28. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
LUKE
L uke trudged home from campus, hating everything. Why did he have to have these stupid high ideals? Why couldn’t he have told Azroth to wipe the entire attack from Matteo’s mind? That way, he’d still have his hot, sweet boyfriend to cuddle and sex him up.
Sure, he’d “done the right thing,” but now he had no cuddles and no sex.
Life sucked.
He missed Matteo as though he were missing part of himself.
For a brief moment in time, he’d been able to taste heaven.
Life had been so good, and he’d started to imagine a bright future filled with Matteo’s laughter and joy where they celebrated the holidays together and maybe went on their first vacation adventure.
Now he was going to be lucky if he didn’t flunk out of graduate school.
It had been a week since he’d last talked to Matteo, and he still couldn’t concentrate on his classes.
He was behind on a paper he was supposed to be writing, and exams were right around the corner.
He knew he needed to pull his head out of his ass and get back to work, but he couldn’t summon the energy or interest to do it.
No.
He had to study. Graduate school was fucking expensive.
He’d worked too hard and sacrificed too much just to throw it all away.
This weekend, he’d let himself mope and wallow in misery.
Then on Monday, if he hadn’t heard from Matteo, he’d pick up his sorry ass and focus on studying.
There was still time to salvage the semester.
He turned to shuffle along the sidewalk to the house and paused. The big, rambling mansion towered in front of him, little glimmers of light sneaking between the heavy curtains, giving it a welcoming glow. Well, at least it did to Luke. Everyone else just saw a creepy old murder house.
The demons had been really sweet and understanding during the last week.
They’d tried to cheer him up and reassure him that Matteo would return.
They’d given him space, and Azroth and Mullmag kept trying to feed him.
He needed to pull himself out of his funk for his roommates.
He didn’t want them to feel like this was their fault.
It wasn’t Matteo’s fault either. Accepting helpful demons into your life was a complicated matter.
Such a thing wasn’t going to work out for everyone.
With a sigh, Luke stumbled up the stairs to the house. As he pushed the door open, he was immediately hit with banging chaos and the acrid odor of something burning.
“Ahhhh! Fire! Fire! The salad is burning!” Annod’s panicked voice rang out through the house.
“Well, it will match the burned bread, at least,” Mullmag shouted.
“How is the salad burning? Where’s your fire extinguisher?”
Luke froze. He knew that voice. That was Matteo’s voice. But it couldn’t be Matteo because that would mean he was in the house. With the demons.
Yet, there was no mistaking it. That had to be Matteo’s wonderful, exasperated voice.
“Bath’tuk, open the windows!” Azroth barked. “Smoke is bad for humans.”
That settled it. Luke dropped his heavy bag of books at the door and raced through the house to the smoky kitchen, where he found all the demons in their natural form gathered around the island next to Matteo.
His beautiful, perfect Matteo with flushed cheeks, watery eyes, and messy hair all while wearing a cheery yellow apron.
“Matteo?” Luke gasped.
Matteo’s head snapped up, and he grinned. “Luke!” he greeted and then broke into a round of coughing.
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“Can’t you tell?” Tog demanded. “We’re surprising you with a homemade dinner.”
Luke turned his attention to the smoldering array on the island.
There was a pan of small, blackened squares he thought might have been bread at one time.
Next to it was a melted bowl with more blackened bits and ash that could have been a salad at one time.
Behind the assembled group on the stove was a bubbling cauldron that had hints of oregano and tomatoes in it.
“Did you make…spaghetti?” he inquired hesitantly.
Matteo laughed and hurried past the island toward Luke. “The demons and I tried. Your roommates insisted on helping.” He leaned close with a big smirk and said in a fake whisper, “They’re not very good at cooking.”
Luke watched him, and he could have sworn that under all of Matteo’s happiness was an edge of nervousness. His head snapped around to glare at Azroth. “What did you do? Did you mess with his memory?”
Azroth straightened, fluttering his wings slightly before wrapping them about his shoulders. “Absolutely not.”
“No! No! He didn’t. I swear.” Matteo frantically waved his hands in front of Luke’s face, drawing his gaze to him.
“He came to see me at school. We had a long talk about you, and us, and demons. He helped me to realize that there are far worse people in this world than your roommates. I hoped we could try dating?—”
There was no need for him to finish. Luke threw himself at Matteo, closing the short distance between them in a heartbeat to press his lips to Matteo’s. A small laugh was trapped between them as Matteo instantly wrapped Luke up and kissed him.
Luke’s heart soared, and all the horrible aches that had plagued him just minutes ago vanished. He had Matteo back.
Behind him, a great, ear-splitting cheer went up, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t ready to release Matteo yet. Part of him had given up all hope that he’d ever get to hold Matteo like this again. If this was a dream, he didn’t ever want to wake up.
“I missed you so much,” Matteo mumbled against his lips.
“I missed you too,” Luke replied, refusing to lift his mouth from Matteo.
“I’m so sorry?—”
Luke squeezed his lover tighter. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. You were hurt because of me.”
“No, those were evil assholes, and they totally deserved to die for ever touching you.”
Azroth sighed loudly. “See? This is why I think Matteo is just perfect for you. The right amount of bloodthirsty and protective.”
Luke finally broke off the kiss to chuckle. Okay, so maybe he should settle down since they did have an audience. He would more thoroughly welcome Matteo into his life when they were alone.
“But…the demons? You’re okay with them? You’re not scared?”
“Oh, no! Your roommates are amazing! Who cares if they’re demons? We’ve been hanging out for a couple of hours now, and they’ve been telling me the best stories about how they torment your neighbors. And did you know that your library is alive ?”
“The whole house, actually,” Luke murmured, his brain struggling to keep up with this fresh development.
Matteo reached between them and grabbed Luke’s gloved hands in his own, his smile softening.
“Look, the idea of demons protecting us and living with you is a lot to take in, but you know what’s scarier?
Those assholes who attacked us. What’s scarier than that?
Not having you in my life. Besides, how could we not get along when we want the same thing? ”
“What’s that?” Luke’s voice wobbled.
“We want you happy and safe.”
He couldn’t take it anymore. Luke threw himself at Matteo again, wrapping him in another tight hug. “Okay,” he mumbled against Matteo’s neck. “Just don’t let me go again.”
Strong arms tightened around him, nearly cracking his ribs. “Never again.”
After a moment, Luke shifted his face to rest his chin on Matteo’s shoulder, allowing him to see the demons gathered on the other side of the kitchen, a variety of grins on their faces. He lifted a hand and gave them a thumbs-up, which resulted in more celebrating.
It was an odd life. One he’d never expected to have.
After so many years of scrambling alone, always fighting for a sense of safety and security, he’d found it with a group of crazy demons, a murder of sassy crows, and the sweetest man he’d ever met.
This life was perfect, and he didn’t ever want it to change.
“One thing,” Matteo said, turning his head to press a kiss to Luke’s cheek. “We’re gonna have to order out for dinner. Your roommates are horrible cooks. They burn everything to Hell and back.”
Luke snorted. Yeah, he didn’t ever want his life to change.