Under the Bridge Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t
sound like my type. I’m too young to marry.”
    Gran sent her a look of strained patience.
“Be still! No one was talking about marriage.”
    Billy gaped, as she understood at last. The
strangled noise she made must have been compelling, or maybe Carrie
just felt the same about finding a fae sperm donor.
    “I don’t think so!” she gasped indignantly.
“Like I want Angela and Lila talking about me behind my back! I am
so not going to walk around fat and pregnant while everyone else I
know goes to college. I mean, how am I supposed to find a rich
doctor if I’m stuck her in Podunkville?”
    You had to hand it to Carrie—she had
priorities, Billy thought.
    “You will do as you’re told,” Gran said in a
voice that made Carrie cringe. Billy stiffened as the look was
turned on her. “You owe your lives to me! Without me, you would not
even exist.”
    Billy’s eye twitched. She swallowed the first
words that temper brought to her lips, and flexed her self-control.
“Gran, we might love and respect you, but we are not going to whore
for you.”
    Gran stalked toward her. One step, but it
betrayed her deep temper. “You’ve learned too many human concepts.
We live too long to hinder ourselves with mortal ties of fidelity.
We are not crawling humans, slaves to jealousy and petty lies of
love.”
    “Aren’t we?” Billy said softly. “Fairy kings
don’t count, then?”
    Gran straightened. “I was young and foolish.
I know better now.”
    “Then I hope to stay young and foolish!”
Carrie spat out, and stormed off.
    With a dark look for her mother, Maura
followed.
    Billy wasn’t interested in a showdown with
Gran, not when avoidance was easier. She’d followed the others
while the getting was good, unaware of how this issue would soon
cloud her future.
    Billy sighed and set down her unused pen. She
hadn’t seen what the urgency was all about. Most people had kids
sooner or later. If she ever found someone she’d like to marry, she
might even decide to give it a go. Maybe. Kids weren’t really her
thing. Still, it hadn’t made sense that her mother…Gran…would be in
such a rush. Weren’t old people supposed to be patient?
    She closed her eyes and massaged the bridge
of her nose. Did trolls become more patient as they aged? She
remembered how the troll had waited her out this morning, how he’d
called her an impatient young hunter. How old was he?
    She wasn’t pleased to be thinking of the
troll. Things had been rolling along fairly smoothly until he’s
shown up. Then again, if she’d been the troll, she probably would
have liked to eat Carrie, too. Too bad she couldn’t let him.
Another fae might have sent her to him as a present.
    Frustrated, she left the table and headed for
the back yard. She’d practice with her dagger for a while and
hopefully bleed off some aggression. Maybe she’d even get lucky
tomorrow; he might try to eat Carrie, and she would have an excuse
for bashing someone.
    Smiling at the image, she assumed the first
position. Tomorrow would be a better day.
     
     
    6. Dis-stinkly Bad Day
     
    “Hey, Billy. Why are you sitting here?”
Eyrnie set his tray down next to her, glancing curiously at the
crowded table.
    “Duty calls,” Billy said glumly. The table
was near the center of the room, right next to her niece’s. Since
she could have reached out and bopped Carrie on the back of the
head, Billy figured it fulfilled Maura’s requirements. It was as
close as they could get and still have their backs to each
other.
    Eyrnie wrinkled his nose, but sat down across
from her anyway. His dark brown hair flopped into his eyes, but
that never bothered him. Today he wore a black t-shirt and frayed
jeans that were just a little bit short. They hung on his lanky,
coltish form, a testimony to his sudden growth spurt. He’d gone
from a slight, quiet teen to a raw-boned, moody young man the
summer she’d been in the Wood, and it seemed he was still growing.
He struggled to control