Chapter Six
Ossy
Ezul had heard the entire conversation. His expression gave nothing away, which made me feel as though I were in the hot seat.
The car was confining. Ezul might be a demon, but his hearing was as sharp as a dog’s.
I fought the urge to explain myself. I didn’t owe Ezul anything.
Or that was what I told myself, but he had been the head of HR, and fraternizing with a co-worker was probably against the rules in the handbook.
Not that I would know. I’d never read the thing.
Road trips sucked more than I expected. I loved teleportation and mourned its loss as if it were a loved one. Being stuck in a tiny space with a demon I didn’t entirely trust didn’t sit right with me either.
“The only reason Donn hasn’t sent Phin to Tech Duinn is that Donn doesn’t think Phin knows anything.
” Ezul was the one driving. For a demon, he drove responsibly.
I wasn’t sure what I expected. Maybe for him to live up to the meaning of ‘speed demon’.
He drove at the limit with cruise control on, so he stayed at a consistent speed.
“That’s what Morgana said.” Knowing Phin was safer in the dark didn’t make it any easier for me. Not when every word from Phin’s mouth felt like a rejection.
Maybe I’d earned what he’d said. Nothing had to change before Grym met Elliot.
Phin and I hadn’t needed anything more than what we had.
We were fuck buddies, which I liked. Phin was fun in the bedroom, on the beach late at night, and that one time in the park, which we’d agreed not to talk about.
So what if emotions had cropped up? I’d pushed them down, burying myself in surfing and clubbing.
Then Elliot came into our lives. Beloveds cropped up everywhere, even in the office.
And I couldn’t push the emotions down anymore, and I didn’t want to anyway.
Not when I knew Phin was my beloved. It turned out that getting away from Donn and his office realm was just the kick in the ass I needed.
I couldn’t hide behind parties and surfing anymore. I couldn’t bury my feelings, hoping Phin would stop talking about wanting more than just fucking. I could no longer avoid it.
“Everything has changed. He just doesn’t understand that.” Talking about it only made me worry about him even more. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We go to headquarters and escort Phin out of the building.” Really? That was Ezul’s grand plan. And Donn was just going to let it happen? Not hardly. Ezul wasn’t the one who would go to Tech Duinn when things took a turn for the worse.
“It would be a lot easier if we could teleport.” How risky was it, exactly?
“Donn knows when you teleport.”
“Every time?”
Ezul nodded. “We do things the long way. Driving, using phones. No teleporting, no inter-office notes. Donn will send you to Tech Duinn.”
“So you acknowledge that Phin and I have more at stake than you.” I wanted to know what his motivation was. It had to be something more than sympathizing with the reapers and beloveds.
“He’ll have something far worse in store for me.”
“Like…”
Ezul’s jaw clenched, and his dark eyes seemed to get darker. “Like stripping me of my essence.”
What the hell did that mean? “What is your essence?”
“It’s what makes me a demon. Like a soul, but not.”
“And you think waltzing in through the front door is the way to go here.” That made no sense.
“With Phin coming in every day, Donn has hope that you and the rest of the department will come back to him, that you’ll see reason. Perhaps he’ll think you’ve come back to work.” Ezul shrugged. “We couldn’t hide even if we wanted to.”
“So you’re playing with his emotions.” That was several levels of wrong.
None of us wanted things to change, least of all me.
But beloveds existed. Phin was mine. For the first time in my life, I intended to lean into my feelings rather than run from them.
I didn’t have a choice. Phin’s life in the living realm would end if I didn’t.
I had to save him. That meant getting Phin to trust me again.