Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(20)

When he came up beside me, keeping step, I knew Bruno was close. How I missed that, that time at the diner was beside me.

“What do you want?” It was a question of huge depth even in its simplicity. If I was going to help him, which, from the looks of things, I had to, I needed to know why he was there and how to make his loose ends less loose.

“Stay away from the bear,” was all he said before dissipating. Brilliant. More bear garbage. He didn’t look as if he’d been mauled by a bear. Not that all ghosts looked like they did when they passed, but if his means of demise was why he was there, then he should look the part I would think. There needed to be a stinkin’ handbook for people who saw and talked to the dead.

“Hey, Tansy.” His voice wrapped around me like a hug. Etienne. How had I not seen him comin’? Oh yeah, because there was a dead guy warning me about bears and a creeper nearby. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. Can I carry that for you?”

I turned to face him fully and politely decline because there was no way I was going to hand the beautiful man beside me a box full of bugs. Sure, he wasn’t going to freak out like Creeper McCreepy did, but etiquette would say it wasn’t the best way to win a man. Not that I wanted to win him. Except I kinda really did.

“It’s bugs,” I announced, lamer than lame, just as my eyes caught Bruno in the corner of my eye, as he marched over. I so did not need this.

“You are lugging around bugs.” He quirked his eyebrow, not hiding the tension he felt as his boss marched over, now with more intensity. What was his damage, aside from being haunted, which might be it in its entirety. Being haunted full-time had to suck monkey toes.

“For my gator.” I loved to call my lizard a gator; his reaction never failed to amuse me. His eyes always darkened slightly, and then lighten up almost instantly as humor filled them. It made no sense, but who cared because it was worth a see every time. I was going to miss it when it no longer had the same impact.

Darn lilibugs, I needed to stop thinking about him as more than just a friend or a date or whatever he was. My heart couldn’t take getting stomped on again.

“Finish fixing up your shoddy work.” Bruno caught up with us, pretending to ignore me as he pooped on his employee. There was no way Etienne slacked on his work. I didn’t know him well, but I knew he took his work seriously.

“Excuse me, Officer, but Etienne is meeting me to go help me with some security planning at the bakery, and I need to get these bugs home first.” I held the box out to him as exhibit A because fudge him. He can’t come over and be a jerkhead like that. Not when I already knew Etienne was supposed to be off early for the day. Not that I was stalkerish or anything. “My gator likes spiders,” I taunted, hoping he thought that monstrosity of a spider was sitting in the box. Not that I’d ever allow that, but he didn’t need to know that tidbit.

“The file is on your desk,” Etienne added before taking the box in some kind of unspoken pissing match. Did he sense Bruno’s fear of the eight-legged?

“Don’t let it happen again,” he spouted before heading in the opposite direction, the echo of his ghost chuckling filling my ears.

So, he was there even when I couldn’t see him. Interesting. And powerful. Far too powerful for my liking.

“Your boss is a meanie-head loser-face,” I affirmed, holding out my hands to regain my box o’ bugs. “Thanks for holding my bugs. I can take them now.”

“My boss is an asshole, and I am happy to carry them to your house before we head to the bakery for our meeting.”

He started in the direction of my place, effectively ending the conversation. Looked like I was going to have a security meeting. Surely he knew I was just thwarting his boss and there were no actual security concerns in this tiny town. Oh well. More Etienne time for me. Not that I wanted that.

Except I so completely did.

I scurried after him, taking the hand he held behind himself, presumably for me. There. That was what I needed. My hand in his because, despite all my internal protests, there was no place I’d rather be than by his side, and that was flippin’ terrifying.





Etienne

Thank the Creator she got the point of me foolishly holding my hand behind my back like a shithead teenager. It was mostly for Bruno, who I was sure still had his eyes on us from a distance. His surveillance, the smell of him questioning me and Tansy, hung in the air like a slimy blanket over my consciousness. He was trying to get to Tansy in some way or another.

Tonight had to be the night. We’d shared a kiss before, but Bruno needed a clear and concise message about this woman.

It was too late for me.

Tansy was mine, and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it. More and more, I didn’t want to.

“You really need security at the bakery or just you trying to cover my ass? Marie never seemed to have any trouble.”

She could cover my ass all she wanted, and I’d be more than happy to reciprocate.

“No. I just don’t like that guy. He seems like an overbearing...jerkface.”

“Overbearing is correct in more ways than you know.” I chuckled at her accidental pun accentuating the word “bear.”

She stopped in her tracks, hands on her hips and something brewing beneath the surface.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. The smell of anger tinged with a little fear hung in the air around us.