Nine
Eshim
"G ood morning, sir!" I greeted Jerry as I placed a dish with two cookies and a mug of coffee on their usual spots on his desk, and he jumped. Ignoring his reaction, I continued, "I baked some blueberry cookies this weekend. I hope you like them."
Jerry blinked up at me as if I was a strange being from another world—close enough—and he had no idea how to communicate with me.
"Sir? Everything okay?"
"Everything—" Jerry cut himself off with a shake of his head, then stared at me some more. I fidgeted slightly, unsure if this was the good kind of staring or not.
"Could you close the door for a moment please?"
I'd left it open since I'd just intended to drop off the snacks and coffee, but I nodded quickly and did as he'd asked.
When I returned to his desk, he waved at one of the visitor chairs, and I sat down.
"Are you okay? You were hurt pretty bad last night," he said, and my heart squeezed in my chest. Even though he must've had so many questions, the first one he had was about my well-being?
"I'm okay. Consort Reece healed me completely, and a nap was enough to replenish my energy."
Jerry blinked, and I wondered what that was about. Then he nodded, and seemed to pull himself together.
"Everything we talked about last night. It was all real, right?" Jerry asked, and I nodded. "You're a demon." I nodded again. "And so are Lux and Fressia."
"Yes. The three of us and another nineteen demons were stationed here to protect humans from the dark souls and Mammon."
Jerry nodded, and then asked, a touch hesitantly. "What about the other part?"
My heart skipped a beat. Did he mean... I decided to play dumb. "The other part?"
Jerry narrowed his eyes at me in a way that told me he wasn't fooled. "Yes. The part where you said we're...soulmates."
"Fated mates, but yes, I suppose that works too," I said, leaning forward in my chair. Jerry watched me with an air of caution...and hope, and I didn't know if I should push him about this, or just wave it off like it wasn't a big deal.
"Tell me about fated mates. Not us, just in general. What does it mean?"
Nodding, I crossed my arms on his desk, and his eyes flicked to my forearms. I'd folded up the sleeves to under my elbows because they were too damned restricting, and I bit back a smile as I flexed just a little, enjoying the way he eyed me.
"Fate," I started, and he jerked his eyes to mine, his cheeks going the lightest shade of pink. "Fate is a powerful being. They can see the threads that tie us together, and they bring people closer and cross their paths in the hopes that they'll recognize their mates and find their happiness with them."
Jerry squinted. "I thought Fate decided who would be whose partner."
I shook my head. "Our souls decide that. They're like...puzzle pieces. And only Fate can see the edges and figure out which pieces fit together the best. Humans can't recognize their mates, but have you ever come across a human couple or polycule who seem perfectly in sync? Deeply in love?"
Jerry thought for a moment, then nodded.
"It's possible they're mates and don't know it. Fate helps humans cross paths with their mates just as much as they help supernatural beings. Humans just have a harder time recognizing theirs."
"So...what? You took one look at me and knew I was your mate?" he asked, a little skeptical, a little hopeful.
"Actually, it was the first time I heard you laugh."
"What?"
I smiled as I remembered that day, how completely unexpected it'd been. "I was on a call with Lux, just shooting the wind, and then I heard your laugh in the background, and I just knew."
"Oh," Jerry murmured, staring at me like he had no idea what to say.
"Lux told me you were struggling to find a new assistant, and I wanted to help you and be closer to you. I don't really know much about human dating, and I was worried coming right out and asking you out might not work. I wanted to get to know you, and support you in any way I could. So, I decided to apply for the job."
Jerry pursed his lips thoughtfully, his brows furrowing. "Wait. Do you even have the experience and credentials you mentioned in your résumé?"
I winced, then shook my head. "I don't. I only came to the human world a few months ago. The résumé is fake, but I did not influence yours or Carol's judgment in any other way, I promise."
Jerry watched me for a long, uncomfortable moment before nodding.
"Okay. Well, like you said, I can't sense if we're mates or not, but I have no reason to doubt you, especially since my friends know and trust you."
I relaxed, a loud breath whooshing out of me as relief filled me.
"But, if you want to date me, you can't keep this job."
"What? Why?" I liked being Jerry's assistant, taking care of him and making sure he wasn't too stressed out. I also didn't want anyone else to do that for him.
Wow, I'd never known I could be a possessive man, but here I was.
Jerry shook his head. "It's too much of a power imbalance. I'm your boss."
My brows shot up. "Uh, did you forget everything I told you? I'm a demon. If there's any power imbalance, it's skewed very firmly in my favor. It's not like I need the money. I could leave this job at any time, but I don't want to."
"Why?" he asked, and he honestly sounded puzzled.
Reaching across the desk, I took his hand in mine. "Because I like taking care of you. This place is precious to you, something you and your friends built from the ground up. I know you give it your all, and I want to make sure you don't harm yourself while doing that."
Jerry stared at me, a look of complete shock on his face. Then he rubbed at his face with his free hand, while the other stayed firmly in mine.
"I, uh..."
"Let me continue working here, Jerry. Please?"
Jerry swallowed hard, then nodded slowly, and I smiled.
Jerry
Fuck, he had such a beautiful, happy smile. His blue eyes were sparkling like sunlight on the surface of the ocean, and I couldn't look away.
"Will you go on a date with me?"
I blinked hard to get my head on straight, then gave him a blank look. "Huh?"
"A date," he repeated with a softer smile. "Would you like to go on one with me?"
"Ah, yes," I agreed quickly, then frowned. "But we'll need to wait until the weekend. Kat will hear about that project we worked on soon, and if she does, we'll need to craft that contract. It'll be a busy week."
Eshim frowned, then nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. I don't want to wait five whole days, though," he said with a pitiful pout, making me smile. For how big and tank-like he was, he could certainly be cute when he wanted to.
Suddenly, his eyes brightened. "Oh! How about a low-tea home date? I can bring dinner, and we can watch a movie?"
My lips curved up of their own accord, and I cleared my throat. "You mean lowkey?"
Eshim blinked, then gave me a look that clearly meant 'that isn't the part of the sentence you should be focusing on!'
Chuckling, I put him out of his misery. "That does sound fun." Honestly, I'd gotten over the whole elaborate dates thing a while ago. It was a whole lot of doing things without actually spending any time getting to know each other, and a date at home sounded much more enjoyable.
"Awesome! Then I'll be at yours at seven. I should get back to work before someone comes wondering where I am."
Before I could say a word, he picked up my coffee mug, murmured that he'd get me a replacement since it'd gone cold, and left the room.
I stared after him, needing a moment to catch up after his quick exit. Wait. Had he said tonight ? Holy shit.
I grabbed my phone, and I was in the group chat between me, Archer, and Kat and typing before I realized what I was doing.
Then I remembered... everything, and stopped.
I knew I shouldn't blame Kat and Archer for keeping this secret from me, that they hadn't wanted to do it. Hell, Eshim had kept it a secret too, and I'd forgiven him. I even had a date with him tonight.
Why couldn't I forgive the people I was closest to then?
Maybe because I was close to them. I'd had no expectations from Eshim, but I had a ton of them from Kat and Archer, the most important of which was that we never lied to each other, never kept secrets bigger than who had whom for Secret Santa.
I was hurt. I knew it was childish and unreasonable, but I still was.
What if Eshim hadn't turned out to be my mate? What if I hadn't had a demon mate at all? Would they have never told me? Would I have spent my whole life never knowing they were keeping such a big part of their life secret?
I backed out of the text chain without sending anything, then dropped my phone on the desk with a sigh. Work. I needed to focus on work.
Pushing my friends, Eshim, and the word mates to the back of my mind, I woke up my laptop and started going through my emails. Most of them were reports from the teams about various projects, and I emailed them back, either asking for clarification on some points, or praising their work. I'd never been one to hoard praise like it was something to be coveted. After doing this job for a while, I'd realized my employees were far more likely to give their best if their work was appreciated.
Eshim came into the office a few times, dropping files, bringing me more snacks and coffee—there were no more home-baked cookies, but he brought me tiny, bite-sized sandwiches, and a delicious mini-cupcake—or updating me about an upcoming meeting.
My phone buzzed with a few texts in the chat group, but I ignored it and continued reading an email Eshim had forwarded me. The potential client Kat had been entertaining, Hanover's, had liked the project we'd worked on last week, but they had a few change requests that I forwarded to Martin, since his team was responsible for it. He emailed back saying the changes would be done by the end of the work day. He might be an arrogant ass, but he was good at his job. It was why he'd managed to hold on to it for so long. Kat had wanted to fire him a while ago because of some comment he'd made about Archer and Gunner, and while I'd supported her, Archer had waved it off, saying he didn't care what people thought about him. Of course, if Lux ever found out, Martin would be in big trouble.
Remembering how Eshim had shut Martin down, I glanced up, then stilled when I saw Kat perched on the edge of Eshim's desk, saying something to him. Would she come in? I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to her. Or what I'd say. I didn't want to say something I'd regret later.
She didn't come in, though, and a moment later, the intercom buzzed. Eshim.
"Sir, Kat wanted to let you know that we have a meeting with the people at Hanover's on Thursday, and your presence is requested by the client."
Did that mean they were planning to sign a contract?
"All right, add it to my calendar, please."
"Already done. Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm good. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Eshim shot me a grin through the glass, and I couldn't help smiling back.
I had a date with him tonight. Wow.