“Hey!” I pulled my foot away from her beak, breaking out of Gideon’s embrace. “What was that for?”
But even as I asked the question, I knew. Her sentiments were as clear to me as if she’d spoken aloud. She’d decided I’d had enough time to say hello to Gideon, and it was time to get to work.
“Okay, okay,” I muttered. Then I looked at Gideon, who was watching our interaction. “Licorice and I are still figuring things out.”
Gideon merely nodded. “I can see that…”
“Yeah, it’s kind of wild. I mean, I told you how Elwood said she was my familiar when we were at Ivan’s, but I didn’t really know for sure until today. Her name is Licorice, but I said that already, didn't I?”
I introduced them to one another, which was a little strange, because one of them was a bird. But both seemed to expect it, and they each nodded respectfully at one another when I finished. Just seeing my familiar and my… um, my Gideon… made me feel all warm and melty inside, like a deliciously perfect lava cake.
“Anyway, she wants me to tell you about what we found, because we have work to do.”
“I have something to tell you first,” Gideon said. His face twisted into a fleeting grimace before going carefully blank. He tapped a fist against his leg. I’d never seen Gideon look so… uncertain. Something was really wrong.
“What’s happened? Are you okay?” I took his fist in my hands and rubbed it until his fingers relaxed. “Talk to me.”
He swallowed hard. Then, before he could say anything, a familiar voice said, “Dexy!”
“Not now,” I groaned.
It was the worst possible moment for Josh to show up. I didn’t owe Josh anything, though, so I ignored him and tuggedGideon away from the library. He obviously had something he needed to say, and that wasn’t happening with Josh here.
“Wait? You know?” Gideon frowned at me.
“Know what?”
“That your ex is in town.”
I blinked up at him. “Yeah, Leon told me this afternoon…”
“Dexy!” Josh, oblivious to what was happening between Gideon and me, rushed over and pushed himself between us. Then he pulled me into his arms before I realized what he was going to do. We’d never had a particularly demonstrative relationship, so I hadn’t expected that from him. “So this is where you’ve been hiding! I thought it might be. That’s one of the reasons I took the contract with Kettlebrook. And now you’re here, so that’s great. We can work on the rest of the job together.”
“I’m not hiding, Josh,” I said, extricating myself from his grasp. I stepped away from my suddenly handsy ex, toward Gideon. “I live here now. And, no, I won’t be helping you with your contract.”
No way would I do all his work while he took all the credit. I hadn’t minded so much when I’d been planning to go into business with him; every business needed a front man. But now? No way.
The only thing worse than getting into business with him again would be getting into his bed.
The very idea of getting back together with Josh the Jerk made me nauseous. Like seriously, vomit was flirting with the back of my throat right now. I was queasier now than when I’d walked in on him with that other guy.
That was weird, right?
But now that I was with Gideon, Josh would never tempt me. Gideon was…well, at the moment, Gideon was looking worried.
“It sounds like you have things to talk about,” Gideon said, starting to back away. “I’ll leave you two to…”
Oh, hell no.
“I’m not going back to Josh,” I said, so everyone—including Josh—was clear about that. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it.”
“Well, that’s rude,” Josh said. Then he eyed Gideon, as if just realizing I’d been with someone when he’d approached. “Who is this? Have you replaced me already?”
I held my hand up to him to stop him from saying anything more. “You don’t get to take that tone with me. You’re the one who cheated. And now I’ve moved on. Get over it.”
“Dexy…” He pulled out the smile he thought of as his seductive one. I knew it well, because he practiced it all the time. In front of the mirror. In the grocery store. On men and women, young and old. It was performative. He pulled it out when trying to convince people he was all that and a bag of chips. Except I knew his chips were all smashed and soggy.
“You know I hate it when you call me that,” I said. He’d given me that nickname on our third date. Although it had started as Sexy Dexy, and somewhere over time had just become Dexy. I didn't like it then, and I definitely didn’t like it now. “Stop it.”
