Page 70 of De-Witched

She wasn’t at Toil and Trouble when they arrived, but Bastian Truenote was.

Gabriel tried not to let it stiffen him up as he left Frankie and Mitch in a booth and approached the bar. It wasn’t so much that he disliked Bastian, more that he was a solid reminder of everything Gabriel was not.

Bastian was tall, golden and handsome in the way of the old movie stars. His grin was charming, his eyes a twinkling navy, his manner easy, and, as had become apparent when they’d worked together, he was as suited for the role of amiable bartender as Gabriel wasn’t. He was also a far superior Higher son from what Gabriel had observed. His parents doted on him, their pride open and unashamed. In a word: perfect.

And it was hard to like perfect when he was achingly aware of every flaw he possessed.

“Truenote,” he greeted, his accent making the word clipped. “I didn’t realize you were in town.”

Bastian served his customer, cast Gabriel a casual grin as they walked off. “We came in this morning. Emma needed to help Leah with some gala stuff, and they recruited me to tend bar since Tia got called to New Orleans by her family again.” He looked beyond Gabriel. “You here alone?”

“No. I came with...friends.” Will’s words floated through his head but he pushed them aside. He would focus only on today.

Bastian choked. “Human friends?”

Gabriel made no comment, deliberately not rising to the bait.

A dimple flashed. “Well, who’da thunk it? Gabriel Goodnight sliding right into the human world.”

“They’d like two beers. Three,” Gabriel decided in the next breath, gesturing to one of the taps. “That’ll do.”

“Gabriel!”

Recognition pulled Gabriel’s attention from Bastian to the owner of the familiar voice. Nonplussed, he stared into green eyes paler than his own, set against a shock of platinum hair. “Henry? What are you doing here?”

The tall man Gabriel considered his only real friend offered a hand, clasping Gabriel’s briefly. Dressed in jeans and a gray fisherman’s sweater, he lifted his eyebrows. “I’d be better if I wasn’t in enemy territory.”

“Ah.” Nobody could forget the intense few years where Henry Pearlmatter and Tia Hightower had been a blazing item. Everyone had expected they’d marry, but instead, their relationship had fallen apart in as passionate a display as it had begun.

Bastian snorted from across the bar. “You have to be in the same room at some point. You’re both invited to the wedding.”

Gabriel’s invitation must have been lost in the cosmos. He was too used to being excluded to take offense.

“How are you finding being here?” Henry perched on a stool, hooking his shoe around the bottom rung. He more than most knew of Gabriel’s family history. “Tell you the truth, I half expected you to message me by mirror and request an extraction.”

“I came close.” Gabriel passed across a bill to Bastian as the latter plonked three pints on the bar. “It’s better, now.”

“Catch me up.”

So, he did, after quickly dropping the drinks with Mitch and Frankie, who waved off his awkward apology for choosing his old friend over them. Henry’s family was as old magic as Gabriel’s, and just as respected. While Henry played proper in public, Gabriel had always enjoyed the hidden jovial side of the warlock. Goddess knew what Henry saw in Gabriel to hold up their friendship, but whatever it was, he’d always been grateful for it.

Bastian had joined them, settling into the conversation as they swapped stories about working at the bar. Gabriel had relaxed enough not to take offense at Bastian’s taunts, had even made several of his own and enjoyed the friendly nature of it all. At least until the conversation circled around to Leah.

“So,” Bastian said, drawing out the word, expression narrowing. “You and Leah. Something going on there?”

Caught off guard, Gabriel felt his left eye twitch.

Henry swore. They’d been friends too long for him not to pick up on it. “You’re messing with a human?”

“No.” The lie seared his insides and he shifted to ease the discomfort. “We’re...friends.”

“Friends.” Henry swiped up his beer and swigged. “How did that happen?”

Gabriel shrugged, uncomfortable. “You’d have to meet her.”

“Irresistible, is she?”

Yes. “More like an unstoppable force.”

---