9. Aeri

I t's been about a month, and crazily enough, things were starting to feel almost…normal.

Which should have been my first sign that shit was about to go sideways. My luck might not be as bad as it was before, but normal and me, we don't mix.

"Oh, my god!" I scream, slapping a hand over my eyes with more force than necessary.

"Well, hello, and who might you be?" A very naked man asks, and I hear him as he slowly creeps closer. Without thought, I take a step back, and slam right into the door jamb, making me stumble. I drop my hand from my face to grip the wall but keep my eyes closed tight.

"Don't be shy, Darling. It's not every day I offer a free show."

I feel the heat of his words as they roll across my skin, but I'm trapped, my back literally against the wall.

"People pay a lot of money to see what you're getting for free."

His finger is warm as he tucks it under my chin, forcing my head up toward his. "Don't waste it."

"Talian," Bast's voice calls down the hall to our left, quiet but demanding. With my eyes still pressed closed, I try to turn my head toward him, knowing he's the safer option, but the hold on my chin doesn't loosen. If anything, he seems to hold me tighter.

Talian—I assume based on Bast calling for him—presses ever closer to me, and I wish I could melt into the fucking wall as I feel his stiff cock press into my hip. A pathetic squeak works its way past my lips as he presses his nose into my jaw before dragging it up my cheek with a deep breath that makes me freeze.

Did he just sniff me?

"You smell delicious, Darling," he whispers against my skin, "I bet you taste even better." His words are low and husky, and I curse my body for the reaction it has. There's no damn reason for his words to cause a physical reaction in me. He's a stranger. A naked stranger who clearly lacks boundaries, but regardless of that, my stomach flips, and I clench my thighs together.

"Leave the girl alone, Talian,"

Kai's voice booms down the hall even though he isn't yelling. His voice is so damn deep it doesn't take much for him to command a room.

Unlike Bast, Talian seems to care what Kai says, though. He drops his hold on my face and mercifully takes a step back.

"Boo, you're no fun, Kai," Talian says with a forced chuckle from further away to my right.

I take a peek to my left and find Bast standing at the end of the hall. I've lived here for over a month now, and he seems to keep his distance from me for the most part. At first, I thought he didn't like me, but now I'm pretty sure he's just shy. This is the first time since I've lived here that he doesn't look away the second our eyes meet, and I mouth a silent thanks to him.

He doesn't respond, though, instead turning back to Talian and Kai, and I refuse to follow his gaze. I hadn't really examined Talian in the two seconds I saw him before I closed my eyes, but I saw enough to know he's not only huge but fucking ripped. As beautiful as his physique might be, I don't care to get another eye full.

"She's not here for your entertainment, but if you have a problem with it, take it up with Asta," Kai says, his voice getting quieter as he moves away. "And put some fucking clothes on," he shouts, followed by the sound of his door slamming shut.

It takes everything in me not to call out for him to come back. Kai might not like me, but at least he's safe, and I know what to expect from him. I can't say the same with Talian, and now that Kai's gone, I'm not sure there's anything keeping him from falling back into whatever the fuck that just was.

"Well, Darling, it looks as if you're safe. For now." I hear the smile on his lips even though I don't dare look in his direction. "But don't worry, I'll be around when you decide you want more. Everybody always does."

Something about his words gets under my skin, and before I can really think about it, I'm whipping around to face him. I keep my eyes trained up; no matter how badly I might want to take a peek, I don't. It doesn't matter how hot he is, he's clearly a fucking asshole.

"Sorry to hurt your fragile male ego, but I like my fun to be consensual, something I'm sure you have no concept of," I snap, my annoyance with him and this whole damn situation bleeding out into my words.

I don't give him a moment to answer before turning and heading out into the living room, making a beeline toward the door. I have a shift this morning, and after his little interruption, I'll be lucky to make it on time.

"Talian won't be an issue anymore,"

Asta's voice has my head snapping up as I hand a customer her change.

"What?" I say like an idiot, not really comprehending his words.

"He's full of himself and thinks everyone wants him, but he knows better than to behave like such an animal. It won't happen again," he assures me, his face blank as always, but I swear I can see the slight dip of his brow.

I'm not sure what to say to that. Thanking him seems strange, considering I didn't ask for his help. Hell, I didn't even know he was aware of what happened. It's not like I keep track of who's where unless they're around for me to see them. If you'd asked me, I would have assumed he was already gone for the morning when Talian cornered me. But it's not as if one of the others couldn't have filled him in.

Instead, I nod in acknowledgment of his words before I hand him his coffee and pastry, and just like that, he's gone again.

He's so strange.

The rest of my shift goes by pretty much the same, with a constant flow of people keeping me busy. It's not until the last twenty minutes that Lea comes in. I know the second she enters the building. It's as if the energy changes, almost becoming charged. Looking around, I easily spot her bright firey hair as she skips toward the counter.

"Aeri…" she whines, drawing out my name as she all but collapses on the counter in front of me. I can't help but chuckle at her dramatics. I don't know what she does for a living, but it must be exhausting. Every day, she comes in here looking beat.

I push her usual, overly sweet order toward her, and the second it touches her fingers, she's up. A wide smile splits her lips a moment before she presses her cup to them with a groan of satisfaction. How she can even taste the coffee is beyond me. It's fresh and piping hot. I'd be surprised if she has any taste buds left at this point.

"You're an angel," she teases me with a wink after downing half of it and slamming it back onto the counter. "Yeah, yeah," I say, rolling my eyes. "Do you ever have a day off?" I ask, looking her over. I'm not sure what she does, but I assume she works nights.

Lea's small, shorter than I am by a couple of inches, and petite, like a model. Her hair is long, hanging free today and going almost down to her ass. It's done in soft waves, and I'm not sure if it's natural or styled like that, especially because it changes so often. Some days, it's straight; others, it's curly, up or down, and the color. I swear it's a different color every other day. Today, her roots are black until about her ears, where it fades to orange and then to yellow. The colors are also through her long bangs, and the whole thing makes it look like she has fire for hair. Something about her is almost otherworldly, like fae in stories, all sharp features and elite beauty.

She's paler, with a dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Honestly, she's got that whole tiny and adorable vibe, most of the time. Somehow, whatever she does for work, I don't think adorable is what she's going for.

Her makeup is done perfectly, her lips bright red, and her cat eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man. If you ask me, it seems like a bit much if she were just heading out for coffee, but I also can't do makeup to save my life, so maybe I'm biased. Her hair is pulled back in a long, full pony, and her little black skirt and black tank top that shows off her chest are the same ones she has on most evenings when she pops in.

"Nah," she says, waving me off. "Ain't no rest for the wicked," she says with a wink, making me chuckle.

She can say that again. I've been picking up every shift I can to recoup my savings. Even so, it somehow doesn't seem to be enough.

"Yeah, you can say that again," I mumble in agreement.

Lea reaches into her pocket and pulls out a hundred-dollar bill, passing it to me to pay for her drink without looking.

"Lea, your coffee is four dollars," I tell her with a laugh, pushing the bill back across the counter to her.

It's not that I can't break the hundred, but the boss doesn't like having bigger bills in the register, which I totally understand. Since I'm the only one here until close, I would rather not have to drop it in the safe if she has something smaller.

She knows that, though, it's not the first time she's done this, and I get the feeling it won't be the last.

"Oh shit, sorry!"

With a laugh, she grabs the bill, puts her cup down on the counter, and pulls a huge wad of bills from her pocket. I watch with wide eyes as she sorts through the stack. Most of them appear to be more hundreds, but I see some fifties in the mix.

It takes her way longer than it should to find a smaller bill, and even then, it's a fucking twenty.

"There you go, love. Keep the change," she says, holding the bill out to me with a huge smile. I try to wipe the shock off my face, but I know I fail when her smile dims as she looks at me.

"What?"

I blink hard and shake my head before taking her money and moving to the register.

"Nothing, sorry," I say, trying and failing to sound normal.

"Bullshit, girl! Tell me," she demands, lying across the counter to look up at me.

I take a second to look around, thankful for the few minutes of quiet I seem to be in from customers as the day winds down. No way would I be able to talk to her like this earlier in the day, and I've come to find I look forward to her company. I know it's stupid, but I'm going to miss her when I leave.

If I ever get to, that is.

"I'm just surprised you're walking around the city with that kind of money on you, is all," I tell her, skirting around the truth. I might enjoy this little friendship we have, but I don't think telling her I'm poor because I'm on the run and my life might very well depend on funds I no longer have is a good idea.

She barks a laugh, pulling me from my depressing thoughts, and I can't help but smile hearing it. She has one of those laughs that's fucking contagious. It fits her bubbly personality perfectly. Maybe that's why I like her so much. I wish I could be like that. See the positives in life. It would be a nice change from the fear and worry that has been sitting on my shoulders for the last couple of months since I left.

Honestly, who am I kidding? It was way before that.

"Girl, you think this is a lot? You should see me at the end of my shift."

I hold out my hand with her change, but she makes no move to take it, instead raising a perfectly arched brow at me. She never takes her change, but that doesn't stop me from offering it every time.

At first, I thought she was taking pity on the new girl, and then I thought maybe she just liked me. Now I'm wondering if she just doesn't care for these smaller bills.

With a sigh, I let my hand drop, rolling my eyes as I shove the money into the pocket of my apron.

There's no use in fighting with her. I won't win. I might have only known her for a few weeks, but I learned that on the first day.

Lea is stubborn as hell.

Looking back at her, I find her assessing me; her face more serious than I've ever seen it. Her eyes bore into mine as if she's trying to look through me, and I have to fight the urge to squirm.

The whole reason I'm here is to get money so that I can leave, but none of that will matter if he finds me. I need to blend in, be just another person in a sea of people that nobody will remember even if asked. Honestly, I should never have started up this little friendship with Lea to begin with. I knew it was a bad idea.

But I'd been so lonely, and she was just so easy to talk to. I felt normal. It was an easy friendship, with no strings and no maintenance required. How could I resist?

Standing here with her eyes boring into me now, I'm feeling like I'm about to be the butt of another terrible universal joke. A lesson coming in the form of my one chance at freedom being ripped away.

I won't go back, though.

I'd rather die.

Lea snaps, the sound making me flinch, but she doesn't seem to notice as her usual thousand-watt smile pulls at her lips once again.

"I've got it!"

I have no idea what she's talking about, and I don't get the chance to ask before she hops over the counter to stand next to me. She made it look a lot easier than it should have been with her tiny frame, not to mention the coffee cup still clutched in her hand.

Even though I know the shop is just about empty, I can't stop myself from looking around, afraid someone is going to see her. The owners are a really sweet older couple, but they seemed serious about not allowing customers behind the counter. They'd had an issue in the past with people stealing, I guess, and no matter how much I like Lea, I can't afford to lose this job.

I open my mouth to tell her she can't be back here when she reaches out and snags my wrist in a tight grip that doesn't seem possible for someone her size.

Without a second's hesitation, Lea drags me around the display cabinet where we stock all of our baked goods before pausing at the pass-through; I believe it's called. The place on the counter where it lifts to reveal a door that we use to get behind the counter.

"Lea!" I stammer out as I trip over my feet, trying and mostly failing to keep up with her as she all but drags me behind her. She stops on a fucking dime, and I stumble into her. I brace for us to fall to the floor, but she hardly even budges against my weight, instead turning to look back at me as if she hadn't even felt it.

"What's up?" she asks nonchalantly, as if she isn't about to drag me out of a job, literally.

"I can't leave. I'm still on the clock for another." I pause to pull out my phone and check the time. "Forty-seven minutes."

With a huff, Lea releases my arm, pursing her lips in an adorable pout, and I can't help but laugh. You would think I just kicked her puppy or told her I thought her hair color was a bad choice.

"Fine." Her one word is so full of sass, but a smile pulls at her lips, and I know she's not really mad. "I can wait. My shift starts in an hour. Gives us plenty of time." It doesn't sound like plenty of time to me, but what do I know?

Time feels like it drags on and on as Lea stands, watching me until the minute my shift ends. The second the clock hits three, she all but lunges for me. I just barely avoid her grasp, ducking into the back room to grab my things and drop the money in the safe. I move as fast as I can, but Lea still gives me a killer glare when I come back out less than a minute later, clearly unhappy about my ninja skills.

Shaking my head at her, I make my way from behind the counter and toward the door, and she follows silently behind me. Thankfully, the owners do all the prep and clean up in the morning when they come in to bake, so all I have to do is lock up for the night.

Lea taps her foot on the concrete impatiently as I flip the lock, and before I even get the key back in my bag, she's dragging me down the sidewalk.

In the wrong direction, not that she knows where I live, but still.

"Where are we going?" I ask as I try my best to weave in and out of people the way she does. I'm terrible at it, though. After I've run into no less than three people, only halfway down the block, she seems to take pity on me, slowing her pace so that I can walk beside her.

"Where are we going?" I ask again, worried she hadn't heard me before. Still, she says nothing, instead pursing her lips. I'm about two seconds from turning around and going home. I enjoy Lea's company, but I'm not in the business of blindly following strangers, and as much as I see her at the coffee shop, that's still what she is. I don't really know her, and she doesn't know me, and on my end, I need to keep it that way. Letting people get too close is dangerous, for everyone.

"We're going to get you a new job," she finally says with a huff, turning the corner onto one of the busier city streets. Without hesitation, she steps off the curb and into the road, lifting her hand to hail a cab. I move to follow her, intent on pulling her out of the road before she gets herself run over, but before I can make it off the sidewalk, a cab pulls to a stop right at her feet.

Damn, I've never had any kind of luck with the cabs. At this point, I just walk the half mile to work after riding the bus because it's faster than waiting all morning for an Uber or grabbing three different buses. Clearly, Lea has a fucking superpower or something.

"Aeri!"

Lea's voice pulls me from my musing, and I realize I've stopped dead on the sidewalk, staring at her.

"Move your ass, girl," she calls with a laugh before she disappears into the cab, leaving the door open for me to follow her.

I jog over to the cab and slide in, pulling the door closed behind me.

So much for not blindly following strangers.