Deklan

“Hi.” I don’t know what else I should say, and I end up just staring at the counter.

“Well, are you going to take my order?” He places his hands on the counter and leans forward. “This is a coffee house, isn’t it?”

“Yes, um, what would you like?”

“A nice, wet pussy.” Sean crosses his arms and leans even further across the counter—far enough that I take a step back. “Doesn’t seem to be on the menu, so I guess I’ll just have something else hot and creamy. What would you recommend?”

All the hairs on my neck are standing at attention. I can barely breathe, let alone look him in the eye and make polite suggestions about what kind of coffee he might want to drink.

“Do you think I have an infinite amount of time to spend with you?” Sean asks. “If I did, you would definitely be horizontal. Since you’re standing on your feet, my time must be limited.”

I have to come up with something, so I say the first thing that comes to mind.

“Um…a latte?”

“Well, wouldn’t that be positively decadent!” He slams his palm against the counter, and I jump again. “Make me a fucking black coffee without any crap in it.”

I turn around and quickly grab a large cup. He didn’t specify size, and I don’t even care at this point. My hand shakes as I write his name on the side of the cup. I’m not sure why I’m bothering, since I already know exactly who he is, but it’s part of my training, and I seem to be on automatic.

“Here you go, sir.”

“Ooh—sir. I like that.” Sean reaches out to take his cup but grabs my wrist instead. He squeezes just hard enough to make me freeze. “I kinda like this whole idea of you servicing me.”

“It’s just coffee.” My eyes are starting to burn. I glance around the shop for the guy Deklan has following me, but he is surprisingly absent.

“For the moment.” He takes the coffee with his other hand, still holding tightly to my wrist. He turns my hand palm down. “I bought this ring, you know. Gave it to Dek when he asked what to do about it. Had to get a different one for him, of course. The one made for me barely fit on his little finger.”

I

want to call Sean a liar, but I have the feeling what he’s saying is true. Deklan wouldn’t have had time to pick out a ring for me. He had even less notice than I did.

“Please let go of me,” I say softly. “I have work to do.”

“There’s no one else in line,” Sean says. “I’m the only one here who needs your assistance. Do you think you can assist me?”

“What else do you need?”

“I think I need to find out exactly what I missed,” Sean says. He tightens his fingers around my wrist painfully. “I need to feel those lips wrapped around my cock.”

I gasp, and a single tear escapes from my eye. For a moment, I smell dead fish and hear the lapping of water against wet wood. My stomach churns, and I startle at a noise behind me.

“Woo hoo!” Terry appears from the kitchen with two bottles of half and half—one in each hand—and a big smile. “Found it! That stuff was really buried back there!”

Sean releases me and takes a step back. He tilts the coffee cup slightly to read his name scrawled on the side. He sneers when he drops the full cup in the trash as he walks out.

“Who was that?” Terry asks. “Not happy with his coffee?”

“I guess not. He didn’t actually say anything about the coffee.”

“Did he ask for his money back?” Terry asks. “If he did, there’s this form—”

“He didn’t pay for it.” My stomach cramps up again. I can’t get the smell of dank, wet wood out of my head. Why is Sean doing this? He gave me up. He said he didn’t want to marry me, so why is he doing this now?

“Kera, you know you have to ring it up before…”

Terry’s words fade. I’m not sure if he’s still speaking or not. I feel a hand on my arm, and I cry out, pulling away and backing myself up against the coffee machines behind me.

“Hey, are you all right? What did that dude say to you?”