Page 82 of Vibing Unity

“Yeah, you have. You really have.” He chuckled when I gave him a look that I didn’t buy it. “You didn’t fly off on your bike or block us. You didn’t ditch your detail. You—you’ve come so far. You know it when you’re not so bogged down. None of us are mad at you and—just trust me today?”

“As long as you include conveyor belt sushi because I promised them we’d go and now my tummy expects it.”

“Let’s get your phone because you need it, and you promised Izzy you’d invite her next time and I don’t want her to beat you up.”

I laughed. Izzy never could, but she would spank me every time she saw me for months if I did forget her. I loved that about her and the fact Hudson remembered.

Ara went with a few fairies to go start the ice cream order and Hudson turned to me, cupping my cheek. I was curious what was going on, but I felt his hesitation.

“You can always say anything to me, beastie,” I promised.

He nodded, looking relieved. “Let’s go find your phone and then go see Rich.”

I swallowed loudly. Yeah, I did want to do that actually. I stood on my toes and kissed him, glad he relaxed.

My phone was with Shael and I thanked her, glad she didn’t push when she saw I had guards and was with Hudson. Then we went to the cemetery Rich was buried at.

I ended up plopping down and leaning against a headstone.

“Can you do that here?” Hudson asked quietly.

I shrugged as I glanced around. “I’m on the backside of it, not sitting on a grave. I can’t see the person really getting upset about that and if they do—well, stuff it. It’s not like they’re really there besides their body. I see it as leaning against the side of their house or sitting on their curb.”

He seemed to accept that and sat next to me.

I told him the story about how I first met Rich, the human who had been placed at the same foster home as me. I chuckled.

“What?” he asked when I simply stared off.

We were interrupted when our ice cream arrived. We thanked them and the fairies took the hint and didn’t hover.

“I just realized that you remind me of Rich,” I admitted. “Your attitude with me and—he was quiet, but he paid attention. I was such a brat to him the first time we met, ranting that hebetter not touch me or get any ideas because I would bite, kick, or kill him in his sleep. You know what he said to me?”

“What?” Hudson asked in between bites.

“Let me know when you get all you’re feeling out and we can become friends,” I whispered. “You look like you could use a friend and so could I. That was it. He just let me lose my head and explode when I needed to. Gave me a hug when I let him. Even quietly followed after me when I needed air and left that house, not having anywhere to really run.”

“Sounds like a good guy and exactly what you needed,” he said after a minute. “Thanks for protecting and helping her, Rich. You’re a solid guy.”

A portal opened and Lucca stepped out with his detail.

“Awww, we missed ice cream?” one of the fairies whined.

“We’re in a cemetery, idiot,” a different one hissed, cuffing him upside the head.

It was the comic relief we needed, Hudson and I both snorting.

“Sometimes I wonder who is babysitting whom,” Lucca drawled.

“I’m over a hundred years old,” the first fairy huffed.

“Act like it,” the three of us tossed right back… And we weren’t the only ones.

Yeah, I wasn’t the only one who laughed.

I handed over one of my pints to Lucca when he came closer. I frowned when he didn’t accept it.

“Not sure you’ll want to give me your ice cream when I’m about to blast you, cream puff,” he said with a sigh.

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