Chapter 1 #2
He scanned the list again, checking if he’d missed anything.
They had wine at home, as well as candles, but he needed to grab some more lube.
They seemed to go through it ridiculously fast. Not that he was complaining.
He’d been a virgin when he’d met Zach and had honestly suspected he might be asexual since he’d never found himself attracted to anyone before then.
Zach had changed all of that. Drew couldn’t get enough of his tall, dark, handsome angel.
He still wasn’t a huge fan of blow jobs, though.
Drew loved having Zach’s silky, heavy cock on his tongue, but he still couldn’t handle cum in his mouth.
He mostly used it as foreplay, before Zach fucked him until he didn’t know his own name anymore.
He was looking forward to the epic celebration sex tonight after Zach accepted his proposal.
Fuck, he really hoped he’d accept.
Surely he would. Wouldn’t he? At first glance, they might appear to be chalk and cheese, but their relationship still worked.
They were happy and had already discussed their plans for the future.
They hadn’t discussed marriage per se, but they both wanted to be together for as long as possible.
Zach would be happy to have their dedication to one another documented legally, wouldn’t he?
A sharp pinch startled Drew from his thoughts, and he glanced down to see that Leila had turned around on her perch on the cart’s handle and had pecked at his hand.
As he lifted his hand to make sure it wasn’t bleeding, he realized he’d been gripping the cart’s handle so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
Leila clucked at him in reprimand, even as he let go completely and shook the circulation back into his hands.
“Thanks,” he muttered to her after looking around furtively to ensure no one would see him talking to himself and think he was crazy. “I got a little lost in my head.”
Leila bobbed her head and then jumped down into the cart and began pecking at his lettuce.
“Hey, no, don’t eat that!”
She ignored him and continued to tear one of the outer leaves into strips before gobbling them down.
Sighing, Drew reached down and pulled the leaf off the lettuce for her to eat, then he shoved the bag under several other items so she couldn’t get at it. “You’re a menace,” he told her, before heading for the cashier.
Once he’d paid for his groceries, Drew returned the cart and loaded up his hands with the two reusable shopping bags he’d brought with him.
Leila flew up onto his shoulder, and they headed for home.
It was a lovely day, and the fifteen-minute walk was always enjoyable.
Drew was slowly getting used to the nicer neighbourhood.
It wasn’t as fancy as over near Westwood Lake, where his friend Dom lived, but it was quite a step up from his old place.
They’d met a few of the neighbours and were friendly with them, but not overly so.
More in the “wave and smile when seeing each other” kind of way, not the “always dropping by unexpectedly” way.
It was nice. He wasn’t constantly worried about getting mugged or having someone break into the house, but the strata fees weren’t sky high and the property taxes were manageable.
Once they’d reached the house, Leila retired to the couch to nap, settling herself down on top of Zach’s favourite cushion.
Drew unpacked the groceries and got to work on dinner.
He had cheated and bought pre-marinated chicken, so he didn’t have to worry about that, but he threw together a green salad and boiled some potatoes for the simple potato salad that Harriett always used to make.
He’d never managed to recreate it so it tasted just like hers, and it always seemed either too crunchy or too mushy, but Zach had learned never to complain too loudly.
Yes, he still teased, but after Drew had threatened to make Zach cook all the time instead of the way they normally shared the chore, he’d remained quiet and ate what was on offer.
Drew looked over at the clock and realized with a start he was quickly running out of time.
Zach was going to be home soon. He was pretty sure Zach had already guessed that Drew was going to be cooking something special for him.
The fact that dinner wasn’t the proper surprise for the night stopped him from fretting over Zach walking in with the meal only half prepared.
Still, he wanted to be organized. So he began to make the shortcrust pastry for the pie and got it in the oven to par-bake while he whipped together the custard filling.
The front door opened and closed downstairs just as Drew was layering the pie crust with sliced bananas. He quickly poured the filling over them and slid the dish into the oven just as Zach appeared at the top of the stairs. “Hi,” he greeted him with a smile.
“Hey,” Zach said, crossing to him and pressing a kiss to his lips. “How was your day?”
“Good. How did the show go?”
A wide smile broke across Zach’s lips. “It was great. The kids did such a good job, and they had loads of fun. I got lots of videos.”
“Thanks. Can we watch them a little later? I’ll be busy in here for another hour or so.”
Zach leaned in for another kiss, but Drew didn’t miss the slightly concerned glance he shot toward the oven. “Whatcha cooking?”
Drew rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a drama queen. I’m making baked chicken and salad for dinner—I hardly think I’ll manage to summon anything with something so simple.”
“That doesn’t look like chicken,” Zach said, pointing at the oven.
“It’s a pie. It’s half done already, and look—no demons!” Drew gestured wildly around the kitchen.
When Zach peered around the counter and opened the door to the pantry to double-check, Drew had to rein in the instinct to smack him on the back of the head. “Your confidence in me is so reassuring.”
“It doesn’t hurt to be cautious!”
“Well, it will hurt when my foot meets your ass! Get the hell out of my kitchen, Zach, and go do something else while I finish up.”
“Am I allowed to sit in the living room, or am I being banished to the bedroom?” Zach was over two thousand years old, but his pout rivalled that of a two-year-old’s.
There were drawbacks to having an open-plan living area. Drew sighed. “Yes, you can sit in the living room. Just don’t hover.”
Zach marched over to the sofa and tried to shoo Leila off his spot. She merely cracked one eye open and glared at him until he huffed and sat on the opposite end of the sofa and pulled out his phone.
Drew didn’t have a stand mixer, but he pulled out the little electric handheld mixer to prepare the meringue topping for the pie. He carefully separated the eggs, muttering curses under his breath as he cracked two of them way too hard and broke the yolks.
The air in the kitchen seemed to thicken.
Drew didn’t notice as he dutifully wiped a splotch of yolk off the side of the bowl, hoping it hadn’t touched the egg whites.
He added the sugar, biting off another curse when he managed to spill half of it over the counter as he poured it from the measuring cup into the bowl.
The lights flickered.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” he cried, as he splashed way too much vanilla essence into the mix.
A deep rumbling filled the room, and his ears popped.
Realizing way too late that something was very wrong, Drew slowly looked up from the mixing bowl.
A swirling vortex was churning in the air above the countertop that formed part of the breakfast nook. “Oh dear,” he whispered.
“Drew!” Zach’s worried voice rang out from the living room.
“Zach! I think I might have done something by accident,” he called, completely unnecessarily.
There was a small pop, and Leila suddenly appeared on his shoulder. A moment later, Zach skidded into the kitchen and placed himself between Drew and the vortex.
“What exactly did you do?” Zach asked quietly.
“Um . . . nothing. I was just trying to make the meringue topping.”
“Meringue? Really? I thought you were keeping things simple!”
“I wanted to make it the same way the diner does!” Drew protested. “It’s much nicer than sweet cream topping!”
“And clearly much more dangerous,” Zach retorted.
“What is it?” Drew asked.
He couldn’t see Zach’s expression since he’d backed up so his back was pressed to Drew’s front, but his voice was tense. “I think you may have opened a portal.”
“What? A portal to where?”
The vortex spun faster and faster, sending ripples of darkness across the kitchen.
“I think it’s a portal to Hell,” Zach said.
“Oh, fuck.”
Then the portal broke free from its moorings above the counter and swept directly towards them. “Oh, fuck indeed,” Zach managed, and then he spun around and shielded Drew and Leila protectively with his body.