Long moments pass. The wallet doesn’t fall and Mabon doesn’t return. My stomach starts tying itself in knots. I can’t go looking for Mabon. The moment I get up, this blasted wallet will no doubt finally drop. And there is no way this table will still be free by the time I retrieve Mabon. Someone else would have nabbed it because it is heaving in here. So even if the wallet stays put until I get back, my opportunity to steal it is going to be lost.
But what if something has happened to Mabon? What if he needs me and every minute I sit here is a minute wasted?
I’m just about to jump to my feet when Mabon slides back into his seat. I didn’t see him approach through the crowds.
Relief surges through me. He looks fine. Unharmed and in one piece. His hood is still up.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
He points into the crowd. “That man asked if I had nudes.”
My heart thuds. I can’t see which man he is pointing to.
“Shit. Mabon, are you okay?”
He nods. “I didn’t know what they were. He explained it to me.”
My gaze rakes over him. His eyes are wide, blue and untroubled. His expression is calm. The experience hasn’t worried him.
“Okay,” I breathe out.
It’s not surprising that Mabon was propositioned like that. I’m assuming he pulled his hood back when he was washing his hands or something. Whatever it was, he was seen, and he is stunning. Stupidly gorgeous in a very pretty and androgynous way, and people are, well, people. Horny and depraved.
Mabon pulls a crisp fifty pound note out of his pocket and lays it on the table between us. I can feel my eyes bugging out.
“Where the hell did you get that from?”
Blue eyes stare at me innocently. “For the nudes.”
I blink at him. Several times. My brain cells continue to misfire.
“You don’t have any,” I say weakly.
Mabon shrugs. “I didn’t. He made some on his phone.”
Oh lord. Heaven help me. I groan and cover my face with my hands. I should have known that letting Mabon out of my sight was a terrible idea. Not that I could possibly have foreseen this.
“What?” says Mabon. “Money is what we needed, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” I agree with a sigh. Then I straighten up as a terrible thought hits me.
“Did he touch you?” It’s my voice, I know it is, but it sounds more like a growl. I didn’t know I could make that noise.
Mabon’s eyes grow enormous. They darken, and colour flushes his cheeks. He shakes his head while his eyes stay fixed on me, as if I’m something wondrous.
I inhale sharply through my nose, hold it, and then release it slowly.
“Are you mad at me?” Mabon whispers.
Ouch. That feels like a stab to the heart. “No!” I say quickly. “I’m mad at the sleazeball that propositioned you like that, and I'm mad at myself for letting you get in that situation.”
Mabon tilts his head. “It was fun.”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. He really is too innocent for this world, and that is a deeply unsettling thought. Mabon took me prisoner. He made me his sex slave and didn’t care for my consent at all until it was pointed out to him. He threatened to mutilate me. He is a million miles from a sweet and fluffy bunny. But yet there is something so very heartbreakingly innocent about him. Especially out here in the human world.
And here I am, doing a god awful job of taking care of him. I let him out of my sight and he ended up selling himself. Okay, it was nudes, but I dread to think what would have happened if the sleazeball had asked for something else.
“Would you have been angry if I shared my body with him?” Mabon asks with a flutter of his long eyelashes.
