Page 22 of The Fae Menagerie
He squinted his eyes closed and turned his head away from me as I bit into the soft bread. An explosion of sharp cheddar and tangy mustard hit my tongue, and I moaned.
"Oh no! Are you all right?"
"It's delicious," I said around the bite, though the soft bread made my words almost unintelligible, especially with the long moan at the end. I'd missed the tang of flavor after so many days without.
"You're dying! I knew it!" Doyle leaped behind me and positioned his hands for the Heimlich maneuver.
Finally, I could swallow. "I'm fine." I laughed. "It's fine. Try yours. It's so good."
"Good." He sighed and sank into his usual seat while I grabbed plates from the cabinet. "Mother said she delivered these herself without Aidan's knowledge. Now we know she wasn't trying to poison you."
I handed him a plate and took another bite before taking my seat. This time, I waited until I'd completely chewed and swallowed before I asked, "Why did you think your mother was trying to kill me?"
"Boredom?" He shrugged. "She's not exactly fond of humans." He hopped out of his seat, prepared the stove burner, and filled the kettle with water from the tap. As he worked, his wings vibrated with nervous energy.
"Are you all right?" I asked when he sat down.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Your wings." They were still shaking, along with his fingers.
"She's coming here," he said. "We'll need to clean. I hope Aidan knows to send someone."
"You have a closet full of cleaning supplies," I reminded him. Besides the shoe polish he'd used when I first arrived, he had an array of glass cleaners, scrubbing sponges, and a dozen other bottles with biohazard or poison symbols on them. I planned to stick to the glass cleaners.
The kettle's whistle drew Doyle's attention, and he flitted around the kitchen preparing us each steaming mugs of tea with cinnamon and cloves.
He frowned at me, but then his face brightened. "I cleaned your shoes, and I didn't give you a blow job!"
I wasn't sure how the two went together, but, "You most certainly did not." No, I was not thinking about that right now. I did not want to know what Doyle's plump lips would look like wrapped around my cock.
"I'm only able to clean after I do something for someone." He took another bite of his sandwich.
"You saved me from dying today," I reminded him. "You could probably clean the entire enclosure on that energy."
He nodded. "You might be right."
We returned to comfortable silence while we ate. Then, it was time to get to work. I wanted to make a good first impression on Doyle's mother. As my father would say, you never knew when you would need a strong point of contact, in this case, in the fae realm.
Chapter
Eight
DOYLE
My enclosure allowedme to do the dishes and tidy up the kitchen, but when I tried to scrub a stain off the living room table, it shoved me back into my bedroom and slammed the door. I went to the closet, hoping to grab new linens for the bed, but it was locked.
"Doyle?" Parker found me on my knees, sobbing into my hands.
Once I calmed down, I tried to explain. "This is more of my punishment. For my first thousand years or so, I kept myself busy by cleaning. I had nothing else to do, so why not? Mother saw the work as beneath me and forbade me to do it. Later, Aidan coerced me to suck his dick by saying I could shine his shoes after."
Yes, it was a stupid reward, and yes, I fell for it, thinking it was his way of showing he cared about me.
"Did you like to clean before …"
"Before I came here?" I barked a bitter laugh. "No. There were always other things to do, like pollinate flowers." And debauch other fae, but I didn't share that with Parker. He already knew, and it would only hurt his feelings if I continued to reminisce about my sexual prowess.
"I'll make the bed, and then you can sleep while Chani and I clean."
