Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Aurora leaned heavily against the bar top, a shot of whiskey in a double glass sitting in front of her with soda in a glass behind it. She’d asked for a whiskey sour, and this drink was the barman’s response.
“How’d you even know I was out?” the girl asked, clearly bewildered.
“Do ye think I’m an eejit, do ya?”
Aurora gave her a blank stare.
“A drop-dead gorgeous young woman walks into a bar…” Niamh started.
“I think I’ve heard this one,” the barman said as he moseyed his way closer and reached for the empty glass. “Oh wait, no. I haven’t. Because hot chicks do not walk into bars like this unless they are selling something. Usually themselves.”
Niamh stared at him with a dispassionate expression. “Well, God almighty, he can speak. What a real fecking treat.”
He shrugged. “You’re the one telling the joke.”
“I’m not tellin’ a joke, I’m lookin’ at one. And yes ye have heard of it, or didn’t ye just mention the hot chicks sellin’ themselves? Get on wit’ ya and get me that drink. Ye’re as slow… If I had a horse as slow as ye, I’d sell it to the glue factory.”
“You should drink faster. It might improve your personality.”
“The logic train doesn’t stop at yer station, does it?” She tsked at him as he walked away, staring holes in his back. She raised her voice. “If ye’d move faster, I would drink faster!”
Aurora watched the scene with her father’s straight face, giving absolutely nothing away.
“Do ye play poker?” Niamh asked her. “If not, ye should. Find some Dicks, start a game, and clean up. Anyway—”
“Why doesn’t the bartender kick you out?”
There it was, hidden in her tone. She was incredulous and bewildered. Figured. She was a novice at the pubs, only having been in the ones around her pack. The people there probably treated her as the alpha’s daughter. Royalty, or near enough.
Not here. Here, she fit in with all the pretty, rich Los Angelenos, a face for the big screen and a body from (they would assume) the gym. She wore nice clothing, hair and makeup like she should be hitting a posh club…but she was on her own in seedy bars without the least bit of nervousness. None of it added up, and guys in bars talked. A lot. They were the biggest gossips in the history of the world. Not even Patty could compete with the likes of them.
“He doesn’t kick me out because he likes being razzed. Ye gotta know yer crowd and how to talk to them.”
“And why do I need to know that?”
“Because if ye are gonna go out, ye should at least help the team. And I knew it was ye because of yer description, including the failure to smile or show any sort of emotion. That description and the distance from the bar hotel were dead giveaways, like. Far enough away to take too long for a human, but just close enough that a big tiger, who made a couple homeless men question their sanity and/or proximity to the zoo, could make it there handy enough. If Naomi goes out lookin’ for ya, she probably won’t find ya. I assume that’s why ye chose a dive bar. Or should I say dive barzzz, since this is the third one ye’ve hit up tonight.”
Aurora sighed. “Yes, which is why I was obviously surprised when you did find me.”
“Different league, kid. Take a lesson. Literally. I’m handing ’em out free; write them down.”
Aurora stared at Niamh for a long moment. “You have cased all the bars in the area, got gossip on me, and made friends with homeless guys?”
“Aye.”
“All in three days?”
“Three days and one evening. It’s real easy in this town. Dicks and Janes aren’t suspicious creatures when it comes to old women, mages aren’t suspicious of Dicks and Janes, which is what I look like, and I stay out of the shifter territory where they could smell me. Ah, here comes Broken Sue. He probably followed the breadcrumbs as well. He’s not real pretty, but he’s got a little something between his ears.”
“You don’t think he’s handsome?” Aurora looked at Niamh. “Are you blind?”
“You might use a little expression, girl, or people are goin’ta think ye’re stuffed full o’ Botox. No, he’s too troubled to be pretty. Too much baggage makes Dick a very dull boy.”
“I feel like you’re just talking nonsense.”
It was a fair assessment.
Broken Sue stalked down the bar like he’d just won a bar fight and intended to start another. The handful of patrons gave him a wary look, the rougher among them staring hard. That was, until he stared back. Then they dropped their gazes down to their hands and slumped over their beers. It seemed no one in this bar was drunk or stupid, and certainly not both.