I knew so little about him, and I couldn’t deny that I was fascinated by him. But I recognized that my fascination was a dangerous thing.
“When he went after you, he left his hot chocolate at the counter and it got tossed,” Lisa said, holding up a mug. “I made him a new one. Do you want to take it to him?”
Okay, her matchmaking attempts were starting to get a bit annoying. I knew she meant well, but how many ways could I say that I wasn’t interested in Daniel? “No. If he wants it, he can come get it.”
“You really don’t like him. What’d he do?”
“He came here.”
“Okay, that makes no sense. He’s hot and he’s nice. His coming here is an awesome thing.”
“Take him the chocolate,” I snapped—something I’d never done here in Athena. I’d experienced others’ anger, had never been comfortable with it, so had worked really hard to keep myself as even-keeled around people as I could.
Lisa’s eyes widened, but then she shrugged and went around the counter and over to Daniel. He smiled at her. She sat on the coffee table near him, and I wondered if he’d made her knees go weak. It irritated me that she could be swayed by his charm. The thought brought me up short. Was I feeling jealous because she was taking such an interest in him?
Actually, her interest in him could be a good thing. Maybe she could distract him. But as his gaze shifted back over to me, I realized he was not going to be easily sidetracked.
“Hey, can I get some service over here?”
I snapped my attention to a guy who was terribly sunburned. People were always underestimating what the sun could do in winter. They thought they could burn only if it was hot outside. “Sorry,” I told him. “What’ll you have?”
Darkness had fallen long before we started to close up. Spike came out of his office and flicked the lights to signal it was time for people to leave. He was a contradiction. With his shaved head and tattoos on his neck and arms, he just didn’t look like the type of person who would make a living from hot beverages.
When everyone was gone except Daniel, Spike went over to him. “Sorry, bud, we’re closing up.”
“I’m waiting for Hayden,” Daniel said.
Spike glanced back at me, and I knew that if I shook my head, Spike would escort Daniel out. Or he’d try. I had a feeling that despite Spike’s massive size, Daniel could whip his butt. So I nodded.
“Way to go, girlfriend,” Lisa said, knocking her hip against mine.
I felt my cheeks grow warm with embarrassment, so I turned my attention to wiping down the counter. I was acutely aware of Daniel striding over.
“So tell me what I can do to get you out of here quicker,” he said.
I had no desire to leave with him, but I also wasn’t a huge fan of cleaning up. The lesser of two evils. I tossed him a damp rag. “Wipe down all the tables and put the chairs on top of them.”
With Daniel’s help, we finished with our closing procedures in record time. Sooner than I would have liked, I was bundled up and stepping out the back door with everyone else.
“Don’t forget it’s Thrilling Thursday. Catch you later at Out of Bounds,” Lisa said with a wink and a grin before she led the others away.
“Thrilling Thursday?” Daniel asked with a dark eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, Lisa has a name for every night of the week. Manic Monday, Terrific Tuesday, Wicked Wednesday. You get the idea.”
“Sorry I missed Wicked Wednesday.”
It was difficult to stay annoyed with a guy who could flash a grin like Daniel could, but I resisted returning the smile, and even managed to narrow my eyes. “So how long have you been here?”
“Arrived this morning. Tell me about Out of Bounds.”
“Not much to tell. It’s a club. ‘Out of bounds’ is a ski term that refers to areas where it’s illegal to ski…. Well, it’s supposed to be a place for rebels.”
“And you’re a rebel?”
“I have my moments,” I said, slightly insulted that he’d question me. After all, I’d run away, hadn’t I?
“I noticed a burger place—conveniently named the Burger Place, by the way—at the end of the street,” Daniel said as we walked around the building, back toward the main part of the village. “I could use some meat.”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
He jerked his head around, and his green gaze homed in on me as if he thought I was joking. Or suspected me of lying.
“I’ve eaten there before, though,” I told him. “They have a grilled cheese sandwich, so we’re good.”
As we stepped onto the boardwalk that lined the street, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and said, “I’ve never heard of a Shifter being a vegetarian.”
“Well, I’m not your ordinary Shifter.”
“So I’ve been told.”
I rolled my eyes, wondering exactly what the other Dark Guardians had said about me and my abilities. “I’d rather be normal.”
I couldn’t keep the wistfulness out of my voice. Maybe that was the reason that he didn’t talk as we walked along the street. Or maybe he was trying to figure me out as much as I was trying to discern why a wall existed between his emotions and mine.
The elders were able to block their emotions from me, but they were the elders. They could do all sorts of stuff. They’d tried to teach me to block the emotions coming at me, but I’d had absolutely no success at it. I wondered if they’d given Daniel a crash course in holding back his emotions that he’d actually managed to master. Sometimes at school a teacher could explain a concept multiple times and I couldn’t grasp what she was trying to teach, but the student sitting next to me could lean over and explain it—and it suddenly made perfect sense. I wondered if this might be the case here as well. Maybe he could explain blocking feelings in terms that I could more easily embrace. If Daniel could block his emotions, could I do it—but in reverse? He was keeping his emotions in. Could I do whatever he was doing to keep emotions out?
“So what do you know about me?” I asked.
We were sitting across from each other in a corner booth. I’d decided to go with a garden salad instead of a grilled cheese. He’d ordered a double-meat cheeseburger and onion rings. Hardening of the arteries wasn’t a concern for us. When we shifted, our bodies naturally healed all ailments, including all the pitfalls of eating unhealthy foods.