Dark Shadow (Book 1 in DARKNESS DUOLOGY)

Eleven: Shadow Man

Wade raised a brow when I got in the car and slammed the door a little harder than I should have. His gaze heavy as he eyed me grunt and wrestle into my seat belt. I huffed, finally buckled in and slumped in my seat.

“Bad day?” Wade asked, putting the car into gear.

I shot my brother a glare through the corner of my eyes and he had the nerve to smirk.

“Keep it up, Wade…” I warned. “We’ll see what happens when you wake up tomorrow with no eyebrows.”

My brother laughed. He never took my threats seriously which would be advantageous to me if I actually decided to shave my brothers eyebrows in his sleep. Not that I would be able to because Wade is a light sleeper. He’d have to be tired out to not wake through my shenanigans.

Wade asked what happened and lowered the radio so I wouldn’t compete with its volume. I grumbled that I was too annoyed to talk about it and looked out my side window. My brother pushed though, reminding me that I shouldn’t keep things bottled up.

Frowning, I knew he was right and rolled my eyes. I sat up and grumbled, “Molly showed up today.”

My brother’s forearms tensed, the veins in them showing and I glanced at his hands turning white at the knuckles because he was squeezing the steering wheel so tight. I waited, hearing my brother’s low growl. When Wade settled, he glanced at me through a frown and gave a small nod to let me know he was okay now.

I relaxed in my seat, explaining that the day started off good; clocking in and having conversation with Cindra about Cece’s unexpected surprise and then helping customers that came in.

It was about a half hour after my lunch that the door opened, the bell indicating someone walked in and I looked over my shoulder from where I was shelving some new items.

Molly had strolled in with her new ‘It’ crowd and looked around the store until spotting me. She looked annoyed for a split second and then told her girls something. They all scattered throughout the store and I eyed them carefully before deciding to go back to the shelves.

I wasn’t expecting Molly to approach me but lo and behold she did.

Miss High and Mighty stood next to me, her arms crossed and giving the side of my face a hard look. I stopped placing a folded shirt on the shelf, turning with a monotone, “Can I help you?” It wasn’t exactly the “customer service” I normally gave but I couldn’t help it.

Molly narrowed her eyes at me and gave me a once over. I realized now that she would do that all the time we were growing up but I was never bothered about it until now.

I scrunched my nose, looking down at my simple dark pants, red slip on shoes and a black collared blouse. It was nothing spectacular but it was required for me to wear dark pants and a top with sleeves and a collar. Of course it wouldn’t be the most stylish to someone who dressed to impress everyday.

I frowned at Molly, raising a brow and asked again if there was something I could help her with.

“You should work on your customer service skills, Gigi. You wouldn’t want a complaint filed for you being rude to paying customers, now would you?”

There was a bubble of annoyance forming in my chest but I bit back a smartass reply. I didn’t want to get in trouble with Cindra.

“Molly, I have a lot of work to do. If you need something, I’m happy to help you find it. Otherwise, I’d appreciate if you would let me go back to work.”

We stared at one another for a good while. I could read instantly how moody Molly was today and I wasn’t sure why. Perhaps she was on her period. She would get kind of mean when Mother Nature brought her monthly gift.