Page 20 of Deck the Skulls
Zan pointed to a door next to their bedroom. “Go on, see if they fit!”
“Sure,” she tried to sound enthusiastic, but she’d never heard of a guy buying clothing the right size for themselves, let alone someone else!
The door Zan pointed her to opened into a second bedroom. Smaller than the first, but still larger than her entire studio apartment. There was even an en suite bathroom! Before she could close the door behind her, Zan was there, holding a cup of water and a packet.
“Here, take these. You probably aren’t feeling great from last night, and this is a home remedy that will fix you right up.”
“Home remedy?” she asked, tucking the outfit under her arm so she could take the glass and small envelope.
“My mom swears by it!” he said, then stared at her, waiting.
If they’d wanted to drug her or hurt her, they could’ve done it by now, so she emptied the powder into her mouth and chased the bitter substance with the glass of water.
No sooner had it all hit her stomach than she did start feeling better. Her headache vanished, and her stomach settled.
“She should patent and sell this!” she said, handing him back the glass. “Her remedy is amazing!”
“It’s a family secret,” Zan said with a chuckle as he reached for the door. “Get dressed. We’ve got places to go and things to buy!”
Chapter 7
Rissa
To her absolute shock, everything fit perfectly, even down to the shoes. It was the kind of outfit she’d see but never buy because it wasn’t practical. She rarely had extra money to buy clothing and when she did, it needed to be things she could wear to work.
It was nice to wear such pretty clothes. She even wished she had her small bag of makeup to finish the look instead of only the mascara and lip gloss she carried in her purse.
She didn’t even ask Zan about paying Anatoly back. She’d figure that out later. Right now, she wanted to be the princess. When she came out of the bathroom, Zan offered her his arm and told her she looked gorgeous.
This was not how she expected the day after drinking too much to go!
“I thought we could grab breakfast at The Pack House,” Zan said as he led her through the bar. The place looked a little messy, giving Rissa a pang of guilt. Zan probably got overwhelmed with customers and could’ve used her help.
She swore to herself she’d make sure to give the place a thorough cleaning before they opened today. Of course she couldn’t do that in this outfit.
“I need a change of clothes,” she said, walking with him out the front door. She was forced to squint in the bright morning sun making her wish she hadn’t broken her last pair of sunglasses a few days ago.
Zan stopped walking to give her a puzzled look. “What does that have to do with breakfast? And you said you liked this outfit!”
“Sorry, my brain was working three steps ahead,” she said with a grin. “I meant that I needed more work clothes for later. I do like this outfit a lot! But it’s not practical for waitressing or bartending. It’s too loose and easy to catch on stuff, and I don’t want to seem like I’m inviting guys to touch me under the skirt.”
Zan growled. Honest to god growled!
“If anyone touches you, I’ll rip their arm off.”
It was startling to see easygoing Zan replaced by intensely protective Zan. It was also kind of hot.
She patted his arm soothingly. “Thanks, but I can handle myself.”
“You’ll tell me,” he insisted. “If anyone even breathes wrong around you, I want to know.”
“I’ll tell you,” she agreed.
“Good,” he grunted, then rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath, as if he was trying to relieve some tension. “We can stop by your place and pick up anything you want. Anatoly and I want to offer you the second-floor apartment. No one’s using it right now, and your place is a dump. We can work out a deal with the rent because you're working for me too. I promise it’ll be reasonable.”
She blinked at him. “How do you know my place is a dump?”
“I, um, you said it was?” His answer sounded more like a question.