Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(13)

The customers were all locals, to be sure. They had to be, the way they kept staring at me, the newbie. I recognized a couple from the bakery. Meemaw said these small towns took a while to warm up to ya, but once they did, you were good to go. I hoped she was right, because being stared at was far from my favorite pastime.

“Well, here it’s all Coke. Coke-Sprite, Coke-Coke, even Coke-Pepsi.”

It was official. This place was weird. How could you give a name brand a generic meaning like that and expect all people to know what in tarnation you were talking about?

“Guess I’ll stick with iced tea, then. Can’t get that wrong.” I leaned back, finally able to block out the staring and focusing on the conversation at hand. There was something about being around Etienne that was so safe feeling, so bizarre, given the fact I didn’t trust myself around him and his freckin’ muscles of sexy and smile of kissability.

“Unless you want it unsweetened,” he deadpanned, or was he serious?

“Which is how it’s made?”

He shook his head, smirking. I was going to get stuck drinking water here. Good thing we only did coffee and pre-bottled stuff at the bakery. I’d have surely botched that all up by now.

“No?”

“No.” His chuckle wrapped around me. How could something so simple as a chuckle do that? This man was officially dangerous. After lunch I was going to work harder at ignoring him before I got myself into a world of hurt. “How’s your lizard?”

“Remarkably alive.” It was the sad reality of it. I already loved the little guy, even after our first night of catastrophe. He even came to the side of his tank to see me when I walked by. That didn’t mean I was good at the pet-mama thing. “It wasn’t my best bet, getting a pet.”

“Why did you, then?” He took a long sip of his drink, with me unabashedly watching his lips before I could catch myself. I needed to get some self-control. Stat.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time?” I offered, not wanting to get into the guilt I was currently holding onto for forgetting to turn off his heat lamp overnight. “He’s kinda cute, though.”

“If you say so.” He shrugged just as our meals arrived, the waitress far from chatty as she slung them on the table and scampered away. What an odd duck.

“This is perfect,” I mumbled between bites. “Good call.” The sandwich was everything I’d been craving, and I swore for just a second he puffed up at the compliment, which made little sense, since he had nothing to do with the actual making of said sandwich.

“Best lunch in town.” He took another bite of his just as the ghost from earlier appeared behind him.

That was so not how it was supposed to work, unless he was tied to Etienne, not Bruno. Not that I was an expert, but they’d never followed me out of their space before. As far as I knew, Meemaw was stuck at the bakery, not that she ever gave me a clear answer when I hinted about it, but I’d no proof to the contrary.

I took a chance and met the ghost’s eyes, or hollowness where they should be. That was the creepiest part to me, the eyes. Sometimes I could fool myself into thinking they were just regular people when they hadn’t faded too much yet, but the eyes always brought reality slamming back into me. Once our eyes met, I looked at Etienne, trying my best to ask if he was following him.

“Not him.” He spoke in a whisper as if he didn’t want the entire place to hear. I took a quick glance around, pretending to stretch out my back so as not to look as if I were seeing who else might be noticing the dead dude. From what I could tell, I was the only one aware of him, but they could just be better at ignoring than I was.

“Who?” I asked the ghost before I could think better of myself.

“Who what?” Of course Etienne called me out on it. This was not the first stupid time I messed up in front of him. I needed to cut it out before I became the freak of town, which was probably better than the slut-and-marriage-destroyer of the college, but still not something I aspired to, even if I kinda was.

“Who else has lunch?” I asked lamely.

“The bear,” echoed through my ears as the ghost vanished and Etienne went on about something.

The bear. Shit, gators and man-eating bears in one town. I had been joking about the gun thing, but now I wasn’t so sure. The last thing I needed to do was become bear chow or a gator appetizer. Oh, Meemaw, what have ya ’gotten me into?





Etienne

There was something going on. I could taste the lies coming from her otherwise sweet mouth, and it made my perfect BLT taste a little off. I smelled something akin to fear in the air, but it wasn’t quite that. If I knew her better I would know in a second.

Maybe it was nervousness.

Maybe anxiety.

These were things I wanted to explore.

Along with her mouth.

“Do you always lie to your friends?” I asked, hoping to the point would work with her. She seemed like a to-the-point kind of female.

“Only when I need to.” She zeroed her eyes on mine. “I don’t trust easily, and sometimes I don’t trust at all.”

“I have to earn your trust. That’s a good thing. Most people trust too fast. Gets them in trouble.”

She agreed with a nod, picking at her onion rings. “A whole heck of a lot of trouble.”