Page 132 of How Not to Date an Angel

“You know, it’s really unfortunate that you fell in love with anangel,of all people,” Galen sneered.

Julian lifted his head, a rebuttal on his tongue, ready to defend Rami, but then he caught the almost playful expression on Galen’s face.

“Most demons would say angels are our natural enemies, all selfless like that. Kinda shitty of you to value one over your job, which is a high honor, by the way,” Galen told him.

Julian swallowed.

“I mean, after all that Hell has given you…” He shook his head. “I think you deserve a punishment,” Galen said. “You even spoiled the temptation. Rather selfless, wouldn’t you say?” He wrinkled hisnose. “In fact, I think there’s only one punishment befitting a demon the likes of you.”

“Galen—”

“For the betrayal of loving anangel,I, the Devil of the Seventh Region of Hell…” Galen declared with a wink, “...cast you to Earth.”

Julian’s heart began pounding, a steady thump in his ears.

“Humans are running the Earth into the ground anyway, so I say you should stay long enough to learn Earth isn’t all it’s made out to be. You’ll live alonglife, so you have plenty of time to regret your selfless decisions.”

“Galen…” Julian choked out. “What about the Sixth Region? Carl?”

“Fuck Carl,” Galen scoffed. “I’ll handle him.”

Julian surged up out of the chair and hugged Galen. “What the fuck, man,” he said, throat tightening with emotion.

Galen chuckled, hugging him aggressively.

“I want to meet them, one day. We can go on a double date,” he said once they separated.

“Assuming they’ll even talk to me,” Julian murmured.

“They will,” Galen insisted. “Now go get your angel.”

“I can just… go?” Julian asked.

“Well, not on your own,” Galen said.

He snapped his fingers, and before Julian could even respond, gold filled his vision.

When he blinked, he was standing outside Rami’s house, on their front door step.

It was eerily similar to that very first night, except the sun was shining brightly and Julian didn’t have the shit beaten out of him.

Reeling, Julian spun and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, so heknocked again, and waited.

And waited.

Julian tried the knob and it opened right away.

“Feathers,” Julian called out warily. “You need to lock your doors—I’ve told you this.”

There was no indication the angel heard him, and Julian stepped inside. It looked like it had when Julian had come downstairs just that morning. Sun shone through the windows, though it had moved past Rami’s chair as the day trailed on.

With careful steps, he made his way through the small living room to the office. The door was still half-open, but there was no angel inside.

Heart dropping, Julian retraced his steps back through the living room and headed for the stairs.

He took them two at a time, knowing Rami would hate the fact that he was wearing shoes on their stairs, but—

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