I greeted her and she smiled back. “Which flowers would you like?”
“I don’t know, maybe these. I do like the red and purple.”
She gave me a sage nod, as if saying, yes, those were exactly the flowers I needed to have in my home for that bright, fun, lived-in feeling.
She added some baby’s breath and some other little green sprigs I couldn’t identify. As I watched her roll them up, I inhaled deeply the mixture of scents, flowers and vegetables and something delicious. Onion, ginger, and garlic cooking somewhere. Someone must be selling some kind of meat in a stall because, God, my stomach grumbled, and I wanted to follow the smell.
“What’s your name?”
“Clara.”
“Well Clara, I’ve never seen anyone make such a pretty bunch of flowers as you have.”
“Well, you should see my mother. She makes the best bouquets. She’s just so good at it.”
I smiled at the woman who was unloading a tray of flowers from the back of a van, and she gave me a smile and a head nod. I waved at her. “I don’t know, Clara, it might take a lot of convincing to prove to me that she’s better than you are.”
Clara grinned at me then. I paid her and then headed to see if I could find the source of the delicious smell. I’d made the age-old mistake of going grocery shopping when I was hungry.
Not wise, I know. Rookie mistake. But I had been wise in my shopping list. Besides, I wanted to spend more time in Oldtown. Most tourists stuck to the glitzier side of Alden, but the locals came here. There were a few tourist attractions on this side of the island, but this was where locals bought their food, not the fancy grocery store I’d just been tromping around in. This was where negotiations happened, barters, quick trade. I couldn’t help but smile. When I finally found the stall the delicious smells were wafting from, I groaned when I saw the line already six people deep. I could go back to my car, or I could wait it out.
My stomach grumbled, telling me its choice. I knew that was the better move anyway, because it wasn’t like I had time to cook. Getting the office ready to open, we’d had potential clients come in, so there had been meetings. And obviously, Breck had been up my ass as well.
My libido stretched inside as if the idea of Breck anywhere near my ass was a possibility.
Stand down. He’s not here.
She went back to sleep, and I shifted on my feet. There was a crackling in the air that I couldn’t quite place or explain. I was restless. The line shifted and I sighed with relief. Okay, so it was some kind of salami sandwich? I didn’t care, because right now, it sounded like bloody heaven.
“Come with me quickly, and no one gets hurt.”
There was something pressing into my back. Gun?
I held myself perfectly still, trying to assess the situation. How had I not noticed someone had come up behind me? How had I missed the weapon? If I fought my way out of this right now, would anyone else get hurt?
“I’m sure you don’t want to do this. I’m quite a handful. I promise. Just be on your way, and I won’t have to hurt you.”
He leaned close, and I could smell his sour breath. Like day-old ale. “Shut up, you bitch, and move.”
Clara ran up with a bunch of flowers for a woman in line three places ahead of me, and I knew he had me. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt just because I knew I could fight my way out of this situation.
With a sigh, I nodded. “Okay, you can relax. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
He led me back the way I’d come, but the crowds had gotten thicker now. When we made a left by one of the clothing stalls into a darker alley, a woman with her bundles bumped us, and I seized my opportunity. I shoved my hips back into his, moving him back a step and creating space between our bodies. After that I shoved my hand back into his groin, making sure to make hard contact with the heel of my hand. And then I ran. Through the crowds, I zoomed in and out, careful to avoid bumping into anyone. I took a left and then a sharp right and ran down the long hallways of tucked-in stores. Stores that had been built into the walls. I ran toward the palace, toward the office, away from my car. Never mind that I had ice cream melting in my trunk. I didn’t care. I knew safety was this way and less likelihood of anyone else getting hurt.
I made a sharp left, but I’d made a gross miscalculation. Dead fucking end.
I whirled around, intending to run in the opposite direction, but there were two men already in the alleyway. Both enormous. Bigger than Kannon. Six feet four inches. Sculpted. One had a jagged scar down his face, and they both had beady little eyes. “What are the chances you’re going to let me walk away from this?”
The uglier of the two, arguably, snarled at me. “Shut up, bitch.”
“Oh, aren’t you loquacious? Fantastic.” The other one smiled at me. A genuine smile. “Look, you don’t want to hurt me, right?”
He shrugged. “On the contrary, I do want to hurt you. I’d like to hurt you very much.”
“Oh, you have weird hobbies, you know that?”
He chuckled and shrugged, flexing his hands before curling them into fists.
“Ugh, really? It’s so déclassé to hit a woman. Or don’t you know that?”
The other one stepped forward. “Not when she’s a bitch like you.”
“Okay, so we’re doing this?”
I didn’t have much room. The alley was tight. But I had one advantage. Speed. I was faster. I just couldn’t get hit.
Big and less ugly ran for me, aiming to knock me on my back. But I spun and plastered myself against the wall. And as he sailed by, I released an elbow as I spun around to face the uglier of the two and hit him straight in the kidney. He cursed as he stumbled forward.
I didn’t have much time. I used the small element of surprise and leverage to run for ugly.
He expected me to go low, but no, I lunged my whole body at him, attaching myself to him, spider-monkey style. Gripping my hands on either side of his face, I used my thumbs to press into his eye sockets and pushed. He yowled as he clawed at me.
While he was fighting, I used my head. And even though I knew better, I headbutted him. Headbutts were the worst. You ran the risk of concussing yourself in the process, but it was a weapon I had in a land of no weapons.
He clawed at me as he tried to wrap his hands around me. I swung my legs, managing to land a decent strike to the side of his knee, which made him drop and gave me better leverage. I pulled him down. With my hands already on his cheeks, I adjusted my grip to his ears, and pulled his head down, leveraging my weight backwards slightly so I could deliver a knee directly to his face. I shoved his body aside and took off running, desperate to clear his feet, but he scissored his legs, tripping me. I knew the fall was imminent, and I knew those cobblestones were going to hurt. There was no room for a tuck and roll, so I landed the only way I could. Forearms pressed out like I was going to do a half plank, and I whipped my head to the side to avoid smashing my face into the stone.
But there was no rest for the wicked. I managed to land on my forearms for safety instead of putting my arms straight out. They still stung and burned from the impact though. My breath whooshed out of my lungs, and I was too stunned to drag in another.
With a groan, I turned on my back, cognizant of keeping my hands up to protect my face in case a blow came toward me. As another deterrent, I put up a foot, but the first guy I’d taken down was big and nasty, and he grabbed hold of my foot. He dragged me and I screamed. Aiming for his chin with my other foot, I only made it to his knee, but I got a good enough angle to hurt him a little, and he temporarily dropped me.