Chapter Eight
Winter
TWO MONTHS LATER
Working for Miles these past two months had been a dream come true. He was a really great boss, although he insisted on calling me his partner. It was sweet, even if it was unnecessary. And definitely not true, no matter how much he treated me that way.
We’d found a pretty good rhythm together, and I could tell that Miles was as happy about the arrangement as I was.
Miles came out of the house we were working on, carrying a large cage filled with dwarves.
How the definitely-way-bigger-than-a-gnome creatures didn’t creep Miles out when tiny gnomes did, I had no idea.
The things were twelve to eighteen inches tall and looked like little, wrinkly old dolls with big blinky eyes and typically with long hair.
Generally speaking, they stole baby clothes or used towels and other cloths like togas, so at least they weren’t naked since the rest of their bodies were hairless. And they chattered… a lot.
I wasn’t sure if they were just making noises like squirrels did or if they were actually speaking some kind of dwarf language, but it kind of made me think they were talking about us. Which was an odd sensation.
If I was being honest, they creeped me out a little.
I didn’t like it. At all.
I also didn’t understand how faeries that big were able to get into and make a nest inside someone’s home.
None of the windows had been left open—according to the homeowner—they didn’t leave their doors open for long periods of time, and from everything Miles and I had seen, there weren’t any large holes in the house or foundation.
Miles figured the homeowners simply didn’t remember leaving a door or window open, seeing as nothing else made sense.
It could’ve even been as simple as the dwarves slipping inside while someone brought groceries in from the car and the door was left cracked open.
They were certainly smart enough to open a door.
In fact, they could turn doorknobs… if they could reach them.
That thought made me shudder and made me want to go home just to double-check that I hadn’t left my door unlocked. No way did I want to go home to dwarves. Blech.
I didn’t honestly know how a human would’ve missed a whole clan of dwarves sneaking in under their feet while they carried groceries in—I sure as hell hoped I wouldn’t miss it. But at the same time, they probably had their hands full, so who knew? It was a mystery that would never be solved.
“One more trap?” I asked as I walked past him.
Sola chirped from her spot on top of the truck. For whatever reason, she’d decided to stay outside for this faerie pick-up, and since we didn’t want to leave her locked up inside the truck, she was perched on top.
That wasn’t unusual. Sometimes she went hunting while we worked. Miles was always nervous that someone would hurt her if she went out by herself, but she tended to stick super close to us, even if that meant hunting for bugs or tiny faeries in someone’s backyard.
Miles nodded, keeping his focus on the cage because it was moving around a lot, and I knew he didn’t want to drop it or wind up injuring any of the dwarves. “One more.”
“Awesome. I got it.” I headed back inside and went straight to the basement where we’d left our last trap the other night.
We’d left four, and at the time, I’d thought it was overkill. I mean, who the hell had that many dwarves in their basement? But as usual, Miles was proven right when we’d gotten here and found all four traps filled to the brim.
It was so bad we planned on leaving four more behind to pick up any stragglers in a few days.
I threw a small blanket—one made especially for these traps so there was a hole for the handle—over the top of the last trap, found the handle, and lifted it. The medium-sized faeries started screaming and throwing their body weight around. It was kind of ridiculous. And loud.
So fucking loud.
At least the little bastards couldn’t escape. I shuddered again.
With a grimace, I headed toward the stairs, through the house, and outside.
I reached the truck in record time, strapped the filled cage inside the truck bed, and grabbed an empty trap.
“You okay? You looked a little pale when you came out of the house,” Miles said, staring at me.
“I’m fine.”
“You sure?” To my surprise, he stepped closer, took a glove off, and held his wrist up to my forehead as if feeling for a fever.
It was so Miles, always caring about everyone around him, and lately, I’d noticed how much attention he paid to me.
Like I was special to him—I hoped I was because he was certainly special to me.
He hummed and dropped his arm. “You don’t feel warm.” He stared into my eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”
I grimaced again, then sighed because I obviously needed to tell him what was going on. “I, um… I don’t like dwarves.”
He stared at me, blinked, then stared some more. “As in, you’re… scared of them?”
With a shrug, I reached into the truck for another empty trap. “Not exactly scared, just… they kind of give me the heebie-jeebies. I… don’t like them.”
For some reason, that made him grin at me. “Holy shit, you’re scared of dwarves.”
“Why is that making you grin so big?”
He snorted. “Because I thought I was the only one afraid of some harmless faeries.”
“At least mine are big enough to be an actual threat.”
“When in the hell have you ever heard of dwarves harming someone or being a threat?”
I pouted. “Never.”
He laughed and leaned in to press a soft kiss to my lips. It surprised me since we tended to have a strict no-PDA-at-work rule, but I didn’t hesitate to kiss him back. I’d kiss him anytime, anywhere.
When he pulled back, he grinned at me and playfully ran his finger down my nose. “I’ll protect you, Mr. White Knight.”
I grinned. “I have no doubt.”
That made his little smirk turn into something more genuine, and he kissed me again before backing away and clearing his throat.
“Sorry. I know we said we wouldn’t do that at work, but we’re hidden behind the truck, and I…
couldn’t help myself.” The cutie turned bright red and wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“I’m happy to kiss you anytime you want, sugar butt.”
He snorted, shook his head, then grabbed two dwarf cages and headed back toward the basement door with me following behind him.
Before we walked in, he turned to me and said, “I can set them up myself so you don’t have to come in there again.”
Gah. So sweet. “I’m okay, but thanks.”
“You sure?”
I nodded, and Miles shoulder-bumped me as we carried four new traps inside, then we set them up and left the basement.
I went out to the truck to check on our faeries—we had two traps full of gremlins from a house on this same street in addition to the dwarves—then started the truck before walking over to the passenger seat.
I wasn’t sure why, but I never drove the truck. I didn’t think Miles would mind if I did; it just seemed to be something we’d fallen into lately. I didn’t mind either. It was kind of nice not having to navigate through all these neighborhoods, if I was being honest.
When Miles returned from speaking with the homeowner, he sent me a grateful smile as he buckled himself in. “They’re all okay back there?”
“Yep. The cages are secure, and they were all pretty quiet when I checked on them. Blankets are still in place. Are we dropping them off now or doing another house?”
Depending on how full the truck got and how close the next house was, sometimes we made a faerie sanctuary drop in between homes, and other times, we collected more faeries and filled the truck to the brim.
He sighed. “There’s a house three streets over with a gnome problem. Oh, you helped set the traps last week, so you’ll recognize it as soon as you see it. Anyway, I think we should collect them, set new traps there, and then go to the sanctuary before calling it a day.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
He sent me a glare, but he shook his head in amusement. “You always have to be calling me something weird or annoying.”
I snorted. “Um… thanks? I think?”
He laughed and gave me a small push before pulling into traffic.
My phone buzzed with a text, so I pulled it out and saw that it was a number I didn’t recognize. I opened it so I could easily dismiss whatever ad or coupon it was, but I froze at the sight of the first words.
Unknown Number: Hey, Winter, it’s Magnolia.
My heart felt like it got stuck somewhere up in my throat. Magnolia? Maggie was texting me?
I… I hadn’t heard from her since before I went to prison. She hadn’t even come to my trial.
I took a deep breath and tried my best to gather the strength to read the rest of the text.
Unknown Number: Hey, Winter, it’s Magnolia. I know we haven’t spoken in a long time, so I hope this is still your number, but I was wondering if you’d be willing to meet me for lunch? I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a chance to apologize and maybe catch up.
Tears burned my eyes, and I couldn’t help the sniffle that came out.
“Holy crap, are you crying?” Miles pulled over and parked the car without waiting for an answer from me. “Win? What’s wrong?”
The concern in his voice made my eyes shoot up to his. “My… my little sister texted me.”
His jaw clenched. “What’d she say? Whatever it is, you can just ignore it because your family doesn’t know what they’re missing out on—”
“No, it’s… it’s good. I think. She wants to meet up for lunch.”
His eyes searched mine for a long moment. “Yeah? You think she’ll be… nice to you?”
I didn’t blame him for asking. My entire family abandoned me when I got arrested.
Maggie and I were always super close, so her betrayal had hit the hardest, even more so than our parents’.
Them, I’d expected, but my little sister?
I hadn’t expected that at all. Other than Lyric, she’d been my closest friend growing up since we were the closest in age.
Our other siblings had always been a lot more like Mom and Dad, but Maggie had been like me.
Or so I’d thought.
I passed Miles the phone so he could read her text. After he finished, he handed it back and sent me a cautious smile. “What do you think? Do you want to meet with her?”
I pushed my hair out of my face. “I… do. I haven’t seen her in years, and we were always so close as kids. I… I’d like to at least hear what she has to say.”
He grabbed my hand with his gloved one and squeezed. “That’s great, Win.”
“Will you come with me?”
His eyes widened in shock for a moment before he nodded. “Of course. Whatever you need.”
“I… I’d like to say that she’d never ask me to meet her just to be an asshole to me, but the truth is that I really don’t know.
I never would’ve thought she’d take Mom and Dad’s side when everything went down, and I don’t really know her anymore.
I… if she… if she’s not… nice, then I think… I think I’m going to need… you.”
His gaze softened, and he leaned over the console to pull me into a hug. Two months ago, hell, three weeks ago, Miles never would’ve initiated a hug like this, so knowing he was comfortable enough with me to do it now made my heart happy, even when I was terrified about what Maggie wanted.
“Thank you.”
“Anytime, Win. Anytime.”