Chapter 18 #2
Of course, the pixies could simply fly over the fence. So instead of waiting around to see if they would, I led the group around the building and back to the front.
Sharp used his keys to let us inside, and as soon as that door was shut, I bent over with my hands on my knees and breathed out heavily, trying to catch my breath.
Winter did the same beside me, rubbing my back with one of his hands.
“Fuck, we still have to make another round to make sure the little shits are all outside,” I murmured to him, sounding exhausted and done—because I was.
He groaned. “Not the stairs again.”
I laughed, and Chaos said, “Oh, come on, old man. You can do it.”
Winter glanced at Sharp to make sure he wasn’t looking—he was heading for his office, not paying attention to us at all—then flipped Chaos off, making the five of us crack up.
When we finally stopped laughing, Ace said, “Come on. Let’s check for any stragglers.”
He walked over to me and swiped the second net off my back, then marched for the stairs.
Lyric grabbed the last one on my back and followed Aeson, calling, “Wait up, Ace!”
Chaos held his hand out to Winter, and Win looked at me.
I sighed, and Chaos glared, saying, “Dude, we’ll be fine if it’s just one or two. They’re not gonna hurt us.”
Winter pulled one of his nets off his back but didn’t pass it over. “Promise me you’ll let Miles or me step in if it’s more than two of them at a time.”
Chaos rolled his eyes and gestured for the net with his hand. When Winter didn’t give it to him, the teen sighed, long and loud. “Fiiiiine. I promise.”
Winter offered a smile as he handed it over, and the kid grabbed it and marched away angrily, murmuring under his breath about annoying old men.
“He’s so adorable,” I said with a small laugh.
Winter snorted. “As much as I want to disagree with you, I can’t. Both the kids are cute.”
“They really are.”
Winter faced me. “We’re going to find a way to help them, right?”
I offered a smile. “Yeah, Win, we are.”
With a nod, he followed after them.
Thank goodness there were only five pixies left in the museum.
Aeson caught one, Chaos caught two, and Lyric got the rest. We released them into the garden, putting the net out the door so the other pixies wouldn’t see us and attack again.
None of us were going into the garden anytime soon.
There was no doubt in my mind that they’d recognize us immediately.
“How much is this going to cost me?” Sharp asked.
I glanced at the twins and sighed. “Nothing. This was a favor for Aeson and Chaos.” At the blank look on the man’s face, I added, “Mortimer.”
Chaos wrinkled his nose at the use of his real name, but he gave me a nod since he knew the manager was an ass and wouldn’t have gotten it otherwise.
The manager’s expression was full of shock. “Really?”
“Yep. But…” I stepped in closer to him and handed him my business card. “The next time you have any kind of faeries inside your museum, call me, okay?”
The man grinned. “Deal. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
I waved him off, then looked at Winter, Lyric, Aeson—with Sola on his shoulder—and Chaos—with Clucky on his—and I asked, “You guys ready to go?”
All four of them nodded at me, so we strolled back through the museum and out the front doors. Luckily, our cars were parked in the side parking lot, so we walked there together.
As far as I could tell, we’d caught all the pixies, but I figured I’d give the kids a net, just in case. I was sure the twins could easily catch any that were left, but I’d come back out if they needed me—and I was sure Winter would too.
We made our goodbyes with the manager, then headed out.
Finally.
Lyric was asking the kids about school again, so they were distracted while Win and I were taking our gear off at my truck.
Win quietly asked, “Hey, what do you think about inviting the twins to the cookout on Friday?”
“I… like the idea of inviting the twins. If they can’t come this weekend, maybe we can look at our calendar and find another time when we don’t have plans.”
For some reason, that made him stop what he was doing and stare at me.
When the staring went on for far too long, I asked, “What?”
His smile was slow but huge. “I love that you assume we have plans together.”
That made my face flush immediately. “I, um… uh… I just… uh, sorry.”
“Don’t you dare be sorry. I’m happy that you’re thinking in we terms. I like it. A lot.”
My cheeks flushed further. “Um… okay.”
He sighed. “If we didn’t have an audience, I’d kiss you right now.”
I snorted and turned away from him. “Well, at least you can’t see how red you’re making me.”
That made him laugh louder before we finished getting the gear off.
Once we were situated, Winter said, “We’re having a little cookout this Friday. It’s gonna be really small. Just us and my sister and her fiancé, but… we’d really love it if you came. You can bring your parents or whoever too.”
That made the twins grimace—making the same exact face, which would’ve been funny in other circumstances—and Chaos said, “No thanks on the parents front.”
Winter looked at me, and I knew he didn’t know what to say, so I stepped in. “That’s fine. You two can come by yourselves if you want. You can meet Odin and Goliath.”
“Who’re they?” Aeson asked, his face scrunched up cutely.
“Our cat and dog.” As soon as I said it, I jerked around to Winter with a grimace. Whoops. I hadn’t meant to claim the pets as both of ours. But he was smiling at me, happy as can be, so I supposed he didn’t mind.
“Oooohhhh. I love cats and dogs.” Aeson turned to Chaos, giving him a puppy-dog-eyed look.
Chaos stared at his brother for a moment, then rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Fine. We’ll come. What time?”
I grinned, and Winter said, “Five or anytime after that. I’ll text you the address. We’ll be at Miles’s house.”
“Sounds good.” Chaos gave a small salute and backed away to his car.
Aeson smiled at us. “Thank you so much for your help tonight. And for all the food.” Then the kid stepped forward and gave Winter a hug. He returned it, sending me an isn’t this the sweetest look. I nodded in agreement.
Aeson stood and backed away, making eye contact with me. “I want to give you a hug too, but I know you don’t really like it. And I kinda already crossed that boundary once today—sorry about that. So we can just pretend this time.”
He was right, of course. But for some reason, I really wanted him to know someone other than his brother cared about him.
So I opened my arms in invitation. He—and everyone else—looked surprised, and after only a beat of hesitation, the kid stepped into me. I gave him a good squeeze and patted his back a few times before we broke apart. We smiled at each other, and then he waved as he walked to his car.
Once he was inside, Lyric said, “Those kids are adorable, but I’ve got the sense that something’s wrong.”
“You do too?” I grimaced.
“Yes! Something’s not right.”
I sighed, sad as I stared at where their car disappeared. After a few seconds, Lyric gave Win a long hug, whispering something, then gave me a fist-bump. “See you Friday.”
“Thanks for your help.”
They waved me off and got in their car, so Win and I got into my truck. Once we made sure Lyric’s car was started, we headed for home.
“Well… that was an interesting night,” Winter said, making me laugh.
“Interesting isn’t the word I’d use. More like exhausting.”
He snorted. “True dat.” He reached over and placed his hand on my thigh. “Would you be okay with me staying the night tonight?”
“Of course. You don’t even have to ask.” I gave his hand a squeeze. “Plus, Goliath is already at my house, anyway.”
“Oh yeah. True. I forgot about that.”
We fell silent for a little while, simply enjoying each other’s company.