Page 15 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Eleven

Miles

I knew Winter thought I was being outrageous, but I couldn’t leave Martha Cohen out to dry. From the sounds of it, she’d already had a rough time with her family over the mansion to begin with. She didn’t need her exterminator flaking on her too.

Plus, after those little jerk gnomes attacked me, I wanted to be the one to get them out of that house.

They were dangerous, and I didn’t think any other exterminator would take my warning seriously since attacking gnomes was unheard of.

I took a breath. “You really don’t have to come, but… I really do appreciate your help.”

He gave me a tense nod. “I’ll help you. I’m guessing you want to go tomorrow morning?”

Running a hand through my hair, I stared at my new… friend. “If that’s okay with you, then yes.”

“It’s fine. But I have a request.”

“Um… okay?”

“Can I bring a friend with me to have an extra pair of hands? I think it’ll be helpful.”

I mentally calculated whether I could swing paying another person before giving him a nod. “Sure. I’ll pay them too.”

He waved that off and pulled out his phone. “Let me call them real quick and make sure they’re free.”

I gave him a nod, and when he walked into the kitchen to speak to this person, I purposefully ignored him so I didn’t eavesdrop. Sola was a good distraction.

Winter came back only a few minutes later and gave me a nod. “They’re in. What time tomorrow?”

“Eight?” If I got up extra early, I could run to the coffee shop and grab him—and his friend—some coffee and breakfast. “Do you drink coffee?”

“Yep. With cream and sugar.”

“Me too. When I get one at the shop, I sometimes have them add a mocha swirl.”

“I’ve never done that before, but I like mocha, so I’d probably like it.”

“What about your friend?”

“They like coffee with cream and a shit-load of sugar.”

“Got it.” I shot him a grin and absently petted Sola for a few seconds before I froze and stared at my hand. My bare hand that was touching my firebird.

And I couldn’t feel a thing coming from her.

“What’s wrong? Miles? Are you okay?”

I stared in shock at Winter for a few seconds. “I… I can’t feel her emotions.”

All the tension left him. “Oh. That could be because she’s your familiar, or it could be because I’m here.”

“I thought I had to touch you for your… null stuff to work?” I had no idea what to call it, but null stuff wasn’t it.

He shrugged and shot me a grin. “So… that’s true if I’m not purposefully pushing my…

lack of magic out, but since you had that whole gnome attack thing happen, I thought it would be nice for you to have a break.

” He winced. “I’m sorry. I should’ve asked first. I didn’t…

I… this is what I used to do for my mom when she had an overwhelming day, so it’s habit, I guess. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “No, don’t be sorry. I don’t mind at all. This is… nice.” I stared at my cat, who was lying on his cat tree, and figured now would be a good time to pet him without my gloves as well.

I didn’t usually worry about picking up Odin’s emotions because he was usually happy to have me petting him, so his presence—and the presence of his emotions—was soothing.

But the thought of not having to worry about sensing anything at all was too appealing not to take advantage of.

I walked over to Odin and called over my shoulder, “Can you keep doing it? Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

“Thanks.”

I scooped Odin into my arms and buried my face in his fur as Sola rebalanced on my shoulder so she didn’t fall off. Odin began purring right away, and Sola rubbed her beak against the back of my head, trying to get in on the action and making me chuckle.

Winter asked, “Is it working?”

“Yes.” My eyes felt a little watery, but I still turned to face him. “Yes. I… thank you. I… you’re so… this is so… peaceful. You don’t… you don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He sent me a smile, and it was so genuine that my earlier worry that I’d messed something up by insisting on going back to the mansion melted away.

W hen I picked up Winter the next morning, I had three coffees, three muffins, and three breakfast sandwiches in tow. Hopefully, he and his friend would like at least something that I’d brought with me.

Winter and his friend came out of his house and jumped straight into my car. Luckily, I had a truck with a back seat that I’d cleared of tools earlier, so this mysterious friend was able to sit back there.

As soon as they sat in the car, Winter said, “Miles, this is my best friend, Lyric. Lyr, this is Miles. You guys might recognize each other from high school.”

I blinked, then assessed the person in my back seat.

They had bleach-blond hair with blue and purple highlights, big hazel eyes, and a pretty face.

It took me far too long to figure out who exactly they were because they hadn’t gone by the name Lyric in high school—but I knew better than to say their other name aloud.

“Hey, Lyric, it’s nice to, uh, see you again.”

They smiled widely at me. “It’s nice to see you too. Winter’s been talking nonstop about you forev—”

“Lyric,” Winter said sternly, cutting them off and reaching back to smack their leg. “Shut it, ass.”

Lyric grinned, shot me a wink, and smacked Winter’s shoulder. “Just messin’ with you, boo.”

Winter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This was a mistake.”

That made Lyric cackle, and even though I was a little uncomfortable with a new person I didn’t know well, I still smiled. The two of them were obviously close, which was sweet, even if a little green monster reared its ugly head—but I ignored that.

Or at least, I tried to.

I thrust the bag of food at my friend, or whatever he was, passed Lyric their coffee, and held up mine to Winter. “I haven’t drunk out of it yet, so I thought you could try the mocha so I know if you want it next time.”

He sent me another of his bright smiles and took the coffee from me. “Thank you.” He took a sip and hummed. “Mmm… that’s delicious. Yes, on the mocha next time.”

When he tried to hand it over, I pushed it back to him. “You take that one. I’ll drink the other.”

“What? No way. This is yours. I’ll drink the regular one.”

I shook my head. “Nope. You drank out of it, so it’s yours.”

“Does that mean you’re afraid you might catch my cooties?”

I snorted. “I’d love to catch your cooties.”

We both froze as my words registered.

Holy shit. Holy. Shit.

I’d love to catch your cooties?

Who the hell said shit like that?

Me, apparently, me. Fuck.

I basically just confessed my undying love for the man. Uggggggghhhhhhhh.

I huffed. Okay, dramatic much?

Maybe it wasn’t my undying love, but it sure as hell was an admission to wanting his lips on mine.

Fuuuuuudggggeeeeeesicle.

“Miles?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe if I pretended it didn’t happen, he’d pretend too.

“Miles?” Winter reached across the console and gently tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingertips lightly caressing my cheek and ear, leaving chills in their wake. “It’s okay. And… and I wouldn’t mind catching your cooties either.”

I sucked in a breath and turned wide eyes on him.

He smiled gently at me.

“Oh my god, you two are the cutest ,” Lyric practically squealed from the backseat. I’d totally forgotten they were here, a witness to my embarrassment. Lovely.

“Shut up, Lyric,” Winter hissed, smacking their leg again and making the little demon cackle.

Winter sighed and waved them off. “Ignore them. Let’s just pretend they’re not here at all, yeah? We should get going so we can get this over with. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat after?” To the backseat, he said, “You’re not invited.”

Lyric gasped dramatically. “Ughhh. You wound me.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle and shake my head in amusement.

Winter’s grin grew before he gestured to the steering wheel. “Let’s go. And thank you for the coffee and food.”

Right. Driving.

I could do that.

“Yeah, Miles,” Lyric said. “Thank you. I definitely need the caffeine.”

Winter snorted. “Biggest lie you’ve ever told.”

I snorted and started the drive.

A s soon as I pulled around to the side parking lot, someone rushed out of the mansion’s door and straight for my car.

For a few seconds, I didn’t even recognize the person, but as soon as she opened her mouth, I realized that the haggard lady with wild hair and angry eyes was none other than the mansion owner, Martha Cohen.

Her hair was sticking up all over the place, almost looking like she’d been electrocuted, her clothes had tears all over them, and I was pretty sure she had a little spot of dried blood on her cheek.

“You left me! You left, and now look at what happened!” she yelled. “How dare you leave without finishing your goddamn job!”

“What the actual fuck?” Lyric said, their head between the two front seats.

Martha kept on yelling, and Winter mumbled, “I think not,” before he jumped out of the car and approached the woman.

“He was injured, and you have no right to yell at us,” Winter yelled over Martha’s own screaming. “If you’re going to yell, we’re not going to help you, so I suggest you shut up and calm the hell down.”

My eyebrows rose. He definitely shouldn’t be telling clients to shut up, but I couldn’t blame him. Plus, it seemed to work because she snapped her mouth shut and glared at him.

Lyric and I got out of the car, walking over to stand on either side of Winter.

More calmly, he said, “We had to leave yesterday because Miles was injured on the job and needed medical attention.”

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, then gestured to the house.

“I get it, and I’m sorry he was hurt, but it’s a war zone in there.

You two angered them, and they’ve been attacking me and the staff since last night.

No one but Alfred would even come in today.

” Her chin quivered. “I was stuck in there all alone last night, and I…”

The butler from yesterday, presumably Alfred, stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and a pissed-off expression on his face.

“What happened?” I asked Martha. “Gnomes aren’t known to be dangerous.”

She closed her eyes again and let out a deep breath for a few seconds before opening them and staring at me. “They’ve been jumping on everyone, ripping our clothes, and biting us.”

My eyebrows rose. “Biting you?” Winter and I shared a glance because that was unheard of. I turned back to Martha. “If they’re that bad, I suggest you go stay somewhere else until we get them all out. Do you have somewhere to go?”

She made an angry face before sighing. “I’ll find a hotel.” Over her shoulder, she called out, “Alfred, you’re on paid leave until the gnomes are gone. Go home and get some rest.”

Alfred stalked out of the house, muttering, “Asshole exterminators don’t know how to do their jobs.”

My eyebrows rose since he’d seemed perfectly fine with us just yesterday, and it certainly wasn’t our fault the little creepy bastards had lost their minds overnight.

We’d left enough traps inside that it should’ve made a big dent in the number of gnomes they were seeing, so this was absolutely not our fault. Geez.

Alfred shoulder-checked me as he passed by, and it was hard enough I stumbled back a few steps.

Lyric surprised me by yelling, “Hey, touch him again and you’re a dead man.”

My eyebrows rose, and I leaned around Winter to quietly say, “It’s fine, Lyric. Please calm down.” Who the hell knew Lyric was a hot head? And why was everyone so damn angry?

Did everyone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Both Martha and Alfred weren’t acting like they had on our previous encounters. I obviously didn’t know them well, but their reactions—and even Lyric’s just now—seemed… odd.

Shaking that off, I said to Martha, “You can leave now, right? And you’re okay with us going inside without you here?”

“Yes and yes.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a set of keys.

“These are the spares. I left the others in my car. You can keep those while you’re working here.

Just lock everything up at night. At this rate, I’m not even worried about setting the alarm because the gnomes will scare anyone off, but I guess I need to tell you anyway.

” She sighed, then rattled off the alarm directions and code.

“You need to lock all the doors and set the alarm before you leave.”

“Will do.” I stepped forward. “Do you need medical attention? I, uh, think you have blood on your cheek.”

She automatically wiped at her cheek and winced. “Shit. No. I’ll be fine. Just… call me when you’re done.”

“It’s going to take a week or two to clear them all out.” Infestations like this were not a simple matter, not when I was catching the little creepers instead of just dropping poison everywhere.

She nodded and waved me off, already heading back inside. “Whatever it takes, just get the bastards out of here. I’m going to pack a bag.”

“Will do, Ms. Cohen.” I turned to Winter and Lyric. “That was… odd. She was the nicest person ever the other day.”

Winter shrugged. “Stress makes people do nutty things.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Lyric said before all three of us faced the mansion. “This place feels… off. Like there’s magic in the air, but it isn’t… pleasant magic.”

Winter said, “That can’t be good.”

I agreed that the place sort of felt ominous, but saying it had unpleasant magic was a peculiar way of putting it. But I couldn’t exactly disagree with the sentiment.

I grimaced. “Are you guys ready?”

Winter sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Let’s do this, bitches!” Lyric said before heading toward the employee entrance door.

Winter laughed. “Wait! Come back! You need coveralls on.”

Lyric turned on their heel and winced. “Do I really?”

I grinned. “Unless you’re prepared to get spider webs and gnome poop on your nice clothes, then yes, you do.”

They did a fake shudder and headed back for my truck.