Chapter Twelve
Lily
The following morning, after having breakfast at Cafe Fluer-de-lis, Emelise, Lily, and Shelli headed off to Baton Rouge. Lily was right; the moment Shelli and Emelise met, they hit it off. Their personalities meshed so well that it was as if they’d been friends for years. “I vote we get more coffee first, then we hit the stores. My mocha latte is gone.” Shelli looked over at Emelise. “Emelise, you’re lucky, you can shop just about every store in this place; me and Lily, we have to be more selective.”
“Good thing we both adore Torrid.” Lily gave her a cheeky grin.
“Oh my God, yes. They have the best clothes for us curvier women.”
Emelise stuck her tongue out. “I can’t help it I got my mama’s genetics. Blame her.” She was petite but she still had a flare to her hips and nice cleavage.
“I’m just teasing you, honest. You’ve got your own curves going on, and don’t look now, but you’re being checked out.”
Lily and Emelise both looked to where Shelli nodded. “One of us is, at least. Or maybe all of us,” Emelise said after she spotted the trio of men looking at them.
Something about them set warning bells off in Lily’s mind but she ignored it for the time being. The way they were watching the three of them just felt a little…off. Whatever, she was probably just on edge. “Let’s get that coffee,” she said as they headed to the food court. Their first stop was at Starbucks because Lily suddenly needed another shot of caffeine to deal with the day.
Before long Lily had forgotten all about the trio who’d been watching them as their day of shopping progressed. She was looking at some little black dresses in Torrid when Emelise squealed.
“Oh my gods, Lily, you have to get this dress. It would be absolutely gorgeous on you, and you’ll never guess what it’s called.”
Lily glanced over to see her holding up a green dress with a sheer lace hem that ran from just above the knees to the bottom of the dress. “What’s it called?”
“It’s the Poison Ivy dress.”
Lily blinked then laughed. “Well, hell, now I do have to buy it.” Poison Ivy was by far her favorite DC Comics villain, closely followed by Harley Quinn.
“Add a sexy lace bra and panties set, and you would knock a man’s socks off both in and out of that dress.” Shelli wagged her brows at Lily.
Lily laughed. “Okay, okay, I’ll get it. We’ll have to hit up Victoria’s Secret and maybe do some shoe shopping too.” She was happy with the purchase, and she found herself wondering what Declan would think of it. She really shouldn’t be thinking about him, but she couldn’t stop her mind from going there.
After spending a few hours roaming through several more shops, they headed back to the food court for lunch. As they were carrying their food to a table, they passed the trio who’d been watching them earlier.
“Jaguar.” Emelise and Lily both whispered it at the same time. Lily remembered what Remy had said about having trouble with some jaguar shifters, and she wondered if the three that they’d just passed were part of the trouble. Since they were in Baton Rouge and not New Orleans, she didn’t stress over it too much. She knew that Baton Rouge was the border between their territories so it could easily be nothing more than nerves on her part.
Emelise gave Lily an arched look as if to ask ‘Should we be worried?’ “This has been so much fun, I’m glad you talked me into it, Lily. I needed a break from working on the cleanup.” Eme flashed her friend a quick smile.
“Has anyone from the group offered to help with the cleanup yet?” Lily was being cautious because not everyone was comfortable knowing there were shifters in their midst.
“Well, I didn’t get around to mentioning it the other night so…”
Lily gave Emelise a dark look. “You mean you deliberately avoided mentioning it. Damn it, Eme, you can’t do it all on your own. That place is huge, and a wreck, and if you want to get it ready in the near future, you’re going to need help. I’m sending Remy a text, right now. He’ll get some volunteers to meet with you. Don’t argue with me either.” She knew that was exactly what Emelise was going to do when she opened her mouth.
“I wasn’t going to. Much. But fine, text him. I do want to get it up and running as soon as I can.”
“What are you planning on calling it?” Shelli asked her. They’d talked about the club on the drive.
“Scarlet Flux. I’m going for a décor that has red tones. It’s the color of passion and both jazz and blues can be very passionate.”
“Oh, I like that. I’ll bet it will be amazing when it’s all said and done.”
“That’s the plan,” Eme said with a nod.
While they talked about the club, Lily focused on her phone.
Hey, Remy, need a favor. Eme is being stubborn but she needs help and I know the Pard will give it. She bought an old bar and wants to clean it up, fix it up, and turn it into a jazz and blues club, but it needs a shit ton of work, more than she can do on her own. Can you gather up some volunteers to help with it? I can text you the address so they can meet with her tomorrow.
All you needed to do was ask, cher. I’ll get some of the boys to lend her a hand.
Thanks. While I’m already talking to you, me, Emelise, and Shelli are up in Baton Rouge at the Mall of Louisiana, and we keep running into the same three guys. We got close enough for me and Eme to catch their scent. They’re jaguars. Dunno if we need to be worried or not but I wanted you to know.
Keep an eye out, cher. If they figure out she’s leopard, they might harass you. A few of our females have had some run-ins with the jaguars, and they’ve been pretty belligerent with them. Watch your backs.
Lily bit back a growl at his text before she responded. Will do. I’ll let you know when we’re headed back to NOLA, just in case there are any problems.
I appreciate it, cher.
“What’s wrong?” Emelise heard the noise Lily made, even if no one else had.
“Remy said to watch our backs. Some of the women from the group have had trouble with their Clan,” she said and pointed in the direction of the trio, “and he’s worried if they figure out you’re a leopard they’ll harass us. I told him we’ll keep an eye out and we’ll let him know when we’re headed home.”
“Lovely, just what I fucking need. You know what, fuck them. I’m not letting the day get ruined. Let’s get out of here and head over to the Farmer’s Market before we go home.”
“That’s the spirit.” Lily laughed softly. They dumped their trash, grabbed their purchases, and headed out to Lily’s car. As she was opening the trunk, Lily noticed they’d been followed and decided she wasn’t going to cower. “Hey, dickheads, a little obvious, dontcha think? I mean, seriously, if you’re going to be all creepy stalkers, you shouldn’t make it obvious that you’re following us.”
All three jaguars froze at her words. “What makes you think we’re following you?” one of them asked.
Lily rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You watched us when we first walked into the mall, you were outside damn near every store we went into, you were in the food court while we were eating, and now—surprise, surprise—you’re out here in the parking lot at the same time we are. If you’re trying to work yourselves up to ask us out, let me just tell you now, you blew it four stores ago. Even if we’d been interested, if a man doesn’t have the balls to step up and ask a woman out, he’s not worth the time. Buh-bye, now,” she said, slammed the trunk closed, and slid in behind the wheel. All three women laughed as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed to the Farmer’s Market.
“Oh my gods, Lily, that was fucking priceless!” Emelise said once they were on their way. “The looks on their faces when you pretty much said they had no balls—I wish I’d had my phone out to take a picture of it.”
Shelli snickered. “You have got one hell of a harsh tongue when the mood strikes you. I was trying to figure out how to tell them to go the hell away, and you did it perfectly.”
Lily laughed. “Yeah, well, I was tired of them following us. Besides, after what Remy said about the jaguars harassing some of the female leopards, I wasn’t going to give them the chance to pull that on us. I know they were headed to my car; I saw the way they’d picked up their pace when I went to close the trunk while you two got in the car.”
“What if they figure out where you work and show up there?” There was worry in Emelise’s voice.
Lily shrugged. “I’ll just send Remy a text and he’ll come deal with them.”
Emelise looked at her. “Okay, but I hope that’s the last we see of them.” She shook her head. “No more gloomy thoughts; let’s just enjoy the rest of the day.”
Hours later, after they’d exhausted themselves with shopping, they’d returned home without any further run-ins with the trio of jaguars, and Lily put the incident out of her mind. She put her purchases away, made herself a light dinner, then spent the rest of the night doing something she loved but hadn’t given herself the chance to do in ages. Paint. She needed the cathartic release that she got from pouring her emotions out on canvas. By the time she finally collapsed into bed, she felt better, calmer than she had since the night she and Declan’d had sex.