Page 49

While Ollie decided to veg out for a while and just take a break, I hopped in the shower. Felix and Tyler brought me a change of clothes since mine were torn and blood stained, but I hadn’t showered in a few days and I felt gross. I stepped under the spray, letting the hot water ease the aches in my body. Healing centers were a lot like hospitals in the human realm. The beds weren’t big enough for two people and the chairs weren’t comfortable to sleep in. They offered me a bed of my own, but I didn’t want to be far from Aziel, so I stuck to the chair or squeezed in the uncomfortable bed with him. I couldn’t wait to get him home so we could stretch out a little.

It was a little insane how quickly things changed since Aziel showed up in my life. I was focused on work and getting as much time with my little brother as possible. I avoided paranormals like the plague. Now I was mated to a demon, I was making friends with the dozens of paranormals who came to visit Aziel in the healing center, and already planning on moving Aziel and Dante in with me. Maybe. This place was a little small for all of us. Aziel said his place was bigger, but it was a little farther away. It’d make it more difficult on nights when I worked late. I also liked being able to roll out of bed and walk downstairs to go to work.

I pushed that aside, dropping onto the couch next to Ollie after my shower and pulling up a food delivery app. I was too lazy to cook tonight.

“What do we want to order? Pizza or Chinese?”

He leaned closer to look at my phone, studying the options thoughtfully. “It’d be cool if we could have both.”

“Like a little of each, or like some pizza Chinese food hybrid? Because the second one sounds gross.”

He snickered, shrugging his shoulders up and down. “I dunno. Pizza with noodles doesn’t sound horrible.”

“Gross. You eat like a pregnant woman, I swear.”

He cackled, shoving me away and tossing himself across the cushions. I swore he ordered weird shit on purpose just to gross me out.

Someone knocked on my back door, so I tossed Ollie my phone with a roll of my eyes. “Pick one. Not both. And if you get pizza, don’t forget at least one vegetable. I’m supposed to be taking care of you. If you skip a vegetable, I’ll make you eat a salad on the side.”

“And you say I’m gross,” he countered, scrolling through my phone. Knowing him, he’d order Chinese food just so he could say the few peas in the fried rice were plenty of vegetables.

When I got downstairs and found Ben waiting by the back door, I frowned. “Did you have a late night appointment or something? Where’s your key?”

He scrubbed the back of his neck with a frown. “It felt wrong using it when this isn’t about work. Sort of. Can I come in? There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Weird. I shrugged, stepping back to let him inside. Melvina said most of Aziel’s family was either dead or captured, but I was still cautious andlocked the back door behind us, following Ben upstairs. He waved at Ollie and I gestured him toward the table so he could tell me what was on his mind.

“Is everything okay? You said you went home because of a family emergency.”

He sighed heavily. “Yes, and no. My mom had a stroke. She’s okay now, on the mend, but I think I need to move closer to home. My dad’s having a tough time and my sister just had a baby. They need help. I know I’m leaving you in the lurch, but–”

Putting up my hand to stop him, I shook my head. “Don’t. You don’t have to give excuses. I totally get it. You should always put family first. And since you’re so close to the end of your apprenticeship anyway, I’m comfortable signing something that said you finished it. You can find an open chair somewhere closer to home without having to finish under someone else.”

He let out a breath of relief, his eyes filling with tears. “Seriously? You’d do that for me?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “You’re good, Ben. Does it suck that you can’t stick around? Sure, but if I can help you in any way, I’m gonna do it. Does that mean you can’t watch Ollie this week after school?” It’d make things a little more complicated, but I’d make it work.

“No, no, I can. I figured I’d give two weeks' notice, that kind of thing. Mom’s still in the hospital right now, anyway. It's not much time, but maybe it’ll be enough for you to find my replacement.”

“That’s nice of you, man. I appreciate it.”

After Ben left and Ollie gorged himself on Chinese food, I tucked him in and sat at the table with my laptop. I answered a few appointment requests, emailed a few clients to reschedule, and did the math on how long I could manage without Ben. I survived before he started, but he brought in a lot of clients and things were easier with the two of us here. I didn’t want to go back to working twelve-hour days every damn day just to pay rent.

I was about to shut the laptop down when the post-it note I’d stuck to the front fluttered off of it and into my lap. I read it over, pursing my lips, and decided to send one more email before I went to bed. Hopefully, hecould meet me tomorrow before I had to go back to the Other Realm to see Aziel.

My parents picked up Ollie at ten. They were tanned and a lot more relaxed than I’d ever seen them, and they looked happy to see Ollie. Mom even smiled at me when she came in to grab his bag.

“He’s got one more page of writing to finish tonight. I figured you were a better coach for that than me.”

“Yes, you always did struggle with that. Your handwriting was beautiful, but your sentence structure was godawful.”

I snorted, lifting a shoulder. “Well, I can’t be good at everything.”

Ollie was already in the car, bouncing on the seat as he pestered our dad about him coming along next time. Mom let out a slow breath, the tension gone now that she saw Ollie unharmed and happy.

“Thank you, Declan, for watching him this week. We really appreciate it.”

“Any time. I love spending time with him. If you guys need a weekend off or something, just let me know.”