Page 16 of Cherish

“Shut it, Book Boy,” Jikan tosses back.

But Hudson bursts out laughing at the intended insult, and I can see why. Book Boy is definitely not an insult—at least in his mind, I’m sure.

Before he can mention that, though, Chastain—decked out entirely in blue—comes bustling up the bleacher stairs. The stocky former gargoyle general is carrying two hot dogs, a bucket of popcorn, a reusable cup in the same shade of blue that he’s wearing, and two giant rainbow lollipops.

“You’re in my seat,” he tells Jaxon. But instead of waiting for him to move, he partially shifts and flies over all of us so that he can settle into the seat on the other side of Jikan.

He starts to hold a hot dog out to Jikan, but Jikan’s too busy glaring at the field to notice.

“What’d I miss?” Chastain asks, finally shoving the hot dog into Jikan’s hand.

“Nothing important,” he grumbles back.

“Oh, is that why there are three more goals on the scoreboard than when I left?” Chastain asks drolly.

“Not my fault you took an hour to get concessions.” The God of Time takes what can only be described as a sulky bite of his hot dog.

“May I remind you that there isn’t actually a concession stand here?” Chastain says. “And, in case you forgot, you’re the one who wanted the damn rainbow lolly.”

“Rainbows are smiles upside down,” Jikan answers.

“Upside-down smiles?” Heather whispers loudly, looking completely baffled as she glances among the rest of us. “Is he trying to say rainbows arefrowns?”

“That or he’s trying to say they’re upside-down smiles,” Flint tells her with an it-could-be-anything look on his face.

She stares at him. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“Join the club.” Jaxon snorts as he stands up, walking over to Flint. “The man never makes any sense. In fact, he—”

Jaxon’s entire body freezes mid-sentence.

“Seriously?” I groan at Jikan, then catch Flint’s eye to warn him to let me handle this. Surprisingly, he appears to be enjoying this more than he should, leaning back as he takes in the full view with a grin. I turn back to Jikan, hands on my hips. “You yell at me for doing that all the time, but it’s okay for you to do it?”

“I yell at you becauseyoudon’t know how to freeze time without ripping a giant hole in the universe,” he answers with an arched brow. “And also because what’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gargoyle.”

“I don’t think that’s how that saying is supposed to go,” Eden murmurs as Heather waves her hands back and forth in front of Jaxon’s face like she’s trying to get him to respond.

“That won’t work,” I tell my bestie. “He’s—”

“Are you kidding me?” Jikan yells, jumping up from his seat again to glare downfield. “Are. You. Kidding. Me? Are you drunk, Alistair? Is that it? Did Cassia make you a few too many mimosas at dinner this evening?”

Alistair is either too busy picking up the red card he just threw on the ground to answer Jikan or he’s deliberately ignoring him. Whatever the reason, he doesn’t even glance in our direction.

Which only pisses Jikan off more, judging by the amount of trash talk regarding Alistair and the blue team that starts coming out of his mouth. Alistair, looking hale and hearty and almost forty—which I’m still getting used to, considering he’s my who-knows-how-many-greats-grandfather—still doesn’t give Jikan the satisfaction of so much as a hint he’s aware of his antics.

At least not until Jikan gestures at the stands of fans dressed in green and yells, “How do you think Cassia would feel about you screwing this many people at once? You know she’s the jealous sort.”

Alistair doesn’t pause as he walks to the opposite end of the field. He does, however, flip Jikan off with both hands.

While it’s a much milder reaction than I expected, Jikan seems satisfied with having provoked Alistair at all—at least if the way he settles back down in his seat and sucks on hislolly/frownis any indication.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the time. I’ve got ten more minutes until I need to get back and meet Artelya, so when the green team scores its first goal, I figure this is as good a time as any to try to talk to him. Especially since it’s Chastain’s turn to throw a fit and trash-talk myvery patientgrandfather.

“Hey, Jikan.” I shift around Statue Jaxon, who is thankfully a couple of feet to the side of the seat, and settle down beside Jikan. “I’m sorry to bother you, but you’re actually who we came here to see.”

“And the spankings just keep on coming,” he answers before reaching over and grabbing a handful of popcorn out of Chastain’s bucket.

Heather turns to Flint. “Does he mean hits? Thehitsjust keep on coming?”

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