Page 18 of The Neighborly Thing To Do
“What do you want?” he asks Cassidy.
“Water is fine. Finn?”
“Water, too.” I spare a moment to look at the rest of the room, who definitely heard what I said. They’re all whispering behind their hands again.
Daringly, I take Cassidy’s hand across the table as soon as Drake walks away. It’s so small in mine. Small and soft.
She looks down at our hands and quirks a smile. “You should’ve heard them all day,” she says, knowing exactly why I’m doing this. “I think we elected our mayor based solely on his ability to spread gossip.”
Sounds about right. “Did anyone bother you?” I ask, hating that she bore the brunt of their scrutiny while I stayed at home.
“Bother isn’t the right word. People are nosy as hell, though.” She lowers her voice. “I stuck to our story for the most part.”
“For the most part?” I’m dying to know what that means.
“If anyone asks, you watch rom-coms with me.” She blushes again. She does that a lot, her cheeks turning a pretty pink underneath her freckles. “Got asked what kind of dates we even had if we weren’t public.”
“I’ll watch rom-coms with you,” I promise.
She raises an eyebrow. “You like rom-coms, Finn?”
I’ve never watched one in my life. Now seems like the perfect time to start. I’m not sure if I’ll like them at all, but that’s irrelevant right now. “Pick one out for when we get home,” I suggest.
She opens her mouth to respond when a voice cuts us off. “Oh, good, I heard you might be here.”
My whole body tenses, my wings flaring. Probably not enough anyone noticed, but it’s a sign of my body preparing for danger.
“Hugh,” I say without looking away from Cassidy. She turns to glare at Hugh, and I have to admit that the man must have balls of steel if he doesn’t cower away from that. That, or he’s an idiot. I’m more inclined to believe the second option.
“Delaney. Excuse me, this is between me and Cassidy.”
“Anything that involvesmy wifeinvolves me too,” I tell him shortly, squeezing Cassidy’s hand softly.
Something interesting happens on his face when I say that, a complicated, ugly little sneer. “Yourwife. That happened fast, hm? Conveniently fast.” He studies us like bugs under amicroscope, like he can pick us and our story apart. But Cassidy’s hand is steady in mine. We’re not going anywhere.
“We didn’t hide that we moved up our timetable because of you,” I say. We technically only told Davies that, but I’m positive that he shared everything we said with Hugh and probably half the town, too. I don’t know why Davies is so invested in Hugh, but it’s crystal clear that he’s on his side in this little tiff, and I’d be shocked if he didn’t pass on any information he thinks Hugh could use to his advantage. “But it didn’t mean we weren’t going to end up here on our own eventually.”
“Oh, come on. Ahuman? You’re going to risk your kid not even being a gargoyle, Delaney?”
Cassidy full-on winces at that, and I want to strangle him. “I didn’t think you were that worried about my children,” I retort. “But rest assured, I’ll love any kid, no matter what.”
Does Cassidy want more kids? I know it won’t be with me, but now I’m curious. She’s still young. She could go on, get married, have a kid or two of her own. Is that something she wants?
Hugh turns away from me to look solely at Cassidy. “That property belongs to people like us,” he says. “People who need it. People who can appreciate it.”
Her eyes narrow. Her momentary flinch from a moment ago is completely gone, and the Cassidy who is ready to fistfight this sorcerer is back. “Tearing it down doesn’t sound much like appreciating it.”
“Having a human take up valuable land in our town is an affront to what we stand for,” he argues. “This town was founded forus.”
I snort. “C’mon, Saunders. You left for twenty years. There is nous.”
People in the pub are all listening to this. Mitchell Vespa actually floats through a table to come closer and get a better view. I grit my teeth, hating being made a spectacle, but maybe all these people watching will get Hugh to behave.
“At least I’m not making excuses for a human to keep a big old plot of land that could be filled with so many of us,” he shoots back.
I scoff. “Tourists. We don’t need tourists.”
“We do if we want to have a future. Haven’s Gate down in South Carolina saw a massive increase in annual revenue, and that’s just in the firstyearof my hotel there, and—”
