comb down Dixon’s back. “Makes the beaches sort of private since you have to come in through the gates. People just think those who live in there are super rich or something.”
“Do any humans live there?”
He nodded. “Some of the fae there are in relationships with humans.”
That was good. “Did you like it there?”
Tink shrugged as he glanced at the screen as Jacob went full wolf. “I liked it.”
“What about Fabian? He normally lives there, right? Does he plan to go back?”
“I think so, eventually.” He frowned. “Do you ever wonder why Bella couldn’t just have both Jacob and Edward?”
“What?”
“I mean, Edward has been alive for a while, so he’s gotta get bored with the same old, same old. And Jacob is a wolf. I’m sure both have seen and done stranger things,” he reasoned. “Plus, sharing is caring.”
I stared at him and then gave a shake of my head. “No, I’ve never thought about that.”
“You have boring thoughts then.”
I ignored that. “Do you think I could go there? To the community in Florida?”
He returned to combing Dixon, focusing on his tail. “Why would you want to do that?”
“I could use the vacation.”
Tink glanced at me. “You probably could.”
“And…” I took a deep breath. “If Caden doesn’t end up picking a Queen soon, I’m eventually going to start showing. It won’t be easy to hide.”
“Wait a second.” Dropping the comb beside him, Tink picked up the remote and paused the movie. He looked at me. “You want to go down to the community to basically hide.”
“And to relax. I have enough money saved up, and I’m sure Miles would—”
“You want to go hide in a fae community while becoming obviously pregnant?”
“No one down there should know who I am, right? It’s not like Fabian or you told any random fae that I was the human chick the King was hooking up with.”
“Of course not. Although, that would’ve been juicy gossip. But do you really think Fabian isn’t going to know who the baby daddy is?”
I opened my mouth.
“He’s not going to believe for one second that anyone but his brother is the father,” he said before I could speak. “So, you’d be putting him in a position where he’ll have to either knowingly lie to his brother or betray you.”
I snapped my mouth shut. Shit. “I didn’t think about that.”
“Obviously.”
“I really hadn’t.” I sank into the couch, surprised that I had forgotten that very important detail. “It’s like my brain isn’t fully functional or something.”
“I just think you’re really desperate, and desperate people do and think stupid things.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Tink was still for a bit and then placed Dixon in my lap. “Can I be honest for a moment?”
I slid him a sideways glance. “I have a feeling you were just super honest right then.”
“I’m about to be even more honest. Like really super honest. The realest real kind of honesty.”
“I think I get it.”
“But you don’t.” He tipped toward me as Dixon sat up in my lap, watching him. “I get why you’re doing what you are. I do. You want to save the world and some shit. Honorable. I’m not going to mess up your need to martyr your warm and fuzzies.”
“It’s not my need—”
“But it’s become clear to me that you really are delusional.”
“Wow,” I murmured.
“Why else would you think your idea to hide with your baby daddy’s brother in a community of fae was good enough to interrupt Eclipse? But it’s more than that. Do you honestly think Caden is going to marry someone else even if he believes you don’t want him?”
My stomach dropped. “He has to.”
“He doesn’t have to do jack shit, Lite Bright. I feel like everyone, including Tanner and Faye, is forgetting that. He didn’t want to be King in the first place, and the last I checked, he’s a grown-ass adult. Besides in the highly unlikely event that he’s going to be like ‘YOLO, let me pick a fae Queen now,’ do you really think he’s just going to let you walk away? Not fight for you? And I don’t mean that in a creepy, super-possessive way either, but in a way we all would want someone we cared about to fight for us.”
All the pizza I’d shoved down my throat was starting to settle wrongly in my stomach.
“But I have a really important question for you. One you need to think about long and hard before answering,” he went on. “Do you honestly think you’re going to be able to shut