Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
DEUS
“Did you enjoy my sacrifice?”
“I did.” Ellison peppers soft kisses over my lips and down to my neck. I want to tug him under the covers where we can remain for at least a day.
My hands wander down his body, wanting to claim all of him. “It’s all for you… and your buddies.”
“Don’t make me jealous again.”
“I think they’re the ones who were jealous of you,” I tease.
“They are extremely jealous. So jealous that Aspen has just let our friends into the house and is pretending to be me as we speak.”
“Our friends sure don’t learn after you told them not to trust you.”
“Oh, he’s now told Landon that the book he’s carrying is ‘sick.’ I would never say that word. How do they not realize that’s not me? Now Landon is telling him that he’s…” Ellison hesitates. “He’s telling him that he’s significantly cooler than the real Ellison.”
That makes me cackle.
“Our friends are brutal,” he decides.
“I like them like that,” I say, kissing him again before I decide that I really do need to get cleaned up. First, I squeeze him to me for one last recharge. “Quick shower with me?”
“I guess they might as well have fun with the much superior Aspen while we stay up here,” he says.
“Look at you, making friends and being jealous. Sexy.”
“Is it sexy?”
“Scrumptious.”
“I think you’re easily confused.”
“For sure,” I say.
Ellison sets his head against my chest for one deep breath before pushing himself up. He pulls me out of bed with him and I guide him into the shower. Instead of taking turns showering, I take control of it and quickly shower while I force him to stand there and watch me, all for my ultimate plan.
“You invited me in here but I feel like it was just so I could watch you.”
“Exactly. You must watch your sacrifice.”
“Ah, right, of course,” he says with much sarcasm.
I grin at him as I hop out and dry off before scurrying off to my room. Once dressed, I return and smack down some clothes on the counter. “I grabbed you clothes.”
“I’m a bit concerned, but thank you.”
“The demons be with you,” I say as I turn invisible and body block the door, not planning on letting this man escape until he’s dressed.
He dries off, slides on his glasses, and then picks up the clothes I’d left him while I very much enjoy the look on his face.
He scrutinizes them like he’s never seen such things since they’re my own clothes, which means that there are no pocket squares and definitely no cuff links.
Just a plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Ellison lifts up the t-shirt like I’ve gone out and skinned a wolf I expect him to wear. Then he drops it and heads for the door, which he proceeds to be unable to open.
“Stop blocking me in here!” he says as he pats around for me, but of course he’s never going to find me.
“I will not allow you to leave until you’re dressed,” I warn him.
“These clothes look good on you, but on me… they’re not acceptable.”
“Why?”
“Because… I should look proper and presentable at all times.”
I drop the invisibility and look up at him. “But… seeing you in my clothes… it would make me so happy. It would make my blackened and shriveled-up heart beat again.”
He lets out a long sigh, and I know I’ve won. I almost ruin it all with the grin he catches me wearing. “Stop being so damn happy about it,” he grumbles as he shoves the clothes on and then throws his arms up. “I look ridiculous.”
“You look so sexy,” I say as I rush up to observe my subject. “The demons approve.”
Ellison sighs again. “As long as you’re happy. But what if I wear like… a fashionable suit jacket over it?”
I take his hand and drag his unwilling body downstairs to where the group, including Nolan, is waiting for us.
“Asmodeus Death the Demon Whisperer and Ellison the Less Fun One According to Landon have arrived,” I announce.
Landon shakes his head. “I said this one is cooler. He reads things beyond instruction manuals that say things like, ‘According to the seven hundred and sixteenth law of General Wordsworth, thou shalt not steppeth upon the stones of the driveway between ten PM and six AM.’”
“My driveway isn’t made of stone,” Ellison corrects.
“That’s right, you’re rich and fancy,” Landon says.
“You live in a literal mansion,” Nolan reminds Landon.
“In my defense, the mansion was the only place big enough to fit all of my books.”
August says, “I have told him that if we maybe moved some of the books out of one of the many spare bedrooms, we could put a bed in there for when Brandon stays over. And then he wouldn’t crawl in bed… naked… with me.”
“Demons rest your soul,” I murmur as I stroke his cheek.
August kind of seems confused about what to do with the hand and ends up taking it, which seems to cause him more confusion.
Landon dramatically places a hand on his heart. “First Deus shoots my book and now he steals my man?”
“I was simply stroking him. You can stroke mine,” I say, pushing Ellison toward him.
“Wait… that’s Ellison?” Landon asks as he points at Ellison in his t-shirt and jeans. “I assumed it was another illusion.”
Ellison huffs. “Of course it’s me.”
“But… but your suit… he’s having a midlife crisis, my friends,” Landon declares. “We should do something about it. I’m going to read while the rest of you do something about it.”
“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’re actually here for a very important reason,” Nolan says.
“Wow, you’re so good at controlling the group,” Lex, head to toe in red, tells Nolan. Even the tips of his dark-brown hair have been bleached and dyed red.
“Um… thank you?”
Lex beams and Nolan looks minorly uncertain.
“You said there was something important going on, and instead, you have just started a stare down with Lex,” Ellison says.
Nolan clears his throat. “Right.”
“We could like rent a movie instead?” Landon suggests. “That could be fun.”
August gives Landon a one-armed hug. “Hon, has ignoring our problems ever gone well?”
“Yeah. I ignored those mice that kept getting into our stuff and they just… poof, went away.”
“That’s because I assassinated them. All besides one; Zacia assassinated that one and tore its head off with pride,” I say.
Landon gapes at me for a moment, then looks over at Zacia who is playing a game of Whack-a-Mole as she sits on the coffee table and whaps Pocket Lint’s head every time the ferret tries to look at her.
“Baby, you should not hunt mice. They are icky.”
“Uh… thank you for… controlling our mice problem, Deus,” August says. “I apologize that we didn’t do it ourselves.”
“It was fine. The battle was rough, but I did manage to make it out in the end.”
“They were just mice—what’s that mean?” Landon asks.
“Shhhhh.” I press a finger against his lips to silence him.
Moving away from my finger, he says, “We had that shower that wouldn’t work and then suddenly, it randomly worked one day…”
“I just kicked it and it worked,” I assure him.
“Do you have a ton of luck or something?” Landon asks. “I mean… how else did you get that man in a t-shirt and jeans?”
“It was easy. I only had to sacrifice five virgins and the blood of a unicorn, and presto.” I wave to Ellison, who doesn’t look pleased that the attention is on him and his clothes.
“And what’d you do with those five virgins?” Landon asks.
“We have much more pressing issues, I do believe,” Nolan says as he gestures at a laptop.
“Oh, right. Forgot why we were here. Um… Ellison… that horrible clinic you went to as a child… do you realize it’s still running?”
“I do. My father helps fund it. Funny, huh? Hilarious.”
“Well… one upside to it is that… as of today, it’s no longer in service. The downside…” Landon finger guns Nolan.
“You just want the dramatic effect,” Nolan says, not seeming impressed.
“Obviously, brother, and you’re killing it for me. You were supposed to press play the second I stopped speaking.”
“Right,” Nolan says, pressing play. We all watch the security footage of the place as “Ellison” bashes the window open, crawls through it, and then about five minutes later walks out. And while he’s doing the cool guy walk away, the whole place blows up.
“That was so fucking sexy but I’m also a bit jealous. I’ve always wanted to do that,” I comment.
“The walk? It was a pretty fucking sexy walk,” Landon agrees.
“You are all impressed by the walk and El just blew up a clinic?” Ellison asks in disbelief. “Fuck.”
“There was no one inside at the time of the explosion,” Nolan assures us.
“And it was a horrible place that was known for conning desperate people out of money and charging them exorbitant amounts for treatments with possible deadly consequences,” August says. “I’m… maybe I shouldn’t be for violence, but let’s just say like… maybe it’s not so horrible of a thing.”
“Has this footage gone public?” Ellison asks in horror.
“Maybe a little bit,” Landon says.
“What the fuck does a little bit mean?” Ellison asks as he grabs the remote and clicks a news station where his face is front and center. I can hear the newscaster go, “Has another of Superheroes United—”
I turn the TV off. “At least you look sexy on there. Like you were already dressed for the occasion, you know?”
“I’m going to be honest… I thought if any one of us was going to make the news, it would totally be Deus,” Landon comments.
“Hon, you were just on the news not that long ago for the whole Hannah incident. And Nolan was on the news before that… honestly, more of us have been on the news than not,” August says. “So I wouldn’t worry too much, Ellison.”
I look over at Ellison who has passed right over “worry too much” and dived into “my world has fallen apart.”
“Do you want me to go blow something up so that the limelight switches off you and onto me?” I ask. “Because I’ll do it.”
“We all know you’ll do it,” Landon says. “That is definitely not the concern here.”
I smile. “Good.”