Chapter Twenty #2
“Ah, it was nothing,” he said. “Vi did the sushi platter. Look, it’s all spirally.”
“That’s amazing,” Suze repeated. “Let me grab the candles.”
She stepped past him, rummaging in the top drawer of the kitchen cabinet. She came out with six candles, sticking them carefully around the words before breathing a thin stream of fire to light them.
Nick slunk awkwardly around the counter until he was standing next to Vi. “Should I go?”
She looked over at him, incredulous. “What?”
Before he could ask again, Suze shoved the cake platter into his hands, the candles glowing.
“This way,” she told him, turning toward the kitchen door.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, and then followed.
Suze led them out into the front yard, which was now crawling with kids.
Balloons bounced over the grass. Children of all species played tag, running from a giggling vampire who was leaping to catch a chimera child struggling to stay afloat on wings that were still growing in. The bouncy castle was ominously still.
“Over there,” Suze whispered, pointing.
Nick spotted a young dragon with the same eyes and snout as Suze, showing a group of kids a unicorn plushie. Nick wished he’d wiped his hands on his jeans before Suze gave him the platter. His hands were not only smudged with icing, they were also sweating.
“Gilbert!” Suze called.
The dragon boy turned. His face lit up when he spotted the cake. Specifically, the unicorn perched in the corner.
“Happy birthday,” Suze started, and all the kids and chaperones joined in, “tooo youuuu—”
Nick sang along, hands growing slicker and slicker on the plate. He was relieved when Suze nodded for him to put it down in front of the kid, and even more relieved when he realized Vi had thought to bring a knife to cut the cake with.
“Tooooo . . . youuuu,” everybody finished, breaking into applause.
Nick clapped along, retreating to the back of the crowd. The kid was happy, at least. Nick didn’t feel so out of place if he focused on Gilbert’s ecstatic face, squirming and giggling and grinding his scaly cheek into his unicorn plushie.
Nick felt himself smile. Then the clapping got louder, and he remembered he was at the edge of people who didn’t know him or want him there, and he looked at his motorcycle resting on the sidewalk beyond the yard.
He took a step toward it.
Vi appeared in front of him, hair cascading down her shoulders, cheeks bright. There was a blot of silver frosting on her chin, a beauty spot he wanted to lick. He knew immediately that he’d do whatever she asked of him, so he couldn’t let her ask.
“I should go,” he said before she could say anything.
Vi’s smile shrank. “Why? We could use more chaperones.”
“This isn’t the kind of party I do well at.” Nick grinned crookedly, wiping his damp hands on his jeans, smearing sweat and icing.
“I don’t know,” Vi said. “Those kids seem to like you.”
She pointed. Nick looked over at the cake, where a crowd of kids was staring at him and giggling. For a moment, Nick didn’t know what they were staring at, but then he saw one of them grab their own arms and growl.
“Oh. Uh . . .” Nick flexed his arm so the panther tattoo shifted.
The kids fell over each other, shrieking with laughter.
Vi laughed with them, a tiny chuckle barely audible over the din of the party. It wasn’t enough. None of it was enough. Nick could hear his mate laugh, properly laugh, every day for the rest of his life and never be satisfied.
Vi started, “If you really want to go—”
A wail cut her off. Gilbert was sprawled on the grass, clutching the soft underside of his scaly foot.
“Shit,” Nick said. He looked around. Suze had retreated back into the house. They were the only adults in the front yard. Vi was already jogging over and dropping to her knees next to Gilbert.
Nick followed, thinking of bookshops and ladders as he crouched down on the other side of the crying boy.
Vi picked up his foot as he writhed.
“It’s just a beesting,” Vi soothed. “You’ll be okay.”
Gilbert’s wail turned into a cry, wings shuddering, tail writhing, pressing his tearful face into his unicorn plushie and trying to pull his foot from her grip.
Vi leaned over him to whisper to Nick. “It’s big enough I can pull it out with my fingers, but it’s better if he’s distracted.”
“Got it,” Nick said, trying to remember the last time he’d talked to a kid for more than ten seconds.
Maybe when Duncan brought his ten-year-old in on his day off.
Unsure of what else to ask, Nick had asked her about her book.
She’d dragged him into a shockingly interesting conversation about the book series she was reading about a gang of stray dogs who went around solving crimes.
Nick cleared his throat. “Hey. Gilbert. Hi. Want to see my panther?”
Gilbert stared up at him with watery eyes.
Nick twisted his arm to show him his tattoo. “Isn’t he cool?”
Gilbert shoved his face farther into his plushie. “Cat bit me once.”
“Oh,” Nick said, mind racing for something to say to fix that. “Well, this guy won’t. He’s not scary. He just looks that way. Can I tell you a secret?”
Gilbert sniffled. Then he nodded.
“Great,” Nick said, mind racing. The only thing he could think of was the truth, which was mortifying. But he was surrounded by kids, who would hopefully forget, and Vi, who would figure it was a genius distraction tactic.
“I got him because I wanted a friend,” Nick whispered, keeping his gaze on Gilbert’s blotchy face, on the fluffy unicorn, anywhere but Vi holding the kid’s bare foot.
“Someone who was always around. That way I could look down and go, There he is! There’s my buddy!
Do you have someone like that? Maybe this little guy? ”
He tweaked the unicorn plushie’s rainbow ears.
Gilbert hugged the unicorn closer. “Yeah,” he croaked. “I just met him, though.”
“Well, he’s lucky to have you,” Nick said, all too aware of Vi watching him in the corner of his vision. “What’s his name?”
Gilbert thought about it, brow furrowed in concentration. “Fluffer.”
A truly inappropriate definition ran through Nick’s head. He stifled a laugh and said, “That’s, uh . . .”
“That’s a great name,” Vi said over him, stroking Gilbert’s foot and looking at Nick in a way that let him know she absolutely knew the porn definition of fluffer and was not about to bring it up. “Hey, Gilbert, how does that feel?”
Gilbert sniffed hard. “’S not as bad now.”
The sound of running footsteps made Nick look up. Suze wove around the crowd of kids and came to a stop in front of them.
“What happened? Is he alright?”
“He’s fine,” Vi said. “We took care of it.”