Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Exes, Boyfriends, and Familiars Collide
Declan
The horizon was bright with fiery oranges as the sun slipped down past the mountain peaks in the west, but the light was fading fast, and the streetlights were already on.
Silhouetted against the vibrant colors streaking across the sky, Licorice kept pace with me as I hurried down the street to the library.
I wanted to take a minute to watch her. She truly was magnificent. But I couldn’t right now. I was already running out of time.
Still, as I rushed over the cobblestone street and past all the glowing windows of the businesses that’d stayed open later than normal for the festival, my mind kept drifting back to my familiar.
What would the world look like from way up there?
Once I solidified my bond with her a little better, would I be able to see through her eyes?
That was a thing that happened in movies, but could it be true? That would be amazing.
Licorice dipped low and cawed at me, as if reminding me to focus.
Right. The hexes were what I should be thinking about. I had plenty of time to figure out my relationship with my familiar later.
With any luck, we’d be able to gather enough evidence against Roy tonight to turn everything over to the authorities, and then I could turn my attention to her.
But if we didn’t, we might need to convene a misfits’ meeting to enlist their help in the investigation.
Eugene would be happy to have a mystery to solve, even if this one didn’t have a dead body.
But I didn’t think solving this would be that much of an ordeal. Roy hadn’t tried to cover his magical meddling. He’d obviously not expected anyone to look at the other contest submissions, trusting that his hexes would stay hidden.
As I neared the library, I saw Gideon waiting for me by the front door. Just seeing him made me feel lighter, and I swear I flew over the remaining distance between us. I threw myself into his arms and beamed up at him.
“I missed you,” I said, not seeing any reason to hide it. “Sorry I’m late.”
Gideon dropped a quick kiss to my mouth, then leaned back. “Why’s your hair wet?”
“Mm… you taste like cinnamon.” I licked my lips, then I kissed him again. “I took the world’s fastest shower. I didn’t want to show up covered in magical goop.”
His eyebrows rose. “Goop? What were you doing?”
“Well, I guess it wasn’t really goopy, just purple and sparkly and…”
He sniffed me, then promptly turned his face away to sneeze. “You might have missed a spot.”
Licorice landed beside my foot and pecked at it.
“Hey!” I pulled my foot away from her beak, breaking out of Gideon’s embrace. “What was that for?”
But even as I asked the question, I knew. Her sentiments were as clear to me as if she’d spoken aloud. She’d decided I’d had enough time to say hello to Gideon, and it was time to get to work.
“Okay, okay,” I muttered. Then I looked at Gideon, who was watching our interaction. “Licorice and I are still figuring things out.”
Gideon merely nodded. “I can see that…”
“Yeah, it’s kind of wild. I mean, I told you how Elwood said she was my familiar when we were at Ivan’s, but I didn’t really know for sure until today. Her name is Licorice, but I said that already, didn't I?”
I introduced them to one another, which was a little strange, because one of them was a bird.
But both seemed to expect it, and they each nodded respectfully at one another when I finished.
Just seeing my familiar and my… um, my Gideon…
made me feel all warm and melty inside, like a deliciously perfect lava cake.
“Anyway, she wants me to tell you about what we found, because we have work to do.”
“I have something to tell you first,” Gideon said. His face twisted into a fleeting grimace before going carefully blank. He tapped a fist against his leg. I’d never seen Gideon look so… uncertain. Something was really wrong.
“What’s happened? Are you okay?” I took his fist in my hands and rubbed it until his fingers relaxed. “Talk to me.”
He swallowed hard. Then, before he could say anything, a familiar voice said, “Dexy!”
“Not now,” I groaned.
It was the worst possible moment for Josh to show up. I didn’t owe Josh anything, though, so I ignored him and tugged Gideon away from the library. He obviously had something he needed to say, and that wasn’t happening with Josh here.
“Wait? You know?” Gideon frowned at me.
“Know what?”
“That your ex is in town.”
I blinked up at him. “Yeah, Leon told me this afternoon…”
“Dexy!” Josh, oblivious to what was happening between Gideon and me, rushed over and pushed himself between us.
Then he pulled me into his arms before I realized what he was going to do.
We’d never had a particularly demonstrative relationship, so I hadn’t expected that from him.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding! I thought it might be.
That’s one of the reasons I took the contract with Kettlebrook.
And now you’re here, so that’s great. We can work on the rest of the job together. ”
“I’m not hiding, Josh,” I said, extricating myself from his grasp. I stepped away from my suddenly handsy ex, toward Gideon. “I live here now. And, no, I won’t be helping you with your contract.”
No way would I do all his work while he took all the credit. I hadn’t minded so much when I’d been planning to go into business with him; every business needed a front man. But now? No way.
The only thing worse than getting into business with him again would be getting into his bed.
The very idea of getting back together with Josh the Jerk made me nauseous. Like seriously, vomit was flirting with the back of my throat right now. I was queasier now than when I’d walked in on him with that other guy.
That was weird, right?
But now that I was with Gideon, Josh would never tempt me. Gideon was… well, at the moment, Gideon was looking worried.
“It sounds like you have things to talk about,” Gideon said, starting to back away. “I’ll leave you two to…”
Oh, hell no.
“I’m not going back to Josh,” I said, so everyone—including Josh—was clear about that. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it.”
“Well, that’s rude,” Josh said. Then he eyed Gideon, as if just realizing I’d been with someone when he’d approached. “Who is this? Have you replaced me already?”
I held my hand up to him to stop him from saying anything more. “You don’t get to take that tone with me. You’re the one who cheated. And now I’ve moved on. Get over it.”
“Dexy…” He pulled out the smile he thought of as his seductive one.
I knew it well, because he practiced it all the time.
In front of the mirror. In the grocery store.
On men and women, young and old. It was performative.
He pulled it out when trying to convince people he was all that and a bag of chips.
Except I knew his chips were all smashed and soggy.
“You know I hate it when you call me that,” I said. He’d given me that nickname on our third date. Although it had started as Sexy Dexy, and somewhere over time had just become Dexy. I didn't like it then, and I definitely didn’t like it now. “Stop it.”
“Oh, man, this is better than Bridgerton. I wish I had popcorn,” Sandy whispered.
I didn’t know when he’d shown up, but it didn’t surprise me. I hoped Sandy hadn’t called any of the other misfits. I didn’t need Tulip hauling Josh off to her pond tonight. I had enough to deal with already.
“Josh, I think you should go back inside and do your job,” I said.
“Don’t tell me you’re still sensitive about what happened. You know Elliot didn’t mean anything to me.”
A black shadow cut through the glow cast by the nearest streetlight. Josh ducked, but he wasn’t fast enough. Licorice swooped down, let out the shrillest noise I’d ever heard her make, then struck the top of Josh’s head with her talons. She flew away with strands of his dark hair in her grip.
Josh screamed and ran to the library. He didn’t make it before she dive-bombed him again. He was still shrieking when the library door closed behind him.
Holy crap. She was amazing. George wouldn’t have been able to do that. I had the best damned familiar in the history of familiars.
As soon as I was sure Josh was dealt with, I spun toward Gideon, and words burst out.
“I just found out he was here today. Leon told me when I grabbed the growlers from him. Then I’ve been busy and totally forgot.
I wasn’t keeping it a secret. You know he’s been texting and that I’ve been ignoring him. You’ve got to believe me.”
Gideon studied me for a long moment. “Okay.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded.
“Aw…” Sandy cooed. His hands were pressed to his chest like we were the sweetest thing he’d ever seen. “You two should totally kiss and make up now.”
“We weren’t fighting. Were we?” I asked Gideon.
He just drew me into his arms and kissed me.
This one lasted longer than the few quick ones we’d shared when I’d first arrived.
As our tongues collided, he rubbed my back and my neck and my arms, like he was putting his scent all over me and obliterating any trace of Josh’s.
It had to be a shifter thing, being all territorial like this.
And I was here for it. All of it. He could kiss me all night like this and I wouldn’t protest, except to wish we weren’t in public so we could take this kiss even further.
Licorice jabbed her beak down on the top of my foot again.
“Ouch!” I jumped back, out of Gideon’s arms.
She fluffed up like she was proud of herself.
“So bossy,” I scolded her, then I peered up at Gideon. “But she’s right. We need to talk to the brewers.”
“I talked to them already,” Gideon said. “No one noticed anything unusual with their contest entries.”
“But did they find hex bags at their breweries?” I asked, as I cleaned my glasses. They’d gotten a little steamed up while we were kissing.
“I didn’t ask that specifically.”
“Because every local competitor except Roy was hexed,” I said. “Either their growler or their application. And the hex signature was the same. Elwood and I think the same hex maker sabotaged all the people they expected to enter the competition. It has to be Roy.”
“Eugene? Did you hear that?” Sandy said. “We have a mystery to solve!”
The shadow imp formed a charcoal gray happy face on the side of the library. It was a little creepy, but I’d keep that opinion to myself.
“I thought I’d asked you two to stay back and keep your ears open?” Gideon said.
“Yeah, well…” Sandy toed the edge of a cobblestone. “Then I saw Josh head for the door…”
People trickled out of the library and headed toward their cars.
“Shit, the event is ending,” I said. “We need to talk to the brewers before they leave.”
Gideon nodded. “Let’s separate. Between the three of us, we can hopefully catch them all.”
“Ask if they’ve found a hex bag. If it’s like the one we found at Ivan’s, it’ll be a bundle made of black cloth and secured with a thin rope. It won’t be bigger than a golf ball.”
“Come on, Eugene,” Sandy said. “Let’s go get ‘em.”