Chapter 15
Fifteen
Peri returned to work the next day practically floating.
He was deliciously sore, muscles he didn’t know existed ached, and he’d slept like a baby after a marathon night of sex.
The only way the night would have been better was if Wash had slept over, but Wash pointed out that they wouldn’t get any actual sleep if he did, and he had a meeting in the morning.
He teleported home after their last round, kissing Peri’s shoulder and whispering a quiet good night before he did.
Peri woke up in such a good mood, he went on a baking frenzy, and when his new coworkers noticed his box of treats, they all flocked closer, curious what he’d baked.
“What’d you bring us this time, Peri?” Dakota asked, leaning over her desk curiously.
“Blackberry lemon squares,” Peri exclaimed, opening his treat box and placing it on the counter. He snagged two for Wash before stepping aside for everyone else to grab their treats.
Dakota was the first to take a bite and moaned, melting into her chair. “Oh my goddess. These are amazing.”
Noises of agreement filled the area, and Peri beamed brightly at them, his wings fluttering and lifting his feet off the ground. Today couldn’t get any better.
“Oh, I meant to ask, you’re scheduled to work on the same team as Mr. Washburne this morning. Are you comfortable with that?”
Huh. Maybe he was wrong. Today could get better. His stomach flipped, and he edged closer, his voice hopefully. “Really? I thought he didn’t need help.”
She rolled her eyes. “He likes to say that, but he’s a liar and a workaholic. Besides, the project is a team effort, not one of his solo projects, and the team needs help. They’ve got a few test subjects coming in and not enough people to take notes. That’ll be your job.”
Peri nodded enthusiastically. Wash had told him a little about his projects, but Peri wanted to see for himself what kind of work his grumpy demon did.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll just bring these to Wash and ask him where he wants me.” He lifted the treats and pointed toward Wash’s office.
Dakota looked concerned, but Peri waved her off with a smile. That thing with Wash the other day was a misunderstanding. It wasn’t Wash who made him cry, just the situation, and that wasn’t Wash’s fault.
He still wanted to ask about that, brothers shouldn’t be so distant from one another that it was painfully awkward just to have a discussion, but he didn’t want to push just yet.
He and Wash had just started seeing each other, and right now, his mission was to get Wash to leave work on time more often.
Then he could figure out how to help him reconcile whatever had happened with his brother.
Still beaming, he flitted to Wash’s office, knocking and waiting for Wash to call out to him before entering.
Wash was standing behind his desk, leaning over it and frowning at the screen like he’d been intending to walk away but got distracted.
Peri shook his head with a smirk, landing beside him and thrusting the treats in front of his face to get his attention.
“Blackberry and lemon,” he informed him brightly.
Wash blinked a few times in surprise, straightening to look at the treats in question.
To his credit, he didn’t get annoyed at Peri for interrupting, taking the treats and letting Peri nudge him into his chair so he could take a moment to eat.
While he did, Peri bustled around, cleaning up the rolled up balls of paper scattered on his desk and around the room, careful to avoid treading on one of the many half finished projects scattered on the floor.
“Don’t you think a shelf would be better? That way people won’t risk stepping on them coming in here.” He nudged one with the toe of his shoe that looked more like a pile of scrap metal than any actual invention.
“That might make people think I want them to come in here,” was Wash’s surly reply. Well, he tried to be surly anyway. The way he melted into his chair after taking his first bite of the treat kind of ruined that image.
Peri bit back a snicker, tossing the rest of the trash into the little bin under the desk.
It was overflowing, so he assumed Wash didn’t let anyone in here to clean it.
He thought about using magic to send it away, but then remembered Wash’s comment about not having any outside magic interfere with his projects.
There were too many projects in the room to use magic.
Instead, he picked it up and carefully brought it out to dump into the big recycling bin next to the vending machines.
He got a few worried glances, but he smiled and waved reassuringly before disappearing back into Wash’s office again.
Wash was licking his fingers when he came back in, which made Peri giggle. His growly demon was a secret sweet tooth, it was written all over his face. Which was a good thing because Peri loved baking.
Putting the trash bin back where he’d found it, he perched his butt on the edge of Wash’s desk, toeing the floor innocently as he asked, “Would you be willing to be my guinea pig? I’ve been wanting to create some of my own recipes, but I don’t trust my friends not to lie and say it’s good just because they like me. ”
Wash raised an eyebrow at him. “And you think I won’t?”
“You’re a researcher,” Peri pointed out. “You know how important honest results are. I figured you’d care enough about the scientific process to be honest with me.” He batted his eyelashes innocently.
Wash smirked but nodded slowly. “I can accept that reasoning. Sure, I’ll test out your recipes. Is that the only reason you came in here today?”
“Nope,” he replied, popping the ‘p’. “I’m working with you today.”
Wash’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Me?”
Peri nodded. “Dakota said I’m working with your team. It’ll be fun watching you work.”
Watching Wash’s frown deepen made Peri want to laugh. He didn’t look uncomfortable or unhappy with the idea, just confused. He glanced back at his computer, clicking around for a moment before muttering a curse under his breath.
“I forgot about that.”
“About what?”
“The device we made to assist with magical output is old tech. I’ve been working on an upgrade and sent it off to my team a few months ago. I forgot we were starting some new test subjects this month.”
Cocking his head, Peri peered around the computer screen to see what Wash was looking at. He scrolled through a thread of emails he’d obviously been ignoring for some time, considering how far down he had to scroll.
“Don’t you have a calendar? Or a group chat?”
“I’ve never been able to keep up with a calendar. And a group chat would get exhausting.”
Peri tried not to laugh, he really did, but Wash’s antisocial tendencies were cute. Peri got the feeling Wash was only antisocial because he hadn’t met the right people yet. He got along with Peri just fine. He was an introvert in need of adoption by an extrovert. Peri could handle that no problem.
“You’re such a grump,” Peri teased, squealing and darting away when Wash pinched his hip. He was still laughing when he opened the office door to lead the way to the meeting room, coming up short when he nearly ran into a red-head with glasses and freckles. “Oh, sorry!”
The man blinked in surprise, taking a step back. “Apologies. I was looking for–”
Wash appeared at Peri’s back, his face a mask of annoyance. “I’ve got a meeting, Elijah. I can’t talk right now.”
Elijah. That was Wash’s brother’s name. He’d overheard it during the conversation the other day.
At the time, he hadn’t gotten a good look at the man, too busy trying to fix his clothes so no one would find out he’d gotten ravished in Wash’s office, but studying him now, he couldn’t see many similarities between the two.
Elijah was tall and slender, with copper hair and hazel eyes.
Meanwhile, Wash was shorter, with black hair and dark brown eyes.
They weren’t even the same species. He cocked his head curiously.
“Was one of you adopted?”
It distracted them both from the awkward conversation, and Elijah shook his head, his voice calm as he explained, “We’re twins.”
Peri’s jaw dropped. “Twins? But– How?”
Elijah’s smile was fond when he lifted a shoulder. “Luck of genetics, I suppose. Have we met?”
“Oh!” Peri wrinkled his nose, so distracted by meeting Wash’s brother that he completely forgot his manners. He stuck a hand out, beaming at him. “I’m Peri. I’m a temp from Charmed Away.”
Several things happened at once. A few coworkers who had been nearby gasped, one hissed at him to stop, and Wash moved like a wraith, going chest to chest with the witch who had tried to warn Peri away.
He bared his teeth in challenge, growling something low enough that Peri didn’t catch but the witch seemed to shrink in response.
“Wash!” Peri cried, racing over to see what had happened. Wash threw his wings out, keeping Peri from getting between them, so Peri did what had worked the last time Wash got into a fight, jumping onto his back and holding on tight.
Just like the last time he did this, everyone froze and went quiet, staring at him like he was a hydra with only one head. Granted, it was a weird way to soothe the situation, but he was little. He used what he had. And Wash would never hurt him.
Elijah was the one to speak first, putting his hands up placatingly without moving any closer to anyone. “I think we all need to take a deep breath. Hugo, take a step back, please. Levi didn’t do anything wrong.”
Wash’s head snapped around, and he glared at his brother. “Only you would say that. If he said the same thing about anyone else, would you be so calm about it?”
“Said what?” Peri queried, readjusting himself to see the witch better. He’d seen him around on the research floor, he hadn’t done anything to make Peri think he was a bad guy, but obviously he said something that upset Wash and Peri wanted to know.
Levi’s expression had been hard when glaring at Wash, and hadn’t softened an inch when Elijah got involved, but when Peri started asking questions, he looked a little panicked, avoiding eye contact with Peri on his perch like he would rather swallow tacks than admit what he said.
“It’s not necessary to repeat,” Elijah insisted. “Everyone, please return to your work. Um, Peri? You can get down now.”