Page 30 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Miles

T he kids wanted Chinese food, which worked out great for my plan. It was super easy to order a ton of extras. And I was planning on making up a little fib about not having enough room in my fridge for the leftovers. It would work perfectly.

I hoped.

We waited by the cars for the food to be delivered, and Clucky ran around doing a little dance the entire time, making everyone laugh. Even Chaos couldn’t help but smile at the goofy familiar.

I still couldn’t believe he was bonded to a cockatrice. I’d never seen one in real life, and I had to admit she was adorable.

It really made me wish I’d brought Sola here.

“Too bad Sola isn’t here,” Winter murmured beside me where we were leaning against the side of my truck.

My eyebrows shot up. “I was just thinking that.”

He tore his gaze away from Clucky to look at me. “Really?”

“Yep. Can you read minds?”

He snorted. “Nope.”

And thank god for that. No way did I want him hearing all my crush-induced thoughts about him.

He nudged me with his shoulder. “If we lived closer, I’d say we should go pick her up.”

I shook my head. “The thought crossed my mind, but I’m not bonded to her yet, so I’m not sure I want to expose her to any of this, you know?”

“Makes sense.”

“I… I think I might ask Chaos about bonding. I don’t know anyone else who has a familiar, so I have no idea how to do it. I don’t want to mess anything up.”

He wrapped his arm around my back, resting his hand on my shoulder. His thumb found its way to my collar, and he started rubbing the skin under it. “I’ve been told that it’s all instinct, so I doubt you can mess it up. But it won’t hurt to ask him. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

I nodded and found myself leaning into his side, almost craving his touch.

How had I gone my whole life with no one touching me ever to this man constantly touching me, and me… wanting it? I legitimately wanted him to touch me. All of the time.

It was getting to be a little much, but that didn’t stop me. It certainly didn’t make me move away.

“Agreed.” I took a deep breath, then called over, “Hey, Chaos?”

The kid looked up from the ground where he was sitting and throwing sticks for Clucky with an unimpressed expression. “Yeah?”

“Um… I have a question.”

He stared for a few seconds, then rolled his eyes. “Okaaaayyy… I gathered that. What is it?”

“So I found a firebird who I think is meant to be my familiar, but we haven’t fully bonded yet, so I guess I was wondering… how do you complete the bond?”

He stared at me for a good ten seconds before he got to his feet, made his way over, and leaned against the truck on my other side with his arms crossed.

Clucky stayed with Aeson, playing tug-of-war with him.

Chaos was silent for a bit, but I had the feeling he was thinking things over, so I didn’t push.

I simply waited and enjoyed the way Winter’s hand had moved to the back of my neck, his fingers playing with the hair at my nape.

Finally, Chaos asked, “Do you feel a pull to her?”

“Yes.” I answered without hesitation because the pull felt stronger every day, every minute. Even here, away from her, I felt like the pull was stronger than it’d been before I’d left the house this morning.

He nodded. “Good. I guess I sort of concentrated on that pull and kinda pushed my magic into it? And then I felt Clucky’s magic push out toward me, and I grabbed onto it.

I followed my instincts, and so did Clucky.

Our magics sort of mixed, and then… that was it.

” He shrugged and made a face. “That wasn’t helpful, but that’s all I got. ”

I nodded and sighed. “Yeah… that sounds like what I read.”

Chaos hesitated for a few beats before he faced me, leaning his shoulder against the truck. “Look, I’m not good at this whole… sharing magic thing, but you seem like an okay guy, so… If you need help when you’re bonding, you can call me, and I’ll talk you through it or whatever.”

Now the kid wouldn’t meet my eye, looking everywhere but at me.

“Thank you, Chaos. That’s a really kind offer.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. You have my cell.” Then he pushed off the truck and walked back over to his brother, still refusing to look at me.

Winter chuckled quietly. “He’s a good kid, even though he pretends not to be.”

I nodded and sighed. “Yeah, he is.” And he brought out every protective instinct I had.

I knew I’d always felt protective of animals, but the last time when I’d felt this protective over another person, I hadn’t been able to protect her the way I should’ve and… I shook the thoughts away. I couldn’t go down that road, not again.

I could, however, do my best for two teenagers I’d only met this morning.

I was going to have to find another job to hire them for, if only so I could pay them and feed them again.

And then I’d find another job after that, and another after that, and I’d just keep doing it until I knew for sure they were safe and healthy. And loved. That last one was important too.

Winter sighed. “I swear that I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I’ve never worked with a necromancer before, so I have no idea where that could’ve been.”

I looked at Winter. “Maybe somewhere in town or something?”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but the kid said this drive was out of the way, so he probably doesn’t live near us.”

“Hm. True.” I shrugged because I had no idea. “Well, to be fair, that car probably wouldn’t make it on the beltway at all, so out of the way for him might not be the same as out of the way for us.”

“I didn’t think about that.” He sent me a small smile and turned toward me, leaving one arm behind me while he used the other to run his fingertips through my hair. The move made me sigh and close my eyes, leaning into the touch.

I’d never, ever had this. This peacefulness that came from another’s touch.

I knew some of it had to do with his being a null, but I was pretty sure most of it was simply because it was Winter himself touching me. He was so sweet and kind and gentle and… and I really, really hoped that after today, he’d still want to be my friend.

He wanted to go on a date, but I had a feeling it was going to turn into more of a hook-up type situation. And I wanted that—I wanted him—so there was no way I was going to deny either of us that experience. But I really hoped he’d want to remain friends even after we hooked up.

Before long, the delivery guy turned up with about a billion bags of food. I’d already paid online and added a hefty tip to the driver, so all I had to do was get Winter to help me carry everything over to the rest of the group.

Luckily, we found a picnic bench to eat at near the garden entrance, so we weren’t too close to the cursed mansion.

Yay for not wanting to punch each other while we ate!

As we all settled in, Clucky hopped up on the table and sat by Chaos’s elbow. I had a feeling she was going to be begging us all for food soon.

“Holy hell, did you buy one of everything on the menu?” Aeson asked with a laugh. “That’s so much food.”

I shrugged. “Well, I’ve always heard that teenagers eat their parents out of house and home, so…”

The two teens shared a look I couldn’t interpret before Aeson sent me a small smile. “Thank you for the food, Miles. We both really appreciate it. Especially since you didn’t know I’d be tagging along.”

I waved him off. “It’s no big deal. Don’t even worry about it. We obviously need the extra hands, anyway.”

Aeson smiled and softly said, “It’s a big deal to us.” Then he grabbed one of the bags and started pulling food out.

Oh my god, my heart. These kids were killing me.

Clucky wanted some food too, and Chaos and Aeson kept feeding her little bits and pieces as they ate. She was well-behaved and didn’t bother the rest of us, to my surprise.

Everyone must’ve been pretty ravenous because we were all quiet for a few minutes—definitely a feat for Lyric—while we shoveled food into our mouths. I wasn’t surprised in the least when it was Lyric who spoke first.

“This is the best damn Chinese food I’ve ever had. Mmm. Good pick, boys.” They winked at the teens.

Aeson grinned at them, and Chaos rolled his eyes but said, “We’ve eaten there before. It’s always good.”

Winter tilted his head to the side. “I thought you weren’t from around here.”

The boys shared a look before Chaos shrugged. “We’ve moved around a lot. I don’t like driving my car out here too often because it’s a piece of crap, but we come out here for jobs sometimes.”

Winter grunted in acknowledgment.

Lyric asked, “Aeson, do you have a job?”

The kid grinned widely. “Actually, I just started working at the Museum of Supernatural History. There’s a few people getting ready to leave, so Morty might apply too.”

“Oh, that sounds like a cool place to work,” I said with a grin. “I haven’t been there since my ninth-grade field trip.”

Winter nudged me with his knee. “Oh my god, I forgot about that trip. That was a fun one.”

Lyric and Winter shared a grin, and I felt a pang of jealousy shoot through my chest. I wasn’t even sure why.

Was it because it was clear how well the two of them knew each other?

Or could it be because I’d been so lonely in high school, so as awesome as seeing that museum had been, I hadn’t spent that trip with my friends…

because I hadn’t had any? I’d been thrown into a group, and it’d been clear no one wanted me with them, so I wasn’t even sure I’d spoken more than two words to other people the entire day.

Shaking myself out of those morose thoughts, I concentrated on Aeson as he asked, “So you guys all went to high school together?”

Winter nodded with a grin. “We sure did.” He shoved a huge bite of some noodle concoction I’d ordered into his mouth with chopsticks.

Aeson pointed at Winter and me with his chopsticks, waving them back and forth. “So are you guys high school sweethearts?”