Chapter 5 #2
Damn it, none of that was helping to kill his erection. Liam poured himself another shot.
Unfortunately, by the look on Felix’s face, he hadn’t meant it to go there, either.
Okay, Liam, focus. He needed to keep a clear head.
Divorce, think about the divorce, about Pete—and instant ice bath.
Right, moving on…he could do this. Liam picked up the spatula and tried to ignore how it trembled in his hand as he started plating before Aggie came in and yelled at them again.
He cleared his throat, glancing over at Felix taking a hefty swallow from his glass. A couple more of those and the slight warlock would be on the floor. “You think you can handle adding cheese to these?”
“As long as there’s no pokey implements involved, I’m willing to give it a try,” Felix said, then stared blankly at the grated pile.
Liam bit back a smile. Christ, he was fucking adorable. “Wash your hands and use your fingers.” He mimed sprinkling over the slab he’d just plated.
“You make it sound so easy.” Felix frowned, puffing out his cheeks as he tottered to the sink, unbuttoning his shirt cuffs and rolling them up.
Liam tried not to stare at the dusting of freckles across Felix’s creamy skin. Yeah, hard fail there. Christ, no pun intended. He turned away and closed his eyes, seriously considering giving himself a case of whiskey dick. Sounded better than hanging out with a hard on all night.
Too bad it would take the rest of that bottle and then some. A were’s metabolism wasn’t exactly conducive to going on a bender. Getting drunk was like an Olympic sport and required a hell of a lot more dedication than a beer and a couple of shots.
Come on, Liam. Pay attention. How many plates did they need? One, two, there were seven of them here, right? Aggie had taken out two servings already, another two were waiting for cheese, that left…three? He laughed, and Felix turned to him, his brow raised as he dried off his hands.
“Something funny?”
“Yeah. Pasta math. I was trying to figure out how many more plates we needed, and it ran through my head like one of Mrs. Abram’s convoluted word problems,” he said, invoking their tenth-grade algebra teacher’s name. Woman had been batshit crazy.
“See?” Felix said, batting Liam’s arm with the dish towel. “And you were convinced you’d never have to know what percentage of thirty pumpkins you’d need to make eighteen pies if they each averaged ten pounds, and the recipe called for twenty-six ounces per pie.”
Liam chuckled. “Indeed. I stand corrected.” He took another sip of his drink and then held it up. “To Ms. Abram,” he toasted.
“To Ms. Abram,” Felix said, returning the gesture, more than a little tipsy. “So, now what, I just…touch it?” Liam almost spat out his mouthful, and Felix went pale, then bright red. He cleared his throat. “I-I mean…”
“Yeah,” Liam said, taking pity on him. God, could he get any cuter? “Grab a pinch and sprinkle.” He mimed again.
Felix glanced around the kitchen like something was about to jump out and bite him. “There’s no open flames around, right?”
“Nope, and I have complete faith in you.”
“I’m glad somebody does,” Felix murmured, his face screwing up as he grabbed a half dozen shreds and deposited them on a slab like they’d burned him.
“See.” Liam grinned. “No fire.”
“It was obviously a one-off,” Felix sniffed, cautiously reaching for another pinch. He looked up at Liam from beneath his brows. “You do know spontaneous combustion is a thing, right?”
Oh yeah, he knew. Liam stepped to the side, leaning against the counter. “I do, but I’m pretty sure you sprinkling cheese isn’t going to set off a chain reaction.”
“From your lips to God’s ears.” Felix crossed himself and deposited a heftier heap. The look on his face when nothing blew up was priceless. He took a sip of his drink like he couldn’t believe it.
“What are you two doing in here? Giving each other a sponge bath?” Aggie grumbled, stalking back in and killing the moment.
Felix choked on his sip. “What?” he coughed, and arm over his mouth.
“Wouldn’t be the first time I was subjected to seeing that up against the sink.
” She glowered out the door at Jena and Chase, then rolled her eyes at Felix’s handiwork.
“You call that adding cheese? You’re not playing with nitroglycerin, dump it on there!
Oh, for the love of—” She grabbed a handful and buried a slice.
“There, like that. Think you can deliver it now? Here, this one too, and don’t forget the napkins.
I didn’t dig through all that crap to have them just sit there. ”
“Yes, ma’am,” Felix said, disappearing with two of the plates.
“And you,” she groused, hipping Liam out of the way. “Leaving the garlic bread in the oven isn’t going to improve it any. Didn’t you two idiots hear the buzzer?”
He did now. “Um—”
“Mmm hmm.” She shook her head, switching it off. “Finish putting cheese on those plates, then take them with you when you scram.”
Liam did what she said and scrammed. He delivered one of the plates to Chase and retreated to the couch with his own.
“Do you think we’re allowed to go back and get our drinks?
” he stage-whispered, sitting where Kelsey had been.
She’d stolen his seat and looked pleased as punch about it—or that could just have been because of the food.
She popped a bite of lasagna into her mouth, curled up on the far end of the couch in her own little world of bliss.
The sounds she was making were more than a little disturbing.
“I’ll go. You two stay there,” Jena said, putting her plate to the side with a funny smile on her face. It got bigger as she passed the two of them.
Felix grunted and dug into his lasagna. Liam did the same and failed to prevent the moan the first bite elicited. Okay, Kelsey was forgiven. Holy shit, this was good.
“Right?” Chase said from across the room, shoving a massive forkful into his mouth.
Liam caught Felix staring at him, and he about choked on his bite of cheesy goodness at the warlock’s expression. Damn. His wolf perked up. The last time someone had looked at him like that…he started to sweat. Maybe telling Felix how he felt wasn’t a lost cause.
“Yeah,” Liam said, his knee ghosting closer to Felix’s. He didn’t move away, and Liam’s heart leapt. He grinned. “This is amazing.”
“Mmm,” Kelsey groaned. “So fucking good.”
“Of course it is,” Aggie sniffed, sauntering in with a platter of garlic bread. She paused to survey everyone stuffing their faces with a supreme look of satisfaction on hers.
“It’ll do,” Gorman muttered, scraping his plate. “There more?”
Aggie raised her brow at him. “Yeah, and you know where to find it.”
He grunted and trundled off to the kitchen as she sat.
Jena came back in with Liam and Felix’s glasses.
They were suspiciously fuller than Liam remembered, but he wasn’t going to complain.
Not about the booze, not about the food, and definitely not about Felix’s knee touching his, and he’d caught him looking at him more than once.
The warlock took a sip that he probably didn’t need and not-so-chalantly inched closer. Liam kept eating, happier than he could remember being in ages.
“So,” Felix began, “this manifestation spell, you think we can get the coven here tomorrow to do it?”
“We’d have to do it at the ruins, but I don’t see why not,” Jena said, perching on Chase’s knee again and picking her plate back up.
Liam went very still at the mention of the standing stones above the node outside of town. After Samhain, he had zero desire to go anywhere near that part of the eastern woods ever again.
“Well, that’s not ideal,” Felix murmured. “But you’re probably right with the amount of karma we’ll need to channel.”
“I can send out some texts tonight and see what everyone’s availability is,” she said. “Matilda will bitch about the short notice, but I can’t imagine that anyone won’t show for it.”
“Matilda would bitch if we scheduled it out three months from now and let her pick the date. The sooner we can get things moving, the better. You need anything from me?” Felix asked, taking another bite.
“Mmm hmm.” She put her hand in front of her mouth as she chewed and swallowed. “Yes. You’ll need to give the spell focus and shape its intent. Everyone else will be pushing it out into the aether. The more specific you can make the request, the sooner we’ll get results.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Felix muttered. “I definitely know what we don’t want.”
“That will help,” Jena said around another gooey mouthful. “I’m pretty sure Sweets should have all of the spell ingredients, and from what I’ve read in my mom’s grimoire, it doesn’t seem super complicated.”
“It’s not,” Aggie said. “Or it won’t be, as long as he stays focused.
Make sure you use the bathroom beforehand.
Last time I did one of those was after the town’s chili cook-off.
Marshall Haynes was trying to manifest goodwill between the Fultons and the Gregors, and ended up dropping a loaded port-a-potty smack dab into the well they were feuding over. ”
Chase laughed, and Aggie’s sidhie-blue eyes flicked to him. “It stopped the feud, but you better believe he caught shit for it.”
“Sounds like the well did, too,” Chase snickered.
“Great,” Felix murmured, taking another sip of whiskey. “Note to shelf, shit before you summon.”
“Always a good rule of thumb to note the shelves,” Aggie agreed, crunching into her cheesy garlic bread. She dusted off her hands as she chewed. “So is filling your plate again after you’ve licked the first one clean. Don’t think I didn’t see that,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Liam.
“What?” He laughed. “I didn’t lick it; I swiped it with my finger!”
“Lying’s not gonna make it better. Go on, get some more.”
Liam shook his head and stood. “Anyone else need seconds?”
“More like thirds.” Chase scooted Jena off his lap to join him. He glanced back into the living room once they were in the kitchen. “You gonna help Felix home, or is he crashing on our couch?”
Liam froze mid-scoop. “Uhh…”
“Look, if he’s slurring, he’s got about fifteen more minutes conscious, half an hour tops.
Trust me, it’s eerily repeatable. His apartment is on the other end of Cross, that newer development at the corner of Harstand, number 58A on the fourth floor.
I can give you Jena’s key, so you don’t have to frisk him for his. ”
Liam reached for Chase’s plate, trying to buy time and remember to breathe. It was on his way back to the compound, but… “You really think he’d be okay with that?” he asked, scooping up another helping.
“Considering how much he bitched about his neck after the last time he spent the night here? I’m pretty sure he’d be okay with Gorman giving him a piggyback ride home.
I’d ask Kelsey, but if Felix passes out, she’s not gonna be able to drag his ass up all those steps.
Man’s heavier than he looks, and the elevator in his building’s been out since Samhain. Are you okay with it?”
Liam took a slow breath and handed Chase his plate back. “Yeah, I can make sure he gets home okay.”
“I appreciate it, and so does Jena.” Chase clasped him on the shoulder, then stuffed another ridiculous mouthful of lasagna into his maw.
Chase was right about Felix. By the time they made it back to the living room, he was pie-eyed and fading fast. Chase grabbed the warlock’s empty plate as it slid off his lap. “Hey,” he said, crouching down in front of Felix. “It cool if Liam brings you home?”
“Pppttt,” Felix buzzed his lips and fell back against the cushions. “Suure…why not?”
“You got the green light,” Chase said to Liam. “You okay to drive?”
“Yeah.” Liam frowned at his heaping plate. “You think I have time to finish this, or should I take him home now?”
They both glanced at Felix. His head was thrown back at a weird angle, and he’d started snoring softly. Liam bit back a smile.
“Take your time, man.” Chase grinned. “He’s not going anywhere.”