Page 84 of A Fae in Finance
He frowned. “I thought perhaps it meant mathematicians.”
“A support group for gay people, shapeshifters, and mathematicians?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I signed up to get out of a weekly assignment I did not like,” he admitted, sounding like a frat boy and not a faerie.
This was simultaneously endearing and rage-inducing.
“Right. Well, to level set, thank you for telling me. I did not have sex with her. I’m not sure how she said that sentence since she cannot lie.” I patted his thigh. “I will probably survive, though, and I am bisexual, which means I like both men and women.”
“We do not have all of these descriptors,” Sahir said, sounding quite condescending for a man who thoughtTstood fortransmutation. “We do not use labels here.”
I sighed and made a conscious choice to disengage.
But Sahir wasn’t done. “She said you lay with her.”
My irritation bubbled over and I flung my hands into the air. “I didn’t—” I stopped midoutburst, realization hitting me like a rotten tomato. My hand dropped to my knee. “I did lie with her. I lay down with her. On the ground. We lay down.AndI slept with her. I fell asleep.”
Sahir’s mouth dropped open. His face looked like a birdhouse.
“Sahir, you handsome, unnecessary alarm clock. Not to be rude, but aren’t you a faerie? Isn’t wordplay, like, your thing?”
He stood up so quickly I unbalanced, sliding sideways like a seven-layered cake. “Apologies,” he said, “and good night.”
He left the room like he’d just remembered he left the stove on in another country.
But I lay in bed, remembering the spinning silver sky she’d built for me. It took me a long time to fall asleep; when I did, I dreamed of Gaheris creating a portal in the kitchen that let swarms of cockroaches come inside.
In the morning, my phone buzzed.
“Hi, Jeff,” I answered on the first ring.
“Miri,” he said. “Be quick, I have a lot going on today.”
“Be quick?” I asked. “Jeff, you called me.”
He grunted. “Tell me what you think of Kayla,” he said, reminding me that we had a new analyst who I’d barely spoken to.
“I like her,” I started.
Jeff cut me off. “Miri, never start a human resources conversation with the fact that you like someone.”
“Sorry,” I said.
“She’s slow. She doesn’t take initiative, and she doesn’t talk to anyone.”
I tapped my fingers on my desk, not sure why I was involved in this conversation.
“Maybe she’s just overwhelmed,” I said, “being the only woman left in the office.”
“Corey said she does bad work.”
I felt a flicker of frustration. “Corey has high expectations. She just started.”
“We can send her back now, but we won’t be able to later.”
“Does she want to be on our team?” God knewIdidn’t want to be on our team any longer.
“She asked to be here.”
