Page 75 of Riot of Autumn

“We’re never going to be able to have another festival after this year.” Archer leans away from the table, crossing his arms.

“I don’t understand. Is there a reason Samhain won’t work?”

“No,” Rhys interjects. “We have a habit of our town’s festivals ending in eviscerations and stabbings.”

Archer winces as though he can still feel the pain of that dickbag Colton stabbing him. Maybe he can. I’ve never been stabbed before, unless Ezra’s dick counts. I can certainly feel the phantom reminder of that the next day. I start chuckling and Ezra leans in close, so only I can hear when he speaks.

“I know you’re thinking about something dirty. Care to share?”

“Later,” I say with a snort.

“Are the two of you even paying attention?” Lena frowns at us, always the teacher’s pet.

“Yes. Got it. Bonding on Halloween.”

“Also, the rest of the stuff Emric just said.” Miri smirks at me.

I elbow Ezra in the stomach. “Stop distracting me.”

He grabs my arm, his hand trailing down to mine until our fingers are laced together. It’s fucking bizarre. And awesome.

“Okay, Fae-boy, lay it on us. What’s the plan?”

26

RUBY

Tecia still won’t let me come into the diner to work, even though I’m completely uninjured and there’s no reason I shouldn’t be working. She’s been having her niece fill in some of my shifts. I feel both easily replaced and relieved to have a little time away from work. Not that my job is hard or anything, but, surprise, I’ve been using the break to contemplate everything that’s happened lately.

There have been a lot of changes recently. As someone who admittedly doesn’t do well with disruptions to her norm, I think I’ve been handling things like a champ. The world hasn’t fallen apart around me because I’ve acted on feelings I’ve had for a long time.

Hmm, maybe that needs to be rephrased.

The world is one hundred percent falling apart around me, but not because of anything I did. It’s because Anthony decided to form a broken Axis all those years ago. It’s because some greedy twat Queen decided she wanted more power and couldn’t stay on her side of the veil. I had nothing to do with either of those things.

With Ezra at work again, I spend the morning at my studio. I brought a can of pepper spray, a baseball bat, and an air horn with me. Not that Davis’s land is close to much, but at the very least, I can hold that sucker up to Colton, or whatever fucking Fae comes by, and blow his eardrums out.

Fully prepped for a prison yard brawl–oh, I should have made a shiv out of toothbrush–I put in a few hours looking through my paintings. Like, really looking. I try to forget the feelings I had when I painted them, which is next to impossible. It’s sort of like masturbating and trying to pretend it’s someone else’s hand. That shit doesn’t really work. Still, I make an attempt to not hate every piece just because it’s something I created.

Honestly, it sort of works. It isn’t all crap. Some of it makes me cringe, but hey, at least it evokes a feeling. Isn’t that what art is supposed to do?

I’m back at Ezra’s house, sitting in his living room when he gets home from work.

“Did you have a good day, honey?”

Ezra pauses just inside the patio door, his eyes narrowing as he looks at me and then skims the room.

“Did you set up boobie traps?”

I bark out a laugh. “What? I would never.”

Ezra points a finger at me. “Yes, you would. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that time I got up in the middle of the night to take a piss and there was a Barbie sitting on my toilet. I still don’t know how you did that. It wasn’t there when I went to bed.”

I chuckle at that. For a little while, I put Barbies in really weird places for Ezra to find. Open the fridge for a snack, oh hey, there’s Barbie having a pool party in your condiments. Or what about opening your medicine cabinet and finding Barbie holding your aspirin. Ready to grab a pair of boxers for the day, uh oh, Barbie’s taking a nap in there.

“It’s not funny. It’s creepy.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. “I swear I didn’t do anything. Actually, that’s not true. I did do something today, but it isn’t anything bad. Well, it’s not anything great either, in my opinion. Just average.”

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