“Enabled him. Don’t try to get out of it. You knew what you were doing.”
He kissed me and pulled away. “I do need to get going.”
“Apparently, so do I, or didn’t you notice the urgency in Mr. Tom’s voice?”
I didn’t move from the window but did magically open the door.
“No shower?” I asked Austin as Mr. Tom hurried in.
“I took one before bed.”
I’d been sound asleep by the time Austin climbed in beside me.
He slipped on his shoes, his expressiveness and good humor giving way to a hard-faced alpha with a stern voice and hostile bearing. It was his way of keeping Mr. Tom from fussing after him in the mornings.
It never worked.
“I have a nice cup of not-so-steaming coffee for you, Austin Steele,” Mr. Tom said, holding two mugs and handing mine to me first. “You seem to be running late. I figured I’d strip a littletime off your morning. Additionally, I cut up some items for an omelet, but given the late hour, I figured you’d rather an already made breakfast sandwich. How many would you like? One, two? Four? I realize you can be quite hungry these days, what with all the hard work.” He paused in the center of the room, his wings fluttering. “What will it be?”
Austin stared at him, a look that would probably make most people cower. Mr. Tom just waited patiently.
“I’ll grab a sandwich on the way out, thanks,” Austin said with a tight jaw. He hated when Mr. Tom succeeded in looking after him. But honestly, when a person was in a rush, it was amazing to have someone waiting to make life easier.
“Fabulous,” Mr. Tom said, doing a half turn to face me. “What do we think this morning, miss? How about a breakfast sandwich as well? You need to get into the shower posthaste, and then meet with a very insistent garhette.” He meant Patty, Ulric’s mom and a world-renowned gossip within the gargoyle community. “You can’t dally with her because after that, we need to meet Tristan at the practice grounds, and— Oh! There are Edgar’s latest flowers to look over. We need to get to those, or he’s liable to plant them anywhere he likes. I really think his obsession with surprising and killing hikers needs some attention. We missed the appointment with him yesterday?—”
“Okay.” I held up my hand. “Okay, okay. Let’s…”
I glared at Austin as he made his way out of the room. He winked at me.
“Let’s do one thing at a time,” I told Mr. Tom. “First, coffee. Then, shower. And so help me, if you start giving me T-minus warnings like Edgar does, we’re going to have a problem.”
“I wouldn’tdare,” Mr. Tom said, ruffling his wings. “What do you take me for?Iwas not influenced by a woman we will not name.” He meant Nessa, and my heart lurched. “I am ableto properly keep time, thank you very much, or why did I get the job to?—”
I let him rattle on as I headed for the shower. I’d just drink my coffee in there. It would be more relaxing.
FIVE
Jessie
“You look lovely, miss. Very good, indeed,” Mr. Tom said as I met him at the base of the stairs. I wore jeans and a baggy T-shirt with my hair pulled up into a ponytail. I had a feeling he hadn’t even glanced at me, given he was currently tapping a page in a book that looked like a child’s diary. “Now, here we go. Let’s just— No, Edgar, it is not your turn.”
Edgar waited by the front door with a fedora clutched in his spindly fingers, pulled in tight to his chest. He looked like a character out ofOliver Twistasking for more food.
“I hear you loud and clear, Sir Tom, but if I may…” He shuffled farther into the entryway. “It’s just that the flowers started singing, and when they do that?—”
“No, no.” Mr. Tom held up his hand as he tried to marshal me past Edgar. “It is not your turn! We have to keep things orderly or it’ll all turn into chaos.”
“Yes. I agree,” Edgar said, blocking our way now. “But yesterday, you said you would come by, and I waited all day, and into the night, and looked in the windows when they lit up,watching everyone, and into the darkness when they went out, and?—”
“Edgar, for the last time,” Mr. Tom said, “stop looking in the windows and spying on people. The kids these days call that creepy.”
“Everyone calls that creepy,” I said with a grimace. “After the meeting with Patty, I can?—”
“Oh no! No, no.” Mr. Tom shook his head adamantly as he put out his arm. He shielded me like I was a celebrity and he my bodyguard, trying to shove past Edgar. “No. Alpha Steele put me in charge of your schedule, and I mean to uphold that prestigious and somewhat impossible duty.”
“He didn’t actually put you in charge?—”
“You are penciled in later, Edgar,” Mr. Tom said. “After Aurora’s challenge and lunch. The miss is very busy. She has many things to get to, and she doesn’t need to be skipping meals so that your flowers can sing to her. Now?—”
