Just His Taste

by Candice Gilmer

The gold girl rubbed her eyes. “And everything was going so well.”

  Jason held up his hands. “Wait. Who are you?”

  “We’re the rest of her trio. I’m Christy. This is Lilly. And you’re the man who’s probably gotten her expelled from the Fairy Realm.”

  “I wanted to save her!” Jason snapped.

  “By lying?” Christy snapped, getting in his face.

  “If I t-t-told—”

  A new man, who looked quite a bit like Duncan, came between them. “It doesn’t matter.” He wrapped his arm around Christy and she curled into him. “We’ll figure out what to do, baby.”

  Christy glared at Jason. “I could just kick you.”

  Jason raised his eyebrow.

  “We need to get you out of here,” the man said. He held out a hand. “Ewan. Christy’s husband.”

  Jason shook his hand.

  That stone clattered inside again.

  Jason turned, trying to see in the room.

  “Avalynn Fay, you have behaved in a manner unbecoming a Fairy Godmother,” the man in the center bellowed. “You are hereby sentenced to never leave the Fairy Realm again.”

  Ava’s shoulders slumped.

  Pain stabbed Jason’s heart.

  Holy hell, what had he done?

  Chapter Thirty

  Saturday Afternoon

  One thousand five hundred seventy-four minutes and thirty-one seconds had passed since Ava had been sentenced.

  Tick…

  …

  …

  …

  Tock.

  One thousand five hundred seventy-four minutes and thirty two seconds.

  For approximately twenty of those minutes, Ava hadn’t cried. The rest of that, though, she had. Along with breaking and throwing things.

  She tried to decide if she hated Jason or if she loved him more for lying to the Council. Because she did love him.

  Though she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t smack him upside the head if she saw him again. A moot point since she’d never be able to. She still very much loved him. No denying that fact. Seeing him walk into the proceedings made her heart leap, but at the same time, it had destroyed her.

  Duncan’s desperation made him bring a mortal into the proceedings. What had he been thinking? Why would he assume bringing Jason here would make it better? It only amplified the fact that their relationship wasn’t what it should be.

  Now she was here. Forever.

  Never able to cross to the mortal world again.

  It didn’t matter if she loved Jason or not. Because she’d never see him again. And that was more upsetting than her sentence.

  Maybe in a few years she’d be able to leave her house. She hadn’t been confined to her home or anything, just the Fairy Realm, but she glanced at her ankle—a little golden bracelet, which could have been just a pretty, dangled. But it was a powerful little bobble. It kept her chained to the Fairy Realm.

  She knelt down, and though she knew better, tried to yank the little chain off. It shocked her with a mini-lightning bolt.

  Jupiter had been rather proud of this little invention. Not that Ava ever thought she’d have to wear one.

  Ava dropped to her butt, lying on her floor, and stared at the ceiling.

  Tears filled her eyes again.

  And she chided herself—she thought she was done with tears. Had moved on to the massive hole of depression in her heart.

  “Ava! Open this door!” Pounding outside jarred her from her latest crying fit, and she blotted her face with used tissues.

  When she opened the door, Christy burst in the door, followed closely by Lilly.

  “Oh, I am so cross with you!” Christy snapped as she grabbed Ava and enveloped her with a bear hug. “What were you thinking?” She released Ava, and then Lilly grabbed her and hugged her too.

  “Sweetie, why didn’t you tell us?” Lilly asked.

  Fresh tears fell down Ava’s cheeks as she pulled away. “You all shouldn’t have to take care of my messes.”

  “We’re a trio. It’s our job to help each other!” Christy said. “You should have told us what was going on.”

  “I couldn’t tell you,” Ava said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because,” Ava said, “then I would have had to tell you everything. And that’s worse.”

  Christy dropped onto a chair, arms over her chest, and Lilly did the same. “There’s more than you falling in love with your charge?” Christy asked.

  “A lot more,” Ava said, head hung. “Stuff that didn’t come out in the trial.”

  Christy put her arms on the armrests and narrowed her gaze at Ava. “So tell me now. Tell us both the full, unabridged story.”

  Ava hung her head. “Ever wonder why Cupid spent so much time bothering us while we were on assignment?”

  “Because he’s annoying,” Lilly said.

  “Because I was sleeping with him,” Ava said.

  Both fairies’ eyes went wide. “Since when?” Lilly asked.

  “For a while. About sixty years, I think.” Ava slumped into her favorite chair, tugged at the oversized sweatshirt she wore—the one Jason had worn on the stakeout—and pulled her knees to her chest under the shirt. And tried not to let fresh tears burst out again.

  “That explains a lot,” Christy muttered.

  “But why?” Lilly asked. “I mean, he’d handsome, but he’s a…well, a jerk. Why would you ever get involved with him that way?”

  Ava shrugged. “The first time, I needed his help. My case wasn’t going so well. So he helped me. After that, it became because I wanted to. Or at least I thought I wanted to.”

  “What do you mean?” Lilly asked.

  “I’ve been attracted to Cupid because of his damn love potion.” She made little air quotes. “The only good thing about this case was I accidently drank the antidote, while trying to give it to Jason, and it kicked the spell out.”

  “Does the Council know this?” Christy asked.

  Ava shook her head. “Anteros knows.”

  “But Anteros had you seized,” Lilly said.

  “I know, I don’t understand.” The god had been so eager to help. He’d listened to her tale about Cupid and what that jerk had done, and agreed with how wrong it was. She’d thought he was angry because of what Cupid had done. So she told him more.

  And more.

  Including Jason, and why she was certain the file was wrong. And that she was in love with him.

  She never expected Anteros to turn her in. But that was probably her problem—she hadn’t expected it. She should have known that Anteros wouldn’t let such a major violation go without some kind of reprimand.

  “So what happened with Jason? How’d this come about?” Lilly asked.

  “I just did my thing, talking to him. And it was there. Almost immediately. Cupid and I had gotten into a fight at the wedding that first day, and Jason broke it up. I tried to shake it off. Hell, I even wrecked my motorcycle trying to get my head on straight.”

  “You didn’t even tell me you wrecked until Lilly was in the hospital,” Christy said. “I don’t understand, Ava. Don’t you like us?”

  “Well yeah.”

  “So why did you keep all this from us?”

  “I don’t know. If I had told you I wrecked, I would have had to tell you why. It’s bad enough the FID suspected something. I didn’t want… You’re both so good, and I’ve never been as strong of a godmother as you both. I didn’t want to fail. I didn’t want you cleaning up my messes.”

  The two fairies bum-rushed her, and all three sat together, crying and hugging. The emotions overwhelmed Ava. She’d never been good with this stuff, and to feel this incredible outpouring of love from her friends…she didn’t know what to say.

  “You don’t have to be
alone. We’re going to help you,” Christy said.

  “There’s nothing that can be done now. Not anymore. The sentencing has been set. I’m here. For the rest of eternity. No retirement. No mortal world. I’m done.”

  “Well, it’s not like you have to stay in your house,” Lilly said. “I am sure we can find a job for you. I mean, Cupid asked me to help him train his minions better. I could use a helper.”

  Ava snorted. “I don’t know if I could be around Cupid without killing him.”

  “True,” Christy said. “We should talk to Duncan. He knows about this stuff.”

  “He’s the one who brought Jason to the trial. Didn’t help me much there.”

  “There has to be someone…” Christy said. “What about Cupid? This is his fault. He started all of this. He should have to help you out.”

  “It would be another trial,” Ava said. “I guess he’s been tampering with my cases for years. Duncan went back and did the research. Cupid shot most of my charges, and occasionally the HEA, just to bring the cases to a close.”

  “Well, he shouldn’t be doing that.”

  “Don’t you see? It’s one more stake in my coffin. If he’s had to fiddle with my cases all this time, and I didn’t even know, then what good of a Fairy Godmother am I? At least I’m here. Not in one of Jupiter’s cells somewhere.” That was the only plus side she could find.

  And it was a crappy one.

  “Or banished to the mortal world,” Christy said.

  “But if you were there, Jason would be there,” Lilly said.

  “So? I don’t even know if he and I are supposed to be together. The file was changed. It could have said Keira Knightley initially. I don’t know.”

  Christy snorted. “Well, wouldn’t it be nice to work with a celebrity that wasn’t a Cupid Case?”

  Ava couldn’t help laughing at that. “What’s the point of going back to the mortal world anyway? I won’t ever know what that file said—”

  “What if we tried to—”

  “Now, Miss Christy, you wouldn’t be plotting to get into trouble for your friend, would you?” Cupid said. Both he and Anteros were standing in the doorway.

  Ava glared at Cupid. “What do you want?”

  “Ladies, we need to speak to Avalynn alone, please,” Anteros said.

  “Why not? What’s one more secret?” Christy snapped and the two fairies left, not very happy about it.

  “Haven’t you both ruined my life enough?” Ava snapped. “Why don’t you both go boil in oil.”

  Cupid put his hand on his chest. “You wound me.”

  “Good.”

  “We do have purpose here,” Anteros said.

  She dropped back in her favorite chair, arms crossed. “So what do you want?”

  Anteros glared at Cupid. “You have something to say to Avalynn?”

  “Not particularly,” Cupid replied.

  Anteros punched his arm.

  “Oh fine,” Cupid snarled. He rolled his eyes and faced Ava. “Ava, I changed your charge’s file because I didn’t want you leaving the Fairy Realm.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ava asked. Had Anteros gotten it fixed?

  Anteros handed Ava the file. The strained lines from where Cupid’s magic had warped it were gone. She flipped it open. The other blank line that had been there before had filled in.

  Avalynn Fay.

  Her jaw dropped.

  And she punched Cupid in the face.

  “How fucking dare you! How dare you manipulate me like that! I could have been honorably retired! Now I’m a goddamn convict! And I’ve lost my Happily Ever After because of you! You have ruined everything!”

  Cupid held his nose. “I am not done,” he said, his voice nasally.

  Anteros put his hand on Ava. “Just let him finish.”

  “I’m the God of Love. There’s no reason for you to want anyone but me, Ava,” Cupid said.

  “You’re lecturing me on love?”

  “It is my area.”

  “How dare you!”

  “What’s wrong with me? What makes him so much more special?”

  “He didn’t make me love him. I got the choice! I should have had the choice!” And then Ava realized her relationship with Cupid mirrored Jason and Tessa’s. It was about the control. Not the love. Cupid wanted to control her, just like Tessa wanted to control Jason.

  “You can’t make someone love you, Cupid,” Ava said, crossing the room.

  “But it’s what I do.”

  “It’s not real when you force it!” Ava said. “What I had with Jason was real! Don’t you get that?”

  Cupid hung his head, then glanced at Anteros like a child who got caught stealing from the grocery store.

  Anteros nodded like a parent making the kid own up to it.

  Cupid sighed. “Since I put you in this position, Ava, I will get you out.”

  Ava snorted.

  “I hereby take your place in your sentencing. I will be bound to the Realm for all of eternity, and allow you to leave.” The air crackled with his words, and lightning flashed in her home.

  Ava blinked. Glanced at Anteros. “Holy Hera, what is that?”

  “That, my dear, is my area.” Anteros took Ava’s and Cupid’s hands and held them together. “As a witness of the Realm, and a member of the Council, I hereby allow Cupid’s concession to stay in the Realm for the length of Avalynn Fay’s sentence, allowing her to leave to find her true Happily Ever After.”

  The bonds that held Ava in the Realm dropped away. The ankle bracelet fell to the floor with a delicate ting. And another one, a little thicker, appeared on Cupid’s ankle.

  Her magic returned in its full glory. Her wings brightened back into their reddish-pinkish color. With a wave of her hand, she changed from her bumming clothes to one of her black catsuits.

  The joy she felt dissipated when she glanced at Anteros, then at Cupid. The pain on Cupid’s face was intense, the usual jovial expression replaced with one of shadow and sadness.

  “Why are you doing this?” Ava asked Cupid.

  “Because, Ava, I loved a mortal once too. I want you to be happy.”

  She put her hand on his cheek. “You didn’t—”

  He turned, pressing a kiss into her palm. “Yes. Yes I did.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Saturday Night

  Jason sat on his couch, drinking a beer. His TV was on, but down low—the local radar channel showing the greens and oranges of the storm rolling in. Though just looking out his front window clued him in.

  The sky lit up every so often from the lightning hidden in the coming wall cloud. Mother Nature was always gorgeous to watch, especially in the spring.

  Maybe he’d get a tornado.

  Let some of the natural chaos rip away some of his internal chaos.

  On the plus side, at least it hadn’t hit during the cook-off. Thunderstorms, or worse, were no fun when everything was in tents.

  He’d only gotten unloaded an hour ago, and while he knew he was hungry, he couldn’t bring himself to eat any of the leftovers.

  Lightning flashed outside, reflecting off his third-place trophy.

  Third.

  Well, at least it wasn’t last place. Yeah, that was what he could tell himself. Because it looked like he wasn’t going to win much of anything else in the near future.

  Ava was gone.

  Tessa was back with Lucas.

  Jason felt like a third-place finisher in a three-man Round Robin.

  Sucked ass.

  Another rumble of thunder started, and Jason stood, deciding he’d go watch the storm roll in. The bungalow house had a nice wide porch, and while he preferred the privacy of his backyard, he’d never be able to see the storm come in from back there.

  He
walked onto the porch and dropped in the patio chair. The sky lit up like an explosion from heaven as more lightning tore up the heavy black clouds.

  Yeah, totally matched his mood.

  The temperature had dropped a good twenty degrees, and the wind picked up. Each hard blast sprayed him with rain. The cold chill felt good.

  At least something felt good.

  He should thank his lucky stars he got third at the cook-off. He’d been so off his game. He yelled at his dad twice, almost dropped his blind boxes when delivering them and stuttered every time he tried to say something.

  It was not a good day. Especially when the realization hit him, early this morning, that Ava wasn’t coming back.

  He’d heard the verdict, yet some part of him hoped she’d find a way. At least before, anyway. Now, though, he knew better. They’d never let her go.

  It was a whole other realm that he couldn’t quite grasp—out of his understanding. The whole idea of eternity, that she’d be forever up there. Or over there, or whatever it was.

  Maybe she’d put in a good word for him on judgment day.

  Wouldn’t that be nice?

  The love of his life, waiting for him in the afterlife. At least he’d get to see her again sometime.

  He closed his eyes and listened to the thunder pound in the air. He could hear cars in the distance, splashing at the dip in the road a half a block down. Storms always eased his mind. Took away the little stresses—after all, whether he got the water bill paid was of little consequence when the planet up and tried to kill him with one of its temper tantrums.

  That was what his mother had always called storms…

  Earth’s temper tantrums.

  A boom of thunder punctuated his thought.

  “Maybe the Powers That Be are frustrated for me,” he muttered, then shook off the silly thought. His mother had been the spiritualist. All her connections between everything had filled his brain with all kinds of notions when he was a kid. The older he got, though, the less he saw them.

  Didn’t want to see them, really.

  Though, tonight, the idea that Earth was as pissed off as he was soothed him.

  More lightning.

  More thunder.

  And a whine of a motorcycle.