A Little Taste of Naughty (A Shattered Lives Short) by Rissa Blakeley

Plus, he wanted some females in his little army, as well.
    Henry walked into a locally owned bookshop in his neighborhood that he had seen during his usual stalking sessions. The shop was quite popular in the area so he felt he may find someone worthy in there. He usually hit up the big chain further into the city to buy his reading material, but he thought he would try the smaller shop for a change.
    How ironic, he thought. He was hanging out in a bookshop when he didn’t have much more than an eighth grade education. He was street smart, and could rock a businessman persona with ease and believability.
    In his off time, when he wasn’t working out, stalking innocent people, or at the firing range keeping himself fresh, he would read educational material until the words blurred together. He felt like he was doing a halfway decent job of educating himself. There was no purpose behind it except that it was something he wanted to do for himself. Everything else that he did was for the program; educating himself was just for him.
    He walked up and down the compact, book-laden aisles, not really seeing what was on the shelves. A woman, who he pegged to be in her late forties, came around the end cap and approached him. “Good morning!” Her tone had an air of insincerity. Plus, she was ridiculously cheerful for nine a.m., considering the night he had. The whiskey had flowed more free than usual the night before. He wasn’t sure if he had it in him to throw out a bogus jovial impression.
    “Morning.” Henry returned the smile, but it was much less sincere than hers. He had on a black Nike ball cap, pulled down tight over his eyes. He didn’t want to be remembered for his chemical-laden emerald green eyes.
    He always wore nondescript clothing, as well. They were all designer, but only ever in a palette of navy, white, gray, or black. He looked fit in any clothing he wore. His charcoal gray hoodie was near taut over his broad shoulders and chest. He worked hard to stay in shape, and worked daily to add on more muscle at the gym. So far, he was rather successful and quite proud of everything below his neck. Above it? That was an entirely different story.
    Henry’s dark brown beard had grown into more than a five o’clock shadow. Between the hat and the beard, he felt he was hidden enough.
    “Is there anything I can help you find?” Her fake chipper voice was chapping his ass. Normally, he would have said that he was all set, but her insincerity made him want to fuck with her just a tiny bit.
    “Hmmm…” He tapped his forefinger on his lips. “You know, I am looking for something for my girlfriend’s birthday today. She is thinking about jumping on the bandwagon of vampire and zombie romances, and post-apocalyptical dystopian-style reads. I thought I would pick her up a couple so she could decide what she would like.” He hoped that sounded convincing.
    Henry hadn’t had a real girlfriend in a while, not since he left England. For the most part, he would partake in one-night stands, or a quickie in the back room of the bar he frequented. Although he did date one clingy psycho for about a month, he got out of that as soon as she started asking too many questions.
    “Right,” she said. The great toothy grin and irritated tone in her voice spoke volumes. “Well, there are several selections that I can show you. Follow me.” She turned around, and he smirked about the zombie romance. It was a nice private joke.
    The sales associate, or possibly the owner, showed him a selection of books. He claimed that he couldn’t decide so he would purchase all of them. What did he care, considering that it wasn’t his dime? She pointed out the cash register, and he headed in that direction at a slow pace. He paused at the art history section and thumbed through a few books. He was truly interested because it was one subject that he hadn’t dove into yet. He decided to grab one of those, as well.
    Two female voices caught his