Page 61 of By the Fae

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you trying to get to know me? Because that’s against the rules, by the way.”

“Which rule? We never agreed to that.” On the screen I made Goldie leapfrog over the side of a short, chalky cliff, neatly landing on his feet, two fingers splayed on the ground in a sexy, butt-popping crouch.

“Nice,” he said, trying to do the same with computer-me and accidentally splatting me onto the limestone. “They’re my rules.”

“Why? So that you can keep people at arm’s length? So that you don’t develop any proper feelings for anyone?” I found a berry behind a bush and made my character eat it despite his HP already being full.

Beside me, the real Goldie had gone deathly still.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh no. That was it. I’d cut straight to the core. And he couldn’t deny it. He was still frozen, evidently trying to decide on his next move. Or perhaps I’d broken him. My brain scrambled with some way to fix the situation.

Goldie was right, I realised. We shouldn’t get to know one another. Once this deal was done, we’d go our separate ways, and maybe only see each other in passing. In the halls, in team meetings, in the break room. My belly cramped at the memory. No, it was better we didn’t grow to like each other. Better we stayed in this state of semi-aggression. It would make saying goodbye at the end that much easier.

“Once, when I was nine,” I began. “We went to visit my aunt and uncle in the Human Realms. My cousin, Marie, she had this amazing Wendy house. It had a little kitchen and everything, but she wouldn’t let me play in it. She called me a baby, even though she’s only eighteen months older than me. So that night while she was asleep, I wrote a note. From our gran, who died the year before. It said Marie was horrible and selfish, and that Granny was always watching and if she didn’t share her Wendy house, I would haunt her for all eternity. I left it on her pillow and opened the window to make it colder in the room. She never went back in that little house, and for a whole week I had the entire thing to myself.”

“What—What did you tell me that for?”

“Another time I stole fifty silvers from my college roommate’s purse to buy a game.” Goldie’s game, in fact, though, that part I left out. “When my baby sister was born and my mum and stepdad went on their first date night, I ignored her all evening, let her cry herself to sleep. I put headphones in.”

He was silent for a few moments. I stared into his emerald eyes.Don’t start liking him, Holly.

“What’re you doing?” A crease had formed between Goldie’s brows, or rather, it became more exaggerated, and I knew my plan was working.

“I’m telling you stories, horrible things I’ve done in the past. That way, you won’t run the risk of actually liking me.” Because as much as I wanted everyone to believe I was an exemplary model citizen/magna cum laude/incorruptible, it was far from the truth. I’d done bad things before. I just did a thorough job of hiding them.

Goldie sighed. Long and deep, every muscle in his body seeming to give up at the same time, and nodded once. “Before I left the Kingdom of the Fae, I never said goodbye to my folks.”

“Cold, bro.”

“Yep. Didn’t have any reason other than I didn’t want to at the time. Haven’t even been back in, like, one and a half centuries.”

“So, you stole a cat, you ghosted your parents . . .”

“I know, I’m a straight up cunt.” Goldie momentarily went cross-eyed. “Hey, stupid fae mouth, you let me down again.”

I laughed. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I think it’s working.”

“You like me less?”

“Yes,” I lied.

Crap.

Goldie scooped the hair from the side of my face and wove his fingers behind my head. “Are you ready to let me inside you yet?”

Sex. Uh . . .

We were in his bedroom, standing beside his unmade bed.

I’d thought about what we had already done. The amount of orgasms I’d had over the past week probably accounted for at least eighty percent of my combined yearly total. I was learning things about him. Things that couldn’t be recounted easily. Like when I touched a spot on his side, below his ribs, his body would go sort of floppy. Or if I said the word “please”, it would make him suck his breath in as though I’d given him a papercut. I wondered if Seth would like the same things. Or if not, would I be able to pick up on his signals like I did with Goldie? Would he make it easy for me like the Oread did?

I wanted to feel Goldie inside me. Almostneededto. He could give me cramps with a single look. I knew what was coming whenthatcrease appeared on his brow. But, no, I wasn’t ready for sex just yet. And I had an inclination why, but I wouldn’t let myself dwell on the reasons or analyse it too deeply.

“Can, uh, can I practice something else?”

---