Howie and Seymour were arguing as usual over whether Supergirl could beat Wonder Woman. Winston wasn’t really listening. He zoned out as soon as they started debating whether the briefness of their costumes made a difference.
Winston yawned loudly, and therefore missed the sudden cessation of noise.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” said a sultry voice.
His wolf yapped as he realized Avery was standing in front of him. He had been too tired to even detect her lovely scent, but now it hit him and it was blissful, and a welcome change from Howie’s overpowering aftershave. It was called Stud and it was terrible.
Say something urged his beast as he merely stared at her.
“Uh - you’re back,” he whispered
Terrible complained his beast.
Avery beamed and oh, it was like basking in sunshine.
“Yeah, I was actually wondering if you could help me pick out a gift for my nephew.”
Winston blinked at her for a few moments before he managed to snap himself into action. “Yes, yes, of course.”
“Hey, beautiful.”
His wolf snarled as Howie sidled up to Avery.
“Hello, Howie,” she sighed.
“You like the flowers?” he purred.
“They were very pretty. Unfortunately, a friend of mine has a very sensitive nose,” she winked at Winston and he almost fell off his stool. “So, I gave them away to some other friends.”
Howie shrugged unconcernedly and then leered at her body. “What about the other present – did I get your size wrong?”
Winston growled. He had taken great pleasure in handing that back to Howie stating that Avery was definitely not interested. Unfortunately, Howie didn’t seem either put out or deterred.
Avery gave Howie a deceptively sweet look. “Do not send underwear to women you are not involved with – it’s an invitation to get a punch in the mouth.”
“So, no on the underwear?” he asked, ignoring her threat completely.
“No, on the everything.”
“What’s your favorite color?” asked Howie insistently.
“I’m honestly afraid to tell you.”
“What’s your nephew into?” asked Winston, interrupting and hoping to put an end to that conversation.
Avery perked up again. “He’s a little young, so he’s not really into anything yet. I want to get him started on the sci-fi path early.”
“Well, I’m sure I have something he’d like.”
He gestured round his store. It was filled with all sorts of knick knacks a kid, or a kid at heart, would adore. He had to admit, he was lucky to have a mom who would support him in this. Almost made her attempts to completely control his life and all her emotional blackmail bearable. Almost.
“We have lots of nice things here.”
“I know.” Avery’s lips curled up almost like a predator watching her prey. Kind of a turn on.
“Ah, well how about these Batman figurines.”
He put them on the counter and Avery inspected them. Seymour grumbled about them being limited edition and not for kids, but he completely ignored him.
“Yeah, I like these. Ooh, I love the Poison Ivy, but my favorite will always be Catwoman.”
“Mine too,” he admitted with a blush.
Shouldn’t be a surprise given his obsession with Avery – a real life Catwoman. Avery’s expression turned just a little smugger.
Winston yawned as she looked over the figures.
“Long night?”
“Ah, yeah,” he admitted awkwardly. “Uh, I was up all night gaming.”
“Oh, really?”
She gave him such an innocent look that for a moment, he thought she knew about his nighttime activities. But no, he was just suffering from lack of sleep.
She yawned too.
“You too?”
Avery chuckled. “Yeah.”
He realized he was staring at her bruised eye – he’d already asked her about it once, but she didn’t know that.
“Wow, uh, are you okay?”
Avery patted her eye and gave him an amused grin. “Hazard of the job – you should see the other guy.”
“You beat him up?”
“No, you should just see him – he’s enormous, an elephant shifter. Reckoned I managed a good scratch though.”
He didn’t return her smile. His wolf was grumbling in worry over the lovely lioness. “You should be more careful.”
Never mind pretending; he didn’t know what he or his caped side would do if anything ever happened to her. His wolf didn’t like her getting hurt one bit.
She smiled. “Have you managed any further pictures? I love the one I already have. It hangs in my bedroom.”
There were a number of sighs around the room as everyone imagined her bedroom – a mythical place to them.
“I’ve done a few panel sketches. I’m working on a full-blown Wolfman comic.”
“That’s amazing!”
“You’d buy it?” he asked, mildly surprised.
Though why, he didn’t know – she jumped at the chance to buy his other picture. He just couldn’t get past his thinking that females like Avery should be sneering at him and his comic books. Or getting their seven-foot boyfriends to give him wedgies like in high school.
“In a heartbeat, you’re very talented,” she said in what could only be described as a voice full of admiration.
“Oh, ah…”
He could feel his cheeks turning red. Seymour snorted and Howie huffed – clearly, they didn’t agree. Something else that they managed to agree on – huh, twice in one week.
“I guess I’ll have to keep coming back to check on it,” she purred.
An alarm went off in his head. Was she flirting?! Winston looked to his inner beast but he was no flipping help – the animal was just as goofy as him when it came to the fairer sex. Would he call Avery the ‘fairer sex’? Yes, given her beauty, but just saying fairer didn’t seem to do her justice. The hotter sex, maybe. The tougher sex, definitely.
“Yeah, I guess so,” he mumbled.
Avery looked at the figurines.
His store phone rang and Seymour answered with his usual lack of charm.
“It’s your mother,” he grumbled, waving the receiver in Winston’s direction.
“I’ll call her back.”
Seymour gave him an almost helpless look. “She wants to talk to you.”
“I’ll call her back,” he repeated, enjoying watching Avery play with The Batman and Joker figurines. They were fighting.
Seymour winced. “She’ll come down here if you don’t take the call.”
There was a collective shudder – nobody wanted that. None of them had met her in person, but a lot can be gleaned from phone calls and a few of Winston’s horror stories.
“I guess I have to take that,” he said with more reluctance than she would ever know.
Her phone chirruped and she frowned as she read a message. “I have to get going anyway, raincheck?”
His animal mewled in disappointment. “Yeah.”
She left with a wink, and everyone breathed out – they had been holding in their guts.
Winston took the receiver Seymour was waving at him. “Mom?”
“Honey, are you coming home for lunch?”
“Yes, I always do!” She interrupted his conversation with Avery for that?!
“Don’t take that tone with me, young man!”
“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I’m just busy right now.”
“Well you are lucky to have that place…” she started in her usual wheedling tone.
“Yes, Mom!” he growled. “We’re just really busy right now.”
He looked around at his handful of customers. He felt comfortable telling that lie.
“I’ll see you later,” he rushed to say and then hung up before she could argue.
Howie smiled. “Playing hard to get.”
Winston gave him an impatient look. “What?”
“Avery.”
He snorted. “I doubt that.”
Howie smirked. “Why else does she keep coming back here?”
Winston and his wolf huffed. “She came back once.”
“She’s coming back to see me!” crowed Howie.
“Sure she is,” muttered Seymour.
Winston was thankful for Seymour’s ability to scoff at anyone. He was glad he wasn’t the only one who thought Howie was nuts. He severely doubted she would bother to show up to see Howie - given her complete and utter lack of interest.
She must just really love her nephew, and Wolfman. She wanted his comic. Maybe he could keep her coming back for that for a while, he could eke it out as long as possible so he could spend time with her. Yes, he would do that. Mwah ha ha. Oh wait, he was a hero, not a villain. Well, when he was Winston, he could lean towards villain now and again he supposed.
*
Avery groaned at the knives in her wheels and the threat on her windscreen. It said ‘you’re going down bitch.’
She wasn’t worried – she already had a list of suspects. Andrea. Or maybe Adelle. Heck, perhaps Abby – being seven months pregnant didn’t impede her as much as it should.
She shook her head and started dialing for a tow truck. They’d done this often, so she had one on speed dial. They gave her a discount rate because she brought them so much business.
She sat on the hood of her car and went through her contacts, looking for Wayne. He understood about her sisters, and while he found it hilarious, he was happy to pick her up whenever she found herself stranded.
“Umm…”
Avery looked up as a small, timid bunny shifter approached.
Avery smiled encouragingly, though from a lion to a bunny, that probably wasn’t all that reassuring.
“I’m looking for the comic book store, do you know where it is?”
“Sure, just around the corner. I’ve just been there,” Avery happily told her.
“Oh, what’s it like? I’ve never been in one before.”
She bit her lip and Avery tried not to laugh.
“It’s like a bookstore only with more figurines wearing spandex. The store owner’s nice – ask him for help.”
The bunny blushed. “I know; he’s my fiancé.”
“What?” snarled Avery getting to her feet, towering nearly a foot over the tiny bunny.
“He’s my… ah…”
She lost her voice in the face of over six feet (in heels) of bristling lioness.
“Umm, thanks,” she muttered and ran away – literally ran away. She didn’t just walk fast – she ran.
Avery’s inner lion roared unhappily. Fiancé? She didn’t like the sound of that at all.
Did he really want to mate that tiny, cute, little thing? Yeesh, story of her life. Men thought they wanted a leggy lioness who enjoyed watching and playing sports more than them, not to mention her love of all things sci-fi. But when it came down to it, they mated cuter, more feminine girls who couldn’t beat their asses in a wrestling match.
Avery scowled and kicked a trash can. Grrr.