Page 92 of Till Death

I’d taken the position only after being assured I wouldn’t have to wear any suits. Same old boots. Same tank top and jeans. No wings or halo in sight.

Fingers snapped in front of my face, and I blinked until Simon came swimming into view. He still wore the same black-on-black he’d worn when he helped train me. He’d always been more traditional in his clothing than me. In this life or any of the others.

Only instead of the grave expression he used to wear when he came to this office, he shot me a smile. “You’re making a habit of tuning me out and I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.

“It’s neither,” I corrected, leaning back. “You know how I get lost in my head.”

“Way too often,” he grumbled in return.

“Wow. Talking back to the boss already. And right at the start of my reign. Shame on you.” I crossed one ankle over the other with deliberate slowness. “But you are here at ground zero for a reason.”

His smile melted away into a frown. “Do I need to be worried?”

I scoffed. “Come on. You know me.”

“I’m not sure if I’m talking toJaderight now or my boss,” he said.

Ah, that was tricky. I’d vowed to be different from Azrael. Especially since I had given up my status as an Archangel, only to be given this position and a promotion somewhere in between the two celestial hierarchies.

I came nowhere near my original level of power, but it was good to be a step above normal spirit. Sure, like I had any room to complain.

My afterlife had been outstanding. Days of working on the house with Cole. Making love. Sipping our coffee on the front porch and strolling through the streets together like a normal couple. The kind of normal couple we’d never been when we were alive.

I hesitated in answering Simon because I knew it would aggravate him, but he knew my tricks by this point. We’d been through too much together. He stared me down; when it came down to a contest, he knew he’d win.

My eyes began to water and I blinked. “It’s nothing bad,” I said at last to break the tension. It was getting increasingly hard to hold this position of casual indifference and I shifted to something more comfortable—elbows on my desk and an insolent expression. “It’s actually something really good. You’re the best person I know at handling assignments, and I think you’d be fabulous at the position.”

“At what?” He eyed me skeptically.

“Heading the entire reaper division.”

I waited for the full gravity of the promotion to land,but Simon continued to stare at me, his frown deepening. Then the sun came out and the smile he broke into was a thing of beauty to behold.

“Are you serious?” he asked. He was almost excited.

“Why would I joke with you about this? You’re the most amazing reaper we have here. You are great with the incoming souls and every employee loves you. If they don’t love you, they respect you, which is a win/win situation. It makes total sense for you to head the reaper division. I also thought you might have a few pointers for me when it comes to this new division I plan to implement.”

“Should I ask?”

“Just a littlesomething-somethingI want to put together, to hunt haunts.” Haunts were rogue spirits who were in the living world. Simon’s past idea with the watches and new assignments for me while I was a reaper had triggered a new idea from me, and since there were more haunts on the living plane now from the missing veil fiasco, this was needed. We needed to get a better handle on the problem.

And I had just the people to help.

Simon lifted his left brow and drew in a long breath. Somehow he managed to look pleased and put out at the same time. “Let me guess. You want to not only be the Angel of Death, but you want to head the new division.”

“Why do you always have me figured out? It doesn’t seem fair.”

“I’m a step ahead of you at all times,” he said. “Bossman.”

“Ooo, I’m impressed.”

He chuckled. “Thank you. But what exactly did you have in mind?”

“A few teams. Me and Cole. Marla and Tamara. Oh! And Wyatt and Lisa, of course.”

My insides warmed at the names. Especially considering the fact that Sean and Arianna were still in the mortal realm.Together. In the biblical sense.

“It’s no secret that I sucked at being a reaper. But I also love a challenge and helping spirits, so I figured this was a go role for me.”

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