Page 4 of Eye on the Ball
Ace took a step toward her, his big hands bunching into fists. “We’re done when I say we’re done.”
Behind him, even the cousins looked surprised at his sudden escalation of hostility. They glanced at each other and then stepped forward and each grabbed one of his arms.
“Hey, Ace,” Probie said cajolingly. “Let’s get going. We’ve got that new delivery coming this afternoon we need to get ready for.”
Ace shook him off, still glaring at Brenda. “Shut up, Probie. Did you hear what I said,Brenda?”
This seemed out of character for his usual trash talk. I took a quick step behind my counter and grabbed the softball bat I kept there for any unruly customer problems. Before I could say anything, though, the connecting door between my shop and my boyfriend Jack’s private eye firm opened.
Jack stepped through it, his emerald eyes flashing. “If she didn’t, I did.”
Ace flinched and took a small step back, but then grimaced as if realizing he’d given up ground. The cousins both gasped and sidled toward me, ignoring the wooden bat in my hands.
I didn’t blame them. Jack, as a human, was imposing enough: six feet, four inches of lean muscle. But, as everybody in Riverton surely knew, Jack Shepherd in his other form was a quarter ton of deadliness.
Because Jack’s other form was a Bengal tiger.
“Hey, Jack,” Sapphire said, smiling at him. “Ready for that interview on life as the North American commander of the rebel army that defeated the rogue vampire plague? I have the headline ready to go:Tiger Fangs Triumph Over Vampire Fangs.”
Jack laughed. “Nope. Killer headline, but still no.”
Ace, who’d looked like he was screwing up his courage to go after Jack, blew out a breath and reconsidered. It’s one thing to know about Jack’s past in a vague sense. It’s another to be reminded of just how lethal my tiger shapeshifter really was.
“Yeah,” Ace growled. “We need to get going. We’ll see you tonight at the ceremony.”
He shoved past Brenda and then took a subtle but carefully wide circle around Jack on his way to the door. His cousins didn’t even try to be subtle. They leaned as far away from Jack as they could get as they scurried after Ace.
“See you Saturday, Tess,” Mutt said just before he went out the door, turning to flash a shaky smile at me.
I waved, ignoring Jack’s speculative look, and then put the bat back beneath the counter.
Brenda blew out a huge breath. “Well. That … happened.”
“Brenda, what in the world was that about?” I tilted my head. “Has Ace been harassing you more than usual?”
They’d been rival captains for the past three years, ever since Riverton’s previous captain married a vampire and moved to Oregon to get away from our Florida sunshine.
She turned pale and pressed her lips together. “No. Not really. It’s just?—”
“It’s just?”
She glanced at Jack and Sapphire. “Nothing. See you tonight at the ceremony, Tess.”
Brenda practically sprinted out the door, and Sapphire turned to me with a shrug.
“That was weird.”
“Yeah.” I shook my head. “But you won’t put anything about the altercation in the paper, right?”
She laughed. “No, Tess. Just the results of the coin toss. See you at the ceremony tonight.”
She said goodbye to Jack and headed out.
“That was weird,” I repeated.
Jack nodded. “Very weird. What ceremony were they?—”
Just then, we heard brakes squeal, a car door slam, and then footsteps pound up the steps to my shop porch. A woman I’d never seen before threw open the shop door and ran inside. She yanked the door closed behind her and then locked it.