Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale Read Online Free PDF Page B

bookstore. She had returned to Carroll Street Cafe a few times, but never stayed long. It was almost as if she were looking for someone when she went there. Other than that, she rarely left the house unless she was with the friend. When I realized the two lived together, I made it a point to get an idea of the friend’s schedule as well.
    Now as I walked behind them with their bags, I got the chance to better observe them. Calida was feverishly whispering to Macy, and on occasion, they would look back at me. The dynamics between the two were interesting. Macy was clearly the more outspoken of the two.
    “Thank you again for carrying our bags,” Macy said when we arrived at her car. “We were going to eat at Roasters off Lenox Road if that’s okay with you.”
    “Whatever you ladies prefer,” I replied with a smile.
    They got to the location a little ahead of me and were waiting by the front entrance when I arrived. Macy was busy texting on her phone while Calida gave me a shy smile when she saw me approaching.
    “I hate to do this,” Macy said, putting her phone back in her purse, “but I ’m gonna have to go. Something came up.”
    “Oh, okay,” Calida replied to her, looking confused and a little disappointed. “Sorry you followed us here for nothing, Seth.”
    “Another time maybe,” I replied.
    “Oh, no. Sorry. Lee, you stay. Enjoy yourself,” Macy said.
    “What?” Calida exclaimed and quickly became embarrassed by her outburst. “Sorry. What I mean is how do you expect me to get home? Walk to the Marta station from here? That ’s like two miles.”
    Macy looked over at me briefly, and I smiled back at her in return. “I ’ll be happy to drop you off at home,” I offered.
    “Great! Then it ’s settled,” Macy stated quickly.
    Calida shot her a pleading look, which her friend simply ignored as she waved goodbye to us.
    “Looks like it’s just you and me,” I said, opening the door for her. She glanced back at the retreating figure of her friend before turning to give me a nervous smile.
    The place was a little busy. As I walked over to the hostess station, I looked back to see Calida pull out her phone and fire off a text. I assumed it would be to her friend for abandoning her in such a way.
    “We have about a ten minute wait,” I stated, taking a seat next to her.
    “Oh, okay,” she replied, glancing over at me. “You don ’t have to do this.”
    “Do what?”
    “Eat with me. If you can drop me at the Lenox Station, I can get home from there. Then you can continue on with your day.”
    I took a moment to study her. She never held my gaze for long, choosing instead to tuck imaginary strands of her hair behind her ear or to look at the blank screen of her phone tightly in her hand.
    “I rarely do things I don’t want to do, so if I didn’t want to eat with you, I wouldn’t have accepted the invitation. But if you’d rather not dine with me, then I will gladly take you wherever you want to go.”
    Her phone buzzed, bringing the screen to life. The reply from her friend popped up instantly before she could block it.
    live a little. :)
    A small grin tugged at the corner of her mouth when she read it. Taking a deep breath, she slid the phone into her pocket then looked up at me.
    “I would enjoy having lunch. Dinner? Linner? Oh my goodness, did I just say linner?” Calida asked, giggling.
    “Yes, I believe you did,” I replied, laughing as well. “Guess it makes sense, after all there is brunch.”
    “Yes there is,” she agreed, laughing again. It was a lovely sound, and her entire face lit up when she did it.
    Over the course of the meal, Calida started to relax. She tended to ramble when she got nervous, which worked for me since I was able to get a lot of information out of her. I learned she and Macy were out celebrating her new job. At twenty-five, she was the younger of two children, her sister being eleven years older. Her mood shifted a bit when I inquired about her