Chapter 8

“Hi! I want my phone repaired,” Laken said to the small lady behind the counter.

Laken accidentally dropped it, and it would not turn on again. The lady immediately wrote something on a pad and took a Ziploc. She gave her phone to the lady when she asked for it. She asked when she could get it back but was told they would just contact her within the day. So, Zuri gave her number. Just when Laken caught that unique scent, she knitted her eyebrows.

‘Why is he here?’ she asked herself.

It seemed that the world was getting smaller and smaller for the both of them. They always got to meet under any circumstances. She slowly turned around and she was right. He was standing right behind her and her sister, looking at her intently with those disturbing but magnetizing dark eyes of his.

“Hey!” Zuri greeted him first with a big smile on her face. “Fancy meeting you here!”

“Right,” he said with a small smile on his lips. He threw Zuri a casual glance before he settled his eyes on Laken, again.

She noted his casual attire, ragged jeans and shirt, which made him look like a model that came out alive of a magazine. His hair was in a man bun, knotted on the top of his head. With his day-old stubble, he looked incredibly sexy, but she strayed her eyes away when their gazes met. She observed that he held something familiar, but she did not ask. She had an idea what it was.

“What are you doing here? Is this where you work?” Zuri queried. She seemed to know what to ask so that Laken would know something about him. But Laken looked away, checking out the latest devices displayed in glass display shelves and ignoring other people’s stares at them. The gadgets were in different sizes, brands, shapes and colors.

“Sort of.” Laken heard Bleidd answer her sister. “How… how are you here?”

“Oh, don’t be silly! We’re having a joyride using my dad’s truck. Didn’t I mention that Laken’s on vacation? She drove all the way here! We didn’t know we’ll find you here.” Zuri looked animated as she talked with him.

“I see,” his short response.

“So, you’re here. I was looking all over for you.” The three of them transferred their attention to the good-looking guy who just came in.

Laken wrinkled her nose. His scent was like fresh meat and spices. She wanted to throw up. She covered her nose immediately, holding her breath.

“Excuse me, where’s your ladies’ room?” she managed to ask Bleidd.

He immediately pointed to his right. “Makoce, what is it?”

Laken heard him ask before she could shut the door. She wanted to throw up again when she smelled the strong mixture of bathroom cleaner, freshener and human excretions.

‘Oh, God!’ she groaned. She held her breath instead and went out. She ran away to the exit, telling Zuri that they have to go.

Zuri came after her right after apologizing to the two gaping men. “Really, Laken!”

“It’s not my fault I have this condition!” she burst out. “Those people just…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence. She did not know how to explain it.

She turned her face away when another guy they met on the sidewalk moved past them. It was familiar. Just like the one she smelled yesterday near the river. It was like rotten egg or sulfur. It was really bad! She stopped walking and turned around to follow him with her eyes. She noticed he went into the cell phone shop where Bleidd was working. Her eyes went round.

Her sister noticed it and of course asked her what the matter was.

“I have to go back,” she told Zuri instead. Her steps were quick, which made her younger sister run after her, back to the cell phone shop. “Who are you people? Really?” she demanded. She witnessed it with her own eyes—that the three men were speaking with each other.

With her question, she noticed Bleidd’s worried and surprised emotions playing across his handsome face. Yes, she admitted it now. He was handsome. He was a hunk. He was yummy. He was smashing and all that. He was just…

She slightly shook her head to stop thinking about his sexiness that made her body go feverish. But she wanted to ignore that effect he had on her.

“Ah, she’s—” Matias started.

However, Bleidd gave him a sharp stare. “Not now, Matias!” he warned. He then pulled Laken by the arm, half-dragging her into a small office with blue-gray walls. There was a small beige desk and a comfortable swivel chair on the right. There was a file cabinet and a round coffee table on the left, with green thermos, cup and sugar and coffee containers. The smell was quite clean and fresh compared to chaotic mass of scents outside.

“What do you want?” he demanded instead.

“Don’t be an airhead. It’s not about you. I just want to know why!” She raised her chin. She knew she was mumbling. She knew that she also had to thank him for all the things he had done for her and her sister, but she still had her pride. She reasoned that she did not ask for his help, anyway. He just helped without something in return.

He chuckled softly. “Of course, I’m not. I want to know why you want to know.”

She closed her eyes tightly and breathed in deeply. God! She smelled his sweet-spicy-musky perfume combined with his mixed unique scent. She tried to not get heady because of it. In a twisted way, she found his scent getting more and more attractive.

“I swear I smelled Makoce—whoever his name is—when massive…” she trailed off, trying to find the right word, “dogs surrounded me near the river, remember?”

He sighed. “Forget whatever you smelled back there, okay? You can’t just ask us who we are or what we are! What will people think when they hear something outrageous like this?”

“Ah, so you’re concerned about what other people might say, not what I think or might say.”

He gritted his teeth. “This is my establishment!”

She sighed. “Ah, I see. So you’re not going to tell me?”

He was quiet for three seconds or so. Their flashing eyes still held. “I can’t tell you.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“You don’t understand,” he said, turning around. “If… I tell you… I might put you in danger.”

Her frown grew deeper. It was like he was speaking another language. She stepped around him so she could face him again.

“What are you saying? How can I be in danger if you tell me the truth?”