Patchwork pixie, p.2
Patchwork Pixie, page 2
She silently pulled up footage that her uncles didn’t know about. She started it, and Mr. Kensington said, “Place it on the coffee table, please.”
She set it down, and all three men watched her shoved into her bedroom, protesting and fighting, then held down while Tanner got his frustration out of his system. He left her gasping, blood everywhere, and said, “Now that I have ruined you, who else will want you?”
He left. She staggered to her feet and left the room, then came back in a towel, tore the bedding up, and wadded it into a garbage bag.
“That’s enough.” Mr. Kensington nodded.
She reached out and turned the recording off.
“Miss Lest, why didn’t you make a report?”
She glanced at Mr. Kensington, and he nodded.
“He was my boss. I was under contract with heavy penalties for quitting without notice, and it was my first time. I didn’t know it wasn’t supposed to be like that between men and women. My upbringing didn’t offer a lot of comparisons. It became less violent, was never frequent, and then he proposed, so I couldn’t say no after that. Isn’t that how it works?”
The alphas looked appalled. “No, that isn’t how it works. Why don’t you know that?”
“Because I depended on the public school system, and they didn’t cover rape classifications. I don’t want to see him ever again. The company has all of my equipment and files. I don’t have any company property, and I can’t work in their industry for six months. I get it.”
“There is just the matter of you setting the cameras in your fiancé’s home.”
She looked at the officer who spoke. “That is my home. My condo. My name only. Free and clear.” She grimaced. “I am allowed security in my own home. I also rekeyed it as I left so they could leave but not return as I have the master key.”
The officer blinked and checked his notes. “He said it was his home.”
She flicked through her phone and found the deed to the condo. It simply had her name on it. She turned and showed them. “I also have all financial records.”
“That is a different matter. So, they were not invited guests.”
“They entered on a day I was supposed to be working until midnight. I finished early.”
Mr. Kensington tapped the back of her hand. “So, my client is not a danger to herself, and you may want to look into the activities of her ex-fiancé.”
She stifled the shift that made her flicker at that light tap.
The officer asked, “When was the assault on you, and can we have a copy of it?”
Mr. Kensington said, “Have a request sent to my office. I will forward it to you.”
The officers nodded and got to their feet. There was an exchange of business cards, and the officers were walked to the door.
Ruby went to the window and watched the officers walk to Tanner’s car and speak to him. She felt someone next to her, and she turned toward Mr. Kensington. “Uh, thank you.”
“Thank Grey. We were on the same committee last year. So, miss, what the hell was that flash of white on your skin?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Just a thing that I do when I am nervous.”
“Hm. We need to speak with your uncles.”
“Why?”
He looked at her. “When someone experiences what you did, it changes the way you start to relate to the world. Since I am sure you didn’t mention this to them, I believe you should.”
Ruby frowned. “I don’t want them to feel bad. I knew it was wrong when it was happening.”
“Why did you keep going back?” He walked her toward the kitchen.
“Everyone was so happy when I got a boyfriend that I didn’t know how to tell them he was a monster.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. “Right. Expectations.”
She nodded, saw four worried faces, and had to stop another round of tears. Time to explain. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.
Chapter Two
The silence made her nervous, but she remained quiet as the video finished. Grey and Derrik were furious. They had dated women before the pack was created around Leon, but James and Leon had to explain the structure of relationships to her, and after that night, she had done her own research. It wasn’t normal, but avoiding official attention was everything to her.
She sat with her hands on her lap, and when four shocked faces looked at her. She wrinkled her nose. “It was his action, but my processing made it an issue when I didn’t report it. And it repeated, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time.”
James whispered, “When was the last time?”
“Three months ago. I took on projects and contracts with a lot of overtime and very late nights. His dad told him to lay off me until the contracts were completed.” She shuddered. “That was last night. This mess has saved me more pain and humiliation.”
Grey looked at her. “I thought you could...”
“I can, but I have been staying out of the light for so long that it is second nature to just huddle in the shadows. The next time he comes for me, he loses his ability to get a hardon.”
Derrik sighed. “Fine, you get the first crack at him. Anything left over goes to me.”
She nodded. “Yes, Uncle.”
Leon looked at her. “Did you get a pregnancy test?”
“Uncle, unless I have been grossly misinformed, you can’t get pregnant rectally.” She smiled. “Well, you can. But I can’t.”
Leon didn’t smile. He and the others were outraged all over.
Mr. Kensington rapped on the table. “You are angry, you are outraged, and your niece has a literal turn of mind. Why is that?”
Leon froze.
Ruby asked, “Why do you need to know, Mr. Kensington?”
Mr. Kensington cocked his head. “Because I need to know who I am working for. If there is something in your past that affects the way you think, the way you react, and the fact that you have unusual reactions to stimuli.”
Ruby looked at her uncles, and Leon said, “It’s your story.”
Ruby sighed and looked at what seemed to be a criminal lawyer. “When I turned eleven, not only did puberty start, but my hair and eyes bleached out. The Elite team that showed up at my school was polite, but when I told them to fuck themselves, one of them placed his hand on my head and told me that I would be obedient to authority. Like that movie but not quite the same. When I am given an order, I literally stop thinking. It is fucking annoying.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Anyway. They had to get my parents’ permission, so I told my mom what was going on, and she shoved me in the car, made a call to Leon, and hit the gas. We only stopped for gas, and I even drove for a few hours while my mom slept. Then we made it to the city, and the feeling of being chased continued. So, I had Mom drive to the park, and Uncle Leon was there waiting for us. I took all the nervous energy and put it in the ground with the online image of the city map in my head. I put that energy into the ground, and then, suddenly, I could relax.”
She slowly morphed into her actual shape. “So, I learned how to look normal, but this is what I look like when I sleep. No, Tanner never saw me like this. I never relaxed around him.”
Mr. Kensington stared at her, and there was a slow smile on his lips. “That explains quite a bit.”
James nodded. “She’s an omega.”
Mr. Kensington shook his head. “No, she’s an Elite omega.”
She frowned. “A what?”
“You are an example of what those women could become if they were allowed to mature without interference.”
She got suspicious. “How do you know all that?”
He sat still but grew several inches, skin that was black with silver highlights, dark pewter eyes, and white hair that was bound in a tight braid. “Hello, Ruby.”
“Hello, Mr. Kensington.”
He smiled. “I know someone who can remove that block if you would like to curse me out for surprising you.”
She glanced at her uncles, and they were sitting there with mouths agape. “I am not as surprised as I should be. When you tapped my hand, I felt something strange.”
“Yes, I did, too.”
Ruby nodded. “I am going back to my day look.”
He inclined his head. “Of course.”
She resumed her normal appearance and checked her hair. “Uncle Grey, am I still cleared to go to work?”
He nodded. “Yes. They are expecting you.”
She looked at Mr. Kensington and said, “Anything else?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I will be in contact with you. If you give me your phone, I can give you one with a copy of your number. You just won’t see the messages from the other parties.”
She frowned, and he held up his hand with a slim phone in long fingers. She handed him her phone and gave him the code to it. He grinned. “F-U-C-K, got it.”
She opened the other phone and found all her chats to friends and the large selection of uncle correspondence that hadn’t been refreshed in months. They had told her she could call if she needed help, and she hadn’t made that call. She frowned, and then a happy face appeared in the chat from a surprising source. Uncle Grey.
She smiled. “I will get to work. The holidays are just around the corner.”
“Thanks. The manager just came to me yesterday asking if we could get extra hands, but I didn’t tell him that the hands were yours.”
She laughed. “We will be back on track in no time. Just like every other year.”
Grey sent her a thumbs-up and then a green light. She double-checked her clothes. “Right. You know where to find me. Can I still get lunch at the bistro next door?”
“If Mark lets you.”
“Right, I am off to make a mess.” She nodded. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Kensington.”
He got to his feet and took her hand, which caused her to flicker. “It has been an illuminating morning. We will make sure that this man doesn’t come near you. My number is in the phone if you need anything.”
She nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
Ruby left the building with her skin tingling and only hesitated enough to see that Tanner’s car was gone.
She got into her sub-compact in her favourite colour, pewter. Driving to the shop was ingrained in her reflexes. She had worked there every day in summer and every evening during the holiday season. No matter which deity or tradition was in vogue, the humans that followed all like chocolate, and Grey’s family recipes were always in demand.
In the parking lot, she was surprised that work hadn’t called yet. Or Beth. She did hope that Beth was all right.
She snugged her car into the back and opened the rear door. She heard, “Excuse me, miss. This is the employees’ entrance.”
The heady scent of warm chocolate struck her nose, and it smelled like home. A moment later, Mark’s arms wrapped around her, and he spun her around. “You’re back!”
“I am. Do you have something boring and labour-intensive for me?”
“Right. Can you work on the chili chocolate?”
“Sure. Let me gear up and get an apron, and I will be ready to work.”
The joyful alpha wrapped an arm around her and bustled her to the changing area, where she put on a hair net, booties, and a hat. She scrubbed her hands and then put the apron in place.
Mark smiled and said, “Still a medium?”
“Yup.”
She took the box of gloves that he handed her and then was led to the station where the audience watched as flashy chocolates were created.
She looked at the order sheet and looked at Mark. “You butthead.”
He grinned. “Glad you are back. Remember how to do it?”
“I wrote this recipe.” She started to grab the enormous stack of molds she would need. She used soft compressed air to blow them out, and then she laid them out before getting the chocolate, cacao butter, chilis, and edible gold pulver. She focused, gloved up, and got to work.
A bit of gold into the melted cocao butter, mix in the chilies to half the tempered chocolate, and get a piping bag to get the chocolate where she wanted it. Time spun away, and she continued to work down the order sheet until Mark tapped her shoulder. “Grey said you might have forgotten lunch. I will take over. What are we making?”
She grinned, took off her gloves, and patted his shoulder. “Figure it out.”
His appalled look made her smile. She whispered, “Buttered caramel.”
She hung up her apron and removed her booties but kept the little hat and the hairnet. It was always fun to go next door and get a sandwich.
The crowd was trailing out, so she got in line with a smile. Ruby put a polite smile on her lips and ordered her roast beef sandwich and a soda.
She got her plate and looked around for a place to sit. She found a small bistro set in a corner and settled in to eat. An alpha walked past the other clients and nodded to her. The other folks in the room turned and started to whisper.
“You are Ruby, right?”
“Yes. Who are you?
“My name’s Rayden. Marshall sent me. I am not sure this is going to work. Too many eyes.”
She kept eating her lunch. “What are you planning on doing?”
“Removing that pesky compulsion that they tagged you with. You must have been standing quite still.”
She mumbled around some potato chips, “I was eleven. I had two adult men holding me while another poked his finger between my eyes. I was outnumbered by over six hundred pounds.”
He nodded. “Apologies. Right. I don’t know how to touch your face without causing a fuss.”
“You seem to have a lot of fans.”
He blinked. “You didn’t recognize me?”
“No. But you flickered a bit when you saw me, so I am guessing you are like Mr. Kensington.”
He grinned. “Oh, he must love being called mister.”
She blinked at him. “I can’t think of a scenario where folks don’t notice.”
“Hm. I will think of something.” He smiled, and his deep blue eyes were sparkling. “Can I have a chip?”
She shoved her plate to be equal distance between them. She sipped at her soda before offering him what was left.
“So, you do sports?”
He spluttered and set her drink down. “Uh, yeah. I do sports. Hockey.”
She smiled in memory. “Oh, right. Skating.”
“Do you skate?”
“I used to. I had to stop when I was fifteen. I couldn’t travel out of the city and leave the safety of it. I was off the team. I would have loved to continue with it, but I went to school, and the past is history.”
He smiled. “So, you do skate?”
“Yeah. I even designed choreography for it.” She smiled softly. “My first creation is actually a winter classic now.”
His eyes widened. “You are... wow. R. Lest. Huh.”
“Yeah. My uncles took me every year to watch it, and the money made from the annual performances paid for college.” She cocked her head. “How long do you have to touch me?”
“A few seconds.”
“I can make them disinterested for a few seconds if you just want to get this over with.”
Rayden smiled. “I am suddenly in less of a hurry. The choreography is fun but intense.”
“I designed something that I could skate to. I practiced all the parts, and my Uncle Leon recorded them. We wrote it up and presented it to the city arts council for deliberation, and the videos were played in different costumes, and they accepted the Patchwork Pixie as a volunteer holiday performance. So, then, me, Leon, and Uncle Derrik went from skate school to skate school to get volunteers. The students watched the videos of the different characters, and folks started to get excited, but we needed more trolls.”
He grinned. “So, you went to the hockey teams.”
“And they wore their sport skates so they could go very fast without stopping.”
“So, the kids volunteered for that, too.”
“Yeah. After two years, they went on to adults so they could expand the number of performances. That is when my college fund started.”
“Why do I smell chocolate and raspberries?”
“I work in the chocolate shop next door.”
He flared his nostrils. “But you smell like berries.”
“It is warm in the shop. I sweat.” She didn’t explain. He was smirking.
He reached out and flicked her hair from her cheek, trailing a finger across her forehead, and she felt a cracker-like snap. She jumped. He smiled and tapped her nose.
She felt interest solidify around them. “Why did you do that? It is going to have an effect on your dating prospects.”
He cocked his head. “I don’t think so. I think things will be just fine.”
She nodded and checked the table. Everything was gone, and she checked her watch. “I hate to be fixed and run, but I left the manager in charge of my station, and I am afraid of his quality control.”
She smiled. “So, uh. What do I owe you for that?”
“Ruby, you owe me nothing. Marshall owes me.”
“Oh. Right.” She flipped out a few bills and put them under her plate. “Well, I have to get going. The shop is very far behind.”
He got up and escorted her out. She was walking toward the shop when she saw a familiar shape. Tanner.
For the first time in her life, she felt icy fury, and she stepped a little more quickly toward him.
Tanner stepped toward her. “Ruby. I can explain.”
“What? How you convinced her to wear my wedding dress, how you wouldn’t stop when she was crying, or how you raped her like you raped me after she wanted to leave. You are disgusting, you are filth, you are a pathetic worm, and you need to go back to remedial alpha school if you think that is how you get voluntary lovers.” She blurted it all and then stopped. She shook her head. “You are never touching me or anything of mine again.”
Tanner dismissed her and looked at Rayden. “Who’s this?”
“My lunch date. I told you. We are done, you pretty sack of shit, and you aren’t my boss any more.”
That did it.
He swung at her with a closed fist. She ducked under it, drove her fist into his midsection, kicked his groin with all her power, and used her right fist to his jaw again. He dropped, and she turned her head to a surprised Rayden. “Can you call Marshall?”
She set it down, and all three men watched her shoved into her bedroom, protesting and fighting, then held down while Tanner got his frustration out of his system. He left her gasping, blood everywhere, and said, “Now that I have ruined you, who else will want you?”
He left. She staggered to her feet and left the room, then came back in a towel, tore the bedding up, and wadded it into a garbage bag.
“That’s enough.” Mr. Kensington nodded.
She reached out and turned the recording off.
“Miss Lest, why didn’t you make a report?”
She glanced at Mr. Kensington, and he nodded.
“He was my boss. I was under contract with heavy penalties for quitting without notice, and it was my first time. I didn’t know it wasn’t supposed to be like that between men and women. My upbringing didn’t offer a lot of comparisons. It became less violent, was never frequent, and then he proposed, so I couldn’t say no after that. Isn’t that how it works?”
The alphas looked appalled. “No, that isn’t how it works. Why don’t you know that?”
“Because I depended on the public school system, and they didn’t cover rape classifications. I don’t want to see him ever again. The company has all of my equipment and files. I don’t have any company property, and I can’t work in their industry for six months. I get it.”
“There is just the matter of you setting the cameras in your fiancé’s home.”
She looked at the officer who spoke. “That is my home. My condo. My name only. Free and clear.” She grimaced. “I am allowed security in my own home. I also rekeyed it as I left so they could leave but not return as I have the master key.”
The officer blinked and checked his notes. “He said it was his home.”
She flicked through her phone and found the deed to the condo. It simply had her name on it. She turned and showed them. “I also have all financial records.”
“That is a different matter. So, they were not invited guests.”
“They entered on a day I was supposed to be working until midnight. I finished early.”
Mr. Kensington tapped the back of her hand. “So, my client is not a danger to herself, and you may want to look into the activities of her ex-fiancé.”
She stifled the shift that made her flicker at that light tap.
The officer asked, “When was the assault on you, and can we have a copy of it?”
Mr. Kensington said, “Have a request sent to my office. I will forward it to you.”
The officers nodded and got to their feet. There was an exchange of business cards, and the officers were walked to the door.
Ruby went to the window and watched the officers walk to Tanner’s car and speak to him. She felt someone next to her, and she turned toward Mr. Kensington. “Uh, thank you.”
“Thank Grey. We were on the same committee last year. So, miss, what the hell was that flash of white on your skin?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Just a thing that I do when I am nervous.”
“Hm. We need to speak with your uncles.”
“Why?”
He looked at her. “When someone experiences what you did, it changes the way you start to relate to the world. Since I am sure you didn’t mention this to them, I believe you should.”
Ruby frowned. “I don’t want them to feel bad. I knew it was wrong when it was happening.”
“Why did you keep going back?” He walked her toward the kitchen.
“Everyone was so happy when I got a boyfriend that I didn’t know how to tell them he was a monster.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. “Right. Expectations.”
She nodded, saw four worried faces, and had to stop another round of tears. Time to explain. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.
Chapter Two
The silence made her nervous, but she remained quiet as the video finished. Grey and Derrik were furious. They had dated women before the pack was created around Leon, but James and Leon had to explain the structure of relationships to her, and after that night, she had done her own research. It wasn’t normal, but avoiding official attention was everything to her.
She sat with her hands on her lap, and when four shocked faces looked at her. She wrinkled her nose. “It was his action, but my processing made it an issue when I didn’t report it. And it repeated, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time.”
James whispered, “When was the last time?”
“Three months ago. I took on projects and contracts with a lot of overtime and very late nights. His dad told him to lay off me until the contracts were completed.” She shuddered. “That was last night. This mess has saved me more pain and humiliation.”
Grey looked at her. “I thought you could...”
“I can, but I have been staying out of the light for so long that it is second nature to just huddle in the shadows. The next time he comes for me, he loses his ability to get a hardon.”
Derrik sighed. “Fine, you get the first crack at him. Anything left over goes to me.”
She nodded. “Yes, Uncle.”
Leon looked at her. “Did you get a pregnancy test?”
“Uncle, unless I have been grossly misinformed, you can’t get pregnant rectally.” She smiled. “Well, you can. But I can’t.”
Leon didn’t smile. He and the others were outraged all over.
Mr. Kensington rapped on the table. “You are angry, you are outraged, and your niece has a literal turn of mind. Why is that?”
Leon froze.
Ruby asked, “Why do you need to know, Mr. Kensington?”
Mr. Kensington cocked his head. “Because I need to know who I am working for. If there is something in your past that affects the way you think, the way you react, and the fact that you have unusual reactions to stimuli.”
Ruby looked at her uncles, and Leon said, “It’s your story.”
Ruby sighed and looked at what seemed to be a criminal lawyer. “When I turned eleven, not only did puberty start, but my hair and eyes bleached out. The Elite team that showed up at my school was polite, but when I told them to fuck themselves, one of them placed his hand on my head and told me that I would be obedient to authority. Like that movie but not quite the same. When I am given an order, I literally stop thinking. It is fucking annoying.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Anyway. They had to get my parents’ permission, so I told my mom what was going on, and she shoved me in the car, made a call to Leon, and hit the gas. We only stopped for gas, and I even drove for a few hours while my mom slept. Then we made it to the city, and the feeling of being chased continued. So, I had Mom drive to the park, and Uncle Leon was there waiting for us. I took all the nervous energy and put it in the ground with the online image of the city map in my head. I put that energy into the ground, and then, suddenly, I could relax.”
She slowly morphed into her actual shape. “So, I learned how to look normal, but this is what I look like when I sleep. No, Tanner never saw me like this. I never relaxed around him.”
Mr. Kensington stared at her, and there was a slow smile on his lips. “That explains quite a bit.”
James nodded. “She’s an omega.”
Mr. Kensington shook his head. “No, she’s an Elite omega.”
She frowned. “A what?”
“You are an example of what those women could become if they were allowed to mature without interference.”
She got suspicious. “How do you know all that?”
He sat still but grew several inches, skin that was black with silver highlights, dark pewter eyes, and white hair that was bound in a tight braid. “Hello, Ruby.”
“Hello, Mr. Kensington.”
He smiled. “I know someone who can remove that block if you would like to curse me out for surprising you.”
She glanced at her uncles, and they were sitting there with mouths agape. “I am not as surprised as I should be. When you tapped my hand, I felt something strange.”
“Yes, I did, too.”
Ruby nodded. “I am going back to my day look.”
He inclined his head. “Of course.”
She resumed her normal appearance and checked her hair. “Uncle Grey, am I still cleared to go to work?”
He nodded. “Yes. They are expecting you.”
She looked at Mr. Kensington and said, “Anything else?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I will be in contact with you. If you give me your phone, I can give you one with a copy of your number. You just won’t see the messages from the other parties.”
She frowned, and he held up his hand with a slim phone in long fingers. She handed him her phone and gave him the code to it. He grinned. “F-U-C-K, got it.”
She opened the other phone and found all her chats to friends and the large selection of uncle correspondence that hadn’t been refreshed in months. They had told her she could call if she needed help, and she hadn’t made that call. She frowned, and then a happy face appeared in the chat from a surprising source. Uncle Grey.
She smiled. “I will get to work. The holidays are just around the corner.”
“Thanks. The manager just came to me yesterday asking if we could get extra hands, but I didn’t tell him that the hands were yours.”
She laughed. “We will be back on track in no time. Just like every other year.”
Grey sent her a thumbs-up and then a green light. She double-checked her clothes. “Right. You know where to find me. Can I still get lunch at the bistro next door?”
“If Mark lets you.”
“Right, I am off to make a mess.” She nodded. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Kensington.”
He got to his feet and took her hand, which caused her to flicker. “It has been an illuminating morning. We will make sure that this man doesn’t come near you. My number is in the phone if you need anything.”
She nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
Ruby left the building with her skin tingling and only hesitated enough to see that Tanner’s car was gone.
She got into her sub-compact in her favourite colour, pewter. Driving to the shop was ingrained in her reflexes. She had worked there every day in summer and every evening during the holiday season. No matter which deity or tradition was in vogue, the humans that followed all like chocolate, and Grey’s family recipes were always in demand.
In the parking lot, she was surprised that work hadn’t called yet. Or Beth. She did hope that Beth was all right.
She snugged her car into the back and opened the rear door. She heard, “Excuse me, miss. This is the employees’ entrance.”
The heady scent of warm chocolate struck her nose, and it smelled like home. A moment later, Mark’s arms wrapped around her, and he spun her around. “You’re back!”
“I am. Do you have something boring and labour-intensive for me?”
“Right. Can you work on the chili chocolate?”
“Sure. Let me gear up and get an apron, and I will be ready to work.”
The joyful alpha wrapped an arm around her and bustled her to the changing area, where she put on a hair net, booties, and a hat. She scrubbed her hands and then put the apron in place.
Mark smiled and said, “Still a medium?”
“Yup.”
She took the box of gloves that he handed her and then was led to the station where the audience watched as flashy chocolates were created.
She looked at the order sheet and looked at Mark. “You butthead.”
He grinned. “Glad you are back. Remember how to do it?”
“I wrote this recipe.” She started to grab the enormous stack of molds she would need. She used soft compressed air to blow them out, and then she laid them out before getting the chocolate, cacao butter, chilis, and edible gold pulver. She focused, gloved up, and got to work.
A bit of gold into the melted cocao butter, mix in the chilies to half the tempered chocolate, and get a piping bag to get the chocolate where she wanted it. Time spun away, and she continued to work down the order sheet until Mark tapped her shoulder. “Grey said you might have forgotten lunch. I will take over. What are we making?”
She grinned, took off her gloves, and patted his shoulder. “Figure it out.”
His appalled look made her smile. She whispered, “Buttered caramel.”
She hung up her apron and removed her booties but kept the little hat and the hairnet. It was always fun to go next door and get a sandwich.
The crowd was trailing out, so she got in line with a smile. Ruby put a polite smile on her lips and ordered her roast beef sandwich and a soda.
She got her plate and looked around for a place to sit. She found a small bistro set in a corner and settled in to eat. An alpha walked past the other clients and nodded to her. The other folks in the room turned and started to whisper.
“You are Ruby, right?”
“Yes. Who are you?
“My name’s Rayden. Marshall sent me. I am not sure this is going to work. Too many eyes.”
She kept eating her lunch. “What are you planning on doing?”
“Removing that pesky compulsion that they tagged you with. You must have been standing quite still.”
She mumbled around some potato chips, “I was eleven. I had two adult men holding me while another poked his finger between my eyes. I was outnumbered by over six hundred pounds.”
He nodded. “Apologies. Right. I don’t know how to touch your face without causing a fuss.”
“You seem to have a lot of fans.”
He blinked. “You didn’t recognize me?”
“No. But you flickered a bit when you saw me, so I am guessing you are like Mr. Kensington.”
He grinned. “Oh, he must love being called mister.”
She blinked at him. “I can’t think of a scenario where folks don’t notice.”
“Hm. I will think of something.” He smiled, and his deep blue eyes were sparkling. “Can I have a chip?”
She shoved her plate to be equal distance between them. She sipped at her soda before offering him what was left.
“So, you do sports?”
He spluttered and set her drink down. “Uh, yeah. I do sports. Hockey.”
She smiled in memory. “Oh, right. Skating.”
“Do you skate?”
“I used to. I had to stop when I was fifteen. I couldn’t travel out of the city and leave the safety of it. I was off the team. I would have loved to continue with it, but I went to school, and the past is history.”
He smiled. “So, you do skate?”
“Yeah. I even designed choreography for it.” She smiled softly. “My first creation is actually a winter classic now.”
His eyes widened. “You are... wow. R. Lest. Huh.”
“Yeah. My uncles took me every year to watch it, and the money made from the annual performances paid for college.” She cocked her head. “How long do you have to touch me?”
“A few seconds.”
“I can make them disinterested for a few seconds if you just want to get this over with.”
Rayden smiled. “I am suddenly in less of a hurry. The choreography is fun but intense.”
“I designed something that I could skate to. I practiced all the parts, and my Uncle Leon recorded them. We wrote it up and presented it to the city arts council for deliberation, and the videos were played in different costumes, and they accepted the Patchwork Pixie as a volunteer holiday performance. So, then, me, Leon, and Uncle Derrik went from skate school to skate school to get volunteers. The students watched the videos of the different characters, and folks started to get excited, but we needed more trolls.”
He grinned. “So, you went to the hockey teams.”
“And they wore their sport skates so they could go very fast without stopping.”
“So, the kids volunteered for that, too.”
“Yeah. After two years, they went on to adults so they could expand the number of performances. That is when my college fund started.”
“Why do I smell chocolate and raspberries?”
“I work in the chocolate shop next door.”
He flared his nostrils. “But you smell like berries.”
“It is warm in the shop. I sweat.” She didn’t explain. He was smirking.
He reached out and flicked her hair from her cheek, trailing a finger across her forehead, and she felt a cracker-like snap. She jumped. He smiled and tapped her nose.
She felt interest solidify around them. “Why did you do that? It is going to have an effect on your dating prospects.”
He cocked his head. “I don’t think so. I think things will be just fine.”
She nodded and checked the table. Everything was gone, and she checked her watch. “I hate to be fixed and run, but I left the manager in charge of my station, and I am afraid of his quality control.”
She smiled. “So, uh. What do I owe you for that?”
“Ruby, you owe me nothing. Marshall owes me.”
“Oh. Right.” She flipped out a few bills and put them under her plate. “Well, I have to get going. The shop is very far behind.”
He got up and escorted her out. She was walking toward the shop when she saw a familiar shape. Tanner.
For the first time in her life, she felt icy fury, and she stepped a little more quickly toward him.
Tanner stepped toward her. “Ruby. I can explain.”
“What? How you convinced her to wear my wedding dress, how you wouldn’t stop when she was crying, or how you raped her like you raped me after she wanted to leave. You are disgusting, you are filth, you are a pathetic worm, and you need to go back to remedial alpha school if you think that is how you get voluntary lovers.” She blurted it all and then stopped. She shook her head. “You are never touching me or anything of mine again.”
Tanner dismissed her and looked at Rayden. “Who’s this?”
“My lunch date. I told you. We are done, you pretty sack of shit, and you aren’t my boss any more.”
That did it.
He swung at her with a closed fist. She ducked under it, drove her fist into his midsection, kicked his groin with all her power, and used her right fist to his jaw again. He dropped, and she turned her head to a surprised Rayden. “Can you call Marshall?”
