The Rogue Horse Files

"Hey Alex!"

Alexandra "Alex" Trese glanced at Hank Sparrow who was waving a book at her. She was on her way out when she passed Hank.

She made her way to the bar to check out what the bartender was holding.

Hank laid the book in front of her with a shit-eating grin and a flourish. She raised an eyebrow at him. His sunny smile stayed at his lips as he waited for her to speak.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" she asked as she looked closer at the book. It looked like a monthly planner of some sort with a red horse on the cover.

She wasn't interested in using monthly planners because her life wasn't predictable like that.

"Maliksi made it to the cover!" Hank was too cheerful and she didn't have enough kapeng barako in the system yet. She wanted to go back to bed after seeing Maliksi's new business venture. "He's the newest endorser to Rogue Horse. If you buy one case of beer, you will get one planner! They just launched it today."

"Please don't tell me we've got boxes of those things in our storage room." Alex silently prayed to the old gods because she didn't even know what they would do to them. She wanted to shoot whoever thought it was a great idea to give away free planners to drunk people.

Hank rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Actually, we do. We can't return them because the supplier won't even take them back."

If this is Maliksi's way of invading my space, I'm going to kill him. Alex resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose to prevent a growing headache. She stared at Hank sternly. "Return the planners to the supplier."

"Since Christmas is around the corner, why don't we give them away to our loyal patrons?" Hank's shit eating grin came back. "I was thinking we could give them out as gifts and to Mal's pals who are our regular patrons."

Maliksi's ego doesn't need any more inflating. Alex thought with some irritation. She didn't know what it was with the young man who ticked her off. Just thinking about him raised her hackles.

But she saw the practicality of Hank's suggestion so she signed inwardly. It seems that there was nothing she could do but to let him do what he wanted which is to promote Maliksi's new career.

"Do whatever you want with them." Alex told the bartender flatly. "Just get rid of them."

"Thanks Boss," Hank said cheerfully. He picked up a glass and started to clean it with a cloth.

Alex sat down on a bar stool and picked up the planner. She flipped through the book to check out what's inside. The front page featured a handsome Maliksi leaning on an expensive car and wearing an Italian suit. She wondered who was supposed to buy these things and which target market are they aiming for.

Every month featured Maliksi in different styles and activities. It was 100% full of Maliksi's face, style and charm.

"Mal must be working hard these days. I haven't seen him in the bar for some time," Hank said meaningfully.

She put the book down and raised her eyebrow at the bartender. His smile stayed because he was teasing her. "What does he do these days?"

Hank was delighted at her show of interest but didn't stop cleaning the glasses. "I guess I'm an old man because I don't really understand it. Mal's just posting stuff online like pictures and videos to promote Rogue Horse. He's a good-looking lad so he caught the attention of the people. Now, he's accepting invitations to talk in podcasts and shoot commercial videos for streaming sites. Kambal told me that he's got merch too like that planner."

Alex realized that she hadn't seen the Tikbalang princeling for the past few weeks. He was a frequent fixture of the Diabolical's dance floor and bar so his absence was easily noticed. She didn't really care whether he went to find a new bar or whatever he did in his free time. No, she didn't care whoever he saw and whatever he did.

Hank was watching her and noticed a subtle change in her facial expression when he mentioned Mal's activities. So his hunch was true.

He went to the coffeemaker to make a cup of coffee for her.

"What does he do exactly?"

Hank's grin grew wider. He added full cream milk and two spoons of honey into her kapeng barako before he answered her question. "He used to work in a bank but he got bored. I guess he's following his heart now."

Alex snorted in an unladylike way. Hank chuckled as he faced his charge and laid the coffee cup in front of her. She picked up the cup and blew on it slowly before taking a sip.

"It must be nice to be able to choose what you want to do with your life," she said slowly.

Hank turned around so she wouldn't see his face. "It must be great to be able to switch careers just like that. I don't think that I can do that.... I have a destiny and I can't escape it. It's all that I know."

He slowly turned around when he heard her get up to leave. All that was left was a cup of coffee and a planner on top of the bar.

Hank turned towards Maliksi who was hiding in the kitchen. The young man's smile was sad. "I'll just leave the planner in her office later. She's too practical not to use it."

"Sure, that's okay." Maliksi sat down at Alex's seat and sighed loudly. "I feel bad for reminding her about her destiny."

Hank shrugged nonchalantly. "Not your fault, kid. It's probably her time of the month so she's feeling a little down."

Maliksi nodded in understanding. He wanted to get to know Alex so bad that he had befriended Hank, Basilio and Crispin. He was desperate to show them that he deserved an ounce of respect and their help in winning the elusive Trese's heart.

"Why the long face?" Hank's voice broke his reverie.

The Tikbalang princeling resisted a strong urge to neigh and to face-palm at the same time.

The bartender was laughing so hard, he nearly pissed his pants.

"Cheer up." Hank grinned as he cleaned the glasses. "She asked about you and that's a good start. It's rare for her to care beyond her inner circle."

Maliksi's heart raced faster than the speed of light. He felt his cheeks heat up and his palms became clammy. Damn that woman. She always reduced him to an inexperienced binatilyo who's never been with a lady before.

Hank was watching his expression with a merry smile. "Why don't you come back tonight and give her the planner yourself?"

"Okay! I'll do that!" Maliksi grinned, suddenly revived. "I have to go now. Got a meeting at 10. Thanks Hank!"

The bartender waved him off before moving to clear the coffee and the planner from the table. He stared down at the coffee cup, surprised. It was empty.

Shaking his head, he took it to the sink. He needed one ice-cold battle of Rogue Horse for this because he might have some explaining to do.

That sly Tikbalang drank all of Alex's coffee from the same cup.

In their world, it was the nearly the same as sharing a kiss. It was the most intimate thing that's happened between Alex and Maliksi.

Matchmaking was not bad.

Meddling with a Trese's destiny was bad.

Hank was in really big trouble with Anton now.