Chapter 21
Twenty-One
If Peri had his way, he would have dragged Wash up to their room–because yes, they were totally sharing a room now that they were official boyfriends– and celebrated their new status in as many pleasurable ways he could think of.
But not only was Wash expected in at least one meeting today, he was also in the middle of baking, and he didn’t want Tony to have to wait just because Peri wanted sex.
To his surprise and great delight, Wash took over helping him after he was sure Peri felt better.
Watching his grumpy demon carefully measure out ingredients and fill the cupcake pan with little paper cups made Peri’s heart want to burst out of his chest. If Wash wasn’t careful, Peri was going to keep him forever.
None of his exes had ever bothered to bake with him before.
The cupcakes were still cooling when Wash had to go to his meeting. He gave Peri a kiss on the cheek on his way out, and Peri couldn’t stop smiling afterward. It wasn’t sexual or meant to rile him up. It was just sweet and meant a lot more to him than any of the kisses he’d ever gotten before.
“Need any help?”
Peri spun around, taking in the human who had come to join him. He looked familiar, though Peri couldn’t place where he’d seen him. Still, it was a nice offer, and he didn’t seem to be hitting on him like the other human had earlier.
“Sure, that sounds nice. I’m going to start decorating soon. Have you ever piped frosting before or would you prefer to add the decorations?”
The head chef hadn’t had any decorations, but Wash had teleported home for a few minutes to pick up some from Peri’s stash. Sprinkles of all kinds, a few sugar decorations, that kind of thing, just to make it more fun.
“Decorations, please,” the human requested. “I’ve never frosted cupcakes before.”
Peri pointed to the spread at the end of the counter. “I’ll start icing and then hand them to you, okay?”
While the human perused the options, Peri started icing the cooled cupcakes.
He didn't just make perfect spirals. That would be boring. No, he switched up the texture to make flowers and plants and even some that looked like mushroom tops. Amongst the decor Wash had brought, he’d also grabbed Peri’s collection of food dyes, so the colors ranged from pastel pink to neon blue and everything in between. It made for some wild cupcakes.
“Wow… these are almost too pretty to add to,” the human murmured as Peri handed him the first few.
“Nonsense,” Peri chirped, flapping a hand at him. “There’s always room for sprinkles. Just pick whatever you like.”
Bemused but agreeable, the human bent to the task, adding little decorations while Peri went back to icing. They worked in companionable silence, and it wasn’t until they were packing the treats into his treat box that he realized he’d never asked the human his name.
“So, this is weird timing, but who are you?”
The human looked up in surprise, huffing out a laugh. “I guess we skipped that part, huh? I’m Avery Hawksley, Ozen’s mate. You’re Peri, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Peri beamed at him. “All good things, I hope?”
Avery nodded solemnly. “All great things, actually. You’re well loved in the office. I’m pretty sure my mate is looking for some way to lure you into staying at Spellbound so he can keep that kind of energy around. You’ve made the research team significantly less stressed in a little over a week.”
His wings fluttered, displaying his pleasure at the compliment. “I’m always happy to help.”
Cocking his head, Avery asked, “Are you looking for a specific type of career? I worked at Charmed Away too once upon a time. I only quit after I met Ozen, and he encouraged me to try out my dream job.”
“Nope,” Peri said with a shake of his head, closing up the box to keep the cupcakes safe. “I don’t know what I want to do yet. Morana, and now Kian, have promised to let me try a lot so I can figure out what I want to do, but I haven’t settled on anything.”
Avery agreed with a nod, moving to help clean up the mess they’d made. “I get that. What’s your favorite part about being a temp? Maybe that’ll help you decide.”
Peri thought about it as he whispered a spell and the dishes began cleaning themselves. Avery looked pleasantly surprised, moving on to packing up the sprinkles while Peri wiped up the counters. It was always nice to have help when he couldn’t use pixie dust to clean up the mess.
“It’s not really job related, I guess. My favorite part is the people. I love meeting new people, making their days a little better.” He gestured to the box and lifted a shoulder. “Bringing them treats. Those are my favorite parts.”
“You’d be surprised,” Avery countered. “The people were my favorite part too and interacting with them led to my career.”
Curious, Peri asked, “What career?”
“I’m an author. I write office romances.”
Peri froze, wide-eyed. One of his favorite authors wrote office romances. And his first name was Avery, too.
“Are you– Do you–” he stammered, pointing a finger at Avery. “Are you Avery Whitman?”
Avery’s cheeks flushed as he nodded. “Yep. I write under my birth name. Just makes things easier, I guess.”
Peri squealed, grabbing Avery’s hands and jumping up and down. “Oh my goddess! I love your books! You’re my favorite author! I pre-order every book so I can get it when it comes out!”
Avery looked a little shell shocked by the sudden outburst, but his smile said he didn't mind, and he seemed happy to discuss his books as they headed back to the lobby where the company would reunite after the meetings were finished. Peri was ecstatic having an opportunity to talk to his favorite author and bounced the entire way back. Maybe if he played things right, he’d get to make friends, too!
Who wouldn’t want to be friends with their favorite author?
Today was turning out to be the best day ever.
They rejoined a few of the others in the lobby, including Kian, who looked distracted, his gaze narrowed on the big windows overlooking the fountain out front and his head cocked every so slightly like he was listening to something.
Peri and Avery both looked in the direction Kian was staring, then back at Kian, confused.
“What are you looking at?” Avery asked.
“That couple near the fountain is about to break up, I’m sure of it. I’ve got a spying spell on them, and the guy is dancing around the subject, but the woman is suspicious. She found something on his phone earlier while they were supposed to be on a hike together.”
Curiosity made Peri stand on his tiptoes to get a better look. Kian put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him back down. “Don’t. They’ll see you. Just listen.”
He opened his hand, and his spying spell got loud enough that Avery and Peri could overhear it. Avery came closer, eyes on the spell with avid curiosity.
“Someone needs to get Taron. He loves this kind of thing,” Kian murmured, then huffed as the man blurted out something he probably wished he hadn’t. The woman’s shriek echoed through the spell and the windows in response. “That was stupid.”
“I’ll say,” Peri agreed. It was probably a little rude to eavesdrop, but Peri couldn’t help being curious. It was a fairy thing.
Probably.
“I want to reinforce the message that staff overworking themselves will no longer be ignored,” Ozen droned.
Wash had lost interest in the conversation when he realized the meeting was about limiting overtime and preventing employee burnout.
He got the feeling the message was for him specifically, and he didn’t care to hear it.
His schedule worked out just fine for him.
His mind strayed to Peri, and he resisted the urge to grimace. Peri would definitely have something to say if he were here. He’d been actively trying to get him to leave work on time. Most nights he’d succeeded. Wash had a really hard time telling him no.
Taron’s phone beeped, drawing the attention of the room to him. He startled, having obviously not expected it, and gave his pocket a confused frown. “Sorry about that. Tony usually reminds me to silence it before meetings. I forgot to do it myself.”
Ozen didn’t seem too upset by the interruption, nodding once and continuing his presentation like the disruption hadn’t happened.
No one blamed Taron for it, not even Wash.
Taron had been way worse about interruptions before Tony showed up.
He knew if Tony hadn’t been upstairs resting and had attended this meeting with Taron, he wouldn’t have forgotten.
Tony was the Taron Keeper. Interruptions were expected when Tony wasn’t around.
Still ignoring Ozen, Wash watched as Taron fished his phone out of his pocket, his brow furrowing as he opened up the text thread. Since he’d insisted on sitting next to Wash, Wash could see it over his shoulder, and his attention narrowed in on Peri’s name when another message popped up.
Kian: Amazing drama just outside. You’re missing it.
Peri: He’s got a listening spell. You can hear everything.
Wash’s frown deepened. Since when had the three of them had their own text thread? And why did he feel like Kian and Taron would be a bad influence on his sweet boyfriend?
Taron tapped out a reply too quick for Wash to read, tucking his phone in his pocket again.
When he stood, alarms went off in Wash’s head.
He had no doubt if Taron went off to play with Kian and Peri, someone would get into trouble.
His hand darted out automatically, gripping Taron’s arm tight enough to stall his movements.
“Where are you going?” he whispered.
Taron pointed toward the door, a look of innocence on his face. “Bathroom.”
He was lying. It didn’t matter that Wash would’ve believed him if he hadn’t seen that text thread. Taron was lying, and he was dragging Peri into his shenanigans. Wash needed to figure out a way to stop him.
Taron wriggled free, beaming at the room and excusing himself. Wash dug out his phone, intending to ask Peri what was going on, but a hand touched his arm and drew his attention.
“I’ll check on them,” Elijah murmured. “He won’t cause too much trouble when I’m around.”
For a moment, Wash was confused on how Elijah had figured out what was bothering him.
He checked his mental shields, but they were solid like usual, and he didn’t feel the presence of his brother’s magic anywhere.
But then he realized Elijah had been sitting on Taron’s other side.
He’d read the messages as well. Wash hadn’t even noticed, too distracted by Taron who’d demanded Wash sit next to him and caused a fuss until he’d given in.
“I can go,” Wash tried, but Ozen noticed the interruption and cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes on them. Wash scowled. He couldn’t sneak out when the meeting was basically just about him.
Elijah patted his arm. “I’ve got it. See you after the meeting.”
And despite how much he didn’t want to involve his brother, he had no other choice but to nod in agreement. Hopefully Elijah was right, and he could keep Taron’s troublemaking tendencies to a minimum until Wash could whisk Peri away from his influence.