Page 68 of Welcome to Fae Cafe
Dranian snarled, “How couldyouknow that, Human?”
“Because I don’t feel his prying gaze all over my back,” she said, and Mor’s hand found her arm fast enough to jolt her to a stop. Kate blinked up at his sharp brown-silver eyes.
“Did you just say… you canfeelhis gaze?” Mor asked.
Kate tugged her arm back. “You guys are all seriouslysograbby.”
Music started playing from inside, and when a young woman in a red dress with a dozen arm tattoos stepped into the dancefloor lights, Kate bolted for her. Mor’s hand slid off her arm.
“Lil!” Kate shouted, drawing Connor to glance up from where he was accepting a drink across the room. His snoopy eyes travelled over Kate’s black dress until Kate turned her back to him.
Lily seemed rigid, but she wasn’t quick enough to hide her sigh of relief. “I didn’t think you were still coming,” she admitted.
“I promised I would.”
A slight smile found Lily before she shooed it away. She glanced past Kate and slow-blinked at the trio of fae marching into the hall with their slicked hair, their perfect faces, their pretty eyes, and their stylish suits. Shayne was the only one who didn’t walk like he was on a runway, and Kate imagined him curling his toes in the shoes she’d forced him to wear.
“Please tell me they’re not here for the—”
“I brought backup,” Kate said.
Lily shook her head. “Seriously, Kate? Why are you still letting those guys near you? I spent the whole week trying the tough love thing and you didn’t even budge! Do you know how hard it was not to go barging in there every hour to see if you were okay?”
The question barely left Lily’s mouth when Shayne swooped in and took her hand. He made eye contact as he planted a light kiss on her knuckles. “My task this evening is to make you laugh, pretty human—”
“Don’t call her that. Her name is Lily,” Kate said.
“—and I rarely fail at my tasks.”
Lily scowled. “Seriously?” she said to Kate again.
“Yeah, well. They weren’t actually supposed to tell you about their task.”
Shayne flashed his beautiful grin that left no room for apologies.
When Shayne’s allure took up too much space, Kate took Lily’s other hand and tugged her away from the assassins. They reached the edge of the dance floor where a table held hot finger foods. Lily grabbed a bun and shoved half of it in her mouth in what was clearly stress eating.
Kate chewed on her lip. “I don’t want to fight,” she said, and Lily’s face softened.
“Me either,” Lily said through a wad of bun.
“I’m going to send them away after tonight. I think the power is getting to my head.” Kate nodded toward the fae. “I should have just listened to you in the first place.”
“What power? Are you talking about thatenslaving themnonsense again?” Lily whispered back. She made an exasperated face and took another large bite of bread.
“This morning I made one of them brush my hair.” Kate grimaced. “I need to send them away, right? I wanted to keep them around to run the café for the first few days, at least. But it feels wrong to make them stay now when…” She looked off, unsure how to finish the sentence.
Lily sighed through her full mouth, tossed the last bite of bun into the nearby trash can, and put her hands on her hips. “Did you go see that therapist I suggested? The one in the pamphlet?”
“Oh, come on, Lil! You saw Mor evaporate into thin air!” Kate waved a hand toward the trio of perfection glowing like a porcelain water fountain depicting the gods.
Lily opened her mouth like she was about to object, but as she studied the fae, her words seemed to get stuck somewhere.
“If I tell one of them to kiss your shoe, they’ll do it,” Kate promised. “I mean, I wouldn’t actually force someone to do something like that, obviously—”
“Do it.” Lily’s gaze fired back to Kate. “If you want to prove that this isn’t all a sham, make one of them kiss my shoe.”
Kate swallowed, thinking of the fairy-locks. Her gaze settled on Dranian with his popped collar and smooth auburn hair. As though he was being summoned, the fae marched over, eyeing Kate peculiarly.
