Page 52 of My Saintly Demon

“I thought he’d be taller.”

I laugh as Charles turns back to me, smiling. “Yeah, I thought he’d be all broody and dark and like seven feet tall. But he’s actually a down-to-earth guy.” He snorts. “Well, not down to earth, but you know what I mean.”

“I do. Come here.”

He steps into my arms and my wings wrap around him in the cutest feather cocoon. He laughs when a stray feather brushes his cheek, and I kiss him until he gasps for air.

“Whoa! Dude! When did the wings happen?”

X breaks our moment when he enters the kitchen and I shoot an unimpressed glance his way.

“You’re in the kitchen, Dave. Topless again, too. I’m allowed to comment.”

Charles laughs as I pull the wings away. “He has a point, Dave.”

“So, I missed your dad. Did he try a piece of cake?”

“He did. Where were you?”

X shrugs and flops into a chair, reaching for the remaining cake slices.

“Took a walk to get outside. Smelled the roses. That kind of stuff.”

Charles looks at me, and without words I motion for him to keep X talking.

“I found a gorgeous garden in the back. Do you maintain that? The roses were gorgeous,” Charles says as he pulls out a chair at the table.

“Sometimes I putter about out there. Today a lot of the raspberry canes were all trampled, and some roses were broken though.”

I cough and slip my shirt on.

“I’m gonna take a walk. I’ll catch you both later.”

Neither of them really hears me, already deep into a conversation about raspberries and rose gardens and when I glance back to see X gesturing with his hands and Charles laughing along, I pause.

We’re such an unlikely group. But we all seem to fit somehow. Charles and X talk and laugh easily. X and I share a tether of a painful past. He hasn’t shared it all with us, but he will. Charles seems to know what we each need to hear. Perhaps that’s from years of experience listening to people in a confessional.

Either way, I already can’t imagine him not with me.

Charles turns his head to find me still standing in the doorway and he cocks his head in question. I tap the space over my heart and nod. He smiles back, holding my gaze a little longer than normal, and a filthy image flashes behind my eyes. I gulp a lungful of air and stare back at Charles.

He winks and turns back to X.

Chuckling to myself, I shake my head as I leave.

I said he could suck a dick like nobody’s business. Good thing I’m nobody.

CHAPTERNINETEEN

CHARLES

After speaking with X for what felt like forever, we finally say our goodbyes and I hurry to find Dave. I know I don’t need to worry about him, but tell my head that. It’s ingrained in me to worry about people I care about.

But I also need to share with him my news.

When I don’t find him in our suite, I exit the patio door with a giant grin. I know where he’ll be.

It’s hard to walk and not run, but somehow I manage. When I arrive at the small garden area, my smile falters when Dave isn’t where I thought he would be. Did I get it wrong?

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