Page 40 of By the Fae

When I eventually got back upstairs, it was to discover the human curled up on my side of the bed, wet hair on my pillow, fast asleep. She’d placed her glasses on my nightstand and had donnedGroovy Graham and Palspyjamas.

Still definitely not cute.

Chapter 14.

Holly

I awoke to something licking my palm. A cat?! Light gouged at my eyeballs. The dark underside of Abby’s top bunk had mysteriously vanished. My sheets felt different. Stiffer. Clean, but not my washing powder. I reached across for my glasses and jammed them onto my face.

A blonde, unsmiling head stared down at me. “Morning, human.”

I sat up. It took a few seconds before I could place everything, remember everything. The realisation of the previous night hitting me all at once. I’d had my first non-solo orgasm. And it had been good. Earth-shatteringly good. He’d done that. In under five minutes too. I clamped my thighs together at the memory.

Baby girl.That’s what he’d called me.

The name made me feel like I’d eaten a whole bag of candy floss. Like I was coasting an intense sugar high, and also, a little sick.

“Where’s Not Ludo?” I asked, looking around for the source of the licking.

Goldie cocked a shoulder. A bare shoulder. Shirtless.Don’t look directly at it. Don’t look at those highly defined abdominal and pectoral muscles that were, last night, rubbing against my naked back.I swallowed.

“With Sugar Paste I expect.”

I definitely didn’t dream the contact. “Were you—Were you licking my hand?”

“Don’t be stupid. Of course I wasn’t licking your hand.” He couldn’t lie, I knew that, but it felt like a lie. Why was that? “I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been working on the game. Get up, and you can play-test it for me.”

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched out my spine. “What, right now?”

“Yeah,” he said, an unspokenDuhhanging at the end.

“Can I at least get dressed first?”

“Why? You look cute in those PJs.” He slapped himself in the head and turned his back to me, as though he never meant to let that nugget escape.

So, Goldie thought I was cute? I was beginning to realise there was a lot more hiding behind those emerald eyes than he let on.

In the living room, he handed me the controller and shepherded me to the sofa.

“Coffee’s there, and breakfast.” He motioned his hand towards the table. The glorious smells hit me at once as though waiting for their names to be called before emitting their mouth-watering aromas. A cafetiere of fresh coffee, a little jug of milk, a huge pot of sugar, and next to that, a plateful of social-media worthy pastries. Swirls with cinnamon, flat ones with custard and fruit, puffy round ones with, I think, jam leaking from the centre.

“Thank you,” I said, taking a seat and expecting him to join me.

“Don’t eat that one in the bag there. It’s for Sugar Paste.” I nodded. Goldie switched on the TV.

“What changes have you made?” I said. His brow creased. “To the game?” It creased further.

He still didn’t sit. “I’ve started from scratch. New game. It’s nowhere near complete yet, but I just wanted to get your opinion on the dual characters.”

“You’ve programmed an entire new game overnight?” I looked around for any signs of a computer. “But, how?”

“Glamour. Obviously,” he said, as though that explained everything. “How did you think—We all use glamour. All the senior designers, and many others too. If you look at our lanyards, those with Appearance glamour will have a small blue pin.”

“Appearance glamour?” The words rang familiar through my mind.

Goldie’s eyes twitched, as though he were desperately refraining from rolling them. “It means we can conjure images from thin air. I can paint pictures, make them move, imbed them into the game.”

“Oh,” I said, trying not to feel jealous of this ability. How much easier would my job be if I could think something into reality? “The mirror last night? It wasn’t really there, was it? When I came back after my shower, it had gone.”

---