Page 33 of Goblins Don't Count
He gave me a slight smile and pulled me closer. “Not when he sees an admirable fighter for justice. Like you.”
“Oh.” I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder while my stomach churned and all the realities clashed and banged around in my head. I had a familiar somewhere, possibly digging through trash bins, possibly lounging in Sashimi’s office, thinking about rotting liver and beetles.
“Are you all right?”
“Dizzy. I think coming out after binding a familiar was a stretch.”
He slid his hand up my back to rest between my shoulder blades. “Do you want to go home?” he murmured in my ear, sending another wave of goosebumps down my spine.
I looked up at him, filled with nausea and dizziness as well as the fear that my whole life would implode. My whole life had gone to pieces the second I’d written to the Goblin Authority. “Are you kidding me? When else will I get the chance to shake down all the politicians and the stupidly wealthy? If they want to expose me, well, then neither one of us will be wearing a mask.”
I cupped his cheek and gave him a peck, only a brush over his lips, but enough to be noticeable to the crowd who were looking at us and thinking we didn’t belong. Nope. We didn’t, but we had work to do.
I gave him a wry smile and then pulled him off the dance floor towards the nearest politician.
ChapterTen
Isat in the back alley eating raw fish and feeling sorry for myself.
Sashimi had dropped me off, walked me to my door and everything, like a real date, but he hadn’t looked at me during the whole walk. It was fine. The thing that had me stuffing my face in the dark, trying to see the stars, was the fact that I still knew nothing.
That is, every single person in the world had a motive for killing Representative Phil. He lied, cheated, insulted, and took advantage at every possible opportunity. His secretary was also universally despised. Phil had been divorced for years, had no children, and had a string of unhappy ex-girlfriends, some of which were also politicians, or lobbyists, or executives. Like Shelly Feldman of Feldman Corporation, who had dated him a few years back. She hadn’t been at the gala, no, but there had been a lot of gossip about the time she’d publicly returned all the gifts he’d given her over the course of their relationship. Cars, furs, stocks…Made it sound more like kickbacks than presents, but no one was surprised by that.
For a party that had put my privacy, and Sashimi’s, at risk, it hadn’t been very satisfying. I still didn’t know anything concrete tying Judge Stevens to the politician.
And the dress. I wasn’t going to think about the fact that Sashimi found it much more attractive than me. And me? Fine. During the final dance, I’d really, really wanted to kiss him again. His hand on my lower back was comforting in a world of vultures and vertigo. Not just comforting, strong, powerful, competent. All the corrupt, powerful, judgmental people who looked at him like he was a raccoon in the bottom of a trash can had me wanting to defend him, like I’d felt about my little brother. Only he wasn’t my little brother. He was Sashimi, the steady presence in my back alley for ten years. He was also the Goblin Authority who I’d had a huge crush on when I was young, when I’d written to him so stupidly.
So this feeling, this hurt at not being desirable, was starting to feel personal. Maybe I wouldn’t mind the Goblin Authority dating me for real. Maybe I wouldn’t mind him being stupidly in love with me.
There was a slight thump that had me sitting up and searching the shadows. A flicker of gold eyes was there the moment before Sashimi stepped out where I could see him.
My heart pounded, but not from fear. Nope, this was anticipation. “Oh. It’s you. I thought you’d gone home to bed.”
“Why aren’t you in bed?”
I shrugged and looked up to where the wispy clouds were passing amidst the barely visible stars. “Stargazing. Also, raw fish. I’m unwinding from my stressful day. Don’t you unwind?”
He looked up, showing the long column of his throat before he studied me with a look that made me slightly nervous. “Absolutely. You’re definitely doing it all wrong.”
I huffed. “Excuse me? I’m doing it all wrong? That’s nonsense. You think I should be frolicking with animals and plants? I live in the city.”
He took my hand, tugging me to my feet. “I am aware. Alleys are good for lurking, not star-gazing. Would you like me to show you?”
I stared into those eyes, bright, mesmerizing, and shrugged. He did have that high office with all those windows. And a cushy window seat. Supposedly familiars were supposed to make you feel better.
“Okay.”
He slung me onto his back, and then leapt ten feet in the air, hitting the side of the brick building, and just hanging there, one hand, two feet, holding us on a wall, because he was still holding onto my arm.
I gasped and wrapped my other arm around his chest. “What are you doing?” I squeaked.
He adjusted me slightly, so I wasn’t strangling him and then he said, “Showing you how to unwind.” And then he left the wall, leaping back to the one behind us, my parent’s place, and then back to another wall, leaping up like a grasshopper, only on a sheer building.
I clung to him, wrapping my legs around his waist, not breathing, until we flipped over the edge of a very tall building, into a lush garden with a much better view of the stars.
He released me, but I was still wrapped around him, finding it impossible to relax my frozen grasp.
“You can let go,” he said, voice warm with amusement.
