Page 7 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Five

Winter

N erves made me jittery all morning, so I ended up being ready an hour early.

That worked out because I was able to take Goliath for a second walk around the neighborhood.

That helped alleviate any guilt I felt for leaving him for the day.

Yes, I left him for work during the week, but I tried to make up for it by giving him special treatment on the weekends.

But he’d be alright. I knew he would.

Plus, I had off on Monday, so I could make it up to him.

After our extra walk, I still had some time before Miles would arrive. So I sat and played a game on my phone, waiting, waiting, waiting.

I wasn’t surprised when a text came through from my best friend, Lyric. They were my ride or die, and I was eternally grateful they were in my life.

Lyric: Have fun with Emo Kid today!

With an eye roll, I texted back.

Me: Don’t call him that.

Lyric: Sorry. That’s what we called him in school…

That made me sigh and cringe because they weren’t wrong.

That’s what everyone called Miles when we were teenagers because he hung out by himself, always wore all black with these black gloves everywhere he went and basically moped around the school…

like an emo kid. But that was a long time ago, and it wasn’t fair or nice to call him that.

I just hoped Miles never found out what his nickname had been back then.

Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew.

Me: Well, he has a name, and we’re not in high school anymore.

Lyric: You’re right. Sorry. But I wasn’t trying to be rude. I genuinely want you to have fun with Miles today. I know you like the guy.

After only a second, another text came through.

Lyric: You like-like him. A lot.

Even though Lyric wasn’t even around me, I was embarrassed by their statement, and I could feel my cheeks heating. Thank god they hadn’t video called me.

Me: Thanks, Lyr.

Lyric: Call me later. I want all the deets.

I grinned at that.

Me: Will do. Chat later.

Lyric: Love you, boo.

Me: Love you too.

With that, I went back to my game and… waited.

When a knock came on my door at exactly eight o’clock, I jumped to my feet and rushed over, throwing the door open in my haste and scaring the crap out of Miles.

“Hey. Sorry. Guess I got a little overenthusiastic there.” I tried to laugh off my embarrassment, but my cheeks still flamed. Ugh .

“That’s okay.”

He chuckled when Goliath nudged me out of the way to give him a big kiss on his cheek. Goliath was really tall, and Miles was short, and the porch was a step lower than the door, so my dog barely had to reach up for his face. He made Miles look even smaller than he actually was.

“Goliath.” I sighed and pulled him back in. “Sorry about that.”

He waved me off with a grin, then bit his lip. “Um, good morning.”

“Good morning!” Now I sounded way too chipper. Great. I was going to scare him off with my happiness and make him regret asking me for help. “I’m ready. Let me just grab my wallet.”

He gave a nod, so I quickly stuffed my wallet and keys into my pockets, checked that I had my phone, gave Goliath a big kiss on the top of his head, and headed out, locking the door behind me.

“I have coveralls in my truck that should fit you,” Miles said as he reached into the backseat and passed over the clothes.

The coveralls had his Carry A Faerie logo on them, so I felt a little traitorous putting them on.

But it wasn’t like there was a clause in my contract with Faerie Be Gone saying I couldn’t do side work or even work for another company.

So… whatever. It’d be fine. The likelihood of one of my coworkers seeing me in these was so low I shouldn’t even take it into consideration.

And it wasn’t like my boss would fire me for something so little.

I was a good worker and his most reliable employee. I’d be fine.

Miles was already in his coveralls, so I figured I should throw mine on here rather than waiting until we arrived at the client’s house.

So I took off my shoes, then stepped into them and set myself to rights before sliding my boots back on and offering Miles a big grin. “These will work great. Thanks.”

Once we were in the truck, I decided that I didn’t want it to get awkward, so I asked him, “Do you have any pets?”

“Yeah, I have a cat.”

“You do seem like a cat person.”

He glanced at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that you seem like the sort to have a cat.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Cats are prickly, so…” I left it at that, trying not to chuckle at his expression.

He rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched, so I figured he wasn’t actually annoyed with me.

I asked, “What’s your cat’s name?”

“Odin. He’s an orange tabby and only has one eye.”

“You have a one-eyed cat?”

“I do.” He sounded offended, like me asking that put him on the defensive.

“That’s cool. I bet he’s cute. What happened to his eye, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I rescued him, so he’d just finished recovering from surgery when I brought him home. They said that when they pulled him off the street, it was infected and too far gone to save it. They had to remove it.”

“Aww. That poor baby.”

“I know, right?” He sent me a sad smile. “I felt awful for him, but you’d never know he’s missing an eye. He runs around like a maniac and gets into so much trouble, just like any other cat.”

That made me chuckle. “Maybe I can meet him one day.”

“He’d like that.”

Hm. That wasn’t a no. Good start, Winter . I mentally patted myself on the back.

But then I couldn’t think of anything else to say for a few minutes, and when I finally did, it came out loud and in a rush, making me wince. “I rescued Goliath too!” Wow, I sounded insane. And hyper, but that was nothing new.

He eyed me for a few seconds before he responded at a normal volume, like a normal human being—sigh. “That’s good. I always rescue. There are too many animals in need of a good home.”

“Agreed.” I cleared my throat. “Goliath and I always do this fundraiser walk in the spring to raise money for the shelter. It’s a huge event with food and activities and all kinds of stuff. It’s really fun.”

“Is it that walk-a-thon for Sheltered Souls Animal Rescue?”

“Yeah. You know it?”

He shot me a small smile. “I’ve never participated, but I always get the emails. That’s where I adopted Odin from.”

That made me grin. “No way. That’s awesome. I got Goliath from there too. You should come with Goliath and me this year. It’s a ton of fun.”

He made a strange noise in his throat before clearing it and quietly saying, “That sounds fun.”

I stared at him for a few seconds before shrugging. “It is.” And now I felt awkward because I invited this guy I barely knew to an event three months away when we didn’t even know if we got along well or not. Lovely.

The awkwardness continued, but after a minute or two, Miles asked, “Do you know anything about firebirds?”

That was so random, but I went with the flow. “Um, probably the same as everyone. They’re rare, catch things on fire sometimes with their wings, and their feathers bring good luck.”

He tensed.

“What?”

He shook his head.

Still eyeing him, I said, “I know that they’re hunted for their feathers because people are stupid and gross and so damn selfish.

They kill them and pluck their feathers, or I’ve heard of people catching the birds and plucking their feathers before releasing them, as if they’re so much better for not killing the poor things.

But you know, torturing them is fine.” I sounded hella sarcastic.

“You don’t think it’s okay to kill them or hurt them for their feathers?”

I held in a sigh because what did I expect?

Miles thought I was a faerie murderer. Of course he’d think I was the type of person who’d hunt firebirds for their feathers.

“No, Miles, of course I don’t think that’s okay.

I know… I know you think I’m a horrible person for working for Faerie Be Gone, but I don’t actually like killing faeries.

If I had another option, I’d do it in a heartbeat. ”

That made him glance at me. “Why in the world wouldn’t you have another option? You could get a job anywhere else.”

Yeah, I wish. “They were the only place that would hire me after…” I cringed, not wanting to tell him.

“After what?”

With a sigh, I resigned myself to my fate.

As soon as he found out, he was going to treat me differently, possibly be afraid of me, and never want to speak to me again.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t kick me out of the car and leave me stranded on the sidewalk—it’d happened before, so I wouldn’t even be surprised.

I braced myself before quietly saying, “After I got out of prison.”

The car swerved, but he jerked it back to rights quickly, muttering, “Shit. Sorry. I… sorry. I was just surprised.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear the rumors from old classmates.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “I don’t speak to anyone from high school, so I don’t know who I’d hear the rumors from.” He paused. “What, uh, are the rumors?”

I winced. “The rumors are way worse than what actually happened.”

“What actually happened?” He sucked in a breath. “Shit. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to—shit. I… you… fuck… you don’t have to answer that, Winter. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have—shit. Sorry.”

For some reason, his fumbling made me laugh, and after a few seconds, he joined in. When I finally calmed, I said, “I don’t mind telling you. I’m not proud of what I did, but I also already served my time and paid the price for it. It’s not a secret.” It was public record, after all.

“Okay.” He didn’t sound scared of me or even judgmental. Maybe he was hiding it well, but I didn’t think so. His lack of an attitude gave me the courage to continue.

Glancing away from him, I stared out the window and told him my worst not-so-secret secret.

“My college boyfriend and I broke into this huge house near campus. I went away for college, not sure if you know that or not. Anyway, we broke in, stole some jewelry, and were caught when we tried selling it.” I let out a humorless laugh.

“The one and only time I ever stole anything, and I got caught. And because the owner was a rich white lady, we got hit pretty hard with the sentence. I got ten years, but was out for good behavior in eighteen months.”

He was quiet for a long moment before he reached over and gave my hand a squeeze, stopping me from picking at my pants. I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. He cleared his throat and said, “Thank you for telling me. I know that wasn’t easy.”

I sent him a small smile and shrugged. “Unfortunately, I’ve had to get good at telling the story.”

“I bet. But still, thanks.” He squeezed my hand one more time before releasing me and regripping the steering wheel. The fact that he’d reached out to me like that was huge and made my belly flutter with butterflies. “I can’t believe they didn’t let you off with a fine for a first-time offense.”

I cleared my throat, ignoring the fluttering of butterflies.

“Like I said, she was a super-rich lady, and I’m not exactly in the same class as her.

My family has always struggled financially.

The only reason I went to college was because I had a full scholarship.

We couldn’t afford a good attorney, so I had one assigned to me.

He didn’t give a shit what happened to me and obviously did a terrible job. ”

“Did your boyfriend get out after eighteen months too?”

I shook my head. “He only served a year. But he’s not my boyfriend anymore.

I broke up with him before we even went to sell the jewelry and everything went down.

I was… pissed that he convinced me to rob someone in the first place.

It was my fault, obviously. I should never have done it, I should’ve stuck to my gut, my morals, but I didn’t like the person I was when I was with him.

We had a huge fight”—that was putting it mildly—“and broke up, and when things went down, I just… I guess I never really forgave him.”

“Why did you do it? If you don’t mind me asking?”

With a sigh, I went back to messing with the knee of my pants.

“Ricky lost his scholarship because he failed one of his classes, and he needed the money to stay in school. I was infatuated with him, and clearly, he wasn’t a good influence.

But I was a stupid kid who only thought with his dick, so you know.

” I winced. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I just said that out loud. ”

To my surprise, Miles started cracking up.

After a few seconds, I joined in, and then the two of us were laughing hysterically as Miles pulled up to a gated mansion.