Page 27 of The Fantastic Fluke

Ah crap, foxy.

I stuffed the cards into my wallet and put it back on the table, then headed for the couch.

“Hey, buddy, how you doing down there? Can you get out on your own?” A wet, dusty nose poked out from beneath the ancient behemoth of a sofa, and there was another whine. I ran a finger along the top of his nose, since it was all I could get to. “I’m not mad, foxy. Promise. We just need to get you cleaned up.”

The nose pulled back at that, and a moment later, he burrowed out from the back of the sofa. He kept low to the floor, head down, but looked longingly toward the bathroom.

I wanted to pet him, but sure enough, he had ash embedded in his fur. “It’s a good thing you like showers, bud, or we’d be in trouble. Showertime, bud.” I pushed up to my feet and turned toward the hall. Like a furry red snake, foxy slunk along the floor without pulling himself up to his usual height, making a beeline for the bathroom.

“Pretty sure he thought you were gonna toss him out on his ass,” Gideon said, coming up next to me.

I looked over at him, then up. And up. Fuck me the man was enormous. I could almost feel the phantom heat from his body. I suppressed a shiver and looked back toward the bathroom. “In the two days I’ve known him, he’s been better to me than my father was in eighteen years. Combined. Foxy’s only leaving if he wants to. Or I guess if his mage comes looking for him.”

Gideon scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he made a shooing motion toward the bathroom. “Go ahead and get yourselves cleaned up. I’ll be waiting in the bedroom.”

I couldn’t suppress the shiver that caused, so I turned and followed foxy into the bathroom. Another night of Gideon sitting in my bed, telling me about what it was like to “touch the convergence” sounded like an exquisite sort of torture.

I wondered if foxy would look the other way while I rubbed one out in the shower.

Chapter Nine

Gideon was the liveliest of us as we walked down the street the next morning, and I couldn’t even tell him to cut it out. Foxy kept glaring up at me, like it had been my fault he fell asleep on my phone and woken to the alarm in his ear.

I mean, yeah, I probably should have made sure it was on the nightstand and not the bed. Also, I had been the one to set the alarm loud and annoying.

Poor guy had woken with a yelp, jumping straight up onto his feet and immediately tumbling into me like a drunken frat boy, thereby assuring we were both well and truly up for the morning. The blankets had gotten tangled around his feet, too, and it had taken us almost a full minute to get them off, find my phone, and turn off the jangling bell alarm tone.

At least Gideon hadn’t laughed at us.

Well, not out loud.

As foxy turned to glare at me again, I stuck my tongue out at him. “This is for you, you know. I wouldn’t have chosen to get up before dawn, but if I don’t get you licensed, they could take you away.”

He dropped his head and pushed against my leg, vaguely apologetic, and we all kept trudging toward the familiar registration office. Well, it was the county building, the registration office was just a part of it. It was the government’s way of making sure they got their cut of a mage’s very existence.

“You gonna put ‘Foxy’ on his registration?” Gideon asked, quirking that irritating brow at me. Of course he had to be the one to point out that issue.

I scowled at him. “I can’t just name him. What if I do it wrong?”

He shrugged and didn’t break stride. “Parents do it all the time. I think you can handle it.”

“Parents have nine months to decide, not two days,” I pointed out, perfectly logically. I was not being petulant. You’re petulant.

“Parents don’t get to meet the kid before naming them. You know him pretty well. Smart and kind of an asshole.”

I gasped and dropped to my knees, hugging foxy to my chest as though scandalized. “You take that back. He’s perfection incarnate. He’s the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me.”

Gideon, to his credit, didn’t say that was pathetic. Foxy leaned up and licked my cheek. A passing woman looked at me like she thought maybe she should call the authorities.

“It’s not luck. It’s not an accident he found you,” Gideon finally said, after the woman got in her car and left.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Stop saying that. He’s not my familiar.”

He stopped again, right in front of the building door, and looked at me. “I didn’t say it. What I think doesn’t change anything. But eventually, you’ve got to see that him coming into your life isn’t an accident.”

This time I glanced around for onlookers before responding. “So what, it’s part of some grand design, and not just a fluke?”

He frowned at that and shook his head. “I don’t think the universe has a plan. I’m just saying he’s here because he belongs with you. What’s a fluke?”

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