Page 66 of Howl for the Gargoyle

Khell planted himself on the stool next to me, and my shoulders loosened. Maybe Elias was right. Had I come here…hoping these two jokers would find me?

Yes, because they're your friends, my mother's voice offered in my head.

"MSA rumor mill," Khell said. "I could use some help with some jobs."

"If you're going to eat all my food, you could always, I dunno, cook some of it," Elias offered, studying his own claws rather than meeting my eyes.

I stared at them both for a beat, and the nonstop gut punching discomfort that had plagued me since I'd left Hannah on the roof of Tribune Tower last night kicked up to a faster tempo. I pushed all the baskets of food surrounding me away, groaning and falling forward, resting my forehead on top of my folded arms.

"I'm sick," I moaned into the bar top. "Elias, your food poisoned me."

"What did you eat?" Khell asked, playing along.

"He's not sick," Elias snarled. "He has a stone stomach. These are emotions, you idiot."

I scowled into my arms.

"You developed feelings for a client. She, for all intents and purposes, severed your relationship. Now you're upset."

"Chill, Elias," Khell said softly.

Elias's wings rustled, and he sighed. "Fine. You also…possibly…have indigestion. But only because you're trying to eat my entire menu."

"She was my client," I moaned.

"Sunny was mine," Khell reasoned. "It happened. Do you know why she canceled?"

I swallowed the bile trying to rise up my throat because Elias, annoying as it was, was right. It wasn't the food I'd eaten, but the disappointment and…and heartache, of being tossed aside by Hannah. Who I liked. Who I…

"I haven't wanted to look," I admitted, lifting my head and wiping the grease from my face. The bar top was cleared in front of me, Khell and Elias effectively stealing away my coping mechanism while I wasn't looking.

They were quiet for a beat, glancing at one another.

"What?" I asked, fighting that surging sensation in my gut again.

"You should check," Elias said, too neutral to be trusted.

"Maybe the explanation isn't…bad?" Khell asked, voice a note too high.

My eyes narrowed. "What do you know?" I asked.

Elias's eyes rolled and his mouth opened, but at that moment the door to the bar banged open once more, startling everyone in the room. A tiny bullet of pink and violet and sapphire blue charged toward the three of us, and I grabbed onto the bar top, bracing myself to be struck.

"We had it under control," Elias drawled.

Astraeya stopped inches away from me and glared over my shoulder at the moth fae. "If that were true, he wouldn't still be sitting here smelling like a deep fryer. What is Khell even doing here?"

"I'm useful in a crisis," Khell said, chest puffing up.

Astraeya rolled her eyes. "Arguable." And then she turned her full blazing purple stare onto me, glaring and threatening to reduce my lifespan by decades. "Read. The. Exit. Interview."

She produced a tablet from the inside of her draped blue coat and shoved it under my nose without ceremony.

The words jangled and rearranged at first glance, but there was enough there to catch my interest.

Emotionally invested. Maybe my mate? Possibly boundaries. Feelings. Relationship.

"Fuck," I hissed, snatching the tablet from Astraeya's hands and gluing my gaze to the screen until the pieces settled in the right order. "Fuck!"

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