My heart hammered in my chest. Each flurried pulse brought the hurt, the rage, the anguish, all of it racing to the surface, along with something else. Something that made my veins fizz and tingle, like my blood had been switched for electricity.
His eyes caught mine as the bell sounded through the bar, and the second his foot passed the threshold I saw the smug smirk curve his full lips. His eyes, the colour of icy seas under Nordic skies, twinkled with devilish delight.
Aslo cast me a wave, his wide masculine hand wiggling his fingers as his smile curved further, flashing his teeth.
"Where do you find these guys?" Kelly whispered, breathlessly beside me. I glanced at Kelly and saw her mouth drop slightly as she gaped at the Viking incarnate weaving his way to a table at the back of the bar. He looked like a Warlord watching over his Great Hall.
Callum leaned against the bar in front of me, hazel eyes set forward, tracking his prey. "And where can I find one," he added as he fixed Aslo with a confident smile, undisturbed by the way he seemed to dwarf the chair he sat on. With his broad shoulders and muscular thighs, he made the furniture in the bar seem almost childlike. As if only a thick wooden throne, carved with beasts and oceans, would be an appropriate seat.
Smug, arrogant, asshole.
The itch riled at the self-important sight of him. I wiped down the soda machine and threw the rag on the counter as I replied, "I wouldn't bother. They're more trouble than they're worth."
Aslo pouted as he heard my response and watched me navigate around the bar towards him. He didn't seem to care about hiding his Watcher abilities, or perhaps he thought the humans around him were too fatuous to notice.
"Hello, Trouble," he purred as I approached. "Who's the blonde?" he asked as heated eyes tracked Emma around the room. I saw her cast him a shy glance as she noticed him watching her. It was hard for her not to. He seemed to fill the space. Where Book Boy had been mysterious and alluring, Aslo was brash and unavoidable. I could see how that kind of unabashedly masculine presence could be attractive, but it was nothing compared to the enchanting, enthralling –
Stop.
I stepped to block Aslo's view as Emma blushed and hid behind her sleek flaxen hair. "None of your business," I hissed. Before I could stop them, my eyes flashed to the door.
"He doesn't know I'm here," Aslo murmured, following my gaze. "He's gone away for a while."
My arms crossed as I bounced on my hip, fighting the twinge of disappointment. It was unwarranted, unwanted. "Right, orders are orders," I scoffed.
Aslo leaned back in his chair, the wood moaning slightly under his weight. "Tut tut, Fray. You know what they say about assuming." He pulled a small silver lighter from his jeans and swivelled it between his thumb and forefinger. The metal had worn down from where he'd done the same action time and time again. "It makes an ass out of you, and, well, only you."
He twirled the lighter in his hand as he scanned the bar. "He thought it was safer for all involved to get some distance," he finished, flicking a cursory glance towards me before continuing to sift through the other patrons.
"State the fucking obvious," I muttered, pulling my arms a little tighter across my chest. If I pressed tight enough, maybe I could stop the pain pulsing at the back of my throat. It had no right being here. No right to exist at all after what Book Boy did.
"You're lively, aren't you?" Aslo mused, tearing his gaze from the crowds and fixing it on me. "I suppose there's some truth in the adage, opposites attract."
I bit my tongue as he continued.
"Like me and the blonde." He flashed another smile to Emma. "She's all light, but you can see she's drawn to the darkness. They always are."
YOU ARE READING
The Watcher
Paranormal**Updated every Saturday** He'll have to break all the rules to keep her, but first she has to break just one and let him in... It's taken four years, but Anna Fray has finally put the past behind her. Mostly. She fills her days working in a bar and...
