Page 18 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume
“Have they been at it long?” Danny glances toward the living room in amusement.
“Since the moment they walked through the door—together, I might add.” He wiggles his perfectly sculpted brows. “I’m actually beginning to wonder if they’re already doing it but just like to fight anyway.”
“Doing it?” My mouth twitches. “What are you? Twelve?”
“I’ve been making an effort to tone it down. Young, impressionable ears and all that.”
He says that like Aidan isn’t already seventeen and spending a lot of time hanging out with a bunch of very loud, and overly dramatic drag queens.
“How’s it going with Aidan?” Danny asks.
“Good.” Chan smiles. “He seems to be happy and it’s kind of nice to have the company without all the drama.”
“I’m so glad he has you,” I say quietly, thinking back to what he’d told me of that night in the summer when Death and Chan had discovered him standing way too close to the edge of the platform for comfort.
“I’m glad we have him,” Chan replies. “Why don’t you go and join the others, and I’ll get you a drink. Bailey’s?”
“If you don’t mind.” I sigh. “And can you put some milk in it?”
“Milk?” He blinks. “You want me to make it into a milkshake?”
“No,” I chuckle. “Just top the glass up with a little milk. It takes some of the sharpness off the liqueur.”
“If you say so.” Chan turns to Danny with a questioning look.
“I think I’ll have a beer,” he replies, “but I can get it.”
“No, no, go sit down.” He shoos us toward the living room.
Doing as instructed, we head into the other room, where Sam and Harrison sit suspiciously close to each other considering the level of bickering going on. They barely break off long enough to say a quick hello before going back to arguing over something random.
Aidan seems to be doing a great job of ignoring them in the oblivious way only teenagers can. He’s sprawled on our brand-new corner sofa with a tube of Pringles, eyes glued to the TV.
Danny takes one look at the heated debate in the corner and heads toward Aidan instead. “What are you watching?”
“Oh.” Aidan looks up and blushes. “A serial killer documentary on Netflix.”
“Very festive.” Danny chuckles as he glances at the screen. “I don’t think I’ve seen this one. Budge up.” Aidan scrambles across the cushions and as Danny plonks himself down beside him, Aidan looks like all his Christmases have come at once.
Looking slightly dazed, he tilts the Pringles tube toward Danny. Danny gives him one of his glorious smiles as he takes a handful, and I wonder idly if I should take the poor kid’s blood pressure.
“What are they doing?” A familiar voice speaks from beside me.
I turn and jolt slightly. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to Death just popping in to my flat. He exudes power from every pore, so much so that it makes my skin prickle and my hair stand on end whenever he gets too close. I don’t know how Chan gets up close and personal with him without channelling enough electricity to power the Blackpool Illuminations.
“It’s called foreplay,” I mutter.
“Is that what they’re doing?” He looks mildly confused as he watches Harrison and Sam. “When Chan engages in foreplay, he does this thing with his tongue and my scrotu–”
“Whoa!” I interject. “Okay there, Death. Let’s not do that thing where we share everything.” I flush, trying to not think of any naked parts of Death’s anatomy even if his human form is hot as hell.
Suddenly I feel a heavy, warm weight bumping against my legs. I look down and exclaim in delight to find a large, ungainly, black and white puppy blinking up at me. His legs and his paws look too long and big for his body, like he hasn’t quite grown into them properly. His fluffy ears stand up like a German shepherd, but he’s soft and fluffy like a Collie.
“Oh!” I drop to my knees and coo at him, rubbing my hands all over his fur. “Chan said you’ve got a dog. Aren’t you handsome!”
“Thank you. I did choose my human form rather carefully.”
“Not you, the dog.” I snort as the large dog flops on me, happily rolling over to expose his belly, his long pink tongue lolling out of his mouth in a goofy canine grin. I laugh as I fall back on my arse, the unexpected weight of him catching me off-balance. He may technically still be a puppy, but he’s big already and is heavier than he looks.