[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. Where is Ravi anyway? Considering how hot his face was,Arthur thought his question was remarkably cool, but Drew s lipswent up in another smirk. Out sick, so I thought I d help him out, take care of that nice,generous dragon he always talks about. Nice, generous dragon.It didn t sound like a complimentwhen Drew said it; it sounded like a weakness, and it summed upDrew s intentions.Either he was here to befriend Bertie for hismoney or just to take it.Arthur thought it might be better, safer for Bertie, if he wouldtry to act as scary and mean as dragons were supposed to be.ButArthur knew it was much more likely that Bertie would havewelcomed Drew into his home and tipped him too much and chattedwith him and found him as ridiculously good-looking as he was. Ravi sounds great. Arthur s voice was clipped, and if Drewnow thought that Arthur was after Bertie too, his tone wasn thelping.This guy wasn t coming anywhere near Bertie if Arthur hadanything to say about it. I look forward to meeting him, he wenton and left Drew the change but kept the rest of the tip in theenvelope and closed the door.He didn t realize that he was as tenseas he was until he turned around and saw Bertie watching him fromthe foot of the stairs. A Boy and His Dragon65He had pants on.Arthur wasn t sure if he was relieved or notto see the sweatpants with what looked like a brand new tear on oneknee. It wasn t Ravi, he explained shortly, struggling to calmdown.He couldn t believe he d done that.He knew personally howimportant tips were.He really shouldn t have refused to tip Drew.He definitely shouldn t have been rude to Bertie s delivery driver.He was supposed to be apologizing today.Not that he could everhave imagined Drew. Of course not.Ravi wouldn t ever try to come inside myhome without my permission. Bertie took a few slow steps with hisgaze still focused on Arthur.His voice was lower than usual.Arthur took a deep breath because he d just slammed a door insomeone s face for acting too interested in this house and smirkingat him, and as stupid as that was, he was still flushed and wound up. Ravi s out sick. He was almost as agitated as he d been after punching hissister s boyfriend, his one and only adult act of violence.His handhad been sore for days afterward. Do you want me to put your groceries away? Arthur skippedaround the subject of Drew and moved toward the kitchen withoutwaiting. Arthur. Bertie just came into the kitchen after him, using theother doors but stopping once inside.He turned on the lights whileArthur put the envelope back.Arthur opened the refrigerator, sincehe at least knew where the milk had to go, but Bertie kept talking. Arthur, there are many who don t like dragons, or any Beings.There are others who think of us as creatures to be used.They arelike any other ignorant people or group of bullies in the world. Arthur put away the milk, then took a moment to line up acarton of brown eggs with a package of butter.He didn t answer. You don t need to do that, Arthur, Bertie spoke up behindhim.Arthur chose believe Bertie was referring to the groceries andnot the person who delivered them and how Arthur had kicked him R.Cooper66out, so he shrugged.He grabbed a paper-wrapped loaf of bread thatsmelled like sourdough.He moved aside some butter, found the fridge s meatcompartment, and added in pound after pound of fresh meat.Henoted the meat as something to think about later; he wasn t in themood to consider the typical dragon diet right now. Are you going to reorganize my cabinets too? Bertie tookthe bread and slid away to pop it in a breadbox.Arthur looked upfrom a basket of fat mushrooms.Bertie raised his hands. Not thatI m sure they don t need it. I m not. Arthur bit his lip and lowered his voice. I m notanal retentive or anything.I just&. Prefer that things be there when you need them. Bertie madea gentle tut sound. It s fine, pet. The warmth in his voice was enough to get Arthur hotter.Hepicked up a tiny glass jar marked Saffron but had to pause to lookaround.He had no idea where it went.He hadn t even known what itwas until he read the label. Here. Bertie deftly slipped it from between his fingers andcame around him to demonstrate where he kept his spices.Heopened a cabinet, dug around for a moment, put the saffron in itsplace, or more likely, any place, and then froze before Arthur couldsuggest a spice rack to keep things neat. Arthur. The strained note made Arthur carefully sniff the air foranything unusual, but he could smell nothing but a musty spice scentfrom the cabinet and the lingering odor of sourdough. Arthur, Bertie repeated with greater urgency.Arthur cameforward, staring hard at Bertie and then inside the cabinet until hesaw a small brown spider sitting on a cloud of webbing.He blinked, taking in Bertie s posture and realizing that he wasfrozen with fear.Fear.He couldn t believe it. It s just a little spider, or are you scared of&. He couldn tfinish the sentence because a fearsome dragon of ancient and noblelineage shouldn t be afraid of anything, certainly not a spider. A Boy and His Dragon67 Just get it out! Out! Bertie gestured at the door so fast thatArthur couldn t duck in time and almost got smacked in the face.Hebacked up to save himself and to get some paper towels, but whenhe came back Bertie shouted again. No, don t kill it, just take itoutside! I wasn t going to kill it, Arthur huffed back, not that therewas any use in arguing, not with Bertie scurrying to the oppositeside of the kitchen as Arthur picked up the spider with the papertowel.He took the little guy out the back way and left him on a stackof firewood, all the while thinking that Drew would have beensurprised to see a dragon panicking over a spider.Then he took amoment in the cold air to calm down and think about that.Maybe it was better that people thought dragons were fearless.Maybe they were less likely to hurt them that way, not like theywould if they learned dragons had the same quirks and phobias ashumans.Unless all that had been unique to Bertie, but Arthur didn tthink so.He locked the door behind him and tossed the paper towelsinto the bathroom as he passed it.Bertie was still in the kitchen. You know, my sister is scared of spiders too, Arthur beganas he came back in. And it s funny because My hero! Bertie swept forward so fast that Arthur couldn thave stepped aside if he wanted to.For a second a hot, hot dragonwas wrapped around him and breathlessly expressing his gratitudeinto his ear. Thank you, Arthur. Arthur stuttered something in return he had no idea whatand then Bertie straightened and pulled back to study him. If you hadn t been here I would have been afraid to go in thatcabinet for weeks. He gave a pleased sigh when Arthur rubbed athis stinging face.His next words were rumbling and indecentlysexy. Arthur MacArthur, my champion. Assistant, Arthur corrected without thinking, too quietly tobe taken seriously.Bertie didn t. R.Cooper68 Feel free to get rid of as many pests as you deem fit, hecontinued, still so pleased with Arthur, or himself, that Arthur turnedto watch him deal with the mushrooms and some bell peppers. I don t& that isn t&. Arthur had never fumbled this muchuntil he came to work here. Is a fear of spiders normal? Fordragons I mean. He changed the subject clumsily and didn t care. Like elephants and mice? Arthur, I doubt an elephant would even notice a mouse. Bertie was keeping his eyes on the vegetables
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
