“What? No way!”
His genuine shock should have been offensive, but Cya was too elated to care as they climbed out of the pool. “I got a B minus on the exam!”
Dex scrambled up after them. “I usually get C’s across the board, so a B minus is fucking fire!”
“Itisfucking fire!” Smiling so wide their cheeks ached, they lifted a hand. “B-minus high-five.”
And Dex literally lost his shit. He wriggled in place, tail wagging exuberantly as he released a river of nonsensical noises. Then he howled up at the sky and said, “Yes! B. Minus. High. Five!” Then he slapped their hand hard enough to hurt. “Boom!”
Half-laughing, half-whimpering, Cya shook out the sting in their palm as they echoed a pained, “Boom.”
Bouncing with excitement, he dragged them toward Hemersyn so they could show off their exam results, and the Avia beamed at them, voice brimming with pride as he said, “Cya, well done. And Dex, too, of course. All those tutoring sessions seem to have paid off.”
Slinging an arm around Cya’s shoulders, Dex beamed. “What can I say? I’m a miracle-worker.”
“Asshole.” They elbowed him in his rock-hard stomach, making him grunt, but he didn’t remove his arm. They decided they didn’t want him to.
As Ellyn and Jasmyn said goodbye to Hemersyn at the front doors, Dex stood in front of Cya, toe-to-tail, and they lifted higher to eliminate the small height difference. He reached out and captured a chunk of hair that had escaped their claw clip and twisted it around his finger.
“You should keep your hair wavy like this,” he said, almost conversationally. “It looks nice.”
Taken aback at the compliment, they moved their mouth wordlessly a moment before saying, “My mother hates it.”
“Even more reason, then,” he said, giving the lock of hair a gentle tug. “Goodnight, Cya.”
“Goodnight, Dex,” they whispered, and he pulled away, dragging the tip of his index finger over their jaw.
Then he was following his mother and sister into the night, Hemersyn shutting the door behind them. The Avia engaged the locks, then cast Cya an appraising, slightly judgmental look.
“Don’t even,” they threatened.
He raised his hands in surrender. “I didn’t say a thing.”
“You didn’t have to,” they accused, and one feathered brow arched. “Stop it.”
“Goodnight, Cya,” he sighed the words like a lovesick fool, and their jaw dropped in affront. “Goodnight, Dex.”
“Hemersyn!”
“What? It was very sweet.”
“I will get you fired, old man,” Cya snarled, but the Avia simply laughed at the ceiling as he disappeared into the kitchen.
Chapter twenty
Raw, Animal Magnetism
Cya
WhenCyaarrivedatwork the next morning at a quarter to six, Rusty was just hanging up the keys to the catering van he used to deliver the pastries to Greed. He looked, not just tired, but weary. It was more than lack of sleep; there was a heaviness to his movements, a sadness in his eyes.
Instead of greeting them, he said, “Toni’s out this week, and with Zef in Montana, I gotta help in the kitchen today once Dex gets here.”
“Oh. Is Toni ill as well?” They hung their purse on a coat hook, expounding further when Rusty cocked his head in confusion. “Dex said Jude was feeling under the weather yesterday.”
“Uh, yeah, something like that,” he said evasively. “You and Dex can hold down the fort out front, right?”
“Of course we can. I imagine Abi will need your assistance more than we do.”
