Page 14 of Bred By the Minotaur
“All right,” Sandra says with a sigh. “I won’t push.” Her expression is sad, though. “But I hope you’ll keep your heart open, Feebs.”
I turn to her and put my arms around her. “My heart has everything it needs.”
She just hugs me back, not saying a word.
Six
Hank
I don’t hear from Phoebe after our session at DreamTogether. I check my phone regularly to see if she’s finally found me and sent me a message, or perhaps a friend request, but there’s no sign of her.
Did I make a mistake? She must not have felt what I did, that deeper connection between us.
What did I expect? It’s just sex. Literally. We’ve never seen one another face-to-face. The pull I feel is merely hormones and chemicals, driving me to mate with her over and over and?—
Damn it. All I want is to hold her in my arms, to fill her up with calf and then keep her close to me while she grows it. To be there to hold her hand, to see our new one get big and strong, to give her every food she likes and rub her back when she’s sore.
Fuck. Will she tell them I tried to break our anonymity?
After a week, my hope for hearing from Phoebe turns into dread. I’ve already paid for the full DreamTogether package. If I’m found out, I’ll lose it all—the rest of my inheritance.
But I get no call from them, either. She must not have told on me. Yet.
My mother tries to comfort me when two weeks go by, and there’s no word.
“If it’s meant to be, then it will be,” she says, but it does nothing to make me feel better about the mistake I’ve made.
Soon though, it’s time for Milo to start kindergarten. We go school shopping for new clothes and some supplies. As he stands in front of the mirror in his snappy outfit and new backpack, my eyes sting. I’m always amazed at how fast he grows, from one stage to the next before I can blink.
When we go in for his first day, I lead him by the hand to his new classroom.
“I can’t wait to meet my teacher,” he says, skipping along beside me as he jumps over cracks in the pavement. “I want to do lots of coloring.”
For only being five, Milo’s very passionate about his art. I hope he keeps his love for it as he grows up. Maybe he’ll be a fantastic artist someday.
“I think your teacher is excited to meet you, too,” I say as we walk through the halls. His new teacher, a goblin named Mr. Felk, is waiting outside the classroom door. He introduces himself to Milo, and Milo forgets all about me as he rushes into the class to meet his classmates. I wave and call goodbye, but he’s already absorbed in making a new friend.
I leave feeling deflated, wondering how long it will be until Milo doesn’t need me to walk him to class anymore.
When I make it into the station, my coworker Ron arches an eyebrow at me.
“You look even more miserable than usual,” he says, pouring a mug of coffee and handing it to me, his huge wings stretching and then settling behind him.
“Milo’s first day at kindergarten,” I say, taking a big gulp even though it burns going down. “Hard to see them not need you anymore.”
“Wait until they’re teenagers and they know better than you about everything, and all they want from you is chauffeuring.”
“So much to look forward to,” I say morosely, sitting down at the communal table and grabbing a bagel.
“Aren’t you trying for another one?” Ron sits down next to me. “You really want to do all that baby stuff again?”
That’s exactly what I’m looking for. I miss the days when Milo cried for my attention and asked me to sleep in his bed so the shadow living in the closet wouldn’t get him.
“Yeah,” I say. “I do.”
Ron shakes his head. “Why don’t you ever date, man? There are tons of eligible women who would drool over Milo.”
There’s only one woman I want, though. But she’s not interested.
