�Abby? What�s wrong?� Denizen asked. She hadn�t told him about Jesse. They�d talked about everything else, but she�d avoided bringing him up.
�I don�t have anywhere to go,� she sobbed. She knew that she wouldn�t be telling him this if it hadn�t been for the three strawberry daiquiris she�d consumed. He got up and switched to her side of the booth. He gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs.
�Hey, don�t worry about it. You can stay with me if you want to,� he suggested. She stiffened and he could smell her fear.
�I didn�t mean anything by that, I swear. There are plenty of rooms in my house and locks on all of them.� She relaxed slightly, but was still apprehensive. �If you don�t want to do that, then I�ll pay for a hotel room for you until you find a place to stay.�
She didn�t know why, but she was inclined to accept his offer of staying at his house. �Are you sure?� she asked softly.
�I wouldn�t have offered if I wasn�t,� he replied with a smile.
�Okay,� she breathed. He smiled and pushed her hair behind her ears.
�Stay here for a minute. I�ll be right back.� She nodded and watched him walk away. Oh wow, she thought, look at that ass!
�Stop that!� she admonished herself softly.
�Ready?� he asked he when he came back. He held a hand out to her, and she took it as she stood and slung her purse over her shoulder.
�You never answered my question,� he said as they walked to the door. Abigail looked at him in confusion. �Is pink the new black?�
She smiled and nodded. �Absolutely! Can�t you tell?� She turned toward him to show him her pink corset top.
Denizen tried his best not to stare at her chest, but it was hard since her breasts almost overflowed the top.
�I see,� he said softly. He looked in her eyes and smiled. Abigail blushed and looked away from him. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Denizen. �Do you have your car out here?�
Abigail nodded. �I guess I should explain a little bit. I�ve been living with my boyfriend of two years, but he broke up with me earlier and kicked me out of the house. So I packed a few essentials and came here, which turned out to be a pretty good decision.� She smiled softly at him.
�I understand,� Denizen said. �Go ahead and get your car and you can follow me.� They stepped out into the nearly empty parking lot. There were only three cars left. �Mine is the truck over there.� He pointed to a blue Chevrolet Avalanche in the corner of the parking lot and she nodded.
�Mine is the white Taurus,� she said. She heard the door open again and turned around.
�Go home, Remy,� Denizen said to the man who came out.
�Yeah, yeah. You, too, loup,� Remy replied as he walked toward the third car in the lot. Denizen glanced at Abigail.
�A friend,� he explained.
�Aha, I figured that much, Sherlock,� Abigail joked before she got into her car.
About ten minutes later, Denizen pulled into the circular driveway of a large Victorian house. He parked in front of the house, leaving room for Abigail behind him.
�Wow,� she said when she got out of her car. �You weren�t kidding when you said you had plenty of rooms.� All of a sudden, she heard barking and growling. She gasped and hid behind Denizen. �What�s that?� she asked.
�Aw, those are just my guard wolves,� he said as two full grown wolves came bounding from the backyard. �The white one is Acheron and his sister is Aornis.�
�Hmm, someone knows their rivers of Hades,� Abigail said.
�Technically, the Aornis and the Acheron are only tributaries of the River Styx, but it doesn�t really matter,� he said. He smiled and stepped up to the wolves. �Come on, they won�t bite.�
�It�s not them biting that I�m worried about,� Abigail said softly. She knelt in front of Aornis, who was almost identical to her brother, except for the large black spot around her right eye. �Hello, Aornis. My name�s Abigail. Will you let me pet you?� Abigail asked the wolf as she held her hand in front of her nose. Aornis sniffed at her a few times before licking her hand, signaling it was okay for Abigail to pet her. Abigail smiled and scratched behind Aornis� ears before doing the same thing with Acheron.
�My mother is a veterinarian,� Abby explained, �I�ve been around animals my whole life.� Denizen winced inwardly, whenever he thought of vets, the thought of neutering wasn�t far behind.
�That�s interesting. What do you do for a living?� Denizen asked as Abigail stood.
�I work in a flower shop on Broadway,� she said. He smiled.
A florist, he thought to himself. That�s a safe job. �Nice. My sister always loved flowers. She worked in a flower shop where we lived before we moved here,� he said. Abigail smiled.
A cold wind blew past, causing her to shiver. �Come on,� Denizen said, �let�s go inside.� He led her up to his front door and let her in.
�Wow,� she said. The front hall had polished wood floors, a table made of black onyx stood next to the door way. Denizen put his keys in a green jade bowl on the table.
�Are you hungry?� he asked. She nodded.
�Just for something to snack on, I don�t want you to have to go through any trouble for me,� she said.
�It�s no trouble. I can make some pasta if you don�t mind waiting about a half hour,� he said as he led her through the hall. The kitchen was situated in the middle of the house with three hallways branching off of it. The appliances were all silver, the countertops and cabinets were black. The walls were a vivid blue. An island held primary position in the middle of the kitchen. Pots and pans hung above it.
�No, just something to snack on,� she said.
�Suit yourself,� he said. He opened a cupboard and brought out a bag of pretzels.
�Perfect,� Abigail said with a smile. She looked around the kitchen until she spotted a wine rack. �Do you mind?� she asked him. He shook his head. �I wonder what kind of wine goes with pretzels,� she asked absently.
�I don�t think that question comes up very often,� Denizen said with a smile. �Try a bottle of Chardonnay.�
�That�s sweet, isn�t it?� she asked as she grabbed the right bottle.
�Yeah, well, pretzels are salty and I�ve so often heard it said that opposites attract,� he gave a short laugh and grabbed two wineglasses from a cupboard. �Follow me, madam, I shall lead you to the finest table in ze house,� he said in a mock French accent. Abigail laughed and followed him through a hallway off the opposite end of the kitchen they had come in.
He led her into his living room. It was spacious with a black leather couch and loveseat around a large, square cedar coffee table.
�Very masculine,� Abigail commented as she stepped in. When she turned to set the bottle of wine on the table, she saw the one thing that presumably no man can live without. �Ah, the all-powerful big-screen TV,� she said.
�Hey, don�t mock the power of the big-screen TV,� Denizen said mock-seriously. �You might hurt it�s feelings.� He smiled then and Abigail laughed at the idea of hurting a television�s feelings.
Denizen opened the bottle of wine and filled both glasses half-full.