Page 48 of Mochas and Minotaurs

“Oh, wow. He sucks ass,” I said.

Gigi was treating her like an adult so I did as well. Technically she was older than either of us, even though she sounded so young.

But those words had been close enough to trigger Triscuit and his ”Focking Socks.”

The ghost girl giggled. “He does.”

“Well, if the spell wasn’t protecting you, then it should be safe for you to go upstairs,” Gigi said. “But I want to be very honest with you. These wizards have been looking for you. They’ve been trying hard to buy this building from us, messing with our businesses and making life miserable in general. It’s why we started searching ourselves. Do you know why they might be looking for you?”

There was a pregnant pause.

“No.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Maybe the wizard I was supposed to marry left a clue.”

There was something she wasn’t telling us. But my instincts told me it wasn’t out of malice. It was like when I let Nick believe that my mom wanted to drag me back home to get married. It was out of self-preservation.

“The wizards already know you’re here either way. So it shouldn’t make a difference. At least now we can get you out of here if they end up getting their hands on this place.”

We brought her upstairs into Gigi’s home, and when our ghost girl didn’t turn into an evil spirit, I relaxed. Gigi put the compact in a box on her bookshelf so that our nameless spirit could read to her heart’s content. She could also hang out in the coffee shop if she wanted to, or step outside for some fresh air, something she hadn’t had in decades.

But more importantly, it was more than ten feet from Gigi’s bedroom so that when the door was closed, we’d have some privacy. But still, it felt a bit strange to stay over with a ghost in a compact hanging out at her place. For the first time in days, I decided to go home and unpack the rest of my measly possessions. But not before pulling Gigi into my arms and kissing her forehead.

“Call me if anything strange happens,” I said, holding her in my arms longer than usual. “I don’t trust Arcane not to do something stupid.”

“I know what you mean. I’ll keep watch on my wards.” She reached up and pulled my head down by the horns, pressing her forehead to mine. “You know, right now I really wish there were no walls between our apartments.”

“I could just break down the walls, but I’m not an engineer.” I imagined all her things and her numerous valuable collectibles spilling into my space, coloring it with her magic. It wouldn’t be bad at all. Now that I’d gotten used to being surrounded by pieces of her, my place felt so empty.

She grinned. “Maybe we should wait on that. I think we’ve knocked down enough walls for today.”

“Agreed.”

“Gigi?”

“Yes?” She stood there, her pretty green eyes bright and so beautiful.

“I—” I realized what I was about to say, and the words stuck in my throat. I’d almost told her I loved her. I stood stock-still even as a realization hit me. Minotaurs did have mates. And Gigi was mine.

Chapter 23

Griselda

Penny and Lily hadtaken the news that there was a ghost girl stuck to a compact living inside my home exceptionally well. It was Saturday night, and instead of heading to our usual house, we decided to stay and have a girls' night in. I’d sworn them both, and Prax, into secrecy before breaking the news to them.

Then we’d declared it a girls-only night so we could get to know our new friend a little more. She was still hiding somethingfrom me, and if I was going to protect her, I needed to know everything.

Prax had been a little disappointed that he had to leave, but he understood. And to be honest, he couldn’t be stuck to Penny 24/7. But then again, Marcus had stayed over for days after we found out we were neighbors, so I wasn’t one to talk.

“So you’renotmarried to the minotaur?” Bella asked.

Realizing that we couldn’t just call her “compact girl” the whole time, we’d asked her to pick a name, one that wasn’t “child” unless she really insisted we called her that.

“Because we would,” Lily had threatened. “And it’ll stick.”

She’d picked Bella because it was the name of a heroine in a romance novel she’d read in more recent years. I didn’t need to ask which one it was.

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