Guardian by Cyndi Goodgame Page B

glared at her for getting it on with a stranger and had not one care that Mike was here.  So was her other recent pastime.  Unfortunately, she was accepted this way.  She had no self-worth.  I hated that I ever used women in that way.
    “Thank you!”  Grace told Caylie when she came up for air and wiped her mouth embarrassed only because it was Grace.
    “For what?”
    “You know, at the door.”
    “No prob!  You had it covered Wonder Woman.  I just lit another match in the book of Grace.”  Caylie had a way with words.
    We all sat down around the little table crowded with twice as many people that should fit.  Grace shifted towards Caylie to put distance between the two of us.  When she turned to see what I would do about it I simply smiled to calm her.  “Well aren’t we all just the sight to see.  Cornered in a strange kitchen with a bunch of drunks and no food or drinks of our own to chase our blues away.” Everyone laughed including Grace to ease the tension.
    Josie walked into the room. The pressure in the air closed in on Grace telling me she was going to wither away from me. 
    Josie had very little on giving little to the imagination.  Didn’t she have any respect for herself?  No, I told myself.  Many of these human girls seemed to not have much respect for themselves.  They thought that’s what they had to do to acquire a guy’s attention.  Without the ability to simply tell her that a guy will want a girl more when she hides what might belong to him someday, I simply tried to be nice to her. 
    She walked right beside me, put her blasted arm across my shoulder, and leaned down to me.  Her breath was seasoned with cheap beer and her touch gave me hives. I wanted to flick her off me. I knew Grace didn’t hear her say, “Ditch the punk girl and hang with me.”  
    Grace was a brick beside me.  She really didn’t try to hide her jealousy.  At least not well.    I definitely liked that.
    I nodded a no and didn’t bother watching her walk away.  Grace and Caylie did that meticulously for me. 
    “Oww!” Grace scowled at Caylie and rubbed her leg under the table. 
    “Cool it!” she mouthed at Grace. 
    Under the table girl logic never escaped my attention when it involved Grace, but I would never tell.
    “What did Josie have to say?” she asked me trying to appear like she didn’t care.  I knew better. 
    “Nothing important!”  I couldn’t help but watch her kitten ways snag at me with what I wanted more than anything in her world or mine.  She hated anyone coming near me and had the last few years.  The feeling was mutual.
    She steamed though I hadn’t looked at her yet.   When I did, she’d held her breath and pulled her eyes together.  I couldn’t stop the laugh.  She was angrier than ever.
    I slid my hand on hers under the table, squeezed, and let go.  Her heart jolted sky high.  Wow!  Then I sank when she called me heartless but not loud enough for me to have heard if I was human.  I am not.
    Caylie came to the rescue without knowing. She asked, “Name your worst Halloween?”
    Everyone jumped in then and starting talking at once, except for me and Grace.  They talked, she ignored me.  Caylie stretched a previous year’s Halloween story that would end up having Kinsler as the finale.  They always did.   He’d embraced the human holiday with a fervent belief that the humans wanted a good scare.  Caylie shared yet another year including the part of when Kinsler dressed as Pumpkinhead one year.  I sat up looking for his back up knowing he and his posse were close.  Grace stiffened beside me.  It was unsettling sometimes the way she could do that and not even know she was doing it.  I didn’t think she knew.
    The rest were laughing, eating, and telling scary stories about their Halloween dress ups of the past when Kinsler and Switch (not David) walked in through the back door.  The entire room went extremely still.  Selfish and compulsive, I