The Monsters in Your Neighborhood Read Free

clock. They needed to be out before the Breakup Broads arrived for their meeting.
    Pat gave a wave and pulled on a long, heavy, and rather ancient-looking robe. When he lifted the hood over his head it mostly hid his tentacles, and his wings were little more than a faint outline. Natalie supposed he was hidden enough that he could get to the sewer grate around the back of the church. Drake left next, with Linda at his side jabbering about something Natalie didn’t even want to ask about.
    Which left the odd foursome of Natalie, Alec, Kai, and Rehu.
    “So you two are back together, huh?” Alec asked, subtle as always. Still, Natalie was interested in the answer to his highly inappropriate question herself, so she wasn’t about to cut him off.
    Rehu shot a side glance toward Kai, but she pointedly ignored him.
    “Why, are you asking us to a couples dinner or something?” she snapped.
    Alec stepped up beside Natalie and she felt him rest his hand on the small of her back. Now, she knew perfectly well that he was trying to say, Seriously, do not set up a double date with these people, but Kai’s snotty expression and Rehu’s obvious belief that she was an idiot rankled Natalie. And so she rose to the challenge.
    “Yeah, we should totally do that,” she said, ignoring Alec’s nails now biting into her back. Stupid dog claws; he needed a trim again. “I don’t have work on Friday night and Alec doesn’t have class. Why don’t we meet at our place? I’ll cook.”
    Kai blinked and looked utterly confused, which was almost worth the fact that Natalie had just set up a double date with the mummy twins. Almost .
    “Fine,” Kai said through clenched teeth. Obviously she wasn’t one to back away from a challenge, either.
    “Fine,” Natalie said back.
    “Super.”
    “Yes, it is super.”
    Rehu looked no more excited by the prospect than Alec.
    “See you then. I’ll bring a dessert.” And with that, Kai turned on her heel, grabbed Rehu by the sleeve, and dragged him from the meeting room. Immediately Natalie turned to Alec.
    “Sorry,” she said.
    He glared at her. “Are we on Friends or something? Awkward double date with our enemies, hilarity ensues—yay!”
    “I think we’re more Buffy than Friends, but I said I was sorry.” She batted her eyelashes and he rolled his eyes. “Forgive me.”
    “Come on, or we’ll both be late,” he grumbled as he linked his arm with hers and maneuvered them into the hall, though she could tell he wasn’t mad anymore. Much.
    The Breakup Broads, a support group for women experiencing divorce, was already gathering outside, glaring at the “happy couples” as they exited the room together.
    “It won’t be so bad,” she tried as she squeezed his arm gently. “She said she’d bring dessert.”
    “I shudder to think what mummies would bring to a dinner party.” He laughed as they walked down into the subway station together. “Two-thousand-year-old preserved cat?”
    She arched a brow. “Sounds like that would be right up your alley, Muttface.”
    “Ouch, unkind,” he teased. “Anyway, it’s just that my classes are getting intense and I’d like to have a break from it all.”
    Natalie nodded. Alec had started back to school in the fall semester at her urging and was studying for his EMT certification at a community college in Manhattan. For the first time since she’d met him years ago, he seemed focused. Which was good, since he’d have to keep his doggie attention deficit at bay for two years to complete the courses. She actually thought he might pull it off.
    He sighed. “But with a war starting, I get that we’re going to have to keep our friends and enemies close.”
    She looked up as a train pulled into the station. “Ooops, gotta go!”
    She pressed a kiss to his cheek and took off so she wouldn’t miss it. As she dove inside, she looked at him. He was standing on the platform and he looked . . . concerned.
    But that was something to deal with