Page 29 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
I shook my head as I got out two cutting boards and set us up side by side at the counter, then walked over to wash the veggies at the sink as I soaked in everything he’d said.
His boss fired him? Or fake-fired him or whatever? Did that mean… “Does that mean you’re not working there for the next two weeks?”
Winter made a face I couldn’t interpret. “Correct. But don’t feel obligated to bring me on earlier. I’m sure you have paperwork to get situated and everything, so—”
“Are you kidding me? I’d love to have you start right away.”
He stared at me for a long time. “Are you sure?”
“Hell yes. I told you I’ve been thinking about bringing someone else on for a long time, right? Like, probably at least two years, but I’ve really been thinking about it the past several weeks. I actually got a contract together a while back when the idea first came to me, so we can go over it tomorrow morning… if you want? If you want to wait the two weeks or whatever, that’s fine too. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
His smile was wide and beautiful. “I don’t want to wait. I’d love to start tomorrow.”
I let out a littlewhoop, then leaned over and pressed a kiss to his smiling lips. We both laughed as we went back to preparing dinner.
Tonight had gone even better than I could’ve imagined.
Chapter Eight
Winter
TWO MONTHS LATER
Working for Miles these past two months had been a dream come true. He was a really great boss, although he insisted on calling me his partner. It was sweet, even if it was unnecessary. And definitely not true, no matter how much he treated me that way.
We’d found a pretty good rhythm together, and I could tell that Miles was as happy about the arrangement as I was.
Miles came out of the house we were working on, carrying a large cage filled with dwarves. How the definitely-way-bigger-than-a-gnome creatures didn’t creep Miles out when tinygnomes did, I had no idea. The things were twelve to eighteen inches tall and looked like little, wrinkly old dolls with big blinky eyes and typically with long hair. Generally speaking, they stole baby clothes or used towels and other cloths like togas, so at least they weren’t naked since the rest of their bodies were hairless. And they chattered… a lot.
I wasn’t sure if they were just making noises like squirrels did or if they were actually speaking some kind of dwarf language, but it kind of made me think they were talking about us. Which was an odd sensation.
If I was being honest, they creeped me out a little.
I didn’t like it. At all.
I also didn’t understand how faeries that big were able to get into and make a nest inside someone’s home. None of the windows had been left open—according to the homeowner—they didn’t leave their doors open for long periods of time, and from everything Miles and I had seen, there weren’t any large holes in the house or foundation.
Miles figured the homeowners simply didn’t remember leaving a door or window open, seeing as nothing else made sense. It could’ve even been as simple as the dwarves slipping inside while someone brought groceries in from the car and the door was left cracked open. They were certainly smart enough to open a door. In fact, they could turn doorknobs… if they could reach them.
That thought made me shudder and made me want to go home just to double-check that I hadn’t left my door unlocked. No way did I want to go home to dwarves.Blech.
I didn’t honestly know how a human would’ve missed a whole clan of dwarves sneaking in under their feet while they carried groceries in—I sure as hell hoped I wouldn’t miss it. But at the same time, they probably had their hands full, so who knew? It was a mystery that would never be solved.
“One more trap?” I asked as I walked past him.
Sola chirped from her spot on top of the truck. For whatever reason, she’d decided to stay outside for this faerie pick-up, and since we didn’t want to leave her locked up inside the truck, she was perched on top.
That wasn’t unusual. Sometimes she went hunting while we worked. Miles was always nervous that someone would hurt her if she went out by herself, but she tended to stick super close to us, even if that meant hunting for bugs or tiny faeries in someone’s backyard.
Miles nodded, keeping his focus on the cage because it was moving around a lot, and I knew he didn’t want to drop it or wind up injuring any of the dwarves. “One more.”
“Awesome. I got it.” I headed back inside and went straight to the basement where we’d left our last trap the other night.
We’d left four, and at the time, I’d thought it was overkill. I mean, who the hell had that many dwarves in their basement? But as usual, Miles was proven right when we’d gotten here and found all four traps filled to the brim.
It was so bad we planned on leaving four more behind to pick up any stragglers in a few days.
I threw a small blanket—one made especially for these traps so there was a hole for the handle—over the top of the last trap, found the handle, and lifted it. The medium-sized faeries started screaming and throwing their body weight around. It was kind of ridiculous. And loud.
