Page 71 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
I snorted and turned away from him. “Well, at least you can’t see how red you’re making me.”
That made him laugh louder before we finished getting the gear off.
Once we were situated, Winter said, “We’re having a little cookout this Friday. It’s gonna be really small. Just us and my sister and her fiancé, but… we’d really love it if you came. You can bring your parents or whoever too.”
That made the twins grimace—making the same exact face, which would’ve been funny in other circumstances—and Chaos said, “No thanks on the parents front.”
Winter looked at me, and I knew he didn’t know what to say, so I stepped in. “That’s fine. You two can come by yourselves if you want. You can meet Odin and Goliath.”
“Who’re they?” Aeson asked, his face scrunched up cutely.
“Our cat and dog.” As soon as I said it, I jerked around to Winter with a grimace. Whoops. I hadn’t meant to claim the pets as both of ours. But he was smiling at me, happy as can be, so I supposed he didn’t mind.
“Oooohhhh. I love cats and dogs.” Aeson turned to Chaos, giving him a puppy-dog-eyed look.
Chaos stared at his brother for a moment, then rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Fine. We’ll come. What time?”
I grinned, and Winter said, “Five or anytime after that. I’ll text you the address. We’ll be at Miles’s house.”
“Sounds good.” Chaos gave a small salute and backed away to his car.
Aeson smiled at us. “Thank you so much for your help tonight. And for all the food.” Then the kid stepped forward and gave Winter a hug. He returned it, sending me anisn’t this the sweetestlook. I nodded in agreement.
Aeson stood and backed away, making eye contact with me. “I want to give you a hug too, but I know you don’t really like it. And I kinda already crossed that boundary once today—sorry about that. So we can just pretend this time.”
He was right, of course. But for some reason, I really wanted him to know someone other than his brother cared about him.
So I opened my arms in invitation. He—and everyone else—looked surprised, and after only a beat of hesitation, the kid stepped into me. I gave him a good squeeze and patted his back a few times before we broke apart. We smiled at each other, and then he waved as he walked to his car.
Once he was inside, Lyric said, “Those kids are adorable, but I’ve got the sense that something’s wrong.”
“You do too?” I grimaced.
“Yes! Something’s not right.”
I sighed, sad as I stared at where their car disappeared. After a few seconds, Lyric gave Win a long hug, whispering something, then gave me a fist-bump. “See you Friday.”
“Thanks for your help.”
They waved me off and got in their car, so Win and I got into my truck. Once we made sure Lyric’s car was started, we headed for home.
“Well… that was an interesting night,” Winter said, making me laugh.
“Interesting isn’t the word I’d use. More like exhausting.”
He snorted. “True dat.” He reached over and placed his hand on my thigh. “Would you be okay with me staying the night tonight?”
“Of course. You don’t even have to ask.” I gave his hand a squeeze. “Plus, Goliath is already at my house, anyway.”
“Oh yeah. True. I forgot about that.”
We fell silent for a little while, simply enjoying each other’s company.
Chapter Nineteen
Winter
Miles seemed… nervous. I wasn’t sure why.
