Page 49 of Pixie Problems
So, he knew, and I knew that he knew. And we just left it at that.
We finally cleared the treeline and found Rhys. He was sitting on the hood of his car, and he looked like a mud monster.
I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. Mud caked his hair, making it a dirty grey. It covered his face and two little circles had been wiped away so he could see. His clothes from the neck down were coated in the gunk, and it looked like it was hardening.
“Wow. Just, wow.”
Rhys scowled and pointedly ignored my howls of laughter. I had to hold my side because it was starting to ache, I was laughing so hard. I saw August’s lips twitch before he and Cy moved to the back of the sports car and laid some small branches down beneath the tires. Cy lifted the back, and August shoved them under.
While they worked on the front wheels, Rhys got off the hood and came to stand beside me. “It’s lucky you had a vampire and polar bear shifter with you today.”
I snickered. “Yep. My bodyguards from Master Leto. And, really, if you’d buy a truck, jeep, or SUV, you’d be less likely to get stuck in these backroads.”
He sighed. “Yeah, it was a terrible idea to bring my car. I should have just gotten a ride with you or Finn.”
August ghosted up beside us. “I can drive the car to the cabin if you’d prefer. I’m not muddy. Cy can follow you guys as you walk back.”
Rhys nodded. “Sounds good. Keys are in the ignition. Thanks, man. I appreciate you guys coming out.” August nodded and went back to shoving tree branches under the wheels.
I lightly smacked Rhys on the back. “Let’s see how soft you are. I bet you’re out of breath by the time we get there.” I expected him to flame me, but he smiled a small and entirely secretive smile that looked disturbingly fond and we began walking back to the cabin. It was only a few miles. We’d be there by sundown.
* * *
“You get the pink cow,”Finn said.
I was about to open my mouth to protest hotly that I didn’t get the pink cow when Cy, who was standing on guard in front of the sliding glass window, said, “She doesn’t. You and August answeredzoo, so you two get the points, but Rhys answeredzero,which is different from any other answer. No one gets the pink cow this round.” He said all of this not looking at the massive oak table that we had spread out a million things on: chips and warm jalapeno and artichoke dip, veggies and a simple homemade ranch dip, hot wings and a ton of napkins, a bowl of peanut butter M & M’s, small water bottles and soda, and a game calledHerd Mentalitywith the different game pieces, answer sheets, and question cards.
I tipped my soda bottle at Cy in gratitude. “What he said.”
Rhys gave me a look that nearly singed my eyebrows off, and I couldn’t decide if losing made him angrier than a dragon who’d had their hoard stolen, or if it made him want to kiss me.
“Both,” he said amusedly.
“Are you reading minds now?” I challenged.
He settled deeper into his thickly cushioned leather chair. “Just yours.”
Finn cleared his throat. “Anyway. Points for me and August, and you two get nothing. Next question: Name something waterproof.” Finn looked a lot more relaxed with me staying with him. There was anoticeablereduction in the shadows and bags under his eyes, and I couldn’t help but internally cheer at that. I’d begun to be secretly worried about my alpha friend. But since I wasn’t a very mushy or tactful person, I’d taken to telling him that he looked like something that had been dragged behind a semi truck over twenty miles of bad road, and that he needed sleep.
He’d flicked me lightly on the nose and told me to mind my own business. Which, in retrospect, I thought was really generous of him considering I was a major reason for his panda eyes.
Hiding my answer with a few handy soda bottles stacked in front of me so no one would see my word, I wrotetarpon my whiteboard.
When everyone else had written their answers, we all showed them at the same time. Finn had writtenrain boots,Augustrain slicker,and Rhys and I had both writtentarp, giving us the points. “Did you cheat and look at my whiteboard?”
“How could I? You’ve hidden it behind The Great Wall of China so no one can see it.”
August, who still seemed to feel bad for scaring the crud out of me last night, or at least liked me more than he feared Rhys, pointed subtly behind me toward the back wall. I whipped my head around and found that I was gazing at myself in a mirror set above the fireplace, with Rhys and the other guys arrayed behind me.
I spun back around and scowled at the star elf. “You cheater cheater pumpkin eater!”
Even though I heroically refrained from throwing chips at him, Rhys lifted his hands in defense. “I only lookedthattime, and I was going to tell you before they scored it!”
“Hah!”
Finn and August were laughing, and even Cy was chuckling quietly behind me. Finn sighed after a minute and sat back. “As nice as this has been, I have to go back into the station. With Lucky gone for a week, I have a lot of work that’s backing up.”
I patted his arm in sympathy. And I knew I was getting super good at this friendly support stuff, because I didn’t even cringe at my awkwardness.
