17. CHAPTER
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Mr. Heiss used his powers to speed up the ride back to his home so they arrived within seconds of getting settled in the limo.
Indy wished it had actually been longer so he had more time to gather himself.
He was eager to see Gammy and hug her close, not caring if it was going to be wispy like fog or a sneeze.
He’d been truly terrified that he was going to lose her, but now he had a new fear taking up root in his stomach.
Technically, it was an old one.
The oldest one of all—dying.
He couldn’t shake how bitter his blood had tasted on his tongue or the agony laced with horror that his end was approaching faster and faster with no way to stop it. Whatever Gammy had done had certainly stalled it, but now it felt inevitable.
Which made things with Mr. Heiss…
Complicated.
Fine, yes. Indy liked the king of assholes who he thought might like him too or at least enjoyed having sex with him. That wasn’t enough to trust him with Indy’s future, much less his life. He had to hope Gammy could come up with something else and fast.
Or else…
Indy didn’t want to consider the alternative, but his smile felt particularly forced as Mr. Heiss helped him out of the limo.
If Mr. Heiss noticed, he gave no indication.
He did keep holding Indy’s hand, however, as he led him inside.
He shut the door behind them, shedding his human disguise with a shake of his head.
The sound of the door closing must have alerted the rest of the house they were back because Indy was almost immediately pounced on by a familiar wispy embrace.
“Oof! Hey, Gammy.” Indy closed his eyes and tried to hang on for as long as he could. “God, I missed you.”
“Are you all right? What’s going on?” Gammy demanded.
“Do you want the part about how my RuPaul’s Drag Race knowledge helped us track down a magical flower or the part where I punched a gargoyle in the balls?”
“You what?” Gammy shot Mr. Heiss a dirty look.
“It’s been a day.”
“Come on, sweetie. Let’s sit you down and you tell me all about it, hmm?”
Once they were seated on the couch in the living room, Indy told her everything. She continued to give Mr. Heiss hateful glares, as if everything was his fault, and she stayed solid enough to hold Indy’s hand the whole time.
“And then Mr. Heiss and I talked about science, we cuddled and did each other’s nails, and now we’re here,” Indy concluded. “That’s about it.”
Of course, he’d left out the whole coughing up blood bit.
Especially with Mr. Heiss hovering nearby.
“Well, I do think it’s very sweet that you were so worried about a maybe-me being harmed, but sweetie—” Gammy popped the top of Indy’s head. “That was very foolish! Even if I was separated from an object I’ve anchored myself to, I have thousands more! I would have been able to find my way back.”
“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?” Indy fussed. “I panicked, okay?”
Gammy gave him a firm hug. “I love you very dearly. So very dearly.” She eyed Mr. Heiss with a growl. “But all of this monster nonsense needs to stop. It doesn’t feel like you’re safe anywhere!”
“Yeah, but—” Indy waved at Mr. Heiss. “Mr. Heiss came to the rescue! Remember? Yay!”
“But he’s the reason you’re in danger!”
“Technically, it’s those bitches who won’t stop trying to get the ring.”
Gammy sighed. “I can’t imagine why they want it so badly. Yes, Dill is very powerful, but it seems strange.”
“Especially when there’s how many other Artifacts running around?” Indy snorted and leaned back against the cushions. “I brought this up with Neil and Seymour and everybody. Like, why Dill?”
“I’m not sure. His transformation abilities are very impressive, but I’m not sure what that has to do with the production of smack.”
“It’s not smack. It’s Howl.”
Gammy waved her hands. “Whatever!”
“Do you have any idea why they would be using the sampaguita flowers?” Mr. Heiss asked her politely.
“Well…” Gammy hummed for a long moment. “It is a type of jasmine, so it can be used for love spells, dream magic, and so on. Oh, yes, and some types of purification rituals since it’s very popular for warding off negative energy and such.”
“Could it be used to, I dunno, purify drugs?” Indy asked. “Is that a thing?”
Gammy blinked. “I suppose it’s possible! It would depend on what the drug is made out of. But if it was an ingredient with negative or dark energy, yes, you’d probably need something like sampaguita to cleanse them. Otherwise, the intended effect may not be as potent or, worse, it might be warped.”
“Warped? Define warped.”
“As in, it might turn your head into a duck’s butt or something. Magic can be very finicky.”
“Good to know.” Indy glanced at Mr. Heiss. “That help at all?”
“Mildly,” Mr. Heiss replied.
“If you could bring me a sample of this drug, I might be able to tell you specifically what they’re doing,” Gammy offered. “I’m sure I can witch up some sort of divination ritual in your kitchen to identify the ingredients and their intended use.”
Mr. Heiss held out his hand and there was a small plastic baggy full of pills in it.
“Oh! Yay! Drugs!” Gammy clapped her hands. “This will be fun!” She started to get up but stopped to touch Indy’s cheek. “And you’re sure you’re all right?”
“Fabulous,” Indy said with a strained smile, hoping she got the message.
No, he was not all right, but no, they couldn’t talk about it right now.
Gammy’s brow pinched with worry, and she suggested, “Why don’t you come help me, hmm? I could use some extra hands connected to a living person.”
“Yes! Let’s go do that.” Indy headed right over to take the pills from Mr. Heiss.
Mr. Heiss pulled them out of reach. “Not quite yet.” His expression was difficult to read. “I would like to speak to you. In private.”
“Oh?” Indy grinned. “You could have spoken to me in private back in the limo. Bed is better? I get it.”
Mr. Heiss sighed loudly.
Gammy approached to take the pills and give Indy a little smile. “Go on. I’ll get started and you come when you can.”
Indy grinned wider. “That’s sort of the idea, you know. The come part.”
“Not like that! Oh—!” Gammy wrinkled her nose. “You are so silly. I’m going now.” She headed out, shaking her head. She looked back once, her forehead wrinkled back up again and her own smile tense.
Indy rocked back and forth on his heels, smirking at Mr. Heiss. “So, now we’re alone. Whatever did you want to talk about?”
“Not here.” Mr. Heiss offered his hand to take Indy’s.
“Why? Oh!” Indy meowed. “You really do want a bed, huh?”
“King is locked in the safe and has excellent hearing.”
“That I do!” a distant voice cackled.
“That’s not creepy at all.” Indy made a face as Mr. Heiss led him to the bedroom. “You just keep a magical skull locked up in the safe?”
“Yes.” Mr. Heiss snorted.
“Not surprising. It is a pretty asshole thing to do.”
“Well, this asshole needs to speak to you.” Mr. Heiss opened the bedroom door to usher Indy inside.
“I didn’t do it and you can’t prove anything,” Indy said sweetly, strutting forward.
“As a matter of fact, you did do it.” Mr. Heiss headed in behind Indy and then shut the door. “It’s about your deal with Mr. Kalt. There are a few things I would like to discuss.”
Shit.
Shitty shit shitterton.
They absolutely would not be discussing that.
Nope to the fucking nope.
Not now, not ever.
Okay, fuck.
Indy had to think.
He had to do something.
Anything.
So, he pounced.
Indy swung his arms around Mr. Heiss’s neck and clung to him tightly, kissing him hard and fast. This was a great idea, yes.
In fact, it was brilliant. Mr. Heiss wouldn’t be able to say no, they’d have great sex, and then Mr. Heiss would forget all about ever wanting to talk about Mr. Kalt and Indy’s deal.
Yup.
Perfect plan.
Mr. Heiss grunted, but he caught Indy and held him close. “Easy now,” he soothed. “There is no need—”
“Definitely a need,” Indy corrected. “As in, I am not getting fucked right now and that is a problem.”
“Oh, is it?” Mr. Heiss picked Indy up, laughing. “Is this leftover adrenaline from the battle? Hormones? Or do you simply have a kink for almost dying?”
“All of the above. Yes. Whatever answer gets you naked fastest.”
Mr. Heiss smiled wryly as he carried Indy over to the bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress and positioned Indy in his lap. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re trying to distract me.”
“Well.” Indy bumped their noses together, and he grinned as Mr. Heiss shifted into his demonic body. “Seems like it’s working. Let’s get going—” He coughed.
Fuck.
Indy slapped his hand to his mouth and turned, coughing again.
He hadn’t even felt a tickle, not a lick of pain warning him this was about to happen, and yet now his chest had seized up and he tasted blood.
“Indy?” Mr. Heiss patted Indy’s back. “Are you all right?”
“What? I’m fine.” Indy swallowed back the blood in his mouth and dropped his hand. “Now, where were we? Right. Putting parts of your body inside my body—”
“Indy.” Mr. Heiss grabbed Indy’s wrist, staring at his hand. “Why are you coughing up blood?”
“That’s clearly corn syrup.”
“Indy.”
“I don’t know!” Indy squirmed. “I did get thrown around by a fucking gargoyle, so maybe it has something to do with that?” He licked at his hand to get rid of the blood because he had no idea how else to remove it in a hurry.
“Look, Dill checked me out and did some healing. Maybe he just needs to do a little more.” He waved toward the door.
“Gammy is right out there, too, and I know she can fix up about anything—”
“I would much rather call a proper healer or a physician.” Mr. Heiss growled.
“And I would much rather have my hole spanked right now, so how about we get on that?”
“Sex is really all you care about?” Mr. Heiss spat with surprising venom.
“Huh?” Indy blinked, scowling as he bit back, “I believe in feeling good as much as fucking possible. What’s wrong with that? I already told you that I’m okay—”
“I shouldn’t be surprised by your base, superficial desires—”