thanking Tri for a wonderful time. She’s offering to give him her number. I don’t have to keep listening in to know that he won’t take it. He’ll remind her that it was a one-time thing.
I look at Nia. “Mochyn?” I say.
“Mochyn.” She smiles.
“You’re going to have to tell me what that means,” I nudge her.
She gives me this smile. I’ll be fucked if it doesn’t have my cock hardening back up. “Well…” she licks her lips, “I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Oh, you definitely should.”
She looks me in the eyes. “It means swine.”
My lip twitches. “Swine. You called me a swine.”
“You deserved it.”
“I guess I did,” I concede.
“Anyway, you knew it wasn’t a very nice thing to call someone. That’s why you told Gretchen you were calling me Mochyn.” She lifts her brows, giving me a look that is both sexy and annoying.
I nod. “That’s exactly why.”
“I thought you had named me Satan’s Spawn.” Her eyes are glinting with mischief.
The edges of my mouth are wanting to pull up. This woman! She makes me want to laugh. She makes me want to experience emotions I have no place feeling. “I needed to shut Gretchen up. She was going on and on and on—”
“Well, it worked.”
“Okay,” Tri says as he walks inside. “What’s going on? It’s really nice to meet you, Mochyn.” He winks at Nia.
We both laugh. I cut my laugh short, clearing my throat.
Tri looks at me like I just grew an extra head. I ignore him, turning serious in an instant.
“Call me Nia,” she says, still smiling.
“Nia? I thought your name was Mochyn,” Tri says.
She shakes her head. “Sorry for the confusion. It isn’t Mochyn. It’s Nia.”
“Why did you give the wrong name?”
“It’s a long story,” she says, and we look at each other. Nia is smiling. Her eyes are twinkling.
Tri is frowning heavily when I look back at him. “What’s going on between you two?” He looks from Nia to me and back.
“Nothing,” I snap.
“Doesn’t look like nothing.” Tri grins.
“Nia is my dog,” I say.
“That’s not very nice,” Trident growls. “Don’t listen to him,” he says to Nia.
“Actually, I kind of am his dog.” Nia smiles and cocks her head. “Although I’m not his his. I already have a master.” She looks down at her feet. “That’s my whole problem.”