Page 31 of A Hint of Delirium

“Yeah, yeah.” He pulled away from me. “I know what you told me. I just don’t care to listen.”

“Don’t make this difficult,” I huffed as I played with the keys a little. His hand covered mine and I stopped playing.

“I’m not making it difficult, Vi, but I also don’t think you should hide from me, either.”

The moment he made contact with me, an electric charge zinged between us. I jerked and looked up at him. His hand gripped mine tighter. My breath hitched as we stared at one another. I was lost in a sea of bright, swirling emerald green.

“My mom—” I started, but he cut me off.

“I know what your mother said, but your mother isn’t always right,” Ansel said. “You’re a halfling. You should be with your people. Once I’m done with what I came here to do … why don’t you come back to the fae realm with me? Halflings have their own set of rules. They can come and go between human and fae realms, so if you don’t like it, you can leave, but—”

Thinking only of the havoc I could unleash if I entered the fae realm, I snatched my hand out of his grip, accidentally pressing a trio of random keys, the startling loudness catching the attention of some of the patrons nearby. “No!” I exclaimed, then lowered my voice. “I can never go into the fae realm. Ever.”

I didn’t know what going there would mean for me, but I was almost positive I couldn’t enter with my iron anklet. That would pose a rather severe problem, if I could believe what my mother claimed.

Ansel furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me, Vi?”

My eyes widened and I tried to look innocent. “Nothing!” I replied quickly.

He frowned and searched my face, his eyes shrewd. “You’re twenty-five … right?”

I nodded.

He sighed. “When you decide to be more truthful, come find me.” With that, he stood from the piano bench and strode across the floor, turning heads as he went.

Before I could process the implications of his words, Bill returned and we switched places. As I moved away from the piano, he started to play again. I walked stiffly to the bar where Korey was leaning against it, waiting for an order.

He raised a brow. “Wasn’t that the hottie who got you fired?”

I sighed heavily and repeated his words from earlier. “Don’t get me started.”

* * *

Thankfully,the night was busy, which left little time to ruminate on my situation. Before long, the customers were gone and we were closing up, wiping down tables and setting up for tomorrow’s crowds. One of the conditions for me returning to my job was that I couldn’t leave early anymore. I had to stay for the full shift. It sucked since I hated commuting late at night, but I had to bite the bullet if I wanted my job back.

I flagged down one of the waitresses before she left. “Hey, have you seen Korey?” He’d promised to walk me to the train station, but I hadn’t seen him in a while.

“He went to take out the trash like, fifteen minutes ago, but hasn’t come back,” she answered with a shrug.

While I found that highly suspicious, that was one thing about New Yorkers; no one got into anyone’s business. Except for me. I let the bartender know I was going out back to check on Korey and would be right back. I walked out into the alley where the trash bins were located. That was when I heard the voices.

“He was with a woman,” Korey murmured. “But something strange happened that night.”

“What happened?” a male voice said.

“My coworker caused a scene. She thought their money was leaves,” Korey mumbled. “She was fired that night.”

“She thought the money was leaves?” the male voice reiterated.

“Yes,” Korey muttered. “It was so crazy because like, there was a hundred bucks on the table, but she flipped out and shredded the money.”

“Are you sure you can’t tell me more?” the male voice purred.

“You’re so beautiful,” Korey slurred as if mesmerized.

“You’re pretty, too,” replied the stranger. “I like to disfigure pretty things.”

I whirled around the corner just in time to see Alec with his hand engulfed in fire. He raised it up to Korey’s smiling face, pinning him against the wall with his other hand.

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