“Pick out something pretty.” Eugene laughed as he waved us away.

I followed Jasper, but my head was still a churning cement mixer of weighty feels. I wanted to be bouncy like Jasper, but the not-worthy feeling kept rising to the top of the mix.

“Maybe you should…” I finally mumbled.

“Should what?” Slowing down, Jasper turned toward me.

“Should pick out something for yourself.” Unable to meet his gaze, I studied the carpet, tried to catalog all the various shades of brown.

“Hey, a deal’s a deal. What’s with the sudden attack of guilt?” As always, Jasper wasn’t afraid to call me on my bullshit. And yeah, that’s what it was. Guilt. Obviously, I wanted the cards, but I also didn’t want to keep being a crap human.

“I don’t want to use you,” I mumbled. “I mean, clearly I need your help. But…”

“But?” Jasper stepped closer, almost as if he were about to touch me.

With want gathering low in my belly, my hands clenched and unclenched. “You worked super hard today. Thank you.”

Jasper exhaled hard, like I’d whacked him again. Emotions skittered across his face, but none I could label. Then, almost like he’d come to some unspoken conclusion, he nodded. “Well, I had appropriate motivation. And thank you.”

“I mean it. I appreciate this.”

“Good.” Jasper resumed his journey to the big booth at the back of the room. “Remember that come the costume ball.”

“I will.” I wasn’t supposed to look forward to wearing the costume with a room full of bigwigs, but the ball no longer seemed like such a punishment.

“Oh, heck.” Jasper’s face fell before I could finish sorting myself out. He pointed at the glass case at the front of the booth. “Only one of the two cards they advertised is left.”

Crap. To have had him play so hard and come up short sucked. I gave him an awkward pat on the arm. “It’s okay. One is better than none.”

“Yeah. Here’s what I’m going to do.” Jasper rubbed his hands together. He was so damn good at not getting knocked down long. “I’ll get the one Frog Court card, then I’ll use the remaining points on another premium rare. We can hope to maybe turn it into another card for you via a swap or something down the road.”

“We? You’re going to keep helping me?” I’d been worried all day that this was as far as his assistance went. I couldn’t ask him to keep giving up time to help me with my quest. But if he was offering…

“Guess this quest is growing on me.” Jasper’s crooked smile took all my anxiety and made it into something far warmer.

“Good.” I couldn’t help but hope that I was growing on him too, softening his dislike, redeeming myself in some way.