Page 89 of Five

Linda stands up to slap me on the back. “Like your sexy beard. Does it have anything to do with a certain twinky delight?”

Lori does like how my stubble scratches his skin when I feast on him.

“My balls are shriveling. How do you do it with a gremlin? Are you even biologically compatible?” Rami jokes. I push his feet off the armrest, forcing him to move while taking the seat next to him.

“You are a game designer, use your unstoppable imagination,” I tell him.

“Thank you, Siri,” he retorts with a gag. His robot, AI jokes are getting old.

I ignore him, answering a work text instead.

“Fuck, you’re boring. Maybe I should revaluate Mr. Hyde. Let him come out, or do I need to poke you with a stick to see Bez?”

I can take over whenever the fuck I want,Bez sniffs.Why does everybody assume you’re the strong one?

“You did that when we were teens already,” Uri interjects in a flat tone. “The black eye on your face made you slightly interesting back then.”

Rami raises his middle finger in the air, but Uri has turned toward the fireplace already.

“I remember that day.” Linda smirks. “Bez was really pissed off.”

“Ramiel, Uriel, can you leave us alone?” Meg suddenly asks my brothers.

“Why? Do you have more secrets to finally reveal?” Uri spits out. Whoever they were talking about affected him deeply.

“More like feelings and shit?” Rami suggests.

“Feelings? With Gabe? He’s an emotional dumpster fire,” Uri, the sociopath states.

Rami nods in agreement. “You’re emotionally constipated, need to open up. Like a flower, and not the carnivorous ones that swallow whatever crawls on them.”

“Ramiel, out! Uriel, there’s more to discuss,” Meg tells them.

“I have a donor to torture,” Uri says on his way out without looking at her. “Gabe, I’ll wait for you in the base.”

I nod, but he’s already gone. It’s my turn to help him dispatch the corpse. It's been a few days since I killed, and my skin, now that I’m away from Lori, prickles with uneasiness again. It's incredible how he affects me and soothes me. His mare presence, solely, does it.

Rami huffs, but stands up. “Tell Bez to fuck off.” The door closes behind him.

“What you were talking about before I arrived, is it related to all the times I helped you in the last few years?” I ask Linda. She came to me numerous times, asking me hypothetical legal questions or wanting favors from judges or the names of good lawyers in whatever city she was in.

“A few times,” she replies. I won’t pry. This is Uri’s issue. I know how hard it is to live with a secret pressing on my shoulders. So I simply nod.

“You asked to talk to us. Is there something wrong? How are you doing?” Meg asks me, taking off her glasses and placing them on the coffee table separating us.

“The prickling sensation is bearable, even though I haven’t killed in a week.”

“You should be on burning embers.” Linda is surprised since I need to kill quite often to stop the uneasiness.

“I’ve kept myself busy.”

“Do you feel that same aggravating sensation when you’re with Lori?” That’s why Meg is a renown forensic psychiatrist, she’s so perceptive and always knows where to look.

“No.”

“Gabriel,” she insists.

“I do when I can’t be around him, when I can’t touch him,” I confess. Linda smirks at me, I can see multiple dirty comebacks in her eyes, but she remains silent.